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Answerman - Why Do So Many Anime Take Place in High School?

I can understand in general why so much of the Japanese media we get focuses on an idealized portrayal of high school: if nothing else, most popular anime and manga falls into the shounen or younger seinen demographics, so it's explicitly targeted at people in those age groups in the first place.

Honestly I think Justin got it most right when he touched on the issue of cultural norms. In Japan, once you hit adulthood, you're generally expected to either take a soul-crushing salaryman position, or else stay at home and raise a family, depending on your gender: you're meant to become a cog in the overall social machine.

What's up with this answer man discrimination?
. . . He could've used this answer to respond to my question but he didn't because of discrimination.

It's a pretty obvious question. Kids are the ones watching anime in Japan, for the most part. Why do the characters tend to be in high school? Because the kids watching are approaching that age. You can argue the kids watching are probably younger than high school age, but that just means they're looking forward to those years because it makes them feel adult without the pressures of actually being one/dealing with jobs. Anime creators make the shows with young characters so the viewers can better identify with them.

It's a pretty obvious question. Kids are the ones watching anime in Japan, for the most part. Why do the characters tend to be in high school? Because the kids watching are approaching that age. You can argue the kids watching are probably younger than high school age, but that just means they're looking forward to those years because it makes them feel adult without the pressures of actually being one/dealing with jobs. Anime creators make the shows with young characters so the viewers can better identify with them.

There are parts of High School & Middle School that I would love to excise out of my memory and some that I wouldn't mind visiting again. College, overall, was much better.

Mark Gosdin

What's up with this answer man discrimination? I sent a very similar question a few months ago and it was ignored. This is not the first time that this has happened. Here is what I wrote:


"I have seen about a thousand anime in my lifetime, and in just about every single one of them, the main character is a middle school or high school student, or at the very least are people within the age range of middle/high school students. What I want to know is why we don't often see college students in anime. College freshmen in Japan can be as young as 17 years old, so characters in this age range can still attract a strong audience of teenage otaku and the like. Also, according to a recent article on Rocketnews24 called "Five Ways College Life is Different in Japan and the United States", it is said that college life in Japan isn't even stressful. In fact, many Japanese students have found 12th Grade to be harder than anything they've ever done in college. In anime where school is only a minor part of the plot, wouldn't college students be the perfect people to use for the story? This is especially true for late-night anime, which is typically intended for an adult audience. Japanese students under the age of 18 also have a late-night curfew, so featuring an older audience allows for more opportunities to utilize a late-night setting. If anime like Death Note and Tokyo Ghoul can feature college students in lead roles and still become major successes, what is to say that other anime can't do the same?"

Anyways, there are multiple reasons why the high school setting is the default. From an author's standpoint, it's simply more interesting. Teenage years is a time for sudden development and growth and high school social structures can be pretty complicated. Having characters deal with that on top of having to save the world opens up more opportunities for conflict and drama.

A pattern I've noticed with western entertainment is that kids prefer watching stories about people older than they are. Kids in Japan seem to be like that too. I think, however, it's because kids look for role models, and to them, cool kids are in high school. It's easy to see Spider-Man as a role model for instance. He's a hero, well-respected by everyone around him, and beats up bad guys while poking fun at them.

I wouldn't exactly say that. After all, the majority of shows on Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network star middle/high school aged characters.

In fact, even from your own example, Spider-Man has spent most of his existence in fiction as a High Schooler.

While I can't think of any show that combines a college setting or college-age charcters with fantasy elements, I see no reason why a show like that wouldn't be just as interesting as one with a high school setting.

I have to disagree here. I think there's plenty of potential in exploring development, growth, social structures, etc. in a college setting or with college age characters. Genshiken, Welcome to the NHK, Moyashimon, and Tatami Galaxy are all good examples. While I can't think of any show that combines a college setting or college-age charcters with fantasy elements, I see no reason why a show like that wouldn't be just as interesting as one with a high school setting.

A pattern I've noticed with western entertainment is that kids prefer watching stories about people older than they are. Kids in Japan seem to be like that too. I think, however, it's because kids look for role models, and to them, cool kids are in high school. It's easy to see Spider-Man as a role model for instance. He's a hero, well-respected by everyone around him, and beats up bad guys while poking fun at them.