Mio Naganohara, Yuuko Aioi and Mai Minakami are three high school girls living out their daily lives. Yuuko fancies herself a comedian but often fails in her delivery, often thanks to the mischievous antics of Mai, the enigmatic quiet type of the group. Mio is outwardly more normal but is prone to outbursts, especially when it comes to keeping her yaoi drawings secret from her classmates. They are joined by self-conscious robot girl Nano Shinonome, her child genius (yet still thoroughly childish) creator Hakase, and their sassy talking cat Sakamoto, along with a rich supporting cast of memorable characters in a variety of silly situations.

Nichijou is a special blend of taking ordinary events to the extreme, mixed with equal parts absurdity and a dash of zen-like meditation, all augmented by some of the best animation in anime. Fans of Chio’s School Road will appreciate the physical comedy of many of Nichijou’s best gags along with the hilarious inner monologues and socially awkward situations the characters often find themselves in. Difference-wise, Nichijou has a lot more moe and iyashikei characteristics (as opposed to ecchi), a more compartmentalized story structure with less of a focus on a main character, and far fewer video game references. It also has fantastic opening and ending themes!

School Rumble is a romantic comedy series with a strong emphasis on the comedy. The show revolves around dim-witted but loveable high schooler Tenma Tsukamoto, the object of affection of ex-delinquent Kenji Harima, who is trying to reform himself to win her heart. Unfortunately for him, he’s terrible at expressing himself to her and Tenma is interested in someone else, curry-loving eccentric Ouji Karasuma.

School Rumble is an anime rife with miscommunications and ridiculousness that isn’t afraid to explore little deviations into drama and the supernatural while still retaining its comedy. Simply put, School Rumble’s general plot and school setting isn’t super original but its execution and characters are very solid. Like Chio’s School Road, School Rumble has a lot of physical comedy centered around the characters performing over-the-top stunts as well as a little bit of an ecchi element. We recommend School Rumble if you’re looking for a well-made school comedy with a little bit of romance and drama thrown into the mix. It also has a good English dub!

Handa-kun, as you might guess, is about Handa-kun or Handa Sei, a younger version of the same Handa Sei of Barakamon, a rising star in the calligraphy world and the idol of his school. This anime follows Handa’s high school life, with the story built around how he misunderstands his classmates’ admiration for him as bullying and tries to distance himself from them, resulting in further confusion and hijinks for both parties. He also has to deal with the Handa Force, a fan group of students obsessed with him who equally misread his actions, causing even more trouble for Handa.

While Handa-kun is technically a prequel to Barakamon, the tone and style are very different, as is the vast majority of the cast (not to mention the anime staff and studio itself). We think watchers of Chio’s School Road might be interested in Hand-kun because they both derive a lot of humor from misunderstandings and feature similar themes thanks to the school setting.

Cromartie High School is the meanest and toughest school around, full to the brim with the most hardcore delinquents along with actual gorillas, robots, and maybe Freddie Mercury? Enter mild-mannered Takashi Kamiyama as he navigates the surreal landscape that is Cromartie High in Cromartie High School, a show that pokes fun at a variety of delinquent cultural stereotypes, embraces its low animation budget to great effect, and cranks the weirdness level up to 11!

If you enjoyed the bosozoku gang antics Chio got caught up in with Mayuta in Chio’s School Road, Cromartie High School will be right up your alley, as it’s the main theme for the jokes in this series. Cromartie has a lot of visual and physical humor in common but definitely goes harder on the weirdness/random factor, so if that is something you’re a fan of, this is the show for you. It also swaps out video game references for older pop music ones and hardly features any female characters (unless you count Cromartie Girls High School) so keep that in mind. Nevertheless, Cromartie High School is a real gem in the school comedy genre, one that we heartily recommend! The English dub is also absolutely fantastic!

Cool, cooler, coolest! Sakamoto desu ga? takes the rather simplistic idea of the “coolest guy ever” and runs wild with it, crafting yet another brilliant school comedy. Starring the titular Sakamoto, Sakamoto desu ga? sets up a variety of predicaments facing our perfect high school protagonist that he always solves with style, strange sophistication, and humor; for the audience at least. Sakamoto is simultaneously smart and simple, and even sometimes a little touching.

Like Chio’s School Road, Sakamoto desu ga? focuses largely on its main character and their frequent outbursts of extreme physical feats, but Sakamoto ventures much further into the realm of the supernatural exaggeration. Similarly, Sakamoto himself is a much less realistic character compared to Chio, but the shows still feel quite similar in tone and style of humor. Its OP is also extremely well done and catchy!

Another thing of note is that this series was directed by Shinji Takamatsu, who also directed the previously-mentioned School Rumble, whose Karasuma shares many characteristics with Sakamoto, so if you like either of these you will probably enjoy the other as well!

Azumanga Daioh is an absolute classic of the school comedy and slice-of-life genre, a show ostensibly about nothing but packed with so much charm it can’t be ignored. Azumanga Daioh is about a bunch of high school girls, sweet 10-year old prodigy Chiyo Mihama, slow and spacey Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga, energetic troublemaker Tomo Takino, athletic tomboy Tomo Takino, serious Koyomi "Yomi" Mizuhara, reserved cat-lover Sakaki, and their extremely irresponsible homeroom teacher Yukari.

Like Nichijou, Azumanga Daioh has a large moe aspect to it as well as a penchant for absurdity at times, but mostly sticks within relatively realistic situations. Like many of the other titles mentioned, and Chio’s School Road, this anime has its share of physical comedy. It also touches slightly on sexuality, but is much tamer than Chio’s School Road and School Rumble. Azumanga Daioh is an important part of the history of school comedy anime and it still holds up today! We think all fans of the genre should give it a chance. Its opening and ending themes are also a treat to enjoy!