One surprise Shonen Jump series has been banned in more United States schools than any other according to a new report. Manga bans are unfortunately not a new thing in the United States as some material had been deemed to be too intense for some readers. But the last year has since these manga bans reached schools across the United States. There have been many series that have been taken off of school shelves due to these bans, but there has been one series that has really been getting the bulk of attention when it comes to these bans compared to others.
According to a new report from Pen America detailing bans in public schools (as detailed by Anime News Network), Yusei Matsui’s Assassination Classroom manga has been banned at least 54 times in public schools across the United States during the 2024-2025 year period. While there are a ton of other manga releases listed as banned across various public schools, it’s this series that stands out the most when it comes to the sheer number of instances. Which does make sense considering it has been the target of these bans for a while now.
Assassination Classroom Banned From Many U.S. Public Schools
While noting that the banning of each individual volume is considered an instance in the report, but a school banning the entire 21 volume series also counts for a single instance, Assassination Classroom has been listed with 54 banning instances across schools in various districts across Florida, Tennessee, Pennslyvania, Texas, and South Carolina. This is far from the only manga banned from schools in this past year according to the new report, however, as many other Shonen Jump titles have been hit.
Other series banned from schools include titles like Attack on Titan, Bleach, Black Butler, Black Clover, Blue Period, Boys Run the Riot, Bungo Stray Dogs, Dragon Ball, Fairy Tail, Hunter X Hunter, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Jujutsu Kaisen, Naruto, One Pieceand more. But Assassination Classroom seems to be the one getting the most focus, and that might end up being because of the material it covers itself. Compared to the many other works listed in the report, it is the only one that really takes place within a classroom.
Why Is Assassination Classroom Getting Banned So Much?
It’s hard to gauge exactly why Assassination Classroom is getting so much more attention with these bans compared to the other works in this report, but the title of the series is likely getting that attention. It’s a series where the students in the classroom are tasked with killing their alien super powered teacher to save the world, but without that context it might seem like a targeted focus on schools in general. With each of its characters brandishing weapons to kill their teacher, it’s not entirely out of the realm of possibility that those looking at the series outside of its context would want to remove it from schools.
It’s not that it has explicit material or imagery compared to much more mature works (it did release in a magazine for young boys, after all), but it taking place in schools with a core concept like killing the teacher unfortunately makes it a prime target for a public school ban. As for Assassination Classroom itself, it’s coming back with a brand new movie to celebrate its tenth anniversary. So it’s doing just fine for itself.
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HT – Anime News Network
