INTRODUCTION
Let’s face it. There are times where we otakus have read and experience what the main characters have gone through in their day-to-day lives in their schools. The facilities and curriculum they offered, the youth they enjoyed, and sometimes how some situations can be a little extreme, making their life less boring than reality. We decided to take a look at some of these schools and rank them not only based on their facility and services but include the main characters’ experience. Without further ado, lets get to class.
10. Rosario to Vampire (Rosario + Vampire) [Manga]
- Authors: Ikeda, Akihisa
- Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy,School, Shounen, Harem
- Volumes: 24
- Published: June 2004 – April 2014
Tsukune isn’t able to enrol in a normal high school on account of his poor grades. Because of that, his parents found him a school with no tests required. However, Tsukune soon finds out that the school is meant for yokai. In fear for his life he was on his way to catch the bus home when he crashes into beautiful girl on a bicycle, Moka Akashiya, who turns out to be a vampire and though it may be a little forward, bites him right off the bat. They become friends, and Tsukune is ready for a happy school life with her. The only problem is that if a human is found at the very secret yokai academy they will be killed, if they’re lucky before they’re eaten. Tsukune’s life first settles down into an harem filled slice of life in volumes 1-10 before ramping up in the last 14 volumes to an epic, fate of the world at stake series.
Yokai Academy is a school meant for monsters only, and humans are forbidden to set on foot on this campus. This institution provides similar subjects as human schools. However, they have a subject that teaches their students how to blend in with human society and co-exist with them. We don’t know if there are affiliate yokai elementary or middle schools. We do know that Moka went to a human middle school and hated it. We do know if a yokai needs to blend in if they want to attend college since there are no Yokai universities. Therefore if a yokai wants to pursue further education, they must attend a human high school or university. The constant peril for humans might be a con on weather to attend but the potential of having a beauty like Moka in class just might be worth it.
9. Mahou Sensei Negima! (Negima! Magister Negi Magi) [Manga]
- Authors: Akamatsu, Ken
- Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Ecchi, Fantasy, Romance, School, Harem,
- Volumes: 38
- Published: April 2003 – March 2012
Negi Springfield is a prodigy. The 10-year-old wizard has two goals in life, one to find his missing father and the second to become a Magister Magi. A Magister Magi is the kind of wizard that helps the everyday world with magic. If Negi is going to become a true Magister Magi he has to take on one last challenge, teach middle school English to a class of 31 girls at an academy in Japan. Did we mention he was supposed to keep his powers a secret.
Mahora Academy is located in the northern Tokyo of Japan, funded by the European from 1868 to 1912, Meiji era of Japan. The education system covers from grade school to university. The property is large enough to be considered a city district and established as a headquarter for the Kanto Magic Association. The school was designed with inspiration from the buildings in Prague, the Czech Republic. The academy also has a barrier that allows a wizard to avoid their spells going haywire, ensuring safety for their students.
8. Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne! (Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!) [Light Novel]
- Authors: FUNA (Story) and Akata, Itsuki (Art)
- Genres: Comedy, Fantasy
- Volumes: 14
- Published: June 2018 - Ongoing
When she turns ten years old, Adele von Acham experiences a horrible headache that causes her to regain her memories of her previous life as an eighteen-year-old Japanese girl named Kurihara Misato. That life changed abruptly when Misato died trying to help a little girl and met a god. During that meeting, she made an odd request and asked for average abilities in her next life. But the wish didn’t happen as planned.
Welcome to Hunter’s Prep School! It is an institution where you can learn how to fight monsters and become a hunter. The tuition, food, clothing and shelter are to be provided to you for free. Closing in on the graduation, your rank should be either D-rank or C-rank, capable enough to help the weak and control the monsters’ populations. At the same time, you should fight against B-rank parties and bring out the best in you. You will be assigned to a dormitory where your roomates are your temporary Hunter party, so building trust and bonds with them are crucial if you want to survive in the wild while learning.
Now, we’ll move on to some amazing school exclusive to the manga and light novel world.
7. Usotsuki Satsuki wa Shi ga Mieru (Liar Satsuki Can See Death) [Manga]
- Authors: Ryouko
- Genres: Horror, School, Supernatural
- Volumes: 1
- Published: May 2020 - Ongoing
With crimson colour eyes, Satsuki Minazuki can see an individual’s future death within 24 hours in the form of illusion. The exact locations of their body parts and conditions can be seen within her range of sight. Even with such an ability to help save unaware victims, she has a reputation as a liar by the entire school, and no one would believe her even with her warnings. Because of that, she has to do everything she can to prevent their deaths. How far will Satsuki be willing to go to save a life?
