Netflix is about to get one of the best school anime, and you shouldn’t miss it
Assassination Classroom, a beloved Shonen Jump manga and anime series, is coming to Netflix in June. Created by Yusei Matsui, the series exemplifies a defining characteristic of anime: the ability to weave deeply emotional narratives beneath seemingly absurd premises.
The premise itself sounds almost unserious on the surface—a class of underperforming middle school students is tasked with assassinating their teacher, who happens to be an octopus-like creature. Yet like many of anime’s most acclaimed works, the show combines this ridiculous setup with genuine emotional weight and character development.
This trend of hidden depth within outlandish concepts is well-established in anime. Neon Genesis Evangelion uses the framework of a teenager piloting a biomechanical god to explore depression and existential crisis. One Piece wraps its cartoonish treasure hunt premise around themes of grief, oppression, and inherited trauma. Assassination Classroom follows this tradition, using the assassination plot as a vehicle for exploring deeper thematic material.
The series’ arrival on Netflix makes it accessible to a broader global audience, continuing the streaming platform’s investment in anime content. For viewers unfamiliar with the series, it represents an opportunity to discover how effectively anime can balance absurdist humor with genuine emotional resonance. The combination of the seemingly ridiculous central premise with the actual emotional storytelling has made Assassination Classroom a standout title in the anime community.