Best Anime Like Classroom Of The Elite

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. 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 May 4, 2024, by David Heath: Classroom of the Elite‘s third season has come and gone, with its last episode broadcasting back on March 27, 2024. As of this writing, a fourth season hasn’t been confirmed yet, though it seems likely. The original light novel is currently going through Ayanokōji & co’s second year, as is its manga adaptation. Plus, the Horikita-based spin-off could make for a nice OVA or miniseries.

But, until more news comes, fans might like to check out some of the new suggestions on this list. It’s been updated with a few more Elite-esque shows, with a few tweaks here and there for the old entries. They’ve also been reordered via their MyAnimeList score to arrange them more tidily, and give the numerically-minded a gauge for which series received the most acclaim.

1 Scum’s Wish

MyAnimeList Score: 7.13

• Genre: Psychological romantic drama.
• Studio: Lerche.
• 1 Season, 12 Episodes.
• Available on HiDive and Amazon Prime.

All the series on this list are good and all, though Mengo Yokoyari’s Scum’s Wish is closer to Elite’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 Talentless Nana

MyAnimeList Score: 7.18

• Genre: Supernatural suspense drama.
• Studio: Bridge.
• 1 Season, 13 Episodes.
• Available on 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.

It stops sounding like My Hero Academia and more like Elite 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.

3 Kakegurui

MyAnime List Score: 7.24

If Elite’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.

4 The Daily Life Of The Immortal King

MyAnimeList Score: 7.33

• Genre: Fantasy adventure comedy.
• Studio: Haoliners Animation League.
• 4 Seasons, 51 Episodes.
• Available on Crunchyroll and Netflix.

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.

However, Immortal King is closer to Elite 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.

5 The Fruit Of Grisaia

MyAnimeList Score: 7.47

Heading back to Japan, The Fruits of Grisaia is an adaptation of a visual novel that’s kind of like Elite 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.

6 The Irregular At Magic High School

MyAnimeList Score: 7.40

• Genre: Action fantasy romance.
• Studio: Madhouse.
• 2 Seasons, 39 Episodes.
• Available on Crunchyroll and 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 Elite 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.

7 Baka And Test: Summon The Beasts

MyAnime List Score: 7.52

• Genre: Comedy.
• Studio: Silver Link.
• 2 Seasons, 26 Episodes.
• Available on Crunchyroll.

Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts could almost be a comedy spin-off of Elite, 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.

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.

8 World Trigger

MyAnimeList Score: 7.58

World Trigger goes for a more overt sci-fi theme than Elite‘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.

9 Prison School

MyAnimeList Score: 7.60

• Genre: Ecchi comedy.
• Studio: J.C. Staff
• 1 Season, 12 Episodes.
• Available on Crunchyroll.

Like Elite, Prison School is about a band of friends seeking to achieve a goal by defying the odds and overcoming their school’s strict bureaucracy. The difference is that Elite‘s fanservice distracts some viewers from the drama, while Prison School‘s drama distracts them from the fanservice. It’s not an adult show, but it’s a more titillating take on an Elite-adjacent premise.

The prestigious but strict all-girls Hachimitsu Academy decides to go co-ed and admit male students, but they only take in five, and they’re isolated from the 1,000 female students. Nonetheless, the five boys try to integrate themselves with the others, from Kiyoshi trying to contact his crush Chiyo, to all five peeping into the girls’ bathroom. As punishment, the Underground Student Council sentences them to a month’s stay in the school’s prison, where they have to learn to survive or enjoy the torment their captors give them.

10 Tomodachi Game

MyAnimeList Score: 7.72

Elite sees its students testing their school’s ranking system by proving their worth. Tomodachi Game makes them test their friendship. Yūichi grew up poor but never felt he lacked anything thanks to his close friends. He even saved up what little he got to join them on their school trip. But then his savings went missing. Two of his friends, Shiho and Makoto, took responsibility, but they couldn’t have done it.

Things take a turn when Yūichi and his friends get abducted and trapped in a room by “Manabu-kun,” a canceled TV show mascot. He reveals they’re being made to participate in his “friendship game” to settle a large debt on behalf of one of their former friends. On top of trying to figure out who the wronged friend is, Yūichi and co. now have to learn who they can truly trust, or suffer the consequences, as their relationships aren’t as rosy as they think they are.

11 Blue Period

MyAnimeList Score: 7.81

• Genre: Coming-of-age drama.
• Studio: Seven Arts.
• 1 Season, 12 Episodes.
• Available on Netflix.

Tsubasa Yamaguchi’s Blue Period gave Netflix a show about the joy of painting without being The Joy of Painting. Instead of a curly-haired, soft-spoken Bob Ross-type, it gives viewers Yatora Yaguchi. He’s a fairly popular high schooler who does well in class but is left feeling unfulfilled and frustrated. That’s until he discovers the school’s art club. Through this newfound passion, he gains a new goal in life: to get into the Tokyo University of the Arts.

