You know, one of the best thing about it is that the series has constantly high stakes in the form of personal growth, but not so high that defeat is unacceptable.
I was seriously expecting atleast a few people from the class to not make it. I mean, I definitely care about some less than others, but small seeds of character arcs have been planted through all the classmates. Whether it's because I couldn't stand it if Uravity took second loss after taking the first one so hard, or because I just flat out wanted to see more of a character like Tokoyomi....or whether I just am cheering for a character like Pinky to finally get a chance to shine. I want them all to succeed.
In fact, the only characters I genuinely didn't care if they made it were Mineta and Can't Stop Twinkling...but honestly, this series does the whole "There is another layer of depth thing". I didn't like Can't Stop Twinkling's gimmick, his personality and his power. He felt like a one off joke. Then in the forest, his cowardice is revealed, and I'm like "Eh, whatever, I guess he can just be the
Yoki of the group, good for a one off thing." But after over a hundred chapters, what I didn't expect was that for his arrogance, that he actually thought of the rest of the class as above him, rather than below. It's only now I realized that he never really insulted or demeaned anyone as below him (unless I'm remembering wrong) and instead his arrogance just formed itself as a form of self pride, but not at the expense of others.
Idk, the emergence of his character having an element of nobility in him mixed with a streak of self doubt/self loathing, working with my assumptions that SOMEONE had to get the boot this first round, it all worked together to get a genuine feeling of triumph and joy when they all did manage to get through the first round.
