An essay on Terasaka's character arc

Terasaka Ryoma is a character who undergoes some of the most consistent character growth and development across the series, on par with the major characters of Korosensei, Nagisa and Karma. He’s such an incredibly important character to the narrative, the themes of the narrative, and to the other characters around him — truly among the core supporting characters, the story could not play out the way it does without him. This essay intends to outline his journey by chronology, looking into its significance and meaning and its outcomes, answering the question: how did a character who began with a clear contempt for change become a representation of it?

First things first: how does Terasaka begin the series? 

Beginning the series, Terasaka is portrayed as the direct antithesis to Nagisa. Where Nagisa would sacrifice himself, Terasaka would sacrifice him. Where Nagisa would actively take notes in an eagerness to learn and improve, Terasaka would show ongoing contempt towards such a notion (or, more so, the institution that enforces it). Terasaka gives little thought to the wellbeing of others, and masterminds a plan in which he neglects to take into account the harm it could cause Nagisa. In his manipulation of Nagisa, Terasaka serves as exposition informing us the viewer of the E-Class system and frames the extremes of this assassination attempt as something tame compared to the treatment of E-Class by wider school and society. 

This is his first significant character moment, and the narrative purpose of its extremity (and one of the purposes of the grenade incident in general, alongside it being a tone setter and stakes introduction) is so we as an audience can look at Terasaka, intake his actions, and predict the direction of his character arc, especially in an environment centred around learning. Him being portrayed in such an extreme light allows easy reference to compare his character from how he began to how he ends, the same applies to Nagisa, to Korosensei. All of those individuals’ characterisation in the first episode and their relationship to each other then is imperative to remember to then compare them to later moments in a demonstration of the personal arcs they have undergone. That Terasaka is included alongside Nagisa and Korosensei in absolute initial character focus is testament to how core a character he is. 

Terasaka’s motivation for the grenade attempt can be built from what he says as a means to convince Nagisa, preying on Nagisa’s own low self-worth, and what he really means in relation to himself using wider context of his character. Emphasis is continually placed on the prize money, from Terasaka saying to Nagisa how, “Even if we all started working right now and pooled our paychecks… we’d never see 10 billion yen in our lifetime” to his gleeful cheers after Nagisa blows of “That 10 billion is mine !!” and of all the characters Terasaka is one of the main ones who is always coming back to that promise of prize money, connecting very simply to his wider desire to be able to live easily and without the challenge and change Kunugigoaka, the government and Korosensei have brought to his life. “Any way we can” – Terasaka is consistently aware of his own place within society, very aware of what he truly lacks, very aware of what his worth to society is, and this is true from the beginning. The bolded “ mine” reveals, too, how individualist Terasaka starts out, despite being technically supposed to be working alongside Yoshida and Muramatsu, he is only thinking of his own goals and survival. 

Which leads into the additional note of the position of Yoshida and Muramatsu to Terasaka — how they’re more satellites than anything else. They do not possess their own autonomous characters at this stage, their sole purpose in this opening chapter is to flank Terasaka, revolve around him, enable him. The anime adaptation makes the choice of having Hazama, their group’s fourth far less active member, react to Nagisa’s explosion with a satisfied, intrigued sort of smile, a deviation from the horror painting everyone else’s expressions, and this does numbers in establishing her as sharing their mindset and motivations. Yoshida and Muramatsu being as one dimensional as they are here serves the same purpose as Terasaka, Nagisa and Korosensei’s extreme characterisation – to set up growth. Terasaka’s relationship with them and its growth is another core aspect of his character, after all, so it’s imperative they be introduced alongside him. 

After a quick establishment of Terasaka, Yoshida, Muramatsu and Hazama’s distaste and distrust of Korosensei in a brief moment of Terasaka criticising the octopus’ attempts to endear himself to them, Terasaka proceeds through the first half of season one without many major events to speak of — rather, the continuous smaller, subtler moments such as his, Yoshida’s, Muramatsu’s, and Hazama’s obstinance in creating a divide between them and their classmates figuratively in mindset and physically in distance. The introduction of Karma is an important note, as Karma and Terasaka become key characters to each other in their status as foils and in how their relationship develops, similar can be said for Terasaka and Nagisa. 

