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Highschool Obsession in Japanese media ?

T

Turin Turambar

Member
"Japanese media".

In quotes. The Japanese media you are watching is media directed to teenagers, like anime and videogames, so of course lots of highschool teenagers appear on it.

Japanese media is also Kurosawa and Murakami and Takashi Miike, to mention the popular stuff. Way less highschoolers there.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
Thatonemoor said:
Ok fair enough but it's pretty strange that I have a pretty okay understanding of what high school is like in japan but have literally no clue what Japanese college life is like.
Click to expand...

College in Japan is like if everyone's experience in America was attending community college but not living on campus. Most Japanese people either live at home or are living in an apartment by themselves. There isn't a dorm life or anything like that. You might be able to make friends via clubs or "circles" in college based on shared interests.
 
T

TheBryanJZX90

Member
Trojita said:
College in Japan is like if everyone's experience in America was attending community college but not living on campus. Most Japanese people either live at home or are living in an apartment by themselves. There isn't a dorm life or anything like that. You might be able to make friends via clubs or "circles" in college based on shared interests.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's not like all the students are tailgating before a football game or anything.

High school in Japan is higher stress than in America, but that creates a shared connection between Japanese people that went through it. It's a cultural touchstone. College is low stress, low engagement, low sense of community.

Oh also check out the movie "Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish" for a look at Japanese college life. Spoiler: campus and classes barely register.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
I15saL.gif


Yare yare daze OP
 
Fbh

Fbh

Member
Because even if you get superpowers it's kinda hard to save the world working 80 hours a week.
Imagine Persona 5 as a random worker in Japan.
Stand up, game jumps to evening, Morgana is like "let's sleep".

Honest answer would be that most anime and media that focuses so much on highschool tends to be from the Shounen genre which is aimed at kids and teens.
I guess most content creators think that their target audience will relate more to their characters if they have stuff in common with them like age and the fact they go to school.
Still, it's kinda funny that 2 of the biggest and best selling mangas/anime from the genre, One Piece and Dragonball, aren't set in highschool.

If you look at the Seinen genre, which is easier to find in manga and is aimed at older audiences, you will see that almost none of the famous ones focus on highschool (Berserk, Monster, Vinalnd Saga, mushishi, Vagabond, etc)
 
Laughing Banana

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
People who can't understand why things may work differently in countries outside their own: the thread.

Or Why Can't They Be More Like US in Their Life, Damn It.
 
C

Christhor

Member
Thatonemoor said:
This constant focus on high school in anime seriously makes me wonder if the Japanese people just don't like talking about college. I find it hard to believe that the vast majority of people in japan don't have any interesting stories from their college days. Hell college is where my life got interesting. High school is where all the boring stuff happened.
Click to expand...

"I had a great time at college so everyone else must have too, even in this country with a very culture!" Americans are the only ones who glorify college to such an obscene extent.
 
O

Ordinaryundone

Member
BocoDragon said:
Has it dawned on you that you may be consuming media intended for Japanese teenagers?
Click to expand...

Yeah, no navel gazing needed, I'm pretty sure this is the answer. Teenagers find it relatable, younger kids will find it cool. And anyone older will either appreciate the nostalgia aspect or just deal with it; its not like there is nothing out there about adults. Like, Persona is about HS age teenagers because it's targeted at HS age teenagers.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
You guys think they are targeting high schoolers, but in a lot of these shows the high school experience is for nostalgia geared towards adults. Teenagers don't have the extreme levels of income needed for Otaku merch while at the same time they aren't of the age where they would be buying shonen toys and merchandise.
 
F

Frozenprince

Banned
Zoe said:
The US absolutely glorifies high school days.

Japanese adulthood sucks. High school and college (to a lesser extent) are glorified because you spend the rest of your life chained to a desk.
Click to expand...

Yep. It's the last time you actually get to be relatively "free". College moreso with the freedom since it's more about getting into a good one than how you do once there but HS is more romanticized just like it is in the US.
 
A

AtomskEater

Member
Trojita said:
The Japanese college experience isn't anything like the average American one.
Click to expand...

In what ways is it different? Some people in the thread say it's the beginning of a harsh adult life, some are saying middle/high school is rough because of constant exam stress and college is a breeze.

Like someone else said, I feel like I have some knowledge of how high school works in Japan, very little of how college works.

Edit: okay, I should have kept scrolling because some people had good answers for this. :p
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
AtomskEater said:
In what ways is it different? Some people in the thread say it's the beginning of a harsh adult life, some are saying middle/high school is rough because of constant exam stress and college is a breeze.

Like someone else said, I feel like I have some knowledge of how high school works in Japan, very little of how college works.

