Alright, the title is probably a slight over-statement because lets be honest, Class E in Assassination Classroom has a lot of students and we’d be here all day if I actually wanted to talk about each and every one of them. With that in mind, the rankings are entirely my own opinion based on how much I enjoyed the character and watching their growth throughout the series.
As this is a list of the students though, Koro-Sensei, Irina and Karasuma will not be included. Which is a shame because Karasuma could top the list if he was included really (I think its his voice).
So how many characters have we met that have been remembered for me to rank? Well way too many to do them all individually. So a few characters will be grouped together to make life a bit easier in the earlier stages of the list.
That said there will be spoilers below for some of the members of Class E and their arcs within Assassination classroom so you have been warned.
The Worst Character from Class E – Seat 28, Itona Horibe
Maybe this isn’t fair to poor Itona as he joined the group late and was originally a fairly antagonistic character but honestly I just never clicked with him.
It was kind of cool having another character burst into the story with tentacles that could kind of fight on level with Koro-Sensei (kind of). However his flat personality and with him being easily manipulated, Itona never really made much impression other than being a plot device or tool of other forces.
Even after he officially joined the class, he more or less fit in with a pre-existing group and then more or less blended into the background making anything interesting about his character quickly fade away.
Of course, some people would disagree so be sure to judge for yourself.
The Most Forgettable Characters From Class E – Let’s List Them
As I said before, there’s too many characters in Assassination Classroom to really give them all much time and attention. So once the anime is done, which characters in Class E leave little impression and may even leave you scratching your head and wondering who they were or what they did in the story?
- Seat 3, Taiga Okajima
- Seat 4, Hinata Okano
- Seat 6, Meg Kataoka
- Seat 8, Yukiko Kanzaki
- Seat 9, Justice Kimura
- Seat 10, Hinano Kurahashi
- Seat 12, Sugaya Sosuke
- Seat 14, Kotao Takebayashi
- Seat 15, Ryunosuke Chiba
- Seat 18, Kirara Hazama
- Seat 19, Rinka Hayami
- Seat 20, Sumire Hara
- Seat 21, Yuzuki Fawa
- Seat 22, Hiroto Maehara
- Seat 23, Koki Mimura
- Seat 24, Takuya Murumatsu
- Seat 25, Toka Yada
- Seat 26, Taisei Yoshida
Sorry guys, some of you had a great moment or two but with such a huge cast ultimately unless I’m looking at a picture of you, I probably couldn’t confidently remember you.
A couple of these characters I’m struggling to remember even with the picture.
As a cast you work and Class E is highly entertaining to spend time with; however, individually you just aren’t that memorable.
Ultimately Pretty Bland Character in Class E- Seat 2, Yuma Isogai
As the male class rep and a character who actually gets some backstory and more than one episode where he features as more or less the lead character, Isogai doesn’t leave much of an impression.
Sure he’s nice and hardworking and one of the more reasonable characters in the cast, but that kind of works against him as he ends up just being overwhelmed by the bigger personalities.
That said, if you were going to assemble a team to take on a giant yellow octopus, you could do worse than including an Isogai in your group. He’s good at reading the mood and doesn’t insist on having things his way. A natural peace maker and someone focused on results.
Honestly, there’s nothing wrong with this character except he doesn’t really leave a huge impression.
Good Support Character From Class E With A Not So Great Twist – Seat 7, Kaede Kayano
I really loved Kaede early on. She was a great support character for Nagisa and just kind of cute and bubbly. Her Pudding Assassination Plot does need to go down as one of the more bonkers anime plans I’ve ever scene and really if they’d left her character there she may have even ended up in my top 3 for characters in Class E.
Unfortunately, Kaede ends up being a victim of one of the worst plot twists Assassination Classroom pulls out and essentially ret-cons our entire impression of Kaede and her motives from before the series even began in order to pull out another fight sequence and stretch the story.
It seriously soured my impression of Kaede and that’s a shame because season 1 Kaede is pretty cool and if you ignore that particular character development she could have been one of the best in the cast.
Character from Class E We Love To Hate – Seat 16, Ryoma Terasaka
Every class has to have a character who thinks they are all that, a leader that others should follow, and in honesty they are just kind of lame. Class E has Terasaka who is the king of his own little mind and looked down upon by pretty much everyone in the class. Even his own little group of friends mock him, even if it is more good-humoured.
As the story progresses, Terasaka is responsible for a number of incidents that largely push the audience to dislike him. His manipulation of Nagisa to risk himself, his betrayal of the class to work with Itona, coupled with his generally brash and loud personality all position him as a character the audience are not supposed to like.
However, there are also more than enough moments where Terasaka somehow or another pulls through or does something pretty decent making him more of a lovable oaf than an irredeemable bully and by and large, the Class E dynamic wouldn’t work without a Terasaka so we have to celebrate that he’s a part of the group.