Ritsu’s introduction sees Terasaka assuming firmest stance against her, off the bat. While the whole class grows quickly tired and demoralised by her assassination attempts, it’s Terasaka who takes direct action in taping her up, physically preventing her from working. This is not out of concern that she’s not working with them or that she may take the kill away from them; Ritsu to Terasaka is another unpredictable, irritating change in his environment. Further, when Korosensei renovates Ritsu, far from being pleased like the others with her change in demeanour, Terasaka remains sour – Ritsu now represents the change Korosensei has brought. His emphasis on challenging of her free will as merely constructed by Korosensei speaks both to how he views the wider class as being manipulated as well as leading into Terasaka’s own “free will” being manipulated by Shiro.

So comes Vision Time. Otherwise known as Terasaka’s breaking point, realisation and reflection, and first clear step in the way of growth. 

Vision Time begins and the first we see of Terasaka is him showing clear contempt towards the swimming pool Korosensei made for the class — this is an important note. Terasaka’s core reason for acting the way he does stems back to his overwhelming distrust towards and contempt for Korosensei, and he considers his classmates idiots for trusting him and “falling for his tricks”. The pool is representative of Korosensei’s blossoming relationship with his students, Terasaka callously destroying it speaks to his need to destroy that, and Yoshida and Muramatsu’s expressions as they go along with him nudge towards their shifting feelings. 

This heavy dislike is motivated by Terasaka’s even heavier dislike for change. Terasaka needs things to remain exactly how they always were for him to remain secure, and when something occurs to prompt change, he shuts down, he responds with bitterness and with anger. The first instance we’re given of this is later in the episode when we see him and Koyama as first year students, where his very initial worldview of being able to take it easy and take advantage of others through intimidation is shattered, and he ends up treated as below everyone else as a result (essentially, Terasaka was in E-Class before he was even admitted). We see it next in the arrival of Korosensei, where this sudden inexplicable change once again shatters Terasaka’s view of being able to take it easy in E-Class, being able to afford not to care about academics. They’re all worthless in E-Class, not just him! Korosensei inspires in E-Class a motive, another thing Terasaka resents because of its linking to change. The role of Karma in E-Class represents that of change, also, especially in terms of academic success — a large reason Terasaka disliked him and was even afraid of him from the onset. And, finally, is the change in Yoshida and Muramatsu — which is what finally drives him to breaking point. 

Yoshida and Muramatsu are immensely important to Terasaka and this is evident with how he reacts to them and their change in perspective towards Korosensei, it’s the final push that leads him to join forces with Shiro. As he believes he’s lost Yoshida and Muramatsu to Korosensei, he has nothing else to lose, and he needs Korosensei gone so everything can return to how it originally was — even if such a situation is ideal to no one but him. It’s also important to note that it’s not Terasaka’s dislike and distrust towards Korosensei alone that makes him unreasonable or in the wrong (in fact, it’s the normal response to the situation he’s been put in), but how he acts and treats people in response to it and his paranoia surrounding change and losing Yoshida and Muramatsu (his only ‘supporters’ as it were). For as important as Yoshida and Muramatsu are to Terasaka symbolically, he continually disregards their feelings, caught up in his own: physically, he assaults Muramatsu over how Korosensei unearthed his desire to study and improve his grades; in targeting the motorcycle Korosensei built for Yoshida, appealing to the passionate interest he’s been unable to connect with anyone over, it’s more symbolic, like the swimming pool. For whatever reason considering its significance the anime cut out the build up to Terasaka’s assault of Muramatsu, where Muramatsu directly confronts Terasaka about the point to their mindset at this stage as it’s no longer having much of an impact as their classmates are merely fed up of them. Terasaka blanks him, expression darkening, and Muramatsu’s scorecard is revealed. Muramatsu has gone over to the ‘other side’. 