Edit: okay, I should have kept scrolling because some people had good answers for this. :p
Click to expand...

I see you put an edit in, but I'll elaborate more.

College is like the calm before the storm if you aren't yet working as well. You busted your ass off getting into high school (remember you apply to high schools like U.S. students apply for college). Then you busted your ass off in high school to get into the college. There isn't any real stressful thing awaiting you in college like another set of placement tests. It's almost like a vacation before real life fully hits you in the head. You are either living at home or living in a small apartment by yourself. Dorms aren't really a thing over there for colleges. No fraternities or actual college life.

The classes are usually in those bigger rooms with the seating getting higher and higher. Interaction between the professors and students is absurdly low even by Japanese standards. Classes are basically just lectures where the professor is talking the whole time with interactions being limited. There isn't the same level of forming friends or going to clubs as there was in middle/high school.
 
T

Trigonometrize.

Member
sphagnum said:
I was under the impression that college was taken more seriously in Japan than America, so high school is where the lifelong friends and happy memories are made before everything turns to shit.
Click to expand...

It's the reverse. College is a breeze and is often made so that almost no one fails, except for maybe more intensive stuff at the big big universities. And a lot of people's life-long friends are met in the club that they choose in college. Generalizations, of course.

Source: Japanese Society and History
 
O

Ogodei

Member
Zoe said:
The US absolutely glorifies high school days.

Japanese adulthood sucks. High school and college (to a lesser extent) are glorified because you spend the rest of your life chained to a desk.
Click to expand...

Ironically when i took a culture class during my study abroad in Japan, it was suggested that college in Japan was much more easygoing than high school, unless you were in on a very serious track to go to grad school for something (the pre-law, pre-med, PhD-bound crowd), because once you were in college you made it and didn't have to worry about cramming any longer, and college academics were fairly un-rigorous.

But i guess HS has more appeal because it's a more universal experience. College experience is different for everyone, but high school is much the same, so it's easier to tell a relatable story.
 
M

Massive Duck. C.M.

Banned
Ogodei said:
Ironically when i took a culture class during my study abroad in Japan, it was suggested that college in Japan was much more easygoing than high school, unless you were in on a very serious track to go to grad school for something (the pre-law, pre-med, PhD-bound crowd), because once you were in college you made it and didn't have to worry about cramming any longer, and college academics were fairly un-rigorous.

But i guess HS has more appeal because it's a more universal experience. College experience is different for everyone, but high school is much the same, so it's easier to tell a relatable story.
Click to expand...

Once they're out of college though, a new hell awaits
 
R

Replicant

Member
Tagyhag said:
I always assumed is that because while high school had its stresses, it's nothing compared to the stress of Japanese college to get a good degree, and then the stress of the salary man culture.

It's a more innocent time.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this.

Still creepy though for adults to obsess over high school girls
 
N

nullset2

Junior Member
How About No said:
Because life is over after hs in nippon
Click to expand...

I'd say, for a huge majority of people in the east and west, life peaks in high school.

Not trying to sound sanctimonious or anything, it's just that people basically adore going back to those years in their minds. Those years of unfettered sexual activity, with optimal health and amazing physical condition, where everything was easy af and everything seemed to go well all the time.

Besides that, there's this japanese thing where a lot of them are too much of a wimp to even grab a girl's hand back then, so anime serves as this sort of "vindictive" projection meant to make "things the right way" through all those stories of passionate and red-hot high-school encounters and adventures.
 
X

xevis

Banned
HeelPower said:
Is school maybe culturally different there ? Is it all consuming or something ?

I dont notice these trends in US,South American or European cultures.
Click to expand...

Have to ask what kind of American media you're consuming. The stuff I run into is obsessed with highschool and college.
 
A

AtomskEater

Member
Trojita said:
I see you put an edit in, but I'll elaborate more.

College is like the calm before the storm if you aren't yet working as well. You busted your ass off getting into high school (remember you apply to high schools like U.S. students apply for college). Then you busted your ass off in high school to get into the college. There isn't any real stressful thing awaiting you in college like another set of placement tests. It's almost like a vacation before real life fully hits you in the head. You are either living at home or living in a small apartment by yourself. Dorms aren't really a thing over there for colleges. No fraternities or actual college life.

The classes are usually in those bigger rooms with the seating getting higher and higher. Interaction between the professors and students is absurdly low even by Japanese standards. Classes are basically just lectures where the professor is talking the whole time with interactions being limited. There isn't the same level of forming friends or going to clubs as there was in middle/high school.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation. I guess this explains why high school anime/manga show them in class and hanging around on campus a lot while the handful of college anime/manga I can think of are mostly about things that happen outside of school or during club time.
 
