The fourth season of Classroom of the Elite officially premiered on April 1, 2026. Marking the start of the Year 2 Arc, the season kicked off with a special 90-minute broadcast featuring the first four episodes back-to-back. Episode 1 Recap: "An Assassin from the White Room" The premiere episode, titled " An Assassin from the White Room
", transitions the cast into their second year at Advanced Nurturing High School.
The OAA App: The school introduces the "Over All Ability" (OAA) app, which publicly ranks every student’s academic and physical stats with numerical values.
The Partnership Exam: A new special exam is announced requiring second-year students to pair up with incoming first-years for a written test.
New Antagonists: The episode introduces several key first-year students, most notably Kazuomi Hosen (Class 1-D), a physically imposing leader who immediately creates tension by attacking other students, and Tsubasa Nanase.
Ayanokoji’s Mask: It is revealed that a student from the "White Room" has successfully enrolled as a first-year with the specific mission of getting Ayanokoji expelled. Production and Technical Details
Animation: Studio Lerche returned for production, with Noriyuki Nomata serving as director.
Theme Music: The opening theme for the season is "MONSTER" performed by Eir Aoi. classroom of the elite temporada 4 cap 1
Availability: The English dub began streaming on Crunchyroll on April 15, 2026, starting with the first four episodes.
Classroom of the Elite Season 4 premiered on April 1, 2026, with a special 90-minute extended broadcast that featured the first four episodes back-to-back. This season officially begins the "Year 2" arc (specifically the first semester), adapting volumes 1 to 4 of the light novel series. Episode 1 Highlights
The second-year arc opens with the introduction of the OAA app, which evaluates student performance, and initiates a special exam pairing second-year students with new first-year students. The plot focuses on a new threat, with an infiltrator from the White Room targeting Ayanokoji.
Classroom of the Elite season 4 release schedule - Radio Times
The anime ended with Volume 11.5 of the light novel.
To continue the story, read:
The main event of Season 4, Cap 1 is the arrival of the new first-year students. The school auditorium is packed with 160 new recruits. Among them are several key faces that fans must memorize immediately:
The chapter ends with a massive cliffhanger: During the entrance ceremony, the first-year student Yagami Takuya (a white-haired pretty boy) whispers to Ayanokoji: "It’s a pleasure to meet you, White Room Student... or should I say, the masterpiece who ran away?" The fourth season of Classroom of the Elite
As of writing, there is no official date for Classroom of the Elite Temporada 4 Cap 1. However, industry leakers suggest that because Season 3 ended in March 2024, and the Light Novel is still ongoing (Volume 12 of Year 2 just released in Japan), the earliest we could see S4 Cap 1 is late 2025 or early 2026.
Most fans recommend reading the Light Novel (Volume 11.75 for the transition and Volume 12 for Year 2) to avoid the wait.
For three seasons, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji operated as a ghost—pulling strings from the shadows, viewing his classmates as instruments. Episode 1 hints at a subtle but critical evolution. He is no longer just a manipulator; he is a predator assessing a new, unknown ecosystem.
His internal monologue is sparser than in previous seasons, but his actions speak louder. When the new first-year prodigies are introduced, Ayanokoji doesn’t immediately calculate how to destroy them. Instead, we see a flicker of genuine curiosity—and perhaps, for the first time, a hint of boredom being replaced by interest. The line, “A new year means new variables,” delivered in his signature monotone, feels less like a threat and more like a promise.
The episode’s title, “The devil’s mercy is cruel,” becomes a direct commentary on Ayanokoji’s current state. He has shown mercy (allowing Horikita’s class to reach Class A on their own terms), but that mercy is cruel because it forces everyone around him to struggle against enemies he could easily crush.
The episode opens with a calm April morning at the Advanced Nurturing High School. Ayanokōji Kiyotaka walks to the newly assigned second-year classroom, noting the subtle shift in atmosphere—students have changed, but the underlying tension remains.
A new academic year begins, and with it comes a wave of first-year students—including one particularly dangerous transfer: Tsubaki Sakurako, a calm, insightful girl who immediately recognizes Ayanokōji's hidden nature. Meanwhile, Hōsen Kazuaki, a brutish and cunning first-year, openly declares war on the second-years, challenging their hierarchy. The chapter ends with a massive cliffhanger: During
But the biggest surprise comes during the opening ceremony: Nanase Tsubasa, a mysterious first-year girl, approaches Ayanokōji and whispers, "I know who you really are. The White Room."
No premiere would be complete without new villains, and Season 4 delivers two standouts in the first-year class.
First is Tsubasa Nanase, a polite, athletic girl who immediately gravitates toward Ayanokoji. Her introduction is a masterclass in suspicion. She is too perfect, too friendly, and her eyes hold the same dead, analyzing quality that Ayanokoji’s once did. The fandom has already dubbed her “Female Ayanokoji,” and the episode leans into this unnerving mirror effect.
Second is Yagami Takuya (while his full role is revealed later in the source material, the premiere teases him expertly). Presented as a cheerful, slightly clumsy boy from Class 1-A, his brief interaction with Ayanokoji at the convenience store is loaded with subtext. The camera lingers on his hands—steady, unmoving—contradicting his fumbling speech. Long-time fans will catch the red flags immediately. The episode doesn’t reveal the White Room connection, but it layers enough visual clues to satisfy light novel readers while intriguing anime-only viewers.
Most anime-only fans believe Ayanokoji is the smartest person in the school. Season 4, Chapter 1 destroys this illusion. For the first time, Kiyotaka faces opponents specifically trained to kill his strategies. The new first-years are not weaklings; they are "Special Invitations" sent by Ayanokoji's father to either break him or bring him back to the White Room.
Additionally, Cap 1 introduces the largest exam in the series so far: The Unanimous Vote Exam (which actually happens in Volume 2, but is set up in Volume 1). The rules are terrifying: The class must vote to expel one student unanimously. If they fail, they lose 300 class points instantly.