Hazama’s, as the final piece in Terasaka’s personal puzzle at this moment, place is additionally rather important albeit not by any means given the focus Yoshida and Muramatsu are and is fairly abstract. Hazama’s absence in Vision Time makes it easy to neglect that she too shared their mindset, was always with them and isolated from everyone else, was and is unequivocally part of this group. Terasaka’s musing on there being “plenty of others who thought the same way [he] did” presents only Yoshida, Muramatsu and Hazama as doing so, speaking to the us vs them mentality the group, but particularly Terasaka, locked themselves in. The baseball arc previous to this tells us that it’s around that point Hazama began losing the point of such a mentality, as notably this is a moment where she joins the rest of the girls in their basketball tournament whereas Terasaka, Yoshida and Muramatsu refuse to participate in the baseball tournament with the boys, showing a shift from the distance Hazama used to put between herself and the other girls. On track: extra material revealing Terasaka’s Gang’s groupchat shows us blatantly the rift Terasaka was creating between himself and those he does hold close (Yoshida, Muramatsu and Hazama replying immediately to each other but staggering their replies to Terasaka by minutes) but also Hazama prodding the conversation towards Korosensei’s supplementary sessions, which is where Muramatsu learns of them and, we know, studiously attends.

Terasaka is officially alone.  

What’s important to remember in regards to Vision Time is Terasaka’s place in Shiro plan. The plan Shiro informed Terasaka of and the plan that ends up being carried out are two entirely different things. Shiro took advantage of Terasaka’s hatred and paranoia and used it to effortlessly manipulate him into a plan that would hurt his classmates. Terasaka never recognised this, that the plan he was told was possibly too simple, due to his fixation on getting rid of Korosensei. What occurred was similar to that of the grenade incident — this continuous behaviour of overlooking risk in favour of other motivation. Karma reacts angrily not because he believes Terasaka intended to put the others in harm's way because he immediately knows he didn’t, what angers him is how easy Terasaka made it for himself to be manipulated and turned into a pawn all because he allowed his emotions to spiral and blind him, and now innocents will be hurt. Where Karma is a methodical strategist who calculates every outcome, Terasaka is the opposite.

Thus, the plan is set in motion. Terasaka realises in sheer horror the true intentions and lengths of Shiro — Itona was just supposed to push Korosensei into the pool on his signal, but now the pool has been blown up and his classmates and his friends are hurtling down a waterfall (notably, Yoshida seems to have been the only one to actually go over before Korosensei saves him), and he has no idea what to do. He attempts at first, confronted by Karma, to absolve himself of responsibility as a mirror to his first assassination attempt: he was just used! He didn’t know! Until Karma, literally, knocks sense into him – instead of wallowing in self-pity, take responsibility, do something. 

We are treated to a flashback dedicated to Terasaka’s pre E-Class behaviour. In conjunction with Mimura’s comments about how the school “isolated [Terasaka] too much” it paints a typical, stark picture of someone once at the top of the foodchain falling to the bottom and becoming chow for those more powerful, with more vision – just as Itona said to him. The showing of the Big Five’s Koyama as Terasaka’s potential victim hammers this in: Terasaka’s fall likely sprang into Koyama the superiority complex we see of him, Koyama climbs to the top of the school while Terasaka straggles at the bottom. Terasaka’s social background gives context for how different then his relationship with Yoshida, Muramatsu and Hazama was, and how he dissolved it. What’s significant is the intent here – what we learn certainly explains Terasaka’s behaviour but never intends to justify it, instead it’s intended as a means of reflection for Terasaka. Realising that he’s stuck in this cycle of taking advantage of others until he’s taken advantage of himself, realising just how damaging this has been not only to himself but to those around him. It is this realisation, that this potential tragedy is what his mindset and behaviour has led to, that leads Terasaka on the path of what he despised: change. 

Following Karma’s plan, Terasaka undergoes his first instance of a running theme with his character that juxtaposes with his introductory behaviour: willingly positioning himself in harm’s way for the sake of others, in this instance to protect others. He takes a heavy hit from Itona because he has faith in Karma’s plan, has realised and acknowledged his own faults, even if the true plan and Shiro’s intentions were a mystery to him, he takes responsibility for the fact that he carried it out. Terasaka is consistently self-aware, and this begins his pattern of not only knowing his faults but working to mend them. He ends the arc surrounded by his classmates, initiated now as one of them, and this his true growth and change of heart is sparked, setting him on a journey that will span the entire series. 

