Koro Sensei Quest! is a series of 12 anime shorts based on a spin-off manga of Assassination Classroom. The shorts were directed by Yoshito and produced by Lerche, and they were originally released in Japan between December 26, 2016 and March 9, 2017. As of this writing, Crunchyroll holds the North American license for the Koro Sensei Quest! anime shorts.

Koro Sensei Quest! sets the Assassination Classroom characters in an alternate universe RPG world. The students of Kunugigoaka Junior High School, which is rebranded in these shorts as a magic school, are heroes in training. The E class is still ostracized, because the students in this class have bugs that make them weaker than other heroes. Just like in the original Assassination Classroom, the students in the E class are tasked with destroying Koro-sensei. In this alternate universe, Koro-sensei is the “big bad” character of the RPG world. A major aesthetic difference in these shorts is the fact that the characters are depicted as chibi versions of themselves.

The anime shorts are comedic in nature, which is easy to do with the various bugs that the students in Class E have. The shorts also utilize some of the story beats from the original Assassination Classroom series and incorporates RPG world twists to them. Viewers who are familiar with Assassination Classroom will pick up on these references and appreciate how they were incorporated into this series of shorts. While there’s the potential for viewers who have no familiarity with Assassination Classroom to find humor in these shorts, due the comedy involving being an RPG world, they likely won’t get the full impact of the humor in these shorts due to not knowing the references from the original series.

When it comes to the humor in Koro Sensei Quest!, the mileage may vary. For me, at least, I thought the humor was a little stronger in the earlier shorts compared to the later shorts. I could definitely tell that either the humor wasn’t as strong or that the shorts relied on the same types of gags over and over the further along they got, because I found myself chucking less and less as the shorts progressed. That’s not to say that the humor is necessarily bad or that the shorts are bad, it’s just that for me personally, the humor was less amusing as the shorts progressed.

When it comes to portraying the characters as chibi versions, I think this worked well with the vibe that the series was going for. The humor wouldn’t have worked quite as well if the art style kept the characters in their normal designs from Assassination Classroom. I also have to give credit for how Koro Sensei Quest! utilizes Kunudon, the mascot for Kunugigoaka Junior High School. Need slimes or other creatures for Class E to battle? Just put a lot of Kunundons in a hat to represent those creatures and have them serve in those roles. I thought that was brilliant.

At least I can now say that I’ve watched Koro Sensei Quest!, even if I wasn’t impressed by the entirety of the work. I thought it was interesting to see these characters and their situation depicted with different elements and in a different art style. I wouldn’t call this “must see” viewing for fans of Assassination Classroom, but it’s kind of worth it just to see something a little different for the franchise. The shorts are about 10 minutes in length, so it’s only about two hours of viewing in order to get through the whole thing. If you’re a fan of Assassination Classroom and don’t mind spending two hours watching a gag anime, then give Koro Sensei Quest! a shot.

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