Caught under the wave of controversial book bans across the United States reported by Free Speech group PEN America, Yutsei Matsui’s Assassination Classroom is among comics and other materials delisted from public school libraries due to the manga’s ultraviolent themes. Across the states, the manga has been subject to scrutiny and repeated bans for its adult-oriented content.
In a report published by the Non-Profit organization on October 5th, the Assassination Classroom manga series was seen to have been banned over 50 times within the 2024-2025 academic session. The manga is among a litany of popular series, such as Attack on Titan, Black Cloverand Jujutsu Kaisenbarred permanently from public school libraries.
Assassination Classroom Has Been Banned At Least 50 Times In US School Libraries
Japanese manga’s rise to ubiquity in the United States comes with some challenges that the educational system is tackling rigorously. At the forefront of this development is Yutsei Matsui’s Assassination Classrooma shonen staple that ran successfully from 2012 to 2016 on Weekly Shonen Jump, leading to an ensuing anime adaptation.
Assassination Classroom’s story premise was straightforward: an array of students are tasked with a daunting goal of assassinating their super-powered alien teacher or risk the destruction of Earth. True to the story’s primary themes, the manga incorporates ultraviolence as the young children devise cutthroat strategies to eliminate their teacher.
Undoubtedly, the story’s irresistible appeal contributed to the manga’s proliferation in public school libraries, which has now been frowned upon across schools in the United States. According to a documentary report by the Free Speech group PEN America, it was discovered that Assassination Classroom has been banned at least 54 times across public school libraries in the United States.
The manga has received backlash from school authorities and parents, outright decrying the comic’s R-rated themes that are unsuitable for young children. Across the States, schools including Pennridge School District in Pennsylvania, Oak Ridge Schools in Tennessee, Nacogdoches Independent School District in Texas, and Rutherford County Schools in Tennessee have banned the manga from their libraries.
Assassination Classroom Is A Masterpiece, But It Needs To Be Read By The Right Audience
The ban on Assassination Classroomas recorded by PEN America — which has documented over 6,800 instances of book bans across 23 states — underscores that the manga’s removal isn’t a consequence of societal bias but a deliberate move to protect young readers from mature themes. From a broader perspective, it is a much-needed action.
After all, manga and anime often dive boldly into complex, audacious subjects that aren’t always suited for younger audiences. Consequently, it is crucial that manga series are scrutinized by authorities to determine the right audience for such stories.
- Release Date
-
January 10, 2015
-
-
Mai Fuchigami
Nagisa Shiota
