Summary
- Explore the journey from zero to hero with Ayanokoji in CotE.
- Dive into psychological drama with "Scum's Wish" for a complex romance.
- Engage in thrilling suspense with "Talentless Nana" for a murder mystery twist.
Classroom of the Elite was originally a series of light novels by Shōgo Kinugasa before it became a manga and anime series. On the surface, it looks like an ordinary high school series about the Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing School. Instead, it’s a place where students are divided by class, and the lead character Kiyotaka Ayanokōji finds himself in D-class, the school's lowest rank.
Classroom of the Elite: How Much Has Ayanokoji Changed Since Season 1?
Explore Ayanokoji's progress from zero to hero as he's worked his way up the social ladder in Classroom of the Elite.
Things just get more complicated once he gets involved with fellow students Suzune Horikata and Kikyō Kushida. But it’s not the only anime set in a school to offer chills, thrills, and spills. Here are a few more shows for fans to check out once they've finished beating the Elite.
Updated on February 11, 2025 by David Heath: Classroom of the Elite Season 4 is still on the horizon, but fans will be kept busy until it finally hits streaming services. Shono Kinugasa will release the first chapter of the light novel's upcoming Year 3 on March 24th in Japan, which is good for anyone who knows Japanese. Though for Anglophones and people still working through Year 2, the translation of its 10th volume will be out on March 25th, alongside an official guidebook for Year 2.
If that wasn't enough, Year 2's manga adaptation will be continued by Komada Hachi under the name Classroom of the Elite- 2nd Year 2nd Stage. As such, readers will have plenty to sink their teeth into until Season 4 comes along. But what can people who prefer anime to manga or light novels do in the meantime? If they've powered through this list's original entries, they can give this update's new additions a go and see if it clicks with them.
1 Scum’s Wish
Romance Becomes A Game Where Everyone Loses
Scum's Wish
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2017 - 2017-00-00
- Studio
- Lerche
- Number of Episodes
- 12
- Japanese Title
- Kuzu no Honkai
- Creator
- Mengo Yokoyari
- Streaming Service(s)
- HIDIVE, Amazon Prime Video
- Seasons
- 1
All the series on this list are good and all, though Mengo Yokoyari's Scum's Wish is closer to CotE’s psychological drama. It brings romance and then makes things more complicated than just a simple meet-cute. In it, Hanabi Yasuraoka is in love with her childhood friend Narumi, but he's in love with Akane, their music teacher. Hanabi then bonds with another student called Mugi, who has a similarly unrequited love for Akane.
To stave off their loneliness, Hanabi and Mugi agree to maintain a fake relationship until their crushes fall for them. But one falsehood turns into a web of lies that catches other, unsuspecting love rivals. It started life as a manga published by Square-Enix before making the jump to animation. The series even got a live-action TV adaptation, though it's easier to find the anime via HiDive and Amazon Prime.
2 Flowers Of Evil
Darkness Takes Root In One Of Anime's Grimmest Throuples
Flowers of Evil
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- April 5, 2013
- Studio
- Zexcs
- Number of Episodes
- 13
- Japanese Title
- Aku no Hana
- Seasons
- 1
- Creator
- Shūzō Oshimi
Hanabi and Mugi may feel like scum for their desires, but they're practically angels compared to the leads in Flowers of Evil. The series is an acquired taste as, instead of animating the original Shuzo Oshimi manga, Zexcs rotoscoped live-action actors instead. As such, it gives the show an uncanny valley look that puts some viewers off, though it fits the series' themes.
Named after Baudelaire's compendium of poetry about decadence and erotic abandon, it sees Takao succumb to his urges by stealing the gymwear of his crush, Nanako, unaware he was caught by his school's outcast, Sawa. She blackmails him into doing her bidding, even when he becomes Nanako's boyfriend. The three go to an ordinary high school, yet their game of psychological and emotional manipulation offers a darker take on CotE's trio of lead characters.
