High School: A Perfect Petri Dish.
Most people who have watched Anime know that for every Sci-Fi based series or movie, there is at least three that involve a school. Let’s face it, two of the largest groups who watch Anime are still in school, or have a keen interest in people of that age, for whatever deviant reason. Thus it makes sense that there would be so many stories that revolve around schools, namely the later years of grade school. Today I would like to take a gander at some of the finer aspects of this sub-genre and turn a critical eye to what we can expect from it.
Because of the popularity of this sub-genre, I will only make reference to a few specific series or movies for simplicities sake. The first title that I will shift under the microscope is The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Because of it’s outrageous popularity at the time of my writing this, it is well worth dissecting. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (which shall henceforth be simply: MHS) shares a very common thematic with other school related stories in Anime. This basic similarity is in the subject of the entire Anime (despite being narrated by another character) is Haruhi Suzumiya , the same one mentioned in the title of the story. (SPOILER) This individual is a perfectly (otherwise) normal school girl, save for the ability to mold reality to her will. (/SPOILER)
The concept of a single female entity, namely schoolgirls, which have some unusual powers is very common. The characteristics of these unusual powers vary of course, ranging everywhere from telekineses to pyrokinesis and often the power over the male erection (though the latter is mostly emphasized in hentai). Often this puts these schoolgirls in a position where they must manage these powers and keep them hidden from their teachers, fellow students, and most importantly their love interests.
Now, I’m sure that one thing that is going through your mind this this: But Kintaro, isn’t this sub-genre just a rehash of the Maho Shojo sub-genre? Well, these stories often also fall into the same category as the Magical Girl sub-genre. However, because of the variances, it qualifies for it’s own sub-genre and thus it’s own article. I should remind you that there need not always be super-powers involved in a school-type genre. In fact, Azumanga Diaoh contains nothing of the sort. In fact, Azumanga Diaoh contains the exact opposite, which is a frequent inadequacy of it’s character’s abilities to accomplish their goals.
Indeed, there are many things that separate MHS from Azumanga Diaoh. As mentioned previously, in the latter there is no super powers, essentially zero involvement of male characters of the school age, near-to no fighting, nothing supernatural even in their surroundings, and no mysteries. So what we have in comparison to MHS sounds like something utterly droll and boring. This is not the case. While MHS excels in providing a mysterious, comedic , fantasy/sci-fi story of love and malcontent, Azumanga Diaoh provides entertainment in the form of every day humor that nearly anyone can relate to.
These two examples show two very different views on how to go about the High School sub-genre. We can see from this example that even within a sub-genre, there is plenty of room for variation that does not only rely on character design.
To end this article I felt that I would like to provide a short list of themes that you can find in many of these school-related Anime titles. So here is a list of things to look for in these manner of stories:
1. Despite her mental control over her powers, a schoolgirl will rarely show the same control over her blush.
2. Nosebleeds are a common reaction to a panty shot, and never cause serious damage.
3. That ultra-serious guy who is also ultra-popular is also a giant asshole.
4. Any schoolgirl who tries to act “cool” will inevitably fail. Hard.
5. There will be a culture festival and there will be fan service during this time.
6. No matter how short that skirt is, it only rarely bellows up in the wind.
7. When someone asks to meet you behind the school at night, never worry about rape, it’s not going to happen then.
8. When you find yourself alone with someone you trust, THEN you need to worry about rape.
9. Just fucking make up already. We all know it’s going to happen.
10. Finally, just when you think the relationship between two main characters is going to reach a new level of intimacy, one of the best friends will come by to fuck it all up.
That’s all for now.
See you next time, Space Cowboy!
