Classroom for Heroes: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Classroom for Heroes: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Classroom for Heroes is an action-fantasy with romantic elements. Created by Shin Araki, Classroom for Heroes features animation production by Actas (Girls und Panzer, Princess Principal). Produced by Mayumi Watanabe (Gintama), Rei Torii (Requiem of the Rose King), Yasutaka Kimura (A Certain Magical Index), Yoshinori Hasegawa (The Misfit of Demon King Academy, Wandering Witch - The Journey of Elaina), and Yuki Tezuka, Classroom for Heroes features voice performances by Reiji Kawashima and Misuzu Yamada. Classroom for Heroes is going to appeal to action fans looking for a new and exciting series.

The Rosewood Academy is one of the most prestigious schools for students looking to become heroes. The Academy has its sights on training students in the best hero methods so that the students can be heroic, graduate, and become leaders paving the way for a better tomorrow. Can the world be saved and humanity thrive with heroes educated by Rosewood Academy? The school isn’t the easiest school for students to get into – it’s a big of a competition to even enter the Academy as the school will only accept applications from the most gifted.

If the potential for success isn’t already there, the Rosewood Academy won’t work out. As such, there’s a lot at stake for newcomer student Blade (Reiji Kawashima) as he finds himself in over his head at the school. Arnest Flaming (Misuzu Yamada), a female student with the best school recognition, is considered a leader – someone who can help train the bumbling Arnest Flaming.

Classroom for Heroes explores the school setting with a dash of old-school adventure. Students looking to be heroes have a lot cut out for them at the school. It’s a theme that many anime fans might feel is familiar – the classroom setting being a chance for learning, for education, and for fun. The cast of characters go through more big stakes at the prestigious Rosewood Academy and it’s a pace for exploration. Many fantasy and adventure anime series use a school setting as a template for the adventure and comedy.

Classroom for Heroes features original character designs by Haruyuki Morisawa and Koara Kishida. The anime character designs are by Kōsuke Kawamura (Remake Our Life!, Frame Arms Girl). The character designs are well done and effective for the cast of characters.

Though the cast of characters don’t have the most memorable or iconic character designs the effort is still decent enough to work. Decent designs that work well still manage to contribute to the production. Do the designs pave the way forward? No, of course not. Yet there’s still something reasonably engaging about the designs and they do add to the series.

The animation is one of the most effective parts of the production. Classroom for Heroes features art direction by e-caesar (Hell's Paradise, Skip and Loafer). Classroom for Heroes features chief animation direction by Kōsuke Kawamura (In Search of the Lost Future, Remake Our Life!) and Eri Kojima (Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean). The series animation is a nice part of the series aesthetic style. The animators do a solid job with the background animation and line artwork. The vibrant art style is also quite energetic – a perfect sensibility for the type of anime series Classroom for Heroes is.

The cinematography by Kōhei Tanada (Casshern Sins, The Princess and the Pilot) adds a lot to the series production. The cinematography shines with vibrant and bright animation at the center of the visuals. Cinematographer Tanada handles the lighting and visual flair extremely well and it contributes to the overall quality of the series visuals.

The score composed by Kōtarō Nakagawa (Chivalry of a Failed Knight, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion) is something that works quite well for the series. The score adds excitement and fun. Everything is more robust with the score building on the backdrop of the series style and genre.

Written by Naoki Hayashi (Citrus, Love Is Indivisible by Twins), Classroom for Heroes isn’t a slam-dunk home-run anime series but it does have decent dialogue and characters. The writing provides some entertaining elements. The end result is something that will appeal to action fans. Dialogue is also decent overall.

Directed by Keiichiro Kawaguchi (Dropout Idol Fruit Tart, Hayate the Combat Butler), Classroom for Heroes isn’t going to become a cult classic anytime soon but it is a decent anime with some fun elements for action fans. Fans of the action genre will find something worth checking out here. Classroom for Heroes is decent rainy-day entertainment.

Classroom for Heroes: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll, Classroom for Heroes is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The series has an impressive high-definition presentation. The presentation provides excellent color reproduction and depth. The background art and line art are well reproduced. The series aesthetic impresses and has wonderful qualities well reproduced by the Crunchyroll presentation.

One of the strengths of the Blu-ray disc format is the superior video quality. Video quality is sometimes better encoded compared to streaming video services. One of the reasons for this difference is that the bit-rates can be higher. Streaming video bit-rates often fluctuate more than on physical media and fans wanting to "eek" out the absolute best quality obtainable, physical media still provides a distinct and noteworthy difference. These kinds of picture-quality differences are especially noteworthy for home theater enthusiasts.

Classroom for Heroes: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (with English subtitles). The Blu-ray release does not include an English dubbed option. The sound direction by Takayuki Yamaguchi (Anonymous Noise, Dead Mount Death Play) is well preserved on the release. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. The score is well reproduced and well-integrated into the soundstage. The sound effects play well with the 2.0 stereo audio and the lack of a 5.1 surround sound mix isn't missed. The English subtitles are well done and free from egregious spelling or grammatical errors.

Unfortunately, the one big drawback remains that the lack of an English dubbed option is alienating to some audiences and potential customers. English dub options often help to sway some customers to make a purchase. With Japanese audio only, the set is leaving out some potential customers and leaving them on the sidelines. Even so, if one can accept the release only has the original Japanese language audio, the track is well-reproduced and is sure to make a solid impression.

One of the hallmarks of the Blu-ray disc format is lossless audio encoding. The lossless audio option is something that audiophiles and home theater enthusiasts appreciate. The difference is sometimes a subtle one – other times, it is more significant. Regardless, there is something nice and reassuring in knowing that one has lossless encoding with the audio not sacrificing audio quality with dropped bit-rates and data in the encode. For enthusiasts wanting the best possible experience, this is a notable point worth remembering.

Classroom for Heroes: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Classroom for Heroes comes packaged in a standard Blu-ray case. The release comes with a nicely designed o-card slipcover. The slipcover artwork is impressive and certainly memorable for the packaging presentation. The cover-art on the sleeve underneath the slipcover is different. The impressive artwork on the main cover adds to the package design, too. The cover-art also has an impressive inner-art printing on the inside of the case. One thing of note that could have made the packaging even nicer is a clear case.

The fact that the inner artwork isn't that visible in a blue case is an example of why the addition of a clear case would have helped to emphasize the art (without having to slide out the cover art to look at it for a few seconds before sliding it back into the case). The clear cases are also classier and would have added a nice design element to the release. Nonetheless, a decent and nice-looking package overall – even though I hope for clear cases to be used in the future.

On disc supplements include:

OVA 1: "True Thermae" (HD, 14:10)

OVA 2: "Let's start a band!" (HD, 11:56)

OVA 3: "Sophie's Ordinary Dining Table" (HD, 13:39)

Promo Videos (HD, 6:25)

Textless Opening Song (HD, 1:34)

Textless Closing Song (HD, 1:34)

Classroom for Heroes: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Classroom for Heroes is a decent anime series with some fun for action-adventure fans. The series has a wonderful production aesthetic. The animation is top-notch and there is plenty to appreciate. Fans of energetic action anime will find something worthwhile.

The Blu-ray release features a solid high-definition presentation and lossless audio encoding. The release also comes with some OVA episodes, promo videos, and textless opening/closing songs. The first print run of the release also includes an o-card slipcover. Slipcover fans might want to act fast and purchase before the limited print run slipcover (only available on the first print run) sells out.