With the advent of streaming technologies, like Netflix, Google Chromecast, Blinkbox etc. I’ve been meaning to get some all important quality viewing done. All for the purposes of reflection and advancing media criticism of course.

I’m the first to hold my hand up high to say I have nigh-on almost all the best streaming systems, thanks to my lover. We have Amazon Prime’s Instant Video (his mistake) and probably the worst interface I’ve seen, I do not recommend at all. But I do recommend the best little gizmo you could ever get – a Google Chromecast device which costs less that a T-Shirt, at under £20! Then there is my own personal gift to myself, my family and anyone who swindled my password from me , a Netflix account!! We’re going on four years strong this April provided he doesn’t change his subscription.

But despite all these amazing advancements and online on-demand services, quality and time are huge inescapable factors when I find myself in front of that blackhole which is the TV. Rather than sitting, complaining and venting online I’ve ventured everywhere to find that something different, not necessarily new but an alternative viewpoint, storyline, characters and way at looking at the world. I’m currently still clinging on to a list of American alternative side-lined TV shows but to my complete surprise I found all the qualities I have been searching for back where I started, in Japanese animation.

More specifically in “Assassination Classroom”, an adaptation of a Manga (Japanese comic book) series produced by Brain’s Base and simulcasted by Funimation – though still not in the EU. Luckily I have not read the manga series so I can be surprised, emotionally elevated and thoughtlessly thrown down every twist-turn nook-and-cranny of the 22 episode long series. Unluckily I have to exercise the utmost self-control to try and not rush over to my partner’s manga collection to devour each character, plot arc and change of pace. Like I didn’t have enough on my plate with this January’s crop of re-resolutions.

I highly recommended finding a creative way to get around the EU block to try and catch any if not all of “Assassination Classroom”. The combination of the mundane and the fantastical settings and characters reminds me of school life in my teens. Even after one episode, I find myself remembering antics and trying to figuring out  the “characters” much like I would after a day of school. The use of slow-paced asides particularly with the protagonist cut against high-octane scenes gives an overall package that screams “slice-of-life” though it couldn’t possibly be, or could it?…

In short it’s a more fantastical, colourful version of The Demon Headmaster, but still not.

Here’s a teaser of the opening:

Oh how I’m waiting on tenter-tentacles for next Monday’s episode!