Episode 27

Leader Time is the twenty-seventh episode of the Assassination Classroom anime and the fifth episode of Season 2. It first premiered in Japan on 4 February 2016.

Summary
When Gakushu Asano discovers Yuma Isogai breaking school rules by working in a cafe, he challenges Class 3-E to a match of boutaoshi (pole-felling) in the sports festival as a way of keeping the matter quiet. With Isogai's expulsion on the line, can Class E emerge victorious against a numerically superior Class A?

Plot
Nagisa, Kayano, Maehara, Kataoka and Okajima hang out in a cafe where Yuma Isogai secretly works. His gentlemanly qualities despite being poor are noted to be what attracts regular customers in returning to the cafe. The students are in awe of this (ranging from Isogai's ability to make cheap clothing fashionable, folding toilet papers into triangles and receiving love letters from the main campus students). Korosensei also chimes in and states that the cake he is enjoying is enough for him to turn a blind eye to Isogai knowingly violating school regulations. When he asks the students what makes Isogai so special that they keep this a secret, the students simply answer that he is a good guy.

Another group of customers walk into the cafe who are none other than the Five Virtuosos. The group state they were acting on a tip-off that a student was working at the cafe. Gakushu Asano also cannot believe that Isogai still continues to break the rule that led him dropping to Class E in the first place. Outside, Isogai pleads with Asano to keep this quiet, citing financial difficulties in his family. After some thought, Asano agrees on the condition that Class E play against Class A in a game of bo-tashi (pole-felling) in the upcoming sports festival. Isogai's expulsion depends on the outcome. The next day Isogai voluntarily decides to accept his punishment so as not to let Class E get hurt, however the classmates vehemently disagree. They cite the opportunity to beat down the elitists that regularly discriminate them, persuading Isogai to change his mind. Karasuma hears about the upcoming bo-tashi, remembering the countless times he played it while in the Defense Academy, and that on the field it was a war rather than an assassination.

During the sports festival, individual students of Class E win various track and field events, thanks to their talents being honed in by their training. Korosensei comforts Isogai in that he may not have Asano's many talents but Isogai does have the camaraderie of his classmates to support him. Finally the bo-tashi match between the boys of Classes A and E arrives. Class E notes that not only did Class A had an advantage in numbers but also the backing of four physically muscular foreign exchange students. Asano had a goal in mind to physically and mentally crush Class E and planned various strategies in mind to pick off a supposedly intimidated side. However one of the Five Virtuosos spot that none of the Class E students are attacking; rather all of them were defending their pole in a formation they dubbed "Absolute Defense Form". Asano starts the game by sending a group led by American student Kevin to attack. Intimidated by Kevin's physique, Yoshida and Muramatsu break out of the formation and charge at the attackers. However Kevin sends the pair flying to the audience. Kevin asks in English why the other students are not attacking, with Karma replying in American English dialect to go ahead. When the attackers strike, Class E counters with the "tentacles" plan, jumping on top of the attackers and using the weight of the pole to incapacitate them. As Terasaka points out there was no rule about using the pole as a weapon, the match is still in play

Asano, while impressed, is not overly concerned and orders two groups to attack from the flanking sides. Isogai leads a group of five people including Karma to run through the gap of the groups. However the two groups faked their attack and swung around to entrap Isogai's team. When Karasuma and the girls worry that the group will be injured, Korosensei tells him not to worry, and that beforehand he advised him on how Hannibal of Carthage devised unconventional tactics to continually defeat numerically superior armies of Rome. Isogai starts leading his team to the audience stands, and chaos erupts as Isogai's team use their mobility to avoid Class A's disorganised attempts. Amidst the distraction, Asano and the defenders are surprised to find their pole attacked by Yoshida and Muramatsu, who have faked their earlier actions and snuck around from the audience side while Isogai was distracting everyone. Isogai and his team also attack Class A's pole, forcing Asano to display his martial arts skills to knock Yoshida and Muramatsu off the pole.

As Asano knocks Isogai off as well and the attacking Class A members start to return to the pole. Nagisa leads another group to attack Class A's pole, leaving only Terasaka and Takebayashi to hold down their pole and Kevin's group. Takebayashi notes that Kevin's group can easily overpower them but cannot do so unless ordered by Asano, and Asano himself is too distracted to do so. Isogai calls up their secret weapon and launches Itona in the air. Itona lands at the top of the pole and starts using his weight and the pole's instability to bring it down. Asano realises he is losing and the pole falls to the ground, giving Class E a miracle victory.

After the game Chairman Gakuho Asano berates his son for allowing Class E to win against overwhelming odds, therefore failing as a leader. Kevin defends the boy however citing that as a father, the Chairman should tell his son to learn from his defeat. In response the chairman challenges all four exchange students to a fight, which he wins without a single scratch on him. While Asano watches in horror, Gakuho remembers a time when on the firs day of karate training he had been beaten heavily by his instructor. On the second day he simply watched in frustration his instructor's movements, and on the third day challenged him again this time to win convincingly. He cites that he would go insane if he did not confront his problems head on, and he asks his won why he is not frustrated losing to Class E.

As the festival ends, Isogai spots Asano and enquires whether he will keep his end of the bargain. Asano begrudgingly agrees to it but promises to put Class E down in the future. The episode ends with Isogai attempting to bargain for some leftover bread from the festival to take back home.

Episode notes
In the dub, all scenes where Karma speaks English is rewritten to him imitating the American exchange student's southern accent.