The anime community has seen a slew of iconic anime characters and creating one is not an easy feat. Manga artists spend countless hours refining every small detail to ensure that their work is unique so that it makes a lasting impression on the fans. The author of the wildly popular Assassination Classroom, Yusei Matsui, however, adopted a completely disparate approach when creating the character of a homeroom teacher, Koro Sensei.
A strong, self-assured stance, expressive eyes, and distinctive attire that speaks about their role are all characteristics of an ideal protagonist in a manga/anime. But it’s not the case with Koro Sensei, who has the appearance of a large yellow octopus with a bulbous head and tentacles. With many questions surrounding the unique design, Matsui recently brought to light his simple yet ‘lazy’ approach.
Why was Koro Sensei designed as an octopus in the Assassination Classroom?
Just imagine if the beloved homeroom teacher Koro Sensei was designed as a ‘slimy blob’ character. It’s not the ideation of anime fans but it’s the creator Yusei Matsui himself who had this thought before eventually designing his protagonist in Assassination Classroom as a large yellow octopus. So what prompted Matsui to change his designs of Koro Sensei?
During a recent conversation, Matsui was asked about the reason behind his protagonist’s design and if other animals were also considered besides an octopus. He said:
Actually, the design for Koro-sensei was used in a different manga that did not make it so I just used him. I knew going into a new manga that it had to be simple. Simple, simple, simple. The simpler it is, the more universally things are communicated. Outside an octopus, the other form I considered was a slimy blob. The reason is because both are very easy to draw. He has no joints, and he has no hands to draw. As you can see, he has tentacles, so he is very easy to draw.
Well, Matsui wanted something easy and ‘simple’ to draw over and over again, and this resulted in the development of one of the most adored characters in anime/manga. Speaking of Koro Sensei’s personality, he had a wide range of facial expressions. But do you know what might be the inspiration behind these faces that made fans fall in love with a Junior High School teacher?
Koro Sensei’s wide range of facial expressions in Assassination Classroom
Even though he had a bulbous head with a permanent grin, this homeroom teacher of Class 3-E still exhibited an array of faces in both manga and anime. Not just that, Yusei Matsui also did a great job in designing different variations of Koro Sensei‘s emotions by adding shades of pink and stripes to showcase his different moods.
When asked about the inspiration behind adding these variations to his protagonist, Matsui said:
When I am drawing human expressions, if it’s really angry, I make an angry face; if the character is happy, I smile. But when it comes to Koro-sensei, I don’t look like Koro-sensei. He’s round. So I don’t really use myself as a reference for Koro-sensei.
Whether it was his appearance or facial expressions, Matsui certainly focused on keeping his character as simple as possible. In doing so, he has managed to craft one of the most iconic and memorable anime characters.
Assassination Classroom is currently available to watch on Crunchyroll and Netflix.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
