Danica Davidson
November 15, 2024 
The Horry County School has officially banned Assassination Classroom from its district after a mother made a complaint.
Jennifer Hannigan, the mother, learned about Assassination Classroom after her high school daughter brought it home from the school library. “Even if I didn’t have children, I would not want a child to read this book,” she told the press. She particularly took offense to the comedy science fiction manga’s portrayal of violence. Speaking about readers her daughter’s age reading Assassination Classroom, she remarked, “We’re giving them too much adult material than their brains can handle, and I think that’s a problem.”
The news described Hannigan as flipping through the book, but did not specify whether or not she read it.
After putting in the complaint, Assassination Classroom went through a process to decide whether or not to keep the book available to students. In the end, the schools decided to ban it.
This letter was made public:
Dear Ms. Hannigan:
On September 20, 2024, you met with Principal Jeremy Rich to formally request the reconsideration of a book title found in the media center collection of Socastee High School. The book Assassination Classroom by Yusei Matsui was presented to a District Reconsideration Committee which was formed to review this book in accordance with District Policies. Following the review, the District Reconsideration Committee made the recommendation for this title to be removed from the HCS media centers’ collection.
As outlined by the HCS district policy, The [sic] committee’s decision, and if applicable, the local board’s review, regarding the appropriateness of a book or reading material cannot be challenged again until the expiration of five years from the original challenge date.
This concludes the review of this matter.
Sincerely,
Mrs. April Scott
Book bans, against manga or otherwise, have gone up in recent years, and Assassination Classroom is the most banned manga in the country. As stated in this letter, it will be at least five years before high schoolers could have a chance to access it again through this district.
VIZ Media publishes Assassination Classroom and gave this description for the first volume:
Meet the would-be assassins of class 3-E: Sugino, who let his grades slip and got kicked off the baseball team. Karma, who’s doing well in his classes but keeps getting suspended for fighting. And Okuda, who lacks both academic and social skills, yet excels at one subject: chemistry. Who has the best chance of winning that reward? Will the deed be accomplished through pity, brute force or poison…? And what chance does their teacher have of repairing his students’ tattered self-esteem?
Source: WMBF
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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