Classroom of the Elite

Classroom of the Elite peaked at the first chapter. Yep, you’ve read that right, literally the first chapter is the best this novel has to offer, and it only goes downhill afterwards. I'm not being hyperbolic, I'm not writing that as just some clickbait introduction sentence, that is very much my honest opinion. It offered interesting points about ethics and morality, piquing my interest in the series. Commendably so, as it managed to have meaningful content in a scene that’s just about whether to offer your seat in public transport or not. The problem is that this chapter is set in real world, whilerest of the novel isn’t. Not to be misunderstood, Classroom of the Elite isn’t some sort of isekai, what I mean is that the core setting is a controlled environment clear of outside influence with a fake “society” set up. Which in turn makes the attempted portrayal at psychology of the character and social commentary fake also, as it doesn’t relate to actual realistic society. Now, that could still work if the story had interesting characters that could engage in some intriguing chemistry. Unfortunately that is not the case. I’d like to start with the protagonist, who is the most interesting character in this novel, but that isn’t really saying much, just that the rest is much worse off. It’s an interesting concept – a character that looks average to the observers but is in fact very capable and hiding as an average joe is part of their calculations. It’s not an original idea, sure, but sounds interesting enough. The problem with Ayanokouji is that his character seems to be crafted this way just so the readers could roleplay and imagine themselves and someone who is actually not average like the reader is in reality but super great awesome person. Yep, the plague of light novel world, the blatant self-insert is in motion once again, together with the “lone wolf” aesthetics so popularized by Oregairu. The problem with Ayanokouji is the difference between his character setting and his actual portrayal in the story. Exhibit A: to not attract unwanted attention he poses as an average student, intentionally hiding his true abilities. To do that he answer the test literally 50% correctly and to achieve that he answers some very difficult questions correctly while also failing some easy ones. This of course brings unwanted attention to him, the opposite of desired result. One doesn’t have to be genius to think of just simulating what an average result would mean, which does not mean literally 50% correct. Another example is more of a theme carrying though the whole novel than just one instance. You see, Ayanokouji’s behaviour as not so capable regular student is supposed to be just a camouflage, while his real personality is not regular at all. This idea crashes on the novel being told from his point of the view most of the time. He should have no need to continue this act in his inner thoughts but he is actually portrayed as boring character without interesting insights in the narration with just few exceptions. Those moments where his “true” personality comes out are good, but there’s just very few of them. I’m not against the concept of unreliable narrator and the mc appearing as normal to the reader even through his own narration up to the first reveal would be good writing, but there is no need to still keep his narration uninteresting for rest of the novel. There’s also the thing of lack of description of his mental process, but more about that later. Another illogical character is Chabashira-sensei. A person that is described by an extreme desire for her class to be succesfull, but also letting her class to get the worst start ever, effectively shooting herself in the foot for no reason other than the feeling of emergency being added to the plot. Is she clumsy? Short-sighted? Or just forced to make blunders that contradict her real goals? Who knows, her character is a mess. Rest of the characters can be grouped together. Why have I singled out Ayanokouji and Chabashira? Because those two are the only ones whose names I remember without looking up if I’m right. And for Chabashira it’s only because I think her name sounds funny. Yes, lot of the characters just kind of… merge together. Multiple times I had to look up a name to find out who is the novel even talking about. Now, I won’t lie, I’m usually bad with remembering names, but usually I can still differ between the characters. Here, most of the characters don’t have personality interesting or individual enough to be able to be identified by different means other then their names. That is not something that’s supposed to happen. Even if the reader is bad with names (and I’m hardly the only one who is), they should still be able to tell the characters apart. This if course ties to the ultimate problem of Classroom of the Elite which is that the characters just didn’t intrigue me enough for me to care about what is happening to them. I