Classroom of the Elite, Vol. 1

By: Syougo Kinugasa

Narrated by: Eddy Lee

The cutthroat school drama light novels that inspired an anime!

Students of the prestigious Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School are given remarkable freedom—if they can win, barter, or save enough points to work their way up the ranks!

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka has landed at the bottom in the scorned Class D, where he meets Horikita Suzune, who’s determined to rise up the ladder to Class A. Can they beat the system in a school where cutthroat competition is the name of the game?

©2015 Syougo Kinugasa (P)2015 Syougo Kinugasa

Barely made it through. Narrator almost killed it.

I’ve watched the anime, so I know the cast and story well and like both. The narrator did fine when it came to narrating the main character and inner monologue, but every guy and girl sounded almost the same. When names are being thrown around and you can’t really distinguish who they’re talking about or who they’re talking with it becomes frustrating. I’d seen the anime so I had a fair idea of who was being talked about and who was having the conversation but when several side characters were together it was so easy to lose what was going on and then it just became a monotone of dialogue.
It’s honestly a shame cause I like the anime and liked seeing through the main character eyes and hear his thought process, but half way through I realized I wasn’t paying attention anymore.

I don’t want to dissuade anyone who might be able to look past the narration, but for me the guy just doesn’t have a range of voices, he has male and female and that’s it. Also, I can’t deny that whenever he used the “San” and “Kun” with names, it was very cringe worthy and easily took me out of the moment.

So if you’re like me and need a full cast of voices to get through a story then you might want to avoid this one and just go watch the anime, or read it on your own.

I have to hand it to the story, after going back and re-watching the anime, the novel gives the characters far more depth. the anime, while good, cuts out a lot of the interaction and story. The story starts to pick up and become more interesting two-thirds the way through. Just be aware that it is difficult to follow who's talking to who at some moments. Overall this is a good story and one I'd recommend, i just wish it had a female narrator along with the guy at least, if not a full cast.

My favorite Series!!

I absolutely love this series, it’s my favorite anime for sure and the book is just as good! I’m almost done with the books so having a new audiobook to listen to is so exciting 💓

Awesome

Great narration. Book starts slow but becomes fun later on. I hope they release more of these.

Powerful Mindset

I’m the target audience for flawed unapologetic geniuses Kiyotaka & Suzune. My favorite duo, I love how they’re not technically friends but they’re always there for each other because they “belong together” (IMO) jk, they’re comfortable & on the same frequency…most of the time. I’m like Kikyo Kushida, people pleaser, love friendship & spread positivity but can be SO ANNOYING & unhinged when mad! I Love the plot so much. If you’re familiar with Horimiya, My Little Monster or Kaguya-sama: Love is war and you like that kind of anime, I believe you’ll like to listen to this light novel.

story

I liked the story and performance. I didn't really dislike anything. twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen.