The following contains spoilers for Episode 3 of Classroom Of The Elite Season 2, “The greatest souls are capable of the greatest vices as well as of the greatest virtues,” now streaming onCrunchyroll.
Episode 2 ofClassroom of the Elitetook fans through the hidden nature of Karuizawa Kei, a victim of bullying since childhood. In addition, the episode revealed the impressive foresight Ayanokoji possesses; he was able to deduce obscure details about Karuizawa that will help Class D in their current test. Interestingly, his hunch turned out to be accurate and fully blossomed in episode 3.
The third episode of the season revealed how cold and calculating Ayanokoji can be; it also showed fans the true extent of his manipulative skills. Using Karuizawa, the victim of bullying, Ayanokojicreated an ideal strategyto aid Class D in the Cruise Ship test. Although the results weren’t too favorable, the plan set by Ayanokoji was nothing short of ingenious.
RELATED:Classroom Of The Elite Season 2: Episode 2 Review
Ayanokoji – The Cold and Calculating Manipulator
Episode 3 started with the bullying of Karuizawa by 3 members of Class C. Despite the intensity of the bullying and humiliation directed towards Karuizawa, Ayanokoji made no attempts to settle the fray. Fortunately for Karuizawa, Hamaguchi stopped the bullying before it could escalate. Regardless, all he got from Karuizawa was an ungrateful retort, allowing fans to witness her twisted nature. One more thing to note before the scene ended wasAyanokoji’s mysterious comment, “I guess I will try it,” which signified the character had an ace up his sleeve.
In the next scene, the episode revealed the completion of Venus Group’s tests, meaning that someone made a guess at the VIP. According to Ayanokoji, this string of developments may be working in Ryuen’s favor – the Class C leader who is trying to figure out the principle behind the VIP selections. However,Ayanokoji appeared unshakenby the development and instead decided to play the cards he had in the best way. Shockingly one of these cards turned out to be a wildly interesting one. After Ayanokoji’s internal monologue, the episode’s setting changed to show Karuizawa caught in a set-up. Unfortunately for Karuizawa, she was pranked into believing that Hirata scheduled a meeting with her meanwhile, it was really a meeting with her bullies.
The bullying soon commences with Karuizawa being physically assaulted by the three girls from Class C. However, the truly interesting aspect of this bullying was the change in Rika’s disposition. Supposedly, Rika was a victim of Karuizawa, and she followed the bullies to witness the assault. However, she was coaxed into assaulting Karuizawa, first starting with slapping the character timidly. This goes on for a while until her darker side is unleashed, and she starts relishing the assault on Karuizawa, showing just how humans can change depending on the circumstances. Shockingly after the bullying saga, the real orchestrator of the bullying event was revealed to be Ayanokoji.The bullying was Ayanokoji’s strategyto bring Karuizawa to her lowest so she could lean on him for protection. This way, Ayanokoji will have her under his leash as his loyal pawn. The plan works out, and Ayanokoji achieves what he wants, leaving one more issue to tackle: the guessing of the VIP.
RELATED:Classroom Of The Elite Season 2: Episode 1 Review
A Double-Layered Strategy
Since the first episode ofClassroom of the Elitesecond season, Team Mars meetings has been deadlocked due to Class-A’s strategy for everyone to stay quiet and let the waiting period run out before everyone guesses the VIP identity. This almost works until the final meeting in episode 3, where Class-A, through Ichinose and Hamaguchi, came up with a high-risk, high-gain plan, which involved everyone looking through the phones of every Team Mars member’s phone. This way, the VIP identity can be guessed correctly. The new strategy was soon implemented until Yukimura confessed his identity as the VIP. However, it turned out to be a façade set up by Ayanokoji to throw everyone off balance. Still, Ichinose managed to see through the set-up and reveal Ayanokoji as the true VIP. However, it turned out that even that was a set-up. Apparently, the real VIP was Karuizawa whichAyanokoji had accurately predictedsince the start of the test. To prevent the unveiling of Karuizawa’s identity, Ayanokoji swapped phones and sim cards both with Karuizawa and Yukimura.
Using her wits, Ichinose was able to see through the first phase of the double-layered set-up, allowing the real VIP to still be cloaked. Suspiciously, after the meeting ended and Karuizawa and Ayanokoji discussed the success of their plan, Ichinose waltzed in and told the duo cryptically that she was already of their plan from the start. It turns out that the plan’s success also rubbed off on Class C, revealingjust how intelligent Ichinose is. Once again, as the episode ends, Ayanokoji credits Horikita as the brain behind Class D’s strategy, evading any form of suspicion from Ichinose.
Towards the end of the episode, the results were released, with Class C placing first and Class D in the second position. Ryuen’s tactics to study how the test works turned out to be successful; however, this also puts Class-D in a tough position. One underlying question stands out after the events in episode 3: Will Class D make it through the second term?
MORE:Best Anime to Watch If You Love Classroom of the Elite