3 Talentless Nana
Superpowered School Students Face Off Against A Murderer In Their Midst
Talentless Nana
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- October 4, 2020
- Studio
- Bridge
- Number of Episodes
- 13
- Japanese Title
- Munou na Nana
- Seasons
- 1
- Creator
- Looseboy
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll
At first, Talentless Nana sounds more like an action show. It's about superpowered teenagers called 'Talents' being taught at an academy on a desert island to fight off monsters. The world has been doing this for 50 years, and Nanao Nakajima and his class are the most recent generation of Talented students being trained to take them on. He has no powers himself, but he does his best with his training.
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It stops sounding like My Hero Academia and more like CotE when two new students join the class: Kyōya and Nana. As soon as they arrive, the academy's other students start turning up dead on the island. It becomes a tense murder mystery as the surviving classmates have to work together and learn who's taking them out before they're all dead. Superpowers can't save them, but maybe honed human talents can.
4 Danganronpa: The Animation
Elite School Students Try To Kill Their Way To Freedom
Danganronpa: The Animation
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2013 - 2013-00-00
- Studio
- Lerche
- Number of Episodes
- 13
- Seasons
- 2
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll
Danganronpa blew up pretty quickly. It began as a Japan-only visual novel that caught attention when orenronen did a translated Let's Play for SomethingAwful.com's forums, leading to it getting a worldwide release with multiple spin-offs and tie-ins. It then got its own manga, Danganronpa: The Academy of Hope and High Schoolers of Despair, which tells some of the story from the other students' perspectives, and its own anime adaptation, Danganronpa: The Animation.
The anime starts kind of like the inverse to CotE, as an unremarkable student named Makoto manages to get a spot at Hope's Peak Private Academy, a school that only takes in the best of the best. Things take a turn when he wakes up in an abandoned classroom with the other first-year students. The principal, a robot teddy bear named Monokuma, offers them two choices: live in the school for the rest of their lives, or earn their way out by killing a classmate without being caught. As such, students are still plotting to get ahead, only the stakes are much higher.
5 Kakegurui
A School Where Success Is Determined By Luck
Kakegurui
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2017 - 2019
WHERE TO WATCH
- Studio
- MAPPA
- Number of Episodes
- 24
- Seasons
- 2
- Creator
- Homura Kawamoto
- Streaming Service(s)
- Netflix
If CotE’s students were separated by class, Kakegurui’s cast is determined by the luck of the draw. Only the children of the country’s wealthiest and most influential figures make it into Hyakkaō Private Academy, with its graduates guaranteed to join their ranks. The hierarchy of the school isn’t determined by grades but by gambling. Those who bet big and win big earn the esteem of their peers, while the losers become their debt slaves.
Luckily for new student Yumeko Jabami, while she looks like the average high schooler, she’s a compulsive gambler addicted to the thrill of high stakes. She takes sheer joy in betting based on sheer intuition, which shakes up the school and draws the attention of the Student Council. How far can she go before her luck runs out? Check out the series and its sequel Kakegurui xx to find out.
6 The Daily Life Of The Immortal King
The Ultimate Hero Tries To Act Normal To Keep The World Safe
- Genre: Fantasy adventure comedy
- Studio: Haoliners Animation League
- Episodes: 4 Seasons, 51 Episodes
- Streaming: Available on Crunchyroll
Technically, The Daily Life of the Immortal King isn't an anime, but a "donghua," an animated show, movie, etc, made in China. It might be a pedantic point to make, but like Korea's manhwa and aeni, donghua may become more familiar as it expands beyond Asia and goes global. Particularly with the popularity of Haoliners Animation League (HAL) and their projects like Heaven's Official Blessing and Psychic Princess.
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In contrast to magical girl anime, these shows may appeal to fans of the genre.
However, Immortal King is closer to CotE with its school setting, and a lead character who's more special than his lower class suggests. The difference is that Wang Ling is deliberately acting average to disguise the fact he's strong enough to destroy the whole planet. He tries to suppress his volatile power with an amulet his parents gave him, but as his emotions get stronger, and more threats turn up, it threatens to break out and overwhelm him.
