Spy Classroom

, also known as ''Spy Room'', is a Japanese light novel series written by Takemachi and illustrated by Tomari. Fujimi Shobo published the first volume under their Fujimi Fantasia Bunko imprint in January 2020. As of January 2023, nine main series volumes and three short story volumes have been released.

A manga adaptation with illustrations by Kaname Seu was serialized in Media Factory's ''Monthly Comic Alive'' magazine between May 2020 and April 2022. As of July 2022, its chapters have been collected into three ''tankōbon'' volumes. A second part of the manga by Benishake and a third part by Seu both began serializiation in the same magazine in June 2022.

An anime television series adaptation by Feel premiered in January 2023.

Plot

After a devastating war, there has been a realization, weapons are now too powerful and destructive. Thus ends the era of war fought in the "light" and begins the era of war fought within "darkness", a war fought with information and trickery, a war of spies. After the destruction of the spy team Inferno, their only surviving member, Klaus, sets off to create a team who specializes in "Impossible Missions". Impossible missions are missions that a spy team has already failed thus leading to higher security resulting in a chance of failure to be 90 percent. The problem? The seven girls that Klaus has recruited are all washouts and bottom of the barrel for the spy schools they hailed from. Klaus only has a month to teach them everything he knows and in turn the girls will have to employ every possible trick to have a chance of surviving.

Characters

Lamplight

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:Code Name Bonfire. Self proclaimed "the Greatest Spy in the World" and boss of Lamplight. Despite being "the Greatest Spy in the World" he is terrible at teaching as he does things intuitively.
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:Has silver hair, code name Flower Garden. Her specialty is using poison to disable her enemies while she has a special immunity to poison herself. She wants to become a spy due to her life being saved by one after she survived a poison gas attack during the Great War. Due to her concern for the Lamplight team and her own skills, she is designated by Klaus to be the team leader for Lamplight.
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:Has red hair, code name Dearest Daughter. She is good with disguises.
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: Has white hair, code name Pandemonium. She is good at stealing and the most athletic member of the team.
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: Has cerulean hair, code name Glint. The most talented as a spy amongst the girls.
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: Has black hair, code name Dreamspeaker. She is good with negotiations.
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: Has brown hair, code name Meadow. She is good with rearing animals.
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: Has ash pink hair, code name Forgetter. She is good with engineering.
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: Has golden hair, code name Fool. The eighth and youngest member of Lamplight who arrived at Kagerou Palace a day later than other members. She is good at predicting misfortune before it occurs.

Media

Light novels

The light novel is written by Takemachi and illustrated by Tomari; Fujimi Shobo published the first volume under its Fujimi Fantasia Bunko imprint on January 18, 2020. As of July 2022, eight volumes of the main series have been released. Three short story volumes have also been released. Asaura is listed as "assistance with firearm research" of the series.

Before the first volume was published, a promotional video was released, where Yūichirō Umehara, Sora Amamiya, Miku Itō, Nao Tōyama, Aoi Yūki, Sumire Uesaka, Ayane Sakura and Tomori Kusunoki played the roles of the members in Lamplight. It was the first time for a promotional video of a light novel series to feature as many as eight voice actors.

In January 2021, Yen Press announced they licensed the series for English publication.

During their New York Comic-Con 2022 panel, Yen Press announced that they had also licensed the short story collections.

Volume list

=Main series

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=Short stories

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Manga

A manga adaptation, illustrated by Kaname Seu, was serialized in Media Factory's ''Monthly Comic Alive'' magazine from May 27, 2020 to April 27, 2022. As of July 2022, the individual chapters have been collected into three ''tankōbon'' volumes. A second part of the manga illustrated by Benishake and a third part illustrated by Seu both began serializiation in the same magazine on June 27, 2022.

Yen Press is also publishing the first part of the manga adaptation in English.

Volume list

=First part

=

Anime

An anime television series adaptation was announced during the "Fantasia Bunko Online Festival 2022" event on March 13, 2022. The series is produced by Feel and directed by Keiichiro Kawaguchi, with scripts written by Shinichi Inotsume, character designs handled by Sumie Kinoshita, and music composed by Yoshiaki Fujisawa. It premiered on January 5, 2023, on AT-X and other networks. The opening theme song is by Nonoc, while the ending theme song is "Secret Code" by Konomi Suzuki. At Anime NYC 2022, Hidive announced that the series will be streamed in North America in 2023.

Reception

Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network praised the story as fun and interesting, while criticizing what she felt were authorial stumbles trying to pull everything together. Demelza from Anime UK News praised the first volume as well, as she felt it was unique compared to most other light novels available in English. from ''The Asahi Shimbun'' also praised the story, while criticizing the main female protagonist as underdeveloped.

In the ''Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!'' guidebook, the series ranked second in the ''bunkobon'' category in 2021. As of September 2021, the series has sold 500,000 units between the digital and print versions.

See also

*''My Friend's Little Sister Has It In for Me!'', another light novel series illustrated by the same illustrator

Notes

References

External links

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{{Feel

2020 Japanese novels
2023 anime television series debuts
Adventure anime and manga
Anime and manga based on light novels
Espionage in anime and manga
Feel (animation studio)
Fujimi Fantasia Bunko
Japanese adventure novels
Light novels
Media Factory manga
School life in anime and manga
Seinen manga
Sentai Filmworks
Spy novels
Yen Press titles