Terasaka’s priority after Vision Time is reconciling with Yoshida, Muramatsu and Hazama and repairing the rift they created between them and their classmates. Muramatsu’s wording during Vision Time when he declares “I’m seriously done following [Terasaka]” is key as prior to this Yoshida and Muramatsu can very well be solely characterised by their following of Terasaka. They go along with his plans, they enable him, they share the same basic mindset as him (though, as is revealed, to a far less extreme extent), they’re his goons, his minions. Prior to Vision Time rarely are they portrayed as their own characters, even - they're portrayed moreso as extensions or satellites of Terasaka. Vision time is when we explicitly see them break away from this, break away from this idea of “following” him, in the form of acting by their own interests and speaking out against him. It demonstrates a shift in the nature of Terasaka’s relationship with them that had become more and more strained – it's when we start to clearly see the equality, ride-or-die-ness, firmness of their friendship as opposed to the simple “leader and followers” dynamic we had been exposed to beforehand. Seeing Terasaka smile genuinely, take responsibility, and help the classmates he endangered is enough for Yoshida and Muramatsu. All they want is for him to accept change like they have, their relationship with him means enormities to them too, but they are able to acknowledge change as growth. In a sense, it’s almost like for once Terasaka is following them. They never “follow” him in the way they did before again and Terasaka never again expects them to.

The first step the group take in going about closing the distance between them and the rest of their class is in taking advantage of the Summer Exams and each dedicating themselves to scoring 100% on the Home Ec exam — something acknowledged by Korosensei to be a near impossible feat and something that leads to them becoming key participants as tentacle shooters during the island assassination attempt. They are now motivated, like the others. Even if they continue to remain primarily with each other, they have demonstrated to the class that they are now people they can rely on, that their intentions of staying 100 miles away from the rest of them are no more. 

To quote my piece on Yoshida and Muramatsu’s character arc about the Terasaka Gang’s relationship with regards to that: “Even after their arcs, they still very much stick to each other, and this closeness really only tightens when Itona joins them. The difference is there is no longer a rift between them and their classmates — they’re no longer actively forcing distance between them and their classmates. They still prefer to stick to each other and work with each other because that’s how they work and is a reflection of their closeness, but they’re now willing to work with their classmates as well. They become an essential part of 3E and so does the unique relationship their group possesses.”

Following on from the Summer Exams is the Island Arc and, with it, the virus ordeal. Approximately half the class is infected with a fatal virus — among those infected are Muramatsu and Hazama, an important factor to keep in mind in conjunction with Terasaka’s angry words of: “Who do they think they are, messing around with people’s friends?” and him holding his best friends (Yoshida, Muramatsu, Hazama, and later Itona) as his “treasure” as documented in his Roll Book Time character profile, something only Isogai shares for reference. Those uninfected embark on a rescue mission to hunt down the one responsible for poisoning their classmates and to secure an antidote — towards reaching the culprit, Nagisa notices something unusual concerning Terasaka.

Terasaka is infected too, yet he went with them regardless. His insistence on rushing ahead that put Karasuma in danger can be informed by both that and his concern for Muramatsu and Hazama.  

Terasaka is so determined to correct his past mistakes, that he would risk his own health and (what they believed) life. He cares so much about repairing the bond with his friends, and classmates, that he would ignore his own infection to find an antidote for them. This is another clear instance of him willingly putting himself in harm’s way for the sake of others because he can’t stand to “let this take [him] out and drag [them] down anymore”. Terasaka fully acknowledges the danger his past actions have put his peers in and takes full responsibility for that — in stark contrast to his behaviour in episode one, where he not only refuses to acknowledge his fault in overlooking the hurt that could have come to Nagisa in his plan but also initially attempts to shift blame for the plan onto Nagisa.  

Terasaka and Nagisa’s relationship growth becomes evident as the Island Arc progresses into its closing chapters, as Takaoka is revealed to be the one who orchestrated the mass poisoning and Nagisa snaps. Nagisa dissolves into extreme justified anger towards Takaoka and threatens to kill him, meaning it with every intent, he doesn’t care in that moment about anything other than his murderous rage towards Takaoka. Until Terasaka takes initiative, and grounds him, reminds him of who he is. 