7 The Fruit Of Grisaia
Student Striving For An Ordinary Life Ends Up In An Extraordinary Harem
The Fruit Of Grisaia
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2014 - 2025-00-00
- Network
- AT-X
- Directors
- Yoshihiro Mori, Takahiro Majima, Munenori Nawa, Daisuke Eguchi, Kosuke Murayama, Emi Yamashita, Yoshihiro Yanagiya, Ikuo Yamakado, Toshiaki Kanbara
- Seasons
- 2
- Streaming Service(s)
Heading back to Japan, The Fruits of Grisaia is an adaptation of a visual novel that's kind of like CotE if it were a harem series. Transfer student Yūji manages to get into Mihama Academy, where he hopes to live the life of an ordinary high school student. However, he soon discovers the school is anything but ordinary, as it only has one principal and five students, all of whom are (of course) girls.
As he gets to know them, he learns the girls essentially live in the school, which serves as a sanctuary from their traumatic memories. But it also keeps them from coming to terms with their trauma, leaving them to rot like fruit fallen from a tree (hence the title). So, it's down to Yūji to help them move on from their past. This is a tall order as Yūji, despite wanting to be ordinary, has his own closet full of skeletons.
8 The Irregular At Magic High School
A Kid Without Powers Managed To Succeed At A Magic School
The Irregular at Magic High School
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2014 - 2024-00-00
WHERE TO WATCH
- Studio
- Madhouse, 8bit
- Number of Episodes
- 52
- Japanese Title
- Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
- Seasons
- 4
- Creator
- Tsutomu Satō
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Hulu
There are quite a lot of series, be they drawn or animated, that follow apparent no-hopers who hold more potential than anyone thinks. It's enough for Immortal King to flip that on its head and for CotE to make it a psychological drama rather than some shōnen series of challenges. But there's nothing wrong with playing a trope straight, as The Irregular at Magic High School shows.
At the start of the 21st century, magic was proven to be real and turned into systemized technology that people could learn about and master. Magical genius Miyuki ends up on First High School's elite First Course, while her brother Tatsuya is stuck on its Second Course for low-scoring "Weeds." However, he has a knack for combat, technical knowledge, and some lesser-known magical abilities. Tatsuya may prove his worth by being irregular rather than regular.
9 Baka And Test: Summon The Beasts
If Classroom Of The Elite Was A Pokemon-Inspired Comedy
Baka and Test
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- January 7, 2010
- Seasons
- 2
- Studio
- Silver Link
- Creator
- Kenji Inoue
- Number of Episodes
- 26
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll
Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts could almost be a comedy spin-off of CotE, as they have very similar premises. Fumizuki Academy divides its students and budget into classes, with the best students & supplies going to Class A and the worst to Class F. The only way students can move up the ranks is to pass tests with bestial-looking spirits called "Avatars." The more hits their Avatar receives, the more points they lose until they get a zero and face demotion.
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This happens to Mizuki Himeji, who ends up in Class F despite being highly intelligent. Alongside the other misfits in her class, notably Akihisa "Baka" Yoshii, they declare war on Class A and vow to take their classroom for themselves. The series started as a light novel series by Kenji Inoue; then it got a 2-season anime series and a two-episode OVA that can be seen in full on Crunchyroll.
10 World Trigger
School Kids Caught In A Conflict Between Dimensions
World Trigger
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- 2014 - 2022
- Seasons
- 3
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Tubi
World Trigger goes for a more overt sci-fi theme than CotE's dystopian school. It revolves around Mikado City, where a portal called a 'gate' appears, revealing monsters called 'Neighbors' that threaten to overwhelm humanity. Luckily for them, a mysterious organization called Border comes in to use the Neighbor's Trigger technology against them, evening the score between the two sides.
Four years later, life in Mikado largely went back to normal. But there's still no peace between humans and Neighbors. So, when a humanoid Neighbor called Yūma starts living among humans, he needs help blending in. He befriends Osamu, a student and Border trainee who teaches him about human customs while keeping his identity secret. But why is Yūma playing human? Catch the series in full to find out.