The best school battle anime centers 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.

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For these anime, the school system is central to its structure until significant plot points unfold. Being in 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.

Updated June 20, 2024, by Rie Takumi: School battle anime or anime where combat of some form is incorporated into the curriculum has been around for decades. Japan in particular has historical precedent, as women in the 19th century practiced naginata, and kendo and other martial arts with men in schools. But these anime take combat beyond sports, and often prepare children for war.

War, a highly militarized world, and monsters or aliens usually necessitate combat academies. Naturally, since students are in their teen years, adolescent woes add to the pressure of being the best at their system of combat. Depending on the genre, school battle anime can focus on teen melodrama, worldbuilding, combat systems, or skillfully weave all three points.

20 Armed Girl's Machiavellism

MAL Score: 6.68 – Delinquent Fights Against Matriarchy

Fudo Nomura had no idea that he’d be under the thumb of a violent matriarchy at Private Aichi Symbiosis Academy. But as a free-willed delinquent, Fudo takes on the challenge of the feared Supreme Five Swords to jig the severe imbalance at the academy.

Fudo’s fights with the Supreme Five Swords are key moments in the series and their individual battles can get bloody. Although it definitely has a comedic ecchi tone, fight choreography plays a significant role in its memorability. Power scaling is a little jank, but fights are fun enough to last for episodes.

19 Trinity Seven

MAL Score: 7.05 – Survivor Enters Magic School To Save Childhood Friend

Arata Kasuga’s life was normal until the mage Lilith Asami shattered his world. It turns out Arata was under a spell, and his hometown had been destroyed completely by a mysterious phenomenon called the Black Sun. To get to the bottom of the mystery and find his cousin Hijiri, Arata follows Lilith to Royal Biblia Academy.

It’s at the secret mage school of Royal Biblia Academy that he finds Arin, a dead ringer for his cousin HIjiri. As Arata tries to learn more about Arin and Hijiri, he learns to wield magic, fight demons, and why his unlocked mage powers are special.

18 A Returner's Magic Should Be Special

MAL Score: 7.10 – Second Chance At Saving The World Through School Life

Desir is no ordinary overpowered student in a magic school. He’s Desir Herrman, the mage of a pack of heroes who failed to save the world in the future. A twist of fate sends Desir 10 years back in time instead of dying with the rest of the world.

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Being in magic school is pretty important to Desir, as changing the classism rooted in his magical world starts at the influential Hebrion Academy. A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special retreads manwha tropes for fantasy academies thoroughly. This is a plus for fans of the format who want something easy to get into.

17 Chrome Shelled Regios

MAL Score: 7.27 – Battle School In A Dying World

Although an older title from the late 2000s, Chrome Shelled Regios uniquely fits the battle school anime trope. Zuellni is a military battle school that’s literally a city. Military Arts students learning to use Dite against Filth Monsters are also critical for the continued existence of humanity.

Interschool battles are important to building the overall plot and surprisingly add normalcy to the post-apocalyptic setting. Although the story never really strays from the main character Layfon, there’s a sense of characters doing their damndest to overcome his OP skills.

16 Boarding School Juliet

MAL Score: 7.4 – Romeo & Juliet In Swordfighting School

Romio Inuzuka of the Black Dogs dormitory has held the torch for Juliet Persia of the White Cats dorm since childhood despite being in rival clans. However, Juliet sees Romio as an enemy, and her animosity only grew when Romio protected her from conflict. To her surprise, Romio confesses to loving her, and so their hijinks-heavy romance start.

Boarding School Juliet is another Romeo and Juliet-type title, but it also has pretty fun fight sequences. Warring states demand combat prowess from men and women alike, and duels are central to a few plot points. If reading isn’t enough, Boarding School Juliet also has an anime adaptation up online.

15 The Irregular At Magic High School

MAL Score: 7.44 – 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.

14 Chivalry Of A Failed Knight

MAL Score: 7.44 – Zero To Hero Sticks To One Girl And Awesome Fights

Chivalry of A Failed Knight seems to follow the trappings of high school battle harem anime. But, remarkably, Ikki doesn’t accumulate a bevy of women. He goes for Stella almost straightaway, and their relationship positively affects their combat efficiency.

Ikki and Stella grow stronger by developing better insight mid-battle. Their first bout together sets the tone of the series’ fights, which only grew more elaborate with each episode. Every character’s special ability is a puzzle and half the fun of the anime is figuring out how to solve or defeat them.

13 Girls Und Panzer

MAL Score: 7.52 – Tank Battles As High School Girl Martial Arts

Martial arts oriented towards women aren’t new. Naginatajutsu was traditionally practiced by women as protection, a status symbol, and, eventually, a school-taught feminine art. In Girls und Panzer’s Japan, tank warfare or sensha-do is the sport of choice for girls instead.

It’s also the sport that haunts Miho Nishizumi, whose past led her to run away from the sport. But thanks to new friends, she finds joy in tank battles again. Part sports anime, part cute-girls-doing-cute-things (CGDCT), Girls und Panzer does surprisingly well in making tank battles a fun competitive sport.

12 Yamada And The Seven Witches

MAL Score: 7.54 – Delinquent Kisses Witches For New Powers

Ryu Yamada tried to enjoy high school after a middle school life spent as a delinquent. But after a boring first year, he returned to knocking heads instead of attending school and became a frequent visitor to the principal. After one such visit, Ryu falls lips-first on Urara Shiraishi and magically swaps bodies with her.

Yamada and the Seven Witches explores what happens after the kiss and how Ryu and Urara deal with their new kiss-activated powers. The premise makes this out to be a harem, but Ryu and Urara are firmly in the endgame. Fights showcase Ryu’s delinquency and the witch’s magic amid the kisses.

11 Mashle: Magic And Muscles

MAL Score: 7.60 (First Season) – 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.

10 Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar

MAL Score: 7.74 – Tenchi's Younger Brother Isekai'd IntoMecha School

Tenchi Muyo! is a legendary harem sitcom anime, but not many people know about its spin-off, Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar. The latter, also known as Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari, follows Tenchi’s brother Kenshi Masaki as he’s isekai’d to the mecha-populated world of Geminar.

It’s on Geminar that he enrolls to the Holy Land, where he defends Empress Lashara and trains to become a Sacred Mechanoid pilot. But even as he learns to fight and becomes a harem protagonist, he begins to uncover a sinister plot within the academy.

9 Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun

MAL Score: 7.75 (First Season) – 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.

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.

8 Soul Eater

MAL Score: 7.84 – 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.

7 My Hero Academia

MAL Score: 7.87(First Season) – 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.

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.

6 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

MAL Score: 7.88 (First Season) – 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.

5 Naruto

MAL Score: 7.99 (First Season) – Ninja School Turns To World-Saving Action Drama

This may seem like a joke recommendation at first, but Naruto started as a school battle anime. Going to ninja school is integral to the Hidden Leaf Village’s society in general. Starting in a regimented setting also allowed Naruto to settle into familiar shonen trappings and even invent a few tropes.

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Naruto and his fellow trainee ninja’s school exploits are also the reason why the series started strong in the first place. The genin and chunin exams, in particular, remain popular arcs for showcasing the students’ power-ups and introducing shocking twists.

4 Kill La Kill

MAL Score: 8.03 – 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.

3 Angel Beats

MAL Score: 8.06 – 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.

2 Assassination Classroom

MAL Score: 8.08 – 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.

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.

1 Jujutsu Kaisen

MAL Score: 8.61 – 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.

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