Classroom of the Elite Season 3 Discussion (2024)

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This season begins with a mixed training camp with the other classes as Class D is promoted to Class C, and the objective is to pass a series of exams on the final day, and falling behind means expulsion. Ayanokoji is up to his usual mind games as he's trying to figure out everybody, all while there's Koenji, who is somebody who likes to act all high and mighty. Sakayanagi intends to crush Class B seeing that the class is relying on Ichinose as a point bank. Ayanokoji has been great at exploiting loopholes, but finding one this time around might prove to be difficult. And then Manabu approaches him with a favor to take down Nagumo seeing that he's a threat and will rule with an iron fists. Lots of plotting and scheming going on here, and Ayanokoji has his work cut out for him once again.

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Sep 2018

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Quantum ille canis est in fenestra

marklebid

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They had already green lit season 3 before season 2 even aired

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Koenji has captured a boar for the class to feast on, and while he is aware of Ayanokoji's secret, he's keeping it under wraps. Ryuen is up to something, though Ayanokoji can't figure out what he's saying to Manabu and Nagumo. And then comes the final day with the tests, one of them being the marathon, where Ayanokoji is the 8th runner for his team. And thus, the mixed training camp comes to an end and while Manabu defeated Nagomu, Nagomu got the last laugh as the only group that failed is Ikari's group, and that was intentional.
Nagomu was trying to get the secretary Tachibana expelled through Ikari. But it's thanks to the large point purchase that Ikari and Tachibana were able to stay. This event reveals Nagumo's nasty nature and it's going to be quite the struggle to see who takes over the student council.

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It's back to campus after the mixed training camp in which Ayanokoji became aware that Nagumo is a dangerous man. Knowing what's to come that strengthening their alliance with Class B is more important than ever, and as such Ayanokoji and Suzune have a chat with Ichinose at the dorms. The next day, a letter arrives that lets the class know that Ichinose is a criminal, and Kamuro from Class A tells Ayanokoji that Ichinose has shoplifted, and that Sakayanagi has kept a watchful eye. Kamuro herself also shoplifted having stolen beer from a conveni seeing that students can't buy booze. And it ends with Manabu notifying Ayanokoji that Kushida and Nagumo got in contact with each other. Lots of plotting and scheming going on here as there's just no telling who can be trusted, only that Nagumo is the big bad in all this.

Gafennec

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Valentine's Day is coming, and Ayanokoji is trying to get to the bottom of Ichinose's crime. In the meantime, he and Karuizawa have a private conversation telling her that she can't be part of his study group for the finals. And then Karuizawa gives chocolates to him that were originally supposed to be for Hirata, which serves as a cover as Hashimoto found out about the conversation. And after that, Ayanokoji goes over to see Ichinose as she's under the weather. Next day, all sorts of nasty rumors are going around that includes Shinohara being a prostitute and Ayanokoji having a relationship with Karuizawa that was true before they broke up. So much for class unity as it's clear that somebody is is trying to break up the unity that class C has built up.

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And now, Ichinose explains her crime that Hashimoto, under Sakayanagi's command, alerted everybody about. Pretty much, it was bad timing that led to her crime as her sister's birthday was coming up, and she wanted a fancy hairpin she saw in a magazine that was about to be discontinued. Her mother worked extra shifts and collapsed, and being unable to work herself, she resorted to shoplifting. Her mother knew right away she had shoplifted and since then Ichinose became a shut-in. Even so, her sister told her to keep going, and thus she enrolled at this school for a fresh start. But even so, a crime is still a crime as Sakayanagi pointed out, though Sakayanagi took some heat from the school admins as they warn her that spreading rumors is against school rules. So with Sakayanagi making her move, she has a bet with Ayanokoji on the next exam that if Ayanokoji wins, Sakayanagi leaves school, but if she wins, she will out the fact that Ayanokoji masterminded everything.

The intensity is really ramping up here, and while Class C at least forgives Ichinose as she understood that what she did was a mistake, there are others who constantly remind her of that in order to break her like Sakayanagi, all while the chairman's daughter is now showing her true colors that she's using rumors and secrets as leverage to get what she wants. And she doesn't do these kinds of things herself as she's ordering others around to do all the dirty work like Hashimoto in making Ichinose's crime come to light, as well as using Kamuro to steal a can of beer get to Ayanokoji, a can that he knew was stolen at the start of the year after looking at the expiration date at the bottom. Ichinose learned her lesson, but rubbing it in was the last thing she needed.

