Assassination Classroom Episode 9: Transfer Student Time

Whenever it comes to a transfer student, you can always expect some tropes. But since this is Assassination Classroom, you know there’s going to be some kind of twist. Such as the transfer student being an assassin.

As the boys walk to class, they talk about the transfer student from the email Karasuma-sensei sent. One of the boys asked for the student’s picture. It turns out, the new student is a very cute girl. Although curious, they’re a little uneasy of her. What kind of person is she, and what kinds of assassination skills does she have?

Well first off, she’s not a human girl. She’s a machine. Her name is Autonomous Intelligence Fixed Artillery, and basically put she’s a killing machine. She has multiple guns fixed inside her and throughout the entire day, she carried out assassination attempts while also collecting data, such as the percentages against killing him. Once her first attempt failed, she learned from it and slightly changed her attacks to harm Koro-sensei, which she was able to do. Unfortunately, having BB bullets flying across class all day was a major distraction from the students. And surprisingly the students restrain her.

Because she distracts them from her learning, and frankly none of them really like her. During the night, she processes data while also being paid a visit by Koro-sensei. And as usual from Koro-sensei, he can even reach out to the heart of a robot. But she’s a student nonetheless. He can’t harm her, so he can’t destroy the machine, but they never said anything about changing her memory and such. He explains to her why the students put restraints on her, and how if she doesn’t get along and understand the students, she won’t get anywhere. She needs to take into consideration their feelings. Also, if she were to kill him, the billions would probably just go to the men that built her and not be shared among the students.

So Koro-sensei takes it upon himself to upgrade her. As usual, he helps another of his students, because he actually really cares for them, even if they are a literal killing machine. Now, what kind of upgrades did he give Artillery?

A personality change, that’s one. Instead of just her head on the screen, he turned her into a full-body LCD screen with a pretty background, while taking his advice, and taking the others’ feelings into consideration. And in just a moment, she becomes popular among the students, like most transfer students in anime are. But some don’t care about her, saying Koro-sensei upgraded her so they shouldn’t trust her. But wow…what a change. And Koro-sensei spent millions to upgrade her. That just shows how much he cares.

Not wanting to call her Artillery, or that super long name, they play around with her name, and they all decide to call her Ritsu, and make her one of their own.

That same night, the men that built her pay a visit and are appalled at the upgrades made and try to fix her, deleting the things that don’t have to do with assassination. Obviously, all these men care about is money and they’ll do whatever to get it. The next day, we see Ritsu as she was the first day she arrived, Karasuma announcing that upgrading her is the same as “harming” her, so Koro-sensei has to back off. The class is worried that the same barrage of bullets is going to happen again, but it turns out that Ritsu disobeyed her master and saved some of the data she deemed having to do with assassination, and kept them somewhere where they couldn’t find it. She retains the same personality and so she officially joins the class.

A pretty interesting episode. I didn’t expect the new student to be a machine, and it just makes me wonder what or who the other transfer student is and when they’re going to appear, and I look forward to that.