Terasaka berates Nagisa, telling him to “stop worrying about what’s going on with other people and focus on [himself]”. He doesn’t care about Takaoka, he doesn’t care if Takaoka dies especially since he’s presently destroyed the antidote that would cure his friends, but he does care now about Nagisa. In the eyes of Terasaka, standing back as Nagisa puts himself in danger of both Takaoka and the law would be letting him down, something he has vowed to never do again. He tells Nagisa “[he] doesn’t have to resist the anger, [he] controls it”. This moment on the helipad with Terasaka and Nagisa is significant for both of them, and clearly demonstrates the sheer change Terasaka has had in how he views Nagisa and how he values him. Additionally, Terasaka believed in Nagisa’s skill and abilities where Karma, for example, and perhaps others present did not, and he knew Nagisa would be able to take Takaoka out, giving him his own stun gun to do so. Additionally notable in the anime is how Terasaka and Nagisa’s helipad confrontation bookends the grenade attempt, being the final and first episode respectively in the most staunch emphasis of how much both have grown over a season, and how both events spark with an explosion and a sacrifice. 

Moreover, as Nagisa Time and the Island arc come to a close, Takebayashi Time opens — an arc giving us insight into Takebayashi and, through his dynamic with him, Terasaka. Takebayashi is occasionally depicted near the Terasaka Gang spatially and sometimes personally, like with the Kyoto Trip and the ending stills of Nagisa Time, but Takebayashi Time is where we receive direct confirmation on the nature of his relationship to Terasaka specifically. Terasaka, out of curiosity and in an attempt to draw in the relative loner, joins Takebayashi in his maid cafe endeavours — a notion easily brushed off as silly but one that means a great deal to Takebayashi. The connection between Terasaka and Takebayashi quite blatantly parallels Terasaka’s earlier connection with Koyama: it’s a relationship where, if they met earlier, Takebayashi would have been exactly the type of person Terasaka would have intimidated and asserted control over. That Terasaka and Takebayashi’s relationship exists as it does, friendly and with Takebayashi being noted to hold control, speaks to Terasaka’s already growth. At the end of season one, we already see the formations of it! Takebayashi has always existed in proximity to Terasaka, and this confirms their tangible bond. Despite Takebayashi leaving E-Class, Terasaka is among those who check up on him and who welcome him back eagerly and this introduces something that becomes reoccurring with Terasaka: his firm belief in second chances that he’s gained over the course of his arc.  

And thus our odyssey continues into season two. Enter: Itona. 

Terasaka and Itona as characters have had their narratives essentially interwoven since Vision Time, and I’ll discuss both specifically the parallels between Vision Time and Horibe Itona time and the demonstrations of Terasaka’s character development in this episode and the role Itona plays in this — as it is no mystery how important those two are to each other, in essentially every sense. 

Terasaka being more observant than perhaps expected is something present from the first episode where he picks up on Nagisa’s “talent” for unassuming assassinations long before anyone else even considers it, albeit he of course doesn’t go about utilising it in the safest way. Just as then, this aspect of him is reinforced in Horibe Itona Time and connected to his own self-awareness as he is repeatedly called back to, shown pondering Itona’s behaviour, and we later learn he’s drawn similarities between Itona’s position here to his own initial position. Conversely to episode one’s usage of these observational skills, his use of them here is explicitly and solely to help Itona because he knows he understands him better than anyone else in the class can. 

Tying into this, Terasaka saying, “you’ve put us through all sorts of stuff, but we’ll consider it water under the bridge, so be quiet and come with us” is a clear and important display of his development in believing strongly in second chances — something first apparent in Takebayashi Time. Terasaka grows to immensely value the concept of a “second chance” because of how the class provided him with one, even when he never explicitly asked for it as he was far more concerned with showing them his regret for past actions. Since he was given a second chance, he believes he should give everyone else one. And this, of course, extends to Itona and is one among many other factors that make it so it had to be Terasaka who confronted him. 

When he confronts Itona, it’s when Itona has snapped once more and reciting how he’s strong, he’s strong and he’ll kill Korosensei, he’s not like them. Yoshida, Muramatsu and Hazama run away in response to Itona’s reclaimed fury, but Terasaka does not. Terasaka stays exactly in Itona’s way, demonstrating his sheer determination to help him. He cares about Itona and wants to help him because he sees himself in Itona, and he’s not giving up easily. Much like in Vision Time, Terasaka endures a hit from Itona’s tentacles, he holds on, and he manages to start talking. He gives Itona a speech about patience, about picking your moment — the idea of Terasaka and patience is important because of his road to being forgiven, it’s something patience is a requirement for, it doesn’t happen overnight or, in his case, simply with Karma’s plan in Vision Time. 