didn’t become invested in the story and there is no character for which I could care less as to what would happen to them. Ultimately I couldn’t find any reason to continue reading this other than my completionist compulsion. The story itself is way too cyclic. Most the volumes are just the school making some exam with stupid rules that end with the protagonist (sometimes with help of Horitaka) causing his class to survive the ordeal. There is no sense of emergency as you know that even if everyone is fucked it’s not like the protagonist is in any actual danger at being expelled (and it’s not like I’d care even if he did, the whole cast could drop dead and I would only rejoice I don’t have to read any more of this). I’d even go as far as to say that for most volumes you could read the start and the finally, completely skipping the middle part and you wouldn’t miss out on anything important. To come back at what I hinted in the character paragraph, the problem with Ayanokouji is also that the process of creating his plans isn’t exactly… described. He just has a plan that he came up with offscreen and is revealed to the reader at the end of the volume. We don’t see him struggle with making it or even thinking about creating it, he just magically poofs it into existence because he is a genius with answer to anything. This makes me think that the author is unable to write the process and he’s pretty much reverse engineering problems to solutions he himself wrote. Such is the problem when mediocre authors attempt to write a genius character, it just isn’t believable. This novel feels pseudointellectual in a sense that it tries to appear intelligent, but it also aims at average readers as the demographics, so it only has to maintain an illusion it is something of value instead of actually having to be well written. No offense to those that enjoyed this literary work. Just as a small side note about the setting – the system of the school doesn’t even make much sense. It’s supposed to create/recruit elite that would stimulate the country. But it keeps trying to expel people that don’t excel in every way. Why is there a need for someone who wants to the best baseball player to complete the same requirements as a talented mathematician, and vice versa? I’d expect teaching methods more focused on individual value in a so called elite school. Like, you could face being expelled if you fail a damn glorified popularity poll lmao. Sorry to break it to you fictional version of Japan, but people that excel at literally everything are quite hard to find, to the point of it being a miraculous occurrence. Good luck filling a whole class with that. Well, it works in the world of Classroom of the Elite, because the classroom isn’t actually filled with elites – most of the students are pretty much regular people that are mooching of the leaders of classes to get through the school year with the help of schemes of somebody else. Is that what the future elite of the nation is supposed to be? I don’t think so. It’s actually funny how in comparison the system Hope’s Peak Academy makes much more sense if the goal is to bring up the best of future generation and nurture their talents (however tragically that ended up). And Danganronpa even doesn’t take itself seriously all the time unlike Classroom of the Elite (and thanks for that, as it gives it its unique charm). And as more of a footnote about the illustration, do the spreads really have to be so fanservicey? I know that illustrations sell, but reducing the characters to their racks isn’t exactly helping with portrayal of the story as something of value. No surprises here though, as other works by the artist are mostly straight out porn. Originally I was going to give this 6/10 because, well, it’s not exactly bad, it just isn’t isn’t good either. Then I thought about how much I had to force myself through most of the volumes, how I didn’t look forward to reading more at all and how it just felt as a waste of time, so I felt it would be unfair to put it on the same level as some of the other titles I’ve rated with 6/10. So 5/10 it is. If you want to read something with intellectual battles full of scheming and outsmarting, there’s plenty of other works like that, some of them even being actually good. Death Note being the most popular one, there’s also Legend of the Galactic Heroes for which the original novel doesn’t get nearly enough attention it deservers or for example works by Fukumoto Nobuyuki in general. If you want something about a character that looks generic on the outside but is in fact highly irregular, there’s Zaregoto Circle by NisiOisiN. All those examples actually portray mind process of the protagonists, and that's how mentally gifted characters should be written. Of course, if you’re satisfied just with characters magically outsmarting everyone effortlessly because the author said that they are supposed to be smart, you can go watch Code Geass or something.

