Mr Hiiragi's Homeroom series review: This J-drama has a meaningful message which takes too long to deliver

2/5

Story:

Mr. Hiiragi aka Hiiragi sensei (Hiragi sir) takes a class hostage after the death of a student. He confuses them and makes them suspect one another for the death of this student. Will the class be able to unveil the true story behind the death of this student?

Review:

Mr. Hiiragi's Homeroom begins on a tragic note. On a contrasting note, the school where he teaches is quite cool. It takes care of teachers in a way unlike the ordinary schools.

Another interesting thing here is that students bully teachers. Things change here in an instant and there is a huge surprise in store for the people involved. The season gets too bizarre too soon.

The season tends to become something like Assassination Classroom, just this time the teacher has something else in mind. 

The bizarre nature of this series never fails to surprise you. Out of the blue, you are introduced to cops who are no less than thugs. 

The co-incidences are too similar to not compare Hiragi to Koro. However, there is a new element introduced this time which gives the series a boost.

The show introduces characters which add humour to the tense situation. The edits in the series are too badly cropped out. It does not help the already confusing plot.

The plot goes on in loops. The series meets its end in the third episode itself and even then the buildup is only so long that it makes you lost interest in what the story wants to convey.

The series has references from Death Note as well. We see K, which Kira used to communicate. It hints that the professor is a protagonist-antagonist or something in between.

The music tries to mend the effects of a scene but barely succeed. While the storyline barely works, the music in itself is something worth hearing. The two do not bind well together in the series, though. 

The series is your typical falling down hard and getting back up story. The main lead, once again, is a motivational speaker. He picks people's spirits up even in the most bizarre way you could imagine.

Halway through the series, Mr. Hiragi's Classroom becomes interesting. 

The core issue with the story is that it deals with too many topics and thus, loses focus on just one. 

The climax of part 2 begins and it goes on in the same flow. Even when the show tries to give a good message, it suffers because of the length and music. The messages could be cut short and be more effective with this series.

We get to see the students in their future and an intriguing element is introduced - what happened to Bukki aka Hiragi sensei? This happens in the ninth episode i.e. towards the end. The episode also has a very superhero vibe. Here, a superhero swoops in to save a human and pretends to be his companion. While it is a cute moment, it's almost unbelievable since there isn't a strong story to back it up. It doesn't help that the story is stretched beyond a point of return.

The series has a good message to share. However, it takes way too long to reach that message and doesn't even seem like a novice concept to make the J-drama an interesting watch. The series compensates for everything in the last episode. It brings out a lot of emotions and gives you a feel-good factor. All unresolved cases get resolved in the climax which is a good thing but the series suffers from the timing. It took way too long to reach the point which requires immense amount of patience.

Verdict:

Mr. Hiiragi's Homeroom gets lost in introductions. The climax episode is the only one which works well and in favour of the show but investing nearly 10 hours to get there is a stretch. Since the concept isn't novel per say, you could skip watching this series and go watch Assassination Classroom instead.