Episode 13

Talent Time is the thirteenth episode of the Assassination Classroom anime series. The episode first aired on April 17, 2015.

Overview
A new instructor by the name of Akira Takaoka comes to Class E and the students take an instant liking to him. He presents himself as a father figure, however his true nature steadily begins to reveal itself as he increases the severity of the assassin training.

Summary
Four months into the assassination training, Karasuma takes notice how everyone overall has improved in their knifing skills. He takes particular attention to Isogai and Maehara for their quick reflexes especially when paired together, Karma for his evasive but mischievous nature and Okano and Megu for their unpredictable athletic abilities. For a moment he senses a snake rearing behind him and parries the attack, only for the snake to be Nagisa. Karasuma cannot help but feel an ominous presence despite Nagisa's weak profile. Korosensei too observes this. After training ends, Karasuma declines Kurahashi's offer to join them for social time but meets up with an old acquaintance outside the classroom. He introduces himself to be Akira Takaoka to the entire class and will be taking over PE class starting from the next day while Karasuma focuses on office work. The students take an instant liking to him due to his light-hearted personality and his bringing a sackful of sweets.

The next day, Karasuma briefs Irina and Korosensei about Takaoka. Both were in the same elite corps of the Ministry of Defense and has been a military instructor to new recruits. While Karasuma considers whether his teaching methods were wrong, he takes a look at photos of Takaoka posing with his recruits. But he notices something odd in one of the photos that reveals the recruits having their hands tied and bruises on their backs, leaving Karasuma horrified. Outside, Takaoka announces a new schedule to the class, revealing a very strict regimen of assassin training from noon to 9pm every weekday, leaving very little time for schooling and no time for socialising. Maehara protests at this which earns him a knee to the chest from Takaoka. Instantly the class is horrified at this when Takaoka demands absolute cooperation while still forcing himself on them as a father figure. When he turns to ask Yukiko Kanzaki for agreement, she instead smiles and does not, stating she prefers Karasuma's teachings. Licking his lips, Takaoka slaps Kanzaki in the face with enough force to make her fall down to the ground. At this Karasuma and Korosensei step in, concerned for Kanzaki and Maehara's well-being and angry in their new colleague's methods but otherwise unable to overrule Takaoka. Instead they are forced to watch the lesson continue.

The class proceeds to do 300 squats though they soon begin to feel exhausted if this continues. Kurahashi pleads for Karasuma which Takaoka hears. Stating that Karasuma is not their teacher anymore he starts to punish her until Karasuma blocks his punch. Takaoka uses this interference as a challenge to determine who will be Class E's PE teacher. He proposes that Karasuma choose a student to fight Takaoka with a real knife while he himself is unarmed. If that student wins by at least stopping short of making a hit Takaoka will leave, otherwise his authority will not be challenged again. Despite his misgivings, Karasuma chooses Nagisa due to the earlier presence he felt last time and advises him on how best to defeat Takaoka. Both Takaoka and Irina question this choice though Korosensei assures Irina to just watch. Nagisa accepts, partly because he trusts Karasuma and also to pay Takaoka back for injuring Kanzaki and Maehara.

Taking their stances, Takaoka believes that anyone holding a real knife will turn the user to be unable to follow through their strike in fear of killing him so that he will win. However Nagisa reasons that killing Takaoka is enough to win. He smiles and calmly walks up to Takaoka "as though he was walking to school". Stopping in front of his outstretched left arm, he quickly moves behind him and aims a slash to the neck. Realising that Takaoka is about to be killed, he moves back but is still reeling from the surprise move, leading Nagisa to grab the back of his shirt and pin him to the ground, then holding the knife to his throat. Everyone including Karasuma is surprised by this and Nagisa sheepishly questions whether he should've used the back of the knife. Korosensei calls the match over but admonishes Karasuma that someone could have gotten hurt with the real knife.

As the class congratulates Nagisa, Takaoka rises in pure anger. Nagisa states that although the class is grateful for what Takaoka is trying to teach them, they still prefer Karasuma's professionalism over Takaoka's forceful approach. Takaoka attempts to strike Nagisa down only for Karasuma to block the punch once again. He vows to the class to petition to the Ministry of Defence for Takaoka's sacking though Chairman Asano announces that it will not be necessary. Having watched the whole spectacle behind the scenes, Asano approaches Takaoka and berates him for using violence to instill fear in the students. Asano puts a letter of dismissal to Takaoka's mouth and walks away, with the latter quickly packing his bags and runs from the scene. Happy that Karasuma is now their PE teacher once again, the class asks for a reward since they got him his job back. Karasuma relents and immediately shouts for the class, admitting to himself that he has grown attached to them. The episode ends with Korosensei begging to join them for a sweets trip, even crawling on his tentacles while bowing to them.

Differences between the Manga

 * The fast paced nature of this episode resulted in some omissions. For instance, the manga depicted Takaoka's vision of a muscled version of Nagisa and Kaede Kayano as a result of his training and Korosensei and Irina's comical ulterior motives for objecting to Takaoka's rigorous schedule. These have been cut from the episode.
 * Irina's reaction to Kotaro Takabayashi's answer "You're our bitch" is added, which is not present in the manga.