You-Zitsu, otherwise known as Classroom of the Elite in english is a novel series that I had heard about for awhile (mainly because of the anime), but didn't read until recently last year. The reason that I even started reading this novel was because I noticed it at Barnes and Noble and decided might as well give it a try. I am so glad that I did because CotE has become easily my favorite light novel of all time and I will try to attempt to tell you and convince you why. (This is my first review so my bad if it is not upto par.) 1. Story (10/10) The story of Classroom of the Elite is easily one of the best parts of this series. When I started reading it, I also watched the anime as well as soon as I finished the parts that were adapted and was surprised at how much different the cores of the story were different from each other. If you watched the anime, which adapted the first 3 volumes, you probably watched what is in my opinion the worst (although not worst as in bad, just relative to the rest of the first year) part of the first year. Although, if you watched the ending of the anime or have read the third volume, you may have noticed a major shift in the story. I'm not going to spoil anything but from volume 4 on the story completely changes from its original Oregairu vibes and becomes more and more interesting. Not only do we get to see more and more interesting exams, we have long build ups and create even better pay-offs. Additionally, in the end of the 5th volume, we get another added aspect to the story that will slowly build up and become a major factor in the future volumes and even more so in the second year. I don't want to say too much, but one thing I will say is that everything that happens in the story makes sense, I don't recall one moment that I though to myself that the thing that just happens makes no sense or is an asspull. 2. Art (10/10) Usually, light novel artworks don't particularly impress me, especially when compared to manga artists. However, I think that Tomose Shunsaku is the first LN artist that has made me change my opinion about this. The character design of all of the characters in this series is AMAZING. I was so impressed with the artwork that I bought both of the artbooks by Tomose Shunsaku and they are currently some of my favorite books that I own. The hair color, the body designs, the way the eyes are drawn are all so well drawn, and if you enjoy that you can check out more of Shunsaku's works because needless to say they are pretty interesting. 3. Character (10/10) I know I said the story was one of the best parts, but I would be lying if I didn't say that the characters within CotE were not incredible as well. First off, lets start with Ayanokouji. Ayanokouji is probably one of the most interesting protagonists that I have ever read in a light novel. When I read/watch that first 3 vols/12 episodes of CotE, I am blown away that I am seeing the same person at all. If you are a person that has only watched or read that first part, and were concerned about him as a protagonist early on, let me just tell you the development that he has throughout the course of this first year is well worth the read alone. Also, his backstory is one that actually suits the story and actual makes sense unlike a lot of backstories of these type of light novels. Not only Ayanokouji, but every single student that has development has their reasons and backstories to fit why they were put in this school and why they were put in their respective classes, which is a super interesting thing to find out as you read. Aside from Ayanokouji, there is so many great characters that have a crazy amount of good development as well. Characters such as Ichinose, Karuizawa, Horikita and a lot more get so much attention and character building, it makes it so hard to pick a best girl. Additionally, characters such as Ryuuen and Koenji add such a dynamic aspect to the story, and their unpredictability makes such a great cast of characters fit together. I could go on and on about the characters, but I promise that if you read this novel, you will definitely find atleast one character to like from it. 4. Enjoyment (10/10) I have never read a novel series or been excited to start the next volume in any other light novel series. I am really glad that I started so late that I could binge all of it so fast. The build ups that occur during this novel and the developments of the characters are some of the best that I have experienced reading novels so far. Not only was this first year really good, it set up the next year to have the potential to be even greater. With a concept like CotE, I could see how recurring elements could end up making this series kind of boring, however with the set up that happens over the course of this year, the second year brings a whole lot of interesting developments that are going to be exciting to experience. If you can get past the somewhat slow of a start that the 3 volumes are, you will not be disappointed in how the story progresses and builds. 5. Overall (10/10) You-Zitsu will likely be my favorite novel series for a long time and with the second year just getting started, we are likely in for a long and while ride. This was my first review, so if you read this far thank you for reading and I hope that I could convince you to read without giving to much away about the story.

I've always wished for a story that paints school life in a more realistic take. Everything from all the hurdles you'll go through, such as adapting from zero to making friends, forming groups. Experiencing love-life, the sweetness it brings, and the bitterness it might lead to, and the list goes on. You-Zitsu (Classroom of the Elite) is just that. However, there is one big exception: our main protagonist is surrounded by waifus from every corner. That being said, it is not a harem by any means, but it does get a tinge of elements for it. Nevertheless, sweet and sugar is just what sells bestand looks good on paper. Seeing a lovely female on the cover is a strong tactic to bait the audience, and it works so damn well. It caught me after all and many of my fellow readers, I am sure. But I ended up staying for far more than that. It's not only for the intensity, valuable, and rewarding psychological warfare but for mystery and intricate puzzles. All the resulting elements it brings to the table makes me shake to the core with excitement. It's been a roller-coaster of an emotional