Yes. This is a regular school setting where you can find anywhere else in life. But read us out. Since you know Satsuki’s ability, why not use that as your advantage? Think about it if you are a highly paranoid student about everything in life, which could lead you to your death. You can always place your trust in Satsuki. This is like a Final Destination situation, except that Satsuki will be your lifeguard to avoid getting killed most brutally. Fair warning, the display of the potential corpses are between mild and semi-gruesome. The most exciting part is how she investigates as if she was performing an autopsy.
6. Psycome [Light Novel]
- Authors: Mizushiro, Mizuki (Story) and Namanie (Art)
- Genres: Comedy, Ecchi, Romance, School, Harem, Psychological
- Volumes: 6
- Published: June 2016 – August 2014
Sentenced with a false charge, Kamiya Kyousuke was sent to the Purgatorium School of Rehabilitation, where young murderers are gathered. Don’t be fooled by their beautiful appearances as they will not hesitate to kill anyone. Because of his title as the Mass Murderer of Twelve, Kamiya attracts a lot of unwanted attention. Will he be able to survive from his classmates before graduation?
So if you find it boring in studying in a regular high school, you might enjoy a tense environment filled with murderers around your age. The school provides the education you would find in an ordinary high school, but with a twist. Every one of the students could kill you at any moment, and the special curriculum provides dangerous weapons where one might begin to question the school’s sanity. Also, the food here sucks, and you have to do manual labour at night before going to bed, so the entire experience is like living in a jail. However, the characters are charming and dangerous in their way, so expect many Yanderes.
5. GT-giRl [Manga]
- Authors: Hasemi, Saki (Story) and Y’ss, Peak (Story & Art)
- Genres: Cars, Sports, Seinen
- Volumes: 1
- Published: November 2020 - Ongoing
Because of the high number of fresh graduates without driving licenses, the country’s unemployment rate rises, that is where the Ministry of Education introduces a policy where education sector to add English and Programming class to help students study vehicles operations at an early age, where it is possible to get a driving license at the age of 16. The story focuses on Hinata Sato, the sole member of the auto racing club of Private Mihama Girls High School, working hard to recruit members for the club and enter the upcoming competition: JGTC-W.
The school system in this world produces different kinds of specialities among the students regarding cars. Each mechanic has different roles to ensure their ride is in top-notch condition, including knowing their specifications and purpose. Their school even has a specific part of the land where you can access the school’s vehicle to learn how to drive at an early age. Of course, safety first and suitable for readers and students interested in cars and willing to have this as an extra-curricular or even part of the main lessons.
4. Spy Kyoushitsu (Spy Classroom) [Light Novel]
- Authors: Tomari (Art) and Takemachi (Story)
- Genres: Action, Comedy, Mystery, Romance
- Volumes: 1
- Published: August 2021 - Ongoing
After the war between both countries, the governments decided to form a peace treaty. However, that didn’t stop the shadow war between them. Klaus, a professional spy, chooses to create a team of his own to complete the Impossible Mission with over a 90 percent chance of failure. The members he decided do not possess any practical experience, and they have one month of preparation for this!
It wasn’t much of a school and more of a secret hideout where you could access almost every essential you needed to live—food, shelter, money to purchase food and clothes. Instead of studying like any other classroom, you will train with your classmates by forming and executing plans with your new spy classmates to kill him. And no, you don’t have to hold back because that individual got skills, so you can use everything you can get your hands on to kill him. The training has a theme of lies and deception to give yourself an opportunity or advantage to defeat your opponents no matter how strong they are.
3. Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru (Reign of the Seven Spellblades) [Light Novel]
- Authors: Uno, Bokuto (Story) and Miyuki, Ruria (Art)
- Genres: Action, Fantasy, School
- Volumes: 3
- Published: December 2020 - Ongoing
In a world of magic, there are techniques that one could not defend against called spellblades. Only seven individuals can cast them. Every Spring, there will be a new batch of students enrolling on a magic school Kimberly. Welcomed with ceremonies of magical beasts, everyone enjoyed these moments. Oliver Horn is one of the newcomers and suddenly notices a peculiar girl wearing Japanese attire with a sword.