Great Moments Early on But Soon Overshadowed Character From Class E – Seat 13, Tomohito Sugino
As the heading says, Sugino had a few early moments of brilliance. The baseball kid from Class E comes up with a number of plans to take on Koro-Sensei and also gets to be the focus of the episode on a number of occasions as we see him dealing with his old team-mates from the baseball team he is no longer a part of.
That said, Sugino quickly vanishes from the limelight and remains an active participant in a range of assassination attempts and a voice in the crowd but his own character growth is more or less ended by the mid-point of season 1.
Still, he’s a fun guy and despite so little presence in later episodes he isn’t forgotten once Assassination Classroom draws to a close.
Not Just a Pretty Face Character From Class E – Seat 17, Rio Nakamura
A character like Rio could have just been used as fan-service by Assassination Classroom. Or the foreign blonde student cliché. Or any number of other tropes that we’ve seen before.
Instead, Rio is a member of Class E who is rarely the central character but has ongoing regular contributions to the story and a strong enough personality to stand out.
She’s got some confidence and sass but she’s also aware of her own limitations and weaknesses. She’s one of the few in the class who we see early on has some genuine ambition but Rio is also pretty playful and at times pushes other characters well out of their comfort zone.
By the end of Assassination Classroom, Rio stands out from the crowd even if her specific contributions have blended in with the rest of Class E.
The Great Behind The Scenes Contributor in Class E – Seat 27, Ritsu
Another character introduced to the class late, Ritsu is actually an AI but she most definitely has her own personality. While at first it is pretty much entirely built around killing Koro-Sensei, after he gives her a bit of a tune-up she becomes very much a team player.
The other students of Class E also take to Ritsu as she adds herself as a mobile-app on their phones and assists with planning and communications during most of their missions.
With her cheery personality, her ability to learn from prior attempts, as well as her overall contributions to each mission, Ritsu is an invaluable cast member and one I kind of loved getting to know by the end of the series.
Any Moment Featuring This Character in Class E is Pretty Solid – Seat 5, Manami Okuda
This chemistry loving, glasses wearing cutie is a quiet gem in the class and responsible for some great visual gags throughout Assassination Classroom as she attempts to kill the teacher with various concoctions.
While Okuda’s character rarely gets the spot-light, she’s actually got an interesting personality and I loved her single-minded focus on science. But it was her growth in realising she needed to work with others and learn some people skills to succeed that really elevated her in amongst the students of Class E.
That said, the idea of Okuda and Karma ending up together was pretty terrifying given the damage Karma could cause with Okuda’s chemistry to back him up.
Appearances of Okuda may not be frequent but when she does get centre-stage expect great (or explosive) results.
Almost the Best Character in Class E – Seat 11, Nagisa Shiota
Nagisa is as close to a main protagonist as Assassination Classroom is going to get with a lot of the episodes related through his perspective or with added narration by his character. He’s also central in most plots either being part of carrying them out or being grilled by the other members of Class E for his list of Koro-Sensei facts and weaknesses that they might exploit.
However, as much as Nagisa originally comes off as a pretty bland, nice protagonist, his character has been written with some surprising depth and there are some interesting personality traits and traumas that come out as the story progresses.
What makes Nagisa such a fantastic character, and the character who probably would have been my pick for best character were it not for a certain red-head, is the growth he undertakes throughout the series as he comes to learn about himself, overcome some of his weaknesses, and accepts those parts of himself he cannot change.
That and his seriously scary abilities as an assassin have definitely earned him the second top spot for me.
Best Character in Class E – Seat 1, Karma Akabane
Okay, anyone who has followed my blog for any length of time, or read my review of Assassination Classroom, is not surprised by this pick. Karma is the undisputed legend of Class E having brains, a cool personality, some impressive abilities as an assassin, and generally having enough charisma to pull off the bad-boy routine most of the time.
That he also gets knocked down a peg early on in the series after a series of failed attempts to solo-kill Koro-Sensei helps a lot as honestly he really did have a pretty huge ego. Further set-backs in season one force Karma to re-evaluate and he ends up a much stronger person and perhaps a ‘nicer’ character for it.
Though nicer or not, he’ll still tell you straight to your face what he thinks of you and he doesn’t mince words.
Yep, Karma is undoubtably my pick for best character from Class E in Assassination classroom.
Do you agree with my rankings?
That’s my ranking of the students of Class E after rewatching Assassination Classroom on more than one occasion. That said, it is entirely based on my own opinion and I’d love to know who you would have picked as the best or the worst character so leave me a comment below and get the conversation started.
Images from: Assassination Classroom. Dir. S Kishi. Lerche. 2015
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Karandi James