ride, making me laugh and cry, feel pain, get enraged, and so much more. First off, I've never seen or read a romance development that felt more realistic than You-Zitsu. Mind you; it's not the core genre either. Love simply doesn't come out of nowhere. It's not the typical boy fall in love with a girl just because he is cool or she is cute. No. Hell, feelings of love itself don't even exist at first. At some point in the story, there comes a situation that gets the two parties together for whatever reason it might be. But at this point, they will only be acquainted, might really come to hate or loathe each other, but they are aware of each other's existence at the very least. Then one step at a time, they grow closer as they experience all kinds of difficulties and through interacting with each other. At last, this goes on to deliver one of the most impressive, complex, charming, and realistic paintings of romance I have ever come across in fiction. You-Zitsu does this and much else with brilliance and a clear sense of direction. Everything is cohesive and fits together, there are times I have been confused, but things always make sense when we get it explained. True, characters seem generic and one-dimensional at the surface, but that's a tool You-Zitsu uses to explore them deeply. And to show how humans are swift and flexible species that are excellent at hiding their true self or bury secrets deep in the heart. Every one of the characters you see before you is not their entire being. Anyone of them has an underlying core, one of which can have a tragic background of being bullied, suffering at the hands of abuse, or manipulation. Perhaps a close friend of someone committed suicide, which can be the fundamental reason that shapes a person to be who they are now. Maybe someone has done something they regret in the past but are unable to move on. Some might reject the notion by using a false facade to hide the scars they bear. Others may use drastic measures to ensure the secret they don't wanna share won't get out in the world at all costs, no matter the means. If you're trickier, then perhaps climb the social ladder and protect yourself by using others to shield or hide your vulnerabilities and drown your sorrows as close to the bottom as possible. It's also one of the most realistic take-ups on character, issues, and experience as a whole. The setting takes place in Advanced Nurturing High School. A special education facility that's purpose is to nurture students who will have the county's future rest on their shoulders. Unlike most schools, it has a unique and very odd system for regulations and administration. For one, classes range from A-D, and you'll only benefit from it if you graduate from class A or do you? Not to mention, this school is a place where the class either rise together or fall as one. There is no in-between. A student's behavior will affect the whole class, so they must tread cautiously to avoid it, or expulsions might be thrown at them to put them in place. Classes compete against each other with class points. On top, it has an interesting money system. Students can buy anything from daily necessities to video games and other stuff directly from the campus's own shopping center. It has many places for entertainment, such as cinema and karaoke. Even the exams in this school are unconventional and something you won't see anywhere with abnormal changing rules. Every new exam is a new challenge with its own rules and logic. If it got loopholes that don't break the rules or if the school doesn't find out, you're free to use them at your own risk. It's that kind of school. The exams these students have to take are genuinely excruciating and challenging. Simply, a single person attending or not can be the line between heaven and hell. It's also worth noting before a student gets thrown into class A-D. Everyone is evaluated based on their academic ability, intelligence, decision making, psychical ability, and cooperativeness. If class A consists of the top-notch students that excel in some of these areas, then obviously class D would be where the failures and defects are but is that really true? What if someone cheated the system to get placed where they wanted? What if they didn't go all out during the evaluation and interview process willingly? How does the school deal with them? I leave it to your imagination. However, all things considered. What is You-Zitsu really about? It's about self-acceptance and maturity. We follow the journey of the dull loner Ayankokouji Kiyotaka who likes to spend time alone rather than with others. But that's only on the surface-level. Kiyotaka is actually extremely intelligent and quick on his feet. My boi literally went out of his way to score 50% on every one of his tests just cause—what a mad lad. He has an incredible psychological level. He can calmly deduce how the person feels without any issues and almost always hit the right points. Kiytoka got an eccentric and odd view of the world and society. He understands the text-book version behind every or most common intention and feeling that exists. Still, his unable to accurately comprehend how to feel and act in certain situations. Kiyotaka wants to live a normal and average life. Hence he hides his ability from others. That's his only goal as he enrolls in Advanced Nurturing High School at first. Kiyotaka is one of the core reasons You-Zitsu was so damn fun for me. His inner-monologing, his views on different situations, and those witty and exciting mind games are what makes You-Zitsu a blast. His seemingly simple and complex take on everyday situations is charming to read and gave me many fresh and different perspectives. His growth throughout the first part of You-Zitsu is so damn satisfying and worthwhile. He is such an extremely well-written protagonist. This is the story that started with him looking at humans as tools he uses until they served their purpose. Kiytotaka's mentality and the unique way he has been brought up make him unable to have genuine feelings. But slowly, as he gathers more sense through interactions. Any form of experience he is able to witness slowly goes from the notion of perceiving human as a mere book that will teach this and that to something more authentic. He ends up finding something he unconsciously ends up longing for. You-Zitsu is a thrilling journey about humanizing Kiytoaka from this emotionless and expressionless guy to someone