Nearly ten years ago, the Assassination Classroom anime began airing in a burst of gunfire, knives, and tentacles as 28 students were faced with an impossible task – kill their otherworldly teacher before the year is up to save the world. It is a weird premise, but a decade later, I’m here to tell you that Assassination Classroom is more than just tentacle jokes and wacky attempts at violence. It hides one of anime’s most perfect bittersweet endings and an all-time great dubbing performance from Sonny Strait, so I’m using this week’s Popverse Jump to celebrate it.

Admittedly, I have a soft spot in my heart for Assassination Classroom. I first watched it while traveling across Japan back in 2018, catching up on episodes in hotels and on trains as my wife and I visited the country. It was the perfect blend