[March 20, 2023]1
Spy Classroom is a simple, competent, consistently enjoyable light action comedy about cute girls learning how to be spies. The high-stakes first arc is particularly engrossing, but the fun cast of characters makes even the filler episodes quite watchable.
The show feels solid from start to finish because it never overreaches: we were promised cute girls learning how to be spies, and we got exactly that. It’s spy fiction as light action comedy rather than military thriller, but it still delivers reasonably clever spy-like twists: gadgets, disguises, shadowy figures, double- and triple-crosses.
The tone is well balanced because, again, it doesn’t overreach. The girls are cute and silly, and the deadpan teacher complements them well; the spy missions are exciting, even when the stakes are low; and the tragic backstories, when they come up, give the story a bit of heart without wallowing in sadness. It’s about as cozy as spy fiction gets.
The season is fairly well paced: three main characters, including the teacher, are well developed, and what I called the filler episodes typically focus on developing one side character each through enjoyable albeit low-stakes action mixed with comedy. The voice acting is charming, the animation is serviceable, and the subtitles are acceptable.
I remember once slogging through an episode of some romantic comedy I won’t name, trying to force myself to enjoy it. I gave up eventually and put on My First Girlfriend Is a Gal, of all things, a less than beloved franchise, and my relief was immediate and overwhelming, because finally I was watching a show that actually tries to deliver on the core appeal of its genre; a show that consistently does the obvious right thing. I feel the same way about Spy Classroom now: it’s a minor success. It doesn’t shout at you; it’s not trying to seem important; it doesn’t even demand your full attention in every scene. But if you ever find yourself slogging through the latest “revolutionary achievement for the medium,” consider a simple story about cute spy girls instead.
I reviewed Spy Classroom so I could write that conclusion. The winter season was a bit of a slog. Handyman Saitou, for example, seemed like the sort of thing I would enjoy, so I tried very hard to enjoy it, which is a weird feeling. I also rewatched Chainsaw Man, trying very hard to understand why it had been compared by some to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Whereas I didn’t need to try at all to enjoy Spy Classroom, because it is simply enjoyable.
The romantic comedy I wouldn’t name is Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie, and I did give up mid-episode and put on a special OVA episode of My First Girlfriend Is a Gal, in which, at the very least, the characters are allowed to have conflicting goals. The childhood friend wants to steal the protagonist away from his girlfriend, so she invites him to a haunted house, where she can pretend to be frightened in order to squeeze her enormous melons against him: not a great plan, but I’m on board. He, being an idiot, doesn’t know what she’s planning, so he goes along with it (dramatic irony). The haunted house turns out to be way too scary — all right, you get the point. The show is actually trying to deliver on the core appeal of its genre.
In any case, with that, we reach the end of my previously posted reviews, just in time for the final episode of Isekai Cheat Skill and my review of it.