who can ease into society and express genuine emotions. Did I forget to mention that You-Zitsu has an incredible illustrator? Not only are the volume cover always eye-catching. Shunsaku Tomose's art-work is seriously stunning, especially those detailed colored illustrations he makes. I know what you are after, and I am here to confirm that waifus are voluptuously well-drawn. Many got plump and savory thighs and a drop-dead gorgeous design. Expect to see all kinds of variations of them. Ranging from an adorable big-brained smug queen with some insanely addictive facial expressions. A two-faced thot with some brain damage and serious issues she has to work out. One charming ice-cold princess that grows warmer as we progress. A waifu that spreads burst of sunshine wherever she threads and a got a very energetic and lively personality: a gyaru that is ineffably adorable and an absolute cinnamon roll. She got the right amount of tsundere and sweet with a refreshing and realistic nature. We even got one of those shy cuties that ooze of pure must protect energy. Did I mention we got an explosive tomboy tsundere with one hell of an impressive kick and sharp tongue? The list goes on. Do you need any other reason to read You-Zitsu, then it's for the female that is not only candy for the eyes but well-written, fleshed out, and developed. No one feels like a cheap imitation of the other, and they all got clear and distinct quirks. I won't lie. That's partly the reason I picked up You-Zitsu but is sure shattered my expectations, as noted before. That's not even counting the amount of well-written and executed male characters. I didn't expect to like some of them as much as I do. Even though Kiyotaka is clearly the biggest star of the show, I like that he is so relaxed and floats along without a care in the world, even if that is not his real personality. I have to confess—a story where the person hides his ability and intelligence. I didn't take it could be this damn engrossing and compelling. We also got the typical idiot trio that is perverted and eats at your life span at a rapid rate. Gosh, the stupid things they do makes my head hurt. Well, not all of them are bad, and some of them grow, starting to take things seriously and not as a mere joke. While others only get played like a fiddle and, in the end, become a goner as they should. Good riddance. Then we got a fellow who cares not about the class or anything and lives life at his own tune. He is the embodiment of not giving an eff whatsoever and showcases how to enjoy life to the fullest. You got that generic and overused guy who is at the forefront of the class's popularity. Everyone comes to him to ask for advice and questions—someone who essentially takes the leader's role in the class. Mind you, that's just on the surface as most of these students have big flaws about them that put them in class D alongside a more complex underlayer. This is not exclusive to this one class either, but it might take form differently for others. If we are talking about the so-called bad guys, there is an evident competition to get to the top among the class or guard it against others. Moreover, each respective class got its own hierarchy and ways to regulate the classroom. Some might use violence, brutality, lies, and other more forceful means. One other example is by being conservative and defensive. Still, there might exist a party that might rely on offense, not holds anything back. There's the option of being united and by being positive and rely on one another. Who knows, there might be a certain someone out there who views their colleagues as chess pieces, tools, or pawn that only is there to serve the purpose for them and nothing else. As a result, You-Zitsu got incredibly entertaining and complex class with different views and ideas, and methods for reaching the top. The author Shougo Kinugasa is seriously no question asked one of the most ingenious writers I have come across. This is a masterpiece. But I want to note that You-Zitsu is a very slow-paced ride. I would urge you to read at least four volumes before deciding otherwise. That's when I really got hooked and couldn't stop reading. This was a very well-paced light novel, but it felt a bit abrupt when jumping to places at times. It was not to the extent of being a glaring issue but worth noting for future readers. It was not an issue for me at all. Shougo clearly got better at writing and explaining, and the pacing felt even better. As of this moment, You-Zitsu is split into two parts depicting the first year and the second year. The latter is only getting started, but so much excitement has already been built up events foreshadowed, so it's gonna be a banger, no doubt. It also seems like the excellent waifus design with a complex personality will keep on piling. And you know what, I so damn wholeheartedly welcome it. Let's say you are an Anime or a Manga fan. What should you go with, you ask? Manga has not got the best art. It cuts stuff out and burns through content fast. Kiyotaka, shown to be expressionless, is very expressive and emotional instead. It ruins his character and the experience of You-Zitsu. Then there's the anime, which is lackluster and feels more like an advertisement for the light novel, not to mention, the director was biased and gave all the spotlight to his waifu. When in actual fact, many other females should've had a moment to shine. On top, the art-syle is quite inconsistent, it looks good at times, but more often than not, it's derpy. If you want the finer details and true depiction as the author intended. The light novel is the way to go. But anime is a nice way to introduce you to the world, even if it barely touches the tip of the iceberg. On the other hand, the manga is entertaining and good fanservice if you want to visually see how things look. To put it in a nutshell, You-Zitsu is about the students' everyday school-life as they mature into adulthood. I can almost guarantee you might end up falling in love if you really give it a chance. Don't rush it. Just read it at your own pace. The translations that are out are pretty good, making it smooth to read and easy to visualize as you burn through the content. I didn't feel it was overwhelming or grew dull. I was reading one volume after the other quite effortlessly and having a big blast about it. This is easily no question asked, taking a spot in my favorite, and it got my absolute seal of approval.