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The good news is that everybody passed their last exam. The bad news is that now, they have a special exam on top of that, one that all but guarantees that somebody gets expelled, while another will be immune from expulsion. The exam is a simple one in that each person votes for somebody they have a positive impression of, and a person they have a negative impression of with the person with the highest approval rating able to avoid expulsion the first time circumstances dictate that the student gets expelled, and the person with the lowest approval rating being expelled with no safeguards whatsoever. There's quite a lot of plotting and scheming, and the stakes are especially high for Ayanokoji as if word gets out that he's the mastermind behind everything, there's no question he would be voted out by a landslide. And then there's Suzune as she has a lot on the line as well, especially with Manabu graduating soon. While everybody doing well is normally a great thing, not at this school when it's just unheard of for everybody to survive exams without any expulsions.

HOOfan_1

Class C not having Koenji expelled would be the dumbest thing ever, considering he has never cooperated during any of the team events.

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The special exam is on and everybody is scrambling to ensure that they survive the vote. Ichinose is targeted, but Nagumo is willing to spend his points to save her in exchange for a date, and seeing that Class B collectively doesn't have 20 million that she really has no other safeguards. The next day, Ayanokoji gets a call from Karuizawa as she's warning him that he's being targeted. While Kushida would have to motive to orchestrate this, she's not the ringleader as it turns out that it's Yamauchi, who is taking orders from Sakayanagi. In light of this, Suzune comes up with a plan to expel the class ringleader instead as she tells everybody in class that Yamauchi is the guy everybody should be trying to expel. As he is one of the three idiots, it would make quite a lot of sense to target him to be the fall guy, and having Suzune explain that a bright student being expelled just isn't right. So yeah, Yamauchi is definitely toast as he has been a huge liability.

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Yamauchi's response to Suzune outing him out was so laughably bad there that he pretty much sabotaged any chance of saving himself. Koenji at least has great abilities with his only major flaw being his Texas-sized ego, while Ike and Sudo are at least honest even if their abilities are the worst in the class. Yamauchi has none of that as his scheme to get Ayanokoji expelled was quickly exposed, and it turns out Sakayanagi played him like a fool as they all gave their positive votes to Ayanokoji while their negative votes went to Yamauchi.

As for the other classes, Totsuka was expelled from Class A, a surprise seeing that Katsuragi was expected to get voted out and was fully ready to accept it, while Manabe, and not Ryuen, was expelled from Class D, all while Class B got the 20 million points required to save Ichinose. As for why Ryuen wasn't expelled even though he failed as the class leader, that's because Ayanokoji and Ichinose struck a deal with him seeing that if he's expelled, the 5 million points he had will go to waste, and Class B needed 4 million more to overturn Ichinose's expulsion. So in exchange for keeping Ryuen around, he gives 4 million points to Class B, and instead vote Manabe out instead. Ryuen was quite the menace early on, but since then he has humbled up and has changed his personality for the better, so keeping him around is not such a bad thing, especially since class D greatly respects Ryuen and still value him as a companion even if he hasn't been the best of guys. That was well-played by Ayanokoji, Suzune, and Sakayanagi seeing that they certainly chose wisely the person to kick out of school.

HOOfan_1

I mean the way they are running it now is not much better than Lord of the Flies. They are all intent on back stabbing and betrayal. Seems like that's what the school wants to promote. I mean like I said before, they are fostering the next Pol Pots or Enron executives of the world.

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And now, it's onto the final exam in which it becomes a showdown between classes much like how the paper shuffle operates where each class selects a subject and the battle will be decided by the chosen captains, and while it's a pretty rewarding position upon success, it also could result in expulsion. So predictably, all the students who won the popularity contests in their respective classes were chosen seeing that they can all nullify their expulsion from this exam. And thanks to Ishizaki, the matches were pretty much pre-determined as Class A and Class C face each other, while Class B and Class D battle it out. And while that's happening, there's a new acting chairman as Tsukishiro is in, while Alice's father was removed as the school's chairman. So with that, this season will end with the students, whoever survives this exam, entering their second year of high school after an eventful freshman year at this academy.

