Sometimes anime is great because it takes viewers to impossible places and tells unbelievable stories. Other times, anime is incredible because it’s entertaining while still being exceptionally relatable. School anime fit the latter category perfectly, as everyone wishes their scholastic experience was just a bit more exciting than what it actually was. So, here are the five best school anime of 2017.
Little Witch Academia
Premiering on Netflix this year, Little Witch Academia follows a young girl named Atsuko as she enters the prestigious magic school, Luna Nova Academy. However, unlike her classmates, she’s a first generation witch, which means that she isn’t entirely in control of her magical powers. With the help of her new friends, Atsuko is on her way to becoming like her idol, Shiny Chariot.
The magical school series explores various myths and spells that are beautifully animated throughout the 25-episode series. Atsuko’s charm and unrelenting drive to become like her idol sends a powerful message: you should never give up on your dreams.
[Zuleika Boekhoudt]
Highschool of the Elite
Also featured on our 15 Must-See Summer 2017 anime, Highschool of the Elite follows Class 1-D as they fight to be the top class of their year. However, achieving this feat isn’t as easy as it seems. The students are met with harsh challenges that many of them are unwilling to do or complete. On top of that, the other classes are even more competitive, sinister, and willing to do anything to keep their top position.
Highschool of the Elite showcases the pressures that students go through to achieve academic excellence. From living on points used as money to conniving behind each other’s back, the series is quite an entertaining yet exaggerated look at Japan’s highly competitive school system.
[Zuleika Boekhoudt]
Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler
Having money isn’t enough to succeed. To be at the top, you have to be able to manipulate others. And, at Hyakkaou Private Academy, students learn precisely that. By day they study traditional school materials and during the night, the real teaching begins.
Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler brings out the thrills of gambling among other things. And while the series is categorized in the high school genre, the gambling sequences are a battle for the ages.
[Zuleika Boekhoudt]
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma Season 3
You’ve probably heard of Food Wars! due to its over-the-top, comical, and rather frequent use of fan service. However, underneath these attention-grabbing visuals is a surprisingly robust story about a young man trying to surpass his father’s culinary skills.
Food Wars! is weird, crazy, and does not take itself too seriously. It’s a fantastic guilty pleasure that’s both relatable and completely bizarre. Season 3 was one of the best school anime of 2017 because it beautifully and unabashedly commits to its premise of a young man attending a slightly pervy culinary high school.
[Lucas DeRuyter]
My Hero Academia Season 2
My Hero Academia is one of the best anime to come out in a long time. This stellar anime has incredible animation, a pleasantly brisk pace, and a wonderful collection of fun and unique characters. This anime also happens to take place in a high school dedicated to teaching children with superpowers how to be professional heroes.
The high school setting is highly appropriate for this series, as it primarily centers on a young man and his peers growing into adults as they learn more about themselves and the superhuman world they live in. Like many good school-centric anime series, My Hero Academia is a coming-of-age story set in a high school that is way more fun than the one you actually attended.
[Lucas DeRuyter]
