Assassination Classroom, Vol. 2

Students left behind by the world have been tasked with assassinating their teacher, Kuro-sensei, an all-powerful alien who blew up part of the Moon and is planning to do the same to the Earth in a year. Kuro-sensei, an uncomfortably noodly creature, has challenged his students (and the rest of Earth) to kill him, and yet he continues to hang around to give them every opportunity to knock him off%E2%80%94while teaching them to be better in every aspect of their lives, including their studies. In this volume, the alien%E2%80%99s motivations are hinted at as he educates a femme fatale assassin brought in from Russia to assist the class%E2%80%99s efforts. Clean linework and simple backgrounds leave room for underlying messages, while occasionally becoming more complicated for action sequences. As the first of Matsui%E2%80%99s (Demon Detective Neuro Nogami) work to be translated into English, Assassination Classroom grows on the reader as an unusual presentation of political satire and social justice, and has useful things to say about meeting challenges through high expectations. (Feb.)