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And now, Hirata's background is explained as he was the runner-up in the popularity contest, and somebody who is smart, but has a serious character flaw that wasn't flushed out until now when he bumped into Mii-chan and Koenji thought he was doing something inappropriate with her. As it turns out, this all started when his friend attempted to kill himself, and that throw him over the edge leading him to become a control freak who would try to rule the class with an iron fist, and of course that didn't end well. The problems continued into high school as he was a close friend to Yamauchi, but he lacked the guts to try and save him from expulsion. However, he's somebody Ayanokoji needs to rely on, and thus, he's welcomed back to class where he's going to do his best to help Class C. So with that, it's onto the final exam as Ayanokoji has brought Katsuragi to his side for the purpose of beating Sakayanagi, and Class D changed their captain as Ryuen steps in.

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Ayanokoji's father finally shows up as he's the big bad in this show, and it turns out Kiyotaka and Alice go way back as Class A and Class C square off. And so, the final exam begins, first with a 3-on-3 half-court basketball game as Class C comes back to win after a timely substitution. Next are typing, English, math, and archery, with Class C winning the battles they submitted. After that is mental math, a subject that greatly favors Class A and by having Koenji in it that Ayanokoji was planning to concede that one. Then it's chess, which is Ayanokoji's specialty, with Suzune and Hashimoto playing each other. But while Ayanokoji is the better player, he made a costly unorthodox move that cost him the match, and it turns out the administration interfered with the match. So with that, Class C loses and Ayanokoji would have been expelled if not for his protection point. There are quite a lot of mind games going on here as there were plenty of hidden agendas at play.

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And with that, the eventful and tense first year ends as thanks to that loss in the final exam, Class C is back down to Class D again, but they accomplished quite a lot considering that they are on the bottom of the barrel and not much was expected out of this class. Of course, it also helps that they were led by Ayanokoji, whose talents and intelligence should have made him a student in Class A. The first big problem to deal with in the new school year is Tsukishiro as the acting principal has been up to something, all while Chabashira and Mashima are secretly plotting against him in order to get Sakayanagi reinstated. And then it ends with Suzune finally making up with her brother as this was going to be her last chance with Manabu graduating, and she does just that. Quite a statement that was there to make up at the end as more dangers await in the second year, especially now that Nagumo is the new student council president.

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To wrap up this season, it's spring break to mark the beginning of the second year at the academy, Ayanokoji goes around talking to girls from Shiina to Karuizawa to Matsushita and others, as well as getting an earful from Ryuen and Tsukishiro. Ayanokoji needs Ryuen as an enemy for his scheme, all while Tsukishiro challenges Ayanokoji to figure out who from the white room is going to transfer in. And Suzune, having cut her hair, calls Ayanokoji and is onto his grand scheme, and she demands that he goes all-out, challenging him on the next exam that will either have Suzune join the student council or Ayanokoji going all-out. And to finish things off, Ayanokoji and Karuizawa are a couple again, though it's clear that he's just using her like a textbook and only wants to make sure she doesn't become somebody else's girlfriend. It's mostly transition here, but there's quite a lot of buildup here going to show that he's got a target on his back by so many people, none bigger than from his father. So with that, the first year has wrapped up to bring this season to a close.

Final Thoughts

This season continues to build on the great drama this show is known for, and this season sees great payoff after everything that happened in the first two seasons. The first season was mostly drama without really building up the story, while second season really built up the story, but felt incomplete. As for this season, it also had its ups and downs, but the plot progression is where this season excels. From the mixed training camp to Ichinose's criminal background, the special exam that requires an expulsion, and the paper shuffle final, the plot really moves forward. That said, the story writing for this season is inconsistent as some things went by quickly, while others needlessly dragged out. And the way the supporting cast was used this season was a bit questionable as well. But in the grand scheme of things, it's a show that does a nice job with the plot and drama, all while building up the MC's air of mystery and slowly revealing his true intent that will continue on.

Grade: B+ (8/10)

HOOfan_1

I kind of feel like less happened this season than last season. The whole "the most talented people are real assholes, and the kind people are just there to be taken advantage of" thing is getting a little old.

Another 6/10