Episode two of the English dub to Assassination Classroom, titled “Baseball Time,” is now available to stream on FUNimation. This dub is only available for premium members, which means you have to pay a subscription fee to watch this episode.
I have already watched and reviewed the original subtitled second episode of Assassination Classroom when it came out and I am writing this review to evaluate the English voices.
This episode introduces Class 3-E student Tomohito Sugino, one of Nagisa’s close friends, an aspiring baseball player. I found the idea of attaching the pellets onto a baseball was a creative and novel idea, but lacked the required speed to touch let alone hurt Koro-Sensei.
Sugino is the obvious star of this episode.
My thoughts on Sugino’s English voice:
I feel that Clifford Chapin did a good job voicing Sugino because I had no idea on how he would sound in the dubbed version of Assassination Classroom. Sugino’s English voice sounds friend but relaxed and confident.
Hearing Sugino sound depressed after failing to hurt Koro-Sensei gave him a human perspective and makes people want to cheer for him. If he does not kill Koro-Sensei, then people should cheer and root for Sugino in hopes that he will achieve his dream of playing professional baseball.
Sugino sounds human and endearing after listening to his English voice.
My thoughts on Nagisa’s English voice:
This is the first episode that I have heard Nagisa sound angry let alone at the way Koro-Sensei allegedly has been looking down on Sugino. I feel that Lindsey Seidel did a very good job of making Nagisa sound angry and making sure he remains sounding like a young boy.
My thoughts on the “Baseball Time”:
I found the perspective of using baseball to kill Koro-Sensei as a unique concept and it kind of reminds me of Bullseye from Marvel Comics because he worked as a professional baseball pitcher for a short time.
This feels like a freaky version of Great Teacher Onizuka because Koro-Sensei goes all the way to make sure that Sugino does not give up his dream. Koro-Sensei teaches Sugino the valuable lesson that he should not emulate his favorite baseball player, Arita, and needs to come up with his own unique style that will become his own unique assassination style.
Koro-Sensei makes me think of a weird alien-like version of Ekichi Onizuka from Great Teacher Onizuka.
I must stress that I enjoyed this episode a lot.
If you enjoy watching shows like Great Teacher Onizuka or Gokusen, then you will enjoy watching this episode. This episode should also be enjoyable for people that enjoy stories that center on baseball.
The subplot in the episode is also interesting because it centers on the forced social engineering of the high school as Class 3-E is designed to fail. Koro-Sensei is out to destroy the world, but the school’s headmaster is the true antagonist.