This novel does not really deserve the score that I decided to give. However the amount of people that consider this a masterpiece is unreal so I'm trying to do my thing to make it more balanced. Normally I would give it a 4/10. I got into this novel because of the pretentious quotes in the anime. Well the anime turned out to be nothing more than a clickbait. However that doesn't make the novel any better. Right in the first volume, our main character has a monologue in which he talks about society and equality. He also mentions a quote from the Japanese author YukichiFukuzawa regarding equality, and begins to elaborate on the meaning behind that quote. That's the most philosophical monologue in the entire series. Many volumes after we begin to understand more about Ayanokoji as a character, and it seems that the author is not really trying to make a point by using different works of literature, rather he's trying to bend these works so they can fit into his completely unrealistic narrative. The story gets old quickly because it's extremely repetitive. Our class has to deal with exams, but since Ayanokoji is on their side they have nothing to worry about. Most of the volumes just go like that. Not only Japan is investing a fortune in this school, the students themselves are anything but elite. Each class is controlled by an individual who is able to take decisions for the rest of the ignorant students in the class. It appears that most of the students in this school are just your typical dumb fucks that you can find in any school with a low reputation and you don't even have to go as far as taking Japan as an example. So the bad students are really bad. But what about the good ones? Well the very good students do not simply excel in sciences or liberal arts, they are also professional MMA fighters. No kidding, it appears that aside from our main character(who's apparently trained like a soldier), there are many other students who excel in combat. The characters are one dimensional and bland. Not only that but since our class D students are defective, each one of them has some sort of trait that makes them abnormal. This is nothing but a try hard attempt to show that the novel involves psychology. Kushida is a girl who puts on a mask whenever she communicates with other people. The mask consists of her being nice and outgoing. Her true nature consists of her expressing her hate on those that know about her past, and how she's going to get them expelled. In other words she's a very disturbed individual. Kei, is a girl who's been bullied in elementary to the point that she developed trauma. Her character consists of her trying to "defend" herself by clinging into hosts as a parasite. Another disturbed individual. Koenji is someone with a very inflated sense of self almost narcissistic in nature. He only cares about himself and most of his moments consist of him expressing his selfish intentions. Another person that you wouldn't want to make friends with. Our main character has been raised in a harsh environment so he's also messed up. His intentions are rarely made clear throughout the story and his monologues get very boring when he's normal. I understand that Class D is a class about people with defects, but when many of these students are so deeply disturbed it sounds more like some sort of mental health facility rather than the best school in Japan. But there are also students from the other classes. One of these guys is very important in the story. His name is Ryuuen and he's bored because he hasn't met his match. That's his main motivation in the beginning. He has a monologue in which he states that he killed a snake by hitting it with a rock as a kid, and that for the rest of his life he's never lost a single fight. Sounds like Beerus who was desperately trying to turn Goku into a worthy fighter so he could have the time of his life. His motivation might sound cool for whatever reason, but I personally find it unrealistic and Ryuuen as a character unrelatable. Ichinose, is the leader of Class C and is characterized by her nice personality. Do you know what makes her different from the rest of the students? She's not just nice, she's super duper nice. The characters are so bland that the author is really trying hard on emphasizing that one single trait they have, in order to make it easier identifying them. In the latter volumes, Ayanokoji has a discussion with his father in which they debate about education. It appears that the premise here is that Ayanokoji believes that you don't need to undergo his training in order to become better than others while his father doesn't think so. His father believes that only by training in the white room, people can be superior to the rest of the population. And by white room I'm not talking about 511 Kinderheim or anything of the sort. This white room is a magical room( just like the room of spirit and time) in which you can become a genius in every field in existence bar anime. It's a plot device that serves to convince the audience that someone raised in there is even better than geniuses who don't have that "education". Unless you're raised in that room, you can't rule Japan as that's the main motivation of Ayanokoji's father. He wants his son to rule over Japan. Ayanokoji once again wants to prove that you don't need that sort of education to be considered superior. He's right but at the same time the fact that he needs to make his point clear is ridiculous. The white room as a concept would be completely non sensical in real life for his dad to even make an argument. But it works in this novel because that's how ridiculous the setting is.