Classroom of the Elite is a 2017 adaptation of the light novel of the same name. The studio is Lerche, who has created famous series such as Asobi Asobase. The studio has also appeared before the audience in recent years with anime such as Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun and Astra Lost in Space. The first season of the anime was broadcast on AT-X, Tokyo MX, TV Aichi, KBS, Sun TV, TVQ, and BS11 between July 12, 2017 – September 27, 2017. Licensed by Funimation and Crunchyroll, the anime managed to become famous worldwide in a short time when it was published. The audience is wondering what is known about the second season of the anime.
What is the plotline of Classroom of the Elite?
Kōdo Ikusei High School is a school full of privileges. In this school, classes are divided from A to D. Matters like clothing, hair, and jewellery are not important here at all. Everything is left to students’ creativity. Ikusei High School’s campus, which has the most advanced facilities in the country, is no different from a city center. Everything students may need is available such as cafes, clothing stores, and technology stores. The rate of students entering university or finding a job after finishing high school is 100%. In short, this high school is just like your dreams with one difference. Only the top students benefit from these privileges.
Our hero, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, is among the applicants to enroll in this high school. However, due to his carelessness, he fails the entrance examination and is thrown into the D class called the “class of garbage”. Here Horikita meets Suzune and Kushida Kikyou. Suzune aims to move from D to A class. Kikyou’s only goal is to be friends with everyone. Thus, Ayanokouji begins a much different high school life than he expected.
When is the second season of Classroom of the Elite?
Classroom of the Elite‘s first season was aired from July 12, 2017, to September 27, 2017. There was a lot of speculation about the new season of the anime for five years, but there was no official statement until last February. On February 21, 2022, the light novel that the anime is being adapted for shared the first announcement of a new season with fans. The series was renewed, and it was stated that more news about the second season will be shared in Kadokawa’s live YouTube broadcast on March 6.
The expectations of the fans did not go unfulfilled, and the first trailer was published during the special live broadcast of the anime -you can watch it at the end of the article-. The cast from the first season returns in the new season of the anime, and the first-year-student arc of the original story will be adapted. During the live event, it was also announced that the anime had been renewed for a third season! Yes, you heard right, two new seasons of Classroom of the Elite are waiting for fans!
The latest news about the Classroom of the Elite anime seasons has been shared on the official website. According to the announcement made on May 30, 2022, the anime’s second season will begin airing on July 4, 2022. The third season has no clear date yet, but it is certain that it will be broadcast in 2023. The official Twitter account has released a new visual for the anime.
| Release Date | Ends | |
| Season 1 | July 12, 2017 | September 27, 2017 |
| Season 2 | July 4, 2022 | TBA |
| Season 3 | 2023 | TBA |
Light novel status of the Classroom of the Elite?
As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, Classroom of the Elite is a light novel adaptation. The original series was written by Shōgo Kinugasa and illustrated by Shunsaku Tomose. Published by Media Factory, a sub-branch of Kadokawa, the light novel began airing in 2015 and is still ongoing. As of June 2022, the light novel, which has 21 volumes with the side story volumes, is also published in English by Seven Seas Entertainment. The good news is that the original series is sufficient for source material and it is still ongoing. The last volume of the series has been published on February 25, 2022.
The Classroom of the Elite anime does not follow the light novel directly chronologically. For some characters, it preferred an original script instead of following the light novel or manga. We see the clearest example of this for Kiyotaka Ayanokouji. Generally, the anime is based on a side story, volumes 4,5—other episodes inspired by volume 4 and volume 3.
Disc Sales and Popularity
Blu-Ray sales are important since anime is for-profit production. Although Classroom of the Elite gained popularity on the online streaming platforms where it was published, this did not reflect on Blu-Ray sales. Generally, if discs sales exceed 4,000, an anime is considered to hold great promise for the second season. However, sales of discs are about 1,500, which is a disastrous defeat in terms of sales.
On the other hand, the Classroom of the Elite anime had another mission: to support light novel sales. The light novel series continued to sell even after the anime series aired. The critical point here is that anime has visibly influenced light novel sales. By 2021, more than 5 million copies of the series in circulation. The number of copies, which was 500,000 before the animation, doubled while the animation was broadcast, and the animation gained momentum after the release and approached 5 million recently.
As another metric to show popularity, we can look at Google search volumes or look at the number of Twitter followers. Although it is not considered very successful in disc sales, it still has a strong fan base. 250k people follow the anime’s page on Twitter, and Classroom of the Elite is searched by people on Google at least as much as popular anime such as Baki or Food Wars!.
What can be the plotline of Classroom of the Elite?
It’s clear that the anime has only one season in total and feels like it was abandoned because quite a small number of novel volumes were adapted in the anime’s first season. And if the anime continues, it will definitely be more than two seasons. That’s what the fans and we hope. Most likely, the end of the second season will be the seventh volume. If you’re not patient enough to wait for a new season, you can read the light novel from the beginning of the fourth volume.
The second season of the Classroom of the Elite anime series will focus on the story starting from the fourth light novel. In the next arc, the factions will be divided into teams to fight inside the cruise ship. But this war, contrary to what is thought, will not be by normal weapons, stones, or sticks. All students are divided into twelve groups according to their zodiac sign, and each group will try to find out which student is the VIP member in the other groups. It’s kind of like the on-the-ship version of the man-finding exam they did in the jungle. These events will be prevented, and the resulting drama will bring the audience to tears. When we look at the story in general, we are sure that we will see many entertaining scenes besides the dramatic scenes.