Kimberly Magic Academy was designed with a strong inspiration coming from the Harry Potter Series, J.K. Rowling. However, many similarities they have regarding the education system, this series focuses on swordsmanship and magic. You may be thinking, that isn’t that bad. Let us tell you that there is a curfew that you HAVE to follow if you value your life. The academy is built like a magic labyrinth or maze where you can get lost easily. Not only that, your seniors possess more knowledge and power than you are willing to kidnap you for their experiment. So long as you follow the rules and be ready to be ruthless in reality, you will be able to survive until graduation.
2. Ryuusa no Ori: Kokoro no Naka no “Kokoro” (Ori of the Dragon Chain: “Heart” in the Mind) [Manga]
- Authors: cadet (Story), Antique (ART)
- Genres: Action, Fantasy, Romance, School
- Volumes: 1
- Published: February 2021 - Ongoing
Solminati Academy is a prestigious school for ambitious students. Nozomu Bountis entered the school to support his lover’s dream. As time went on, his growth suddenly came to a stop, and he could no longer advance, resulting in poor grades. Eventually, his lover left him for his best friend. Being heartbroken and lost, he focused on his training earnestly and met with an old woman in the forest, who assisted him in his growth.
This is probably the saddest story we have ever read. Nozomu has been through a lot to a point his self-deprecating personality is driving him to the end of suicide. Most students find his existence pointless, but a few people recognize his skills, and it is up to them to help him get his feet back up and move forward. This is a story of how a single rumour and a single curse can put a person down to that state and trying their best to look at things on the bright side.
This series has a lot of world-building in almost every chapter. We are talking about history, magic, swordplay, politics, and how the general public runs—all in the form of education during his time at Solminati. The school is built to train students to either be part of the frontlines to fend off against the demon invasion (demonic monsters like dragons, bears and wolves) or join the research group to innovate and create new spells to gain an advantage for their people. Of course, this took place in a neutral zone where all countries provide support as they have a common enemy, demons.
1. Shin no Jitsuryoku wa Girigiri made Kakushiteyou to Omou (I Think I’ll Hide My True Ability to the Last Moment) [Manga]
- Authors: Kamegoya, Sato (Art) and Nekoyasha (Story)
- Genres: Fantasy, Magic, School
- Volumes: 1
- Published: October 2020 - Ongoing
He was living in a world where one can form a pact with a God and gain skills. Born as the third son of a famous saint knight family, Yuno focused on controlling the innate power bestowed upon by the God named Zeus. Because of his lack of concentration on the daily tasks given to him, his father decided to label him as incompetent. Enrolling in a magic knight academy, he was loathed by everyone else but his childhood friend Alicia. On the first day of his class, he was introduced by his style’ teacher, a nameless God, bringing on the topic of forming a pact with a God as she has not formed a pact with anyone for 12 years. Out of everyone in the class, he decided to form a pact with this nameless God and named her Athena with a secret mission to make her the supreme deity and take this role more seriously.
This manga series has piqued our interest the moment we saw it. It reminded us of the Tales series and Danmachi, but the story is angled differently. Because she is a nameless god, she reminded Yuno of himself ever since his childhood. The story is more on how one should learn how to believe in themselves, even though they have the power and strength that could be unleashed into a disaster at any moment, to help others.
Yuno enrolled in the Ferris Magical Knight academy, close to the St. Ferris Girls’ Academy. As per tradition, the magical knights are chosen by the students of St. Ferris Girls’ Academy. This is known as matchmaking. No, that doesn’t mean they become lovers. It is more of a master and a servant/bodyguard for the rest of its life. Once this matter is settled, both institutions will have a ton of joint curriculum to form a bond of trust between master and bodyguard. We are talking about surviving in the monster inhabited locations, learning spells and practising weapons.
Final Thoughts
That is pretty much everything we could cover when it comes to the best schools to attend. Everyone has interests of their own of what makes a school great. It could be the system, the people they met or even the quality of life they provided. But the most important thing is the knowledge they provided to you and could apply it in real life for the better. This article is rather challenging to make a list as we tried to look into the different variety of school systems, leading to three titles from Rank 8 to 10 where they have an anime of their own. Despite having an anime, their manga version provides more context and lore of their story for fans who are interested in knowing more about the characters and their experiences, so they can be seen as other options for you to take.
I hope you guys enjoy this article. If you do have a school in mind that you want to attend based on a manga or a light novel series that hasn’t got animated, leave them down in the comments below!
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