Best School Battle Anime, Ranked

The best school battle anime center around students training to beat each other or a common enemy through combat. Protagonists typically discover the power of friendship, or incredible abilities, in their fight-focused academies. Their schooling eventually takes them off-campus, either due to school traditions, family circumstances, or a greater purpose.

For these anime, the school system is central to its structure until significant plot points unfold. Being in the school allows characters and stories to progress in ways that are impossible or less compelling outside of it. In some, the school itself may be the key to advancing the story.

10 My Hero Acadamia

Superpower High School With A Lot Of Heart

My Hero Academia took manga and Western comic fans by storm in 2014. It combined age-old shonen tropes with Western superhero aesthetics and infused the story with plenty of heart. MHA introduced the concept of Quirks, a fun power system and the main driver for its stories and character arcs.

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By setting the story in an academy, mangaka Kohei Horikoshi effectively captured its young audience through relatability and simplicity. It also made it easier to escalate the stakes and action down the line.

9 The Irregular At Magic High School

Magic Wielded As Powerful Technology by High Schoolers

As the main setting, First High School played a critical role in the Shiba siblings’ growth and the viewer’s introduction to their world. First High’s magical segregation is also a microcosm of the world’s commodification of magicians.

It’s also in First High that Tatsuya Shiba, and viewers, explore the sci-fi-esque magic system partly responsible for the series’ popularity. The school’s power system also effectively prepares Tatsuya, his sister Miyuki, and the viewers for the world’s genetics and magic arms race.

8 Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun

Wacky Almost-Slice Of Life Comedy In Battle School

Iruma’s life was in danger the moment the demon Sullivan adopted him as his grandson. However, enrolling him in Babyls School for Demons, where he could be found out as an edible human, certainly didn’t help with his safety.

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Fortunately for Iruma, he finds friends in school, who grow with him through hilarious and heartwarming adventures. The school also helps him get used to the demon world, its battle-oriented society, and a life where people genuinely care about his well-being.

7 Kill La Kill

Rebellious Teen vs. Absurdly Powerful Student Council

Kill La Kill is a Trigger production through and through, despite its school setting. In fact, putting Ryuko on a warpath in a school in their first series set the tone for the studio’s high-octane, mecha-loving productions.

At Honnouji Academy, friendship tempers Ryuko’s hot-bloodedness and helps her grow beyond her anger. Even her rival Satsuki changes thanks to her assembled student council, the Elite Four. They find companionship and individuality, and defeat their common foe, at Honnouji, though not without a lot of ridiculous action scenes.

6 Soul Eater

Sentient Weapon and Master School Fights

Soul Eater is a shonen favorite for a reason. It embraces absurdity with characters like OCD icon Death the Kid; Black☆ Star, the world’s loudest assassin; and workaholic Maka Albarn. Atsushi Ohkubo’s classic battle school anime also benefits from Studio BONES’ hyperactive action choreography and vibrant palette.

The trio and their weapons growing up together in a wild school adventure help them avoid the pitfalls that come with their ambitions. Maka and her friends also ultimately find the courage to keep going against literal gods and embodiments of primal concepts.

5 Angel Beats

School Purgatory, Literally

In Angel Beats!, school is literally purgatory. Protagonist Otonashi quickly learns upon awakening that his existence in the afterlife is threatened by the student council president, Angel. He’s drawn into a battle against Angel by the SSS or Afterlife Battlefront, setting him on a bittersweet journey.

Students are forced to fight for their existence within the school. And while the action scenes look great for its era, its emotional core is the true star. Otonashi and his fellow students grow in ways they couldn’t while living, and eventually find closure.

4 Mashle: Magic And Muscles

Ab-Crunching Comedy And Cream Puffs

To keep his peaceful life with his old man, Mashle Burnedead enters a Hogwarts-expy where elitism, eugenics, and classism aren’t hidden behind metaphors. Like Mashle, the anime faces these themes head-on in a hilarious deconstruction of magic academies and shonen tropes.

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Deconstruction aside, Mashle’s appeal partly lies in the bonds he creates at Easton Magic Academy. Befitting the anime and manga’s comedic nature, Mashle largely doesn’t change himself. But his presence helps his friends and allies move forward with their lives and ambitions.

3 Assassination Classroom

Lethal Group Project

Kunugigaoka Middle School’s Class 3-E is full of what society considers are lost causes. Unfortunately for them, they’re chosen by an octopus-like being to kill it. Said octopus being, called Koro-sensei, even becomes their ultra-capable homeroom teacher.

And as fans found out, Koro-sensei and the environment he fostered were also what this class of delinquents needed. Although Class 3-E do become lethal threats, their lives are also improved and they find hope for the future.

2 Jujutsu Kaisen

Child Soldiers Against Supernatural Evil

In addition to having powerful female characters and the potential for a live-action adaptation, Jujutsu Kaisen’s school setting proves crucial for plot reasons. Characters also become more human (or the opposite in some cases) through missions handed out by the school.

Satoru, Suguru, and Shoko are clear examples of school missions sending them down inescapable paths. But Yuji, Megumi, Nobara, Yuta, and their classmates across prefectures are also irrevocably changed by the relationships they form in their short stint as active students.

1 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

Giant Robot School Fights To Inter-Space Warfare

A school focused on mobile suits, the Asticassia School of Technology is literally a battle school with mechs. Asticassia is also the playground for the heirs of mega-corporations, and the gilded cage of Miorine Rembran. Suletta Mercury’s arrival not only disrupts this system, but the status quo of the mobile suit industry.

Suletta and Miorine’s growth rightfully dominates this timeline, but Asticassia’s systems are also fascinating. Duels decide everything on campus, and deals made within can have huge implications off-site. Moreover, some students actually have more freedom within the oppressive campus, finding comfort in their friends and achievements.

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