Dice//

Dice//

Banned
Persona 6 has you in college, but you're doomed a bad ending with either your grades being too low or you fail to save the world but pass school.
 
R

rtcn63

Member
Dice// said:
Persona 6 has you in college, but you're doomed a bad ending with either your grades being too low or you fail to save the world but pass school.
Click to expand...

I have this theory that Persona 5 is intended for the audience who went to high school when Persona 4 was released, hence why all the MC's look 25. Also Catherine but whatever.
 
E

Ezalc

Member
They don't portray college life in anime because that would require having more sex scenes, and we all know people who watch anime don't have any of that. They simply can't relate to it.
 
O

Osakadon

Member
How else are you going to justify "accidental" pedo up skirts?

Japan has an unhealthy level of child sexualization,especially junior/high school girls.

In my opinion.
 
F

Fury451

Banned
It's not that different to how the US glorifies high school.

Well, it's a little different for culture reasons pointed out here, but the principle of losing innocence and key development for what you will become later occur then.
 
Subpar Spatula

Subpar Spatula

Banned
I believe it's some kind of perversion. Sure, you could say they're just reliving their youth but they seem to relive it A LOT (which a bit of fanservice). I suspect a lot of creators are more like your average middle-aged otaku who believes they're just capturing their youth in animation but they're still that otaku guy who probably has the same social hangups as many other otakus.

Like, if your idea of youth is nosebleeds while accidentally walking in on a pristine waifu changing then there isn't much to discuss in terms of why.
 
V

Valkerionseven

Member
There are defintiely some college level media out there, but they are not popular because after high school, no one really admits to buying games, anime, or manga lol. Its seen as something that you grow out of instantly once you get that high school diploma and everyone else are just out lyers. Hence the way things are marketed here.

As to why the uniform is popular, and its the same for guys and girls believe it or not (though most media is made for men so -shrug-) there are a lot of reasons, most of them pointed out here even if in a snarky manner.

Every country/region has their thing. Japan's is the high school uniform, be that in an innocent way or a fetishist way. But given the responses in the thread I think its most of the later lol.

also ignore my avatar, i always forget about it haha. im not into uniforms but that type of girl... which this is the most appropriate thing I could find...
 
K

Kurita

Member
Tagyhag said:
I always assumed is that because while high school had its stresses, it's nothing compared to the stress of Japanese college to get a good degree, and then the stress of the salary man culture.

It's a more innocent time.
Click to expand...
College in Japan is all about the entrance exam. You can relax for three years after that, 4th one is focused on getting a job so that's where the stress is.
 
S

sprsk

force push the doodoo rock
Because High School represents your last years of childhood. Once you graduate you just prepare yourself for life at a company. It also parallels the other hugely popular setting, the first few years after you get your first post-college job. There's a lot of new experiences, lots of focus on romance, so on.

College you don't see a lot cause its mostly being extremely drunk or job hunting.

Japanese media also has a tendency to avoid any sort of debauchery which college is full of. They're big on innocence and falling into a set path everyone else is in. Japanese media only wants lawful good, with a few exceptions as of late.
 
N

_Nemo

Member
Anime is catered to mostly teenagers I guess, that's why.

Osakadon said:
How else are you going to justify "accidental" pedo up skirts?

Japan has an unhealthy level of child sexualization,especially junior/high school girls.

In my opinion.
Click to expand...

But probably this lol.
 
J

Jotaka

Member
Because japanese adult life is boring.
Most of us adults here have a fucking boring life... in HS and college we did a lot of risk and stupid things... now we need to play safe. Safe is boring.
 
S

StoneFox

Member
In regards to the college vs high school thing. My Japanese teacher once said: "American college is easy to get in, hard to pass. Japanese college is hard to get in, easy to pass." Don't know how true it is, though.
 
M

muu

Member
1) That's the supposed target age range for the anime you're watching

2) Don't have to design different clothes for characters every damn time
 
B

BlazingDarkness

Member
Sou Da said:
Yeah I was wondering about that too, any Japanese Gaf users have college anecdotes?
Click to expand...
I studied at a Waseda university
Japanese uni students basically have it easy, all of the stress and effort goes into the entrance exams, once you're in, it's a cakewalk (you can pass these classes simply by turning up). The exam hell and all of that is definitely a big part of adolescence so I can see why high school themes are recurrent in many anime which are targeted to a similar demographic.

But yeah, uni life in urban Japan is more about socialising, joining clubs (circles, be it for sports, dance, pottery, whatever) and getting shit faced at nomihodai - not really interesting subject matter for anime I guess.
 
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