He grounds Itona, talks him down from the mania the tentacles induce and, in doing so, saves his life. His response to Itona feeling at loss? Assuring him that he, Yoshida, Muramatsu and Hazama will be firmly with him from now on. In his own words, “that’s what we’re here for!”. Terasaka and Itona are characters profoundly important to each other — both foils at points and parallels at others. They point out each other’s shortcomings in mindset, their narratives weave together, and they learn from each other. Terasaka’s growth in this episode also centres around his development of a trademark collectivist mindset compared to the individualism he was cemented in before, it focusing on the rest of his gang in turn speaking to this as well as the abundance of collective pronouns he uses: “our”, “we’re”, “us”. 

To say Vision Time and Horibe Itona Time are almost direct parallels of each other is nothing necessarily revolutionary. The parallels between these episodes, furthermore, are also important in understanding the parallels between Terasaka and Itona’s character arcs in general and understanding why those two can understand each other in a way no one else in the class can. Alongside the obvious thematic parallels, there are clear narrative parallels between the arcs that further their entwinement. 

First of all we must establish the purpose of these arcs in regards to why these parallels exist. The most obvious is that both serve as first steps in the path of “redemption” for their protagonists. Additionally, one of the many purposes of Vision Time is to establish a link between Terasaka and Itona(/Shiro) that would later become relevant — it’s conducted in such a way that when we next see Itona we can be sure Terasaka will also play a role because as of Vision Time, their characters have become intertwined. Due to this, it narratively and thematically does not make sense for anyone other than Terasaka to be the one who reaches through to Itona. 

The protagonist begins the episode in a state of extremity with regards to their mindset and goes rogue because of it. Terasaka has reached his boiling point in terms of the trust being given to Korosensei by the class and (more importantly to him) Yoshida and Muramatsu and the change Korosensei has brought to the class as a whole, and Itona has reached his boiling point in terms of being unable to kill Korosensei and with how his ideals of strength and victory continuously fail him. This leads to them being approached by figures who ensure they can “help” them (Shiro for Terasaka, Korosensei for Itona) which in turn leads to further extremity and spiralling. 

The climax of these episodes has their protagonist confronted by another character (Karma for Terasaka, Terasaka for Itona), leading to a realisation on their part of how damaging the mindset they’ve held up to this point can be, and opening the way for redemption. Right before their “redemption” can begin, however, we are treated to a flashback providing insight to where these two’s initial mentality stems from narrated by them themselves. These are all structural choices made to effectively draw parallels between these two cases, and again help us understand why it must be Terasaka who reaches through to Itona. 

Horibe Itona time is what brings closure to Terasaka’s process of growth and change — however there are still moments when the outcomes of said process are showcased, and there are important character and relationship notes to take from them. 

Before I do so, I’d like to discuss the meaning of Terasaka’s character arc in the context of the wider series. Growth is an extraordinarily important and prominent theme of Assassination Classroom — whether it comes from making mistakes and learning from them as is the case of Terasaka or otherwise. It's a notion repeated and highlighted again and again, that anyone can choose to improve, choose to be better. And Terasaka, out of everyone and everything, embodies this theme perhaps not the absolute most overall but definitely among the most explicitly and visibly. Terasaka’s character arc sends the message that it is never too late to change, that you can always grow and learn.

What is important, also, with Terasaka is that he never verbally asks for forgiveness. Instead, he shows them how sorry he is through his actions. He never outright asks for an apology because he acknowledges he might not deserve one, instead he leaves it to those affected to decide on their own to forgive him or not.

Now, onto the most major demonstrations of the outcomes of Terasaka’s arc following its conclusion in regards to his characterization and his relationships with others.

