With the current socio-political climate rife with controversy and hot debates about health and human rights, one of the last things a person would expect is to hear about a manga being banned in schools. According to USA Today, Jennifer Pippin of Moms for Liberty says, “We don’t want students to think it’s OK to kill their teachers.”
Assassination Classroom was first serialized back in 2012 to 2016, with an anime adaptation in 2015-2016. The premise of the story is that a tentacled monster who claims to have destroyed a large chunk of the moon threatens to destroy Earth within the next year. However, the monster will give Earthlings a chance: They have a year to attempt to successfully kill him to prevent disaster. Moreover, the monster who eventually is dubbed “Koro-sensei,” becomes a teacher of class 3-E at Kunugigaoka Junior High School. The rest of the series follows the students as they and other contractors try to kill Koro-sensei.
In some ways, the logic makes sense that some parents may be concerned that Assassination Classroom has some rather violent content and themes, as the students in the series do use weapons and guns. In the US, gun violence in schools has been a major concern for parents across the board. On the other hand, banning the manga does not solve this problem because Koro-sensei is very obviously a bright neon yellow tentacle monster with no real equivalent in real life.
Gifford Middle School in Gifford, Florida and the Elmbrook School District have removed the manga from their book catalogues.
