High school can be an awkward time, but it’s made even more so when you aren’t even trying to be normal. Hachiman Hikigaya has found the answers to life, or so he thinks. He avoids everyone, and does his best to stay as far off the radar as possible. His failed, awkward interactions during his adolescence have accumulated into trauma which he has decided to avoid in the future. His teacher, however, has other plans for him, as she forces him to join the Volunteer Service Club along with fellow students. There he meets the cheerful Yuigahama Yui and the cool beauty Yukinoshita Yukino. Contrary to Hachiman’s plans, romantic comedy hijinks are about to ensue.

Oregairu, as it is called, bears a number of similarities to Classroom of the Elite. The genius loner trait is found in both Hachiman and Ayanokouji as the two avoid extensive interactions with their classmates. However, the situations force their hands, and they do get involved, often acting in very self-sacrificing ways. The two female leads are also mirror images of their counterparts in both shows, at least on the surface. This may very well be the formula for an entertaining school drama, as if you’re a fan of one you may just love the other.

No matter how bad your school life was, at the end of the day it was very unlikely that your teacher vowed to destroy the Earth. The students of Kunigigaoka Middle School, unfortunately, have that kind of monster as theirs, and what’s more, have been tasked with killing their Koro-sensei before he follows through on his promise. Koro-sensei is a yellow, smiley-faced, tentacle-armed creature with an immense amount of strength, speed, and cunning. Yet for all his dangerous abilities, he is an exemplary teacher. Shiota Nagisa is very far from your usual image of an assassin in training, but like his fellow students, he must quickly learn to become a professional killer.

Assassination Classroom features a highly unorthodox education system. Students take regular classes, but everything revolves around murdering their teacher. With the fate of the world at stake, learning lessons seems a secondary concern. Much like Classroom of the Elite, the actual educational aspects of the school take a back seat to the intrigue of the setting and plot. There’s also a mystery in both as to who exactly is in charge and what they want. It’s an intriguing show which offers laughs as well. If you’re looking for an unusual school setting, this show has got it.

Testing is hard, but imagine your social status was decided by your grades and you can probably imagine the ensuing nightmares. In Baka & Test, Akihisa Yoshii is something of an idiot, causing him to be transferred to the F class for those whose grades are abysmal. Things in F class are just as frightening as the students’ test scores, with the room being in terrible condition with horrible furnishing. The students decide that they’ve had enough of the farce, and decide to wage war on the other classes in hilarious battles using summoned creatures to fight for them.

Just like class 1-D in Classroom of the Elite, F class students in Baka & Test are the laughing stock of the entire school. They get very little respect, and have less resources available to them than the other classes. Both shows have a school setting with an added spice of romance thrown in. If you want to see characters in a hilarious do-or-die school setting with their social standing on the line, Baka & Test is for you.

Boys will be boys, unless the underground student council has anything to say about it. Fujino Kiyoshi and his four classmates were caught peeping in the girls bathroom, and instead of instant expulsion, were sentenced to do hard time on the school premises. Life as an inmate is hard. Their basic rights as human beings are denied to hem, and the sadistic women of the underground student council are dead-set on getting them expelled, for good.

In one of the most unorthodox school settings you can imagine, Prison School has an amazingly obscure sense of humor and serious tone that is accented with obscene ecchi. It’s amazing to behold, and the bond between the boys as they try to maintain a social life within the strict school system is somewhat endearing, oddly enough. Like Classroom of the Elite, the school’s rules are completely outside of the box, but if that thing is your cup of tea, Prison School will satisfy your tastes.

Gambling addiction is a serious issue, but it’s the way of life for the students of Hyakkaou Private Academy. There are only two distinctions at this school, the rich and the poor. If you want to get ahead, you gamble and wage enormous amounts of money. Suzui Ryouta has just found out the hard way, amassing a staggering debt to Saotome Meari. Unable to pay it off, he becomes her slave, but is soon rescued by the unusual Jabami Yumeko when she defeats Saotome at her own game. The two begin a friendship, and Suzui now finds himself playing sidekick to this twisted yet beautiful transfer student who can’t say no to a thrill.

Kakegurui has one of those settings and tones that you just know couldn’t possibly exist in the real world. But the stylism and sense of excitement as you watch how each gamble pays off is enthralling. Like Classroom of the Elite, money is the ultimate goal of the students, and the more you have the higher your status. Those without it are in the lowest rungs of the school, and often treated as less than human, similarly to the poor students of class 1-D. If you want to see another school setting where education takes a back seat to the dramatic excitement, Kakegurui is definitely for you.

Money is said to be the root of all evil, but that is most certainly the case in C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control. Kimimaro Yoga is your average college student with a part time job. He wishes for more, and this greed is what ultimately ends up causing him to agree to become an Entre. As a player in a money-based game set in a parallel world, he gambles his future in exchange for wealth alongside his partner Msyu in battles called Deals. With each weekly fight, he challenges someone else like him, who has agreed to leverage their future for monetary needs. But if you have no money, you have no future, then what happens to your life in the real world? Kimimaro doesn’t want to find out, and together, he fights to win battles while balancing a life and secret career in this winner takes all world.

C takes a serious look at the evils of money, taken to an extreme degree. It showcases the pitfalls of getting too wound up in the pursuit of wealth, and the sacrifices one makes to attain it. Like class 1-D and their pursuit of points, Kimimaro is of a one tracked mind in the beginning. If you want to see protagonists who analyze their situations for the best outcomes, C is another good anime.