Fast forward, it’s October, and Irina has been kidnapped. Irina has been kidnapped by the current deadliest assassin in the world “The Reaper” and Terasaka’s first reaction to this is to corner The Reaper with Yoshida and Muramatsu — preparing to take him down. It seemingly doesn’t occur to them that The Reaper could easily kill them without hesitation, and this is due to the mindset each of them develop that simply reads: the protection of others informs their own safety/wellbeing. This is demonstrated again during this arc with Yoshida and Muramatsu in one of their most important moments of character development. 

Regardless, The Reaper escapes, and who is it but Terasaka who takes initiative in suggesting they use their new combat uniforms to rescue her? Irina may be someone he is shown to not be massively fond of, but she is still their teacher and a member of E-Class, and that is enough reason for him. As the arc comes to a close after Irina’s true intentions had been revealed in how she willingly sided with The Reaper, E-Class must decide whether to forgive her or not. While I think the entirety of E-Class simply forgiving Irina without issue can be debated, it makes perfect sense for Terasaka specifically to instantly forgive her in his signature, Terasaka manner, in fact initiating the forgiveness — taking into consideration once more his developed firm belief in second chances and how important it is for him that he always provides others with one because of how his classmates and his friends provided him with one, regardless of how different the situations are. 

With regards to the Final Exams Arc, the most obvious aspect to note is of course Terasaka scoring within the Top 50 out of the entire grade and how this displays his academic growth over the course of the series — how Korosensei has helped him in taking an institution he once resented and conquering it, proving all those who thought him a mere failure in his early teenage years utterly wrong. However, the Final Exams Arc additionally sports a character arc belonging to Karma, and during this as we witness Karma’s thoughts we are informed of the present nature of Terasaka and Karma’s relationship, and can contrast it against what it once was and observe obvious growth and change. 

Terasaka and Karma as foils is no controversial claim and is something I gave brief mention to previously, but how and why exactly are they foils? And how exactly does their relationship develop? 

To begin with, one views the other as a genius who doesn’t need to work hard because everything comes easily to him — Karma is to Terasaka the type of person he fears, the type of person likely to succeed in life and rule over people like him with an iron fist. Another views the other as an aggressive idiot who doesn’t bother to make any effort to improve and takes advantage of those weaker — Terasaka was the exact type of person Karma hates, intimidating and thus taking advantage of those weaker than him for his own personal gain. There exist parallels in how they assume they don’t have to work hard, with Karma’s confrontation with the ramifications of this being in the same episode as Terasaka and co’s demonstration of learning from this.  

Additionally, as stated previously, Karma is an analytical and methodical strategist who takes every possible outcome into consideration where Terasaka is the opposite — he never intended to put people in the way of getting hurt per se, what he did was never even consider that an outcome because he was fixated on the prize, and that’s what angered Karma so. In comparison, Karma represented what Terasaka hated most also — change. As of the first semester midterms Karma becomes a symbol of change in the status quo; he does exceedingly well academically despite being in E-Class, and his upfrontness regarding achieving sends his classmates the message that maybe their position isn’t hopeless, maybe they don’t have to be doomed to fail. Karma’s positive impact in E-Class is second to Korosensei’s in acting as a catalyst for change, and as I’ve established, if there’s one thing Terasaka initially couldn’t stand and was terrified of: it’s change. 

However, change in their character dynamic is kickstarted in Vison Time, as previously discussed, where elements of reliance and trust lay their foundations. The Final Exams Arc with its focus on Karma exhibits this change clearly — Karma singles out Terasaka when naming examples of his classmates he considers talented, and thus admires to varying extents. To give reference, the other characters he talks about are Nagisa, Okuda, and Sugino. He lists Terasaka alongside those he’s established to trust and feel most comfortable around — clear indication of change in the nature of their feelings towards each other can be inferred here. 

Linking to this is the Civil War Arc, where before dissecting Terasaka’s personal motivations for choosing the side of “kill” I will go into his speech leading up to Nagsia and Karma’s fight and how this reflects his growth and change in mindset. 

In said speech, Terasaka verbally admits his initial perceptions of the two as a mere weakling and a naturally talented genius respectively and goes on to state how these initial perceptions were wrong, how the two of them are both skilled and beyond worthy of respect, and how “whoever wins is fine by [him]” because he believes that this class no matter what is thrown at them, will be able to pull through. With all of their combined skills and abilities, they can together take on any challenge thrown their way. In the first stages of his character, Terasaka actively distanced himself from his classmates, he projected his own perceptions of them onto them. Now? Terasaka has grown. Terasaka now believes in them and respects them all with everything he has. And he needs them all to know that. 

Following on from themes of growing and changing relationship dynamics comes the topic of Terasaka’s relationship with Korosensei, first of all: the Civil War Arc and why Terasaka chose the side of “kill”. At the beginning of the series, Terasaka held no motivation for the assassination and actively disliked Korosensei for motivating his peers. As his arc progresses he becomes more willing to participate with the others and work with them in regards to the assassination and in fact becomes one of those most dedicated to it. To him, finally killing Korosensei is the best way he can show his now mentor how much he’s grown and embraced change, just how far he’s come because Terasaka? Terasaka has embarked on a voyage to arrive where he is by the end of the series. And he wants to show Korosensei this. Because he’s grown to love and respect Korosensei just as everyone else, if not more so because of how he started. And this demonstration of his change in how he regards Korosensei becomes prominent during the conclusive arc of the series. 

The conclusive arc provides us with two clear moments demonstrating the aforementioned point. Firstly, there is when E-Class are detained and taken by the military for going against government orders, and one of the government officials begins mocking E-Class and their desire to save their teacher, which leads him to insult Korosensei. How does Terasaka respond? By kicking a government official square in the face. This without hesitation reaction in defence of Korosensei is something his previous self could never even imagine undertaking. 

Secondly, when E-Class take back their mountain, reach Korosensei and confront him — Terasaka, Hazama, Yoshida and Muramatsu have an outburst that solidifies just how much their view on Korosensei as a mentor, as a symbol, and as a person has changed. Terasaka yells, desperate, that they’re all completely fine with taking the 1% risk that Earth might still blow up if Korosensei isn’t killed because he’s Korosensei, it’s once again a display of the lengths Terasaka is prepared to go to in order to help or protect those he cares about in addition to using the collective pronoun “we” in a moment where he is more than anything venting his own feelings. He outright states that “[E-Class are] the closest to [him]”, he now has no desire whatsoever to forcibly distance himself from Korosensei or by extension the rest of the class like he once did. Where everyone else remains silent — it is Terasaka, Hazama, Yoshida and Muramatsu of all characters to speak in angry defence of their teacher. Even they, characters who began the series your textbook problem children, have grown to love Korosensei, and this conveys just how much of an impact Korosensei created. 

Finally, the last notes on Terasaka’s journey of growth and change become apparent in the Departure Scene. When Nagisa asks for permission to be the one to do the deed, Terasaka is the first to agree, with a smile, stating he doesn’t believe anyone would have any issue with that. Terasaka and Nagisa, as was one of my very first points in this essay, began foils, began with a relationship dynamic no short of unstable. Nagisa Time in the Island Arc was the first clear instance of change in their relationship, in how Terasaka has grown to value Nagisa and intends to right his wrongs: their arcs run in opposite directions, Nagisa’s words to Kayano during her rampage about self sacrifice showing that most clearly. Terasaka’s speech during the Civil War Arc was the second, in how he has grown to unwaveringly respect Nagisa and everything he has done and is capable of. And this moment, where Terasaka is the one to first address Nagisa and agree he should be the one to kill Korosensei? It has all come full circle. 

After Korosensei has been killed, we’re met with the scenes of the students crying and the Terasaka Gang are, as they always are, shown together—Terasaka is in the centre of their huddle because throughout it all he has become the glue that keeps them close, that brings and holds them together. Their relationship has been evidently a uniquely close one since the beginning, but it has grown even more so as they as individuals have grown and with all they have been through together and even further with Itona. And Terasaka has consistently been their centre. 

Overall, Terasaka develops from a seemingly mere delinquent who gave others’ wellbeing no second thought and who actively forced colossal distance between himself and those who weren’t his close friends, to someone who puts himself before others time and time again even risking his own wellbeing or life for them and is unequivocally fundamental to E-Class’ wider dynamic — his actions and mindset changes following his mistakes and his evolution in his dynamics with others are evident of this. 

Terasaka starts someone with a hatred for change, and ends someone who has become a symbol of it.