To do that, he has to simultaneously work with, and compete against, his club members, taking in their different approaches to art, and their criticisms. Some are more valuable than others, like his mentor-like senior Mayu’s advice. Others open his eyes to deeper issues, like the non-binary Yuka, the religious Maru, and the imposter syndrome suffering Maki. The show is more grounded than Elite, though no less dramatic.

12 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

MyAnimeList Score: 7.83

• Genre: Sci-fi comedy.
• Studio: Kyoto Animation.
• 2 Seasons, 28 Episodes.
• Available on Crunchyroll.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya isn’t the most similar show to Elite, yet it might’ve been one of the most obvious suggestions. Haruhi and her friends were all over the internet back in the mid-2000s, from their light novels and manga to their anime series and movie adaptations. The original series saw its lead Kyon get pulled into an after-school club by the titular Haruhi, where its members investigate mysterious events.

Except they learn Haruhi is the one behind them, as she unknowingly has the power to change reality. It’s up to Kyon and co to keep her occupied to prevent her from inadvertently destroying the world. It leads to some mind-bending plot developments like time loops and alternate realities leading into spin-offs like The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, which itself got its spin-off in The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan.

13 Komi Can’t Communicate

MyAnimeList Score: 7.90

Komi Can’t Communicate is a cuddlier school adventure than Elite. Based on Tomohito Oda’s manga, the series is about Komi, who’s the most popular girl in school thanks to her looks and poise. However, she also suffers from severe social anxiety and has a communication disorder that only her classmate, Hitohito Tadano, knows about. With his help, she aims to overcome her problems and make 100 friends before graduation.

It’s more of a slice-of-life romcom, but one with some self-awareness, as Komi’s pretty anime features become more cartoony when her disorder gets the better of her. Likewise, the supporting cast is essentially named after trope-based roles, with their names often meaning “Ordinary Guy,” “Childhood Friend,” “Country Bumpkin,” etc. But through the laughs, it clicked with readers who could relate to Komi’s condition.

14 ReLIFE

MyAnimeList Score: 7.97

Getting back into more dramatic territory, ReLIFE has a curious premise. Arata Kaizaki is a 27-year-old with a dead-end job and no prospects. That all changes when a mysterious man called Ryō Yoake offers him a new opportunity. He just has to take part in the ReLife experiment, a process that’ll make him look 10 years younger. Once he does this, he then has to head back to high school to see if he blends in.

The idea is that the experiment could help him fix his lingering problems and “live his ReLife to the fullest”. While he fits in surprisingly well, it brings up some other issues. Some are understandable, like him being acutely aware he’s much older than his classmates. Others arise when he meets other ReLife subjects at the same school. Why was he chosen for the experiment? And just who is behind ReLife? People will have to watch the show to find out.

15 My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU

MyAnimeList Score: 8.00

Better known as OreGaIru, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU doesn’t have Elite‘s segregation drama. Though with its male lead getting pulled into all sorts of mishaps by his female friends, it has a similar spirit. Starting life as a light novel, it received a bundle of different manga adaptations ranging from those that stuck to the source material, to 4koma gag comedies.

It followed the cynical Hachiman as he ended up joining his school’s Service Club. Consisting of just himself, the beautiful but cold Yukino, and the overly friendly Yui, they help other students with their personal problems before making progress with their own. People weren’t able to watch the full anime as, due to legal issues, SNAFU‘s second season couldn’t be streamed anywhere. But that missing season finally got added to HiDive back in October 2023.

16 No Game, No Life

MyAnimeList Score: 8.06

The premise of clever kids proving their smarts against all odds has gone beyond Elite‘s classroom and has turned up in all sorts of settings. Kakegurui used it for gambling; Prison School for perverted yuks; etc. No Game, No Life managed to turn it into a sci-fi isekai based around gaming. The world of Disboard is run on who wins at a range of strategy games, with the humans of Imanity having the worst luck of all its different races.

However, that changes when step-siblings Sora and Shiro get pulled into Disboard from the real world. They spent nearly all their days indoors playing games, so they seem perfectly suited to help tip the scales back towards Imanity’s favor. To help them overcome Disboard’s rival realms, and restore Imanity’s former ruler, Stephanie Dola, they must play games ranging from chess to simulated mech battles.

17 Toradora!

MyAnimeList Score: 8.07

Toradora! is more gentle compared to Classroom‘s drama, despite having one of the more violent tsunderes in anime. The title is a play on the symbolism between the fiery, emotional tiger (Tora in Japanese) and the cooler yet stern dragon (Ryu in Japanese, transliterated as “dora-gon” for the title). The dragon-like Ryuji has a crush on his classmate Minori but gets confronted by her tiger-esque best friend Taiga, who has a crush on Ryuji’s friend Yusaku.

The two agree to help each other get with the person of their dreams throughout the series. Except things go awry when people start to think they’re a couple. Just because the two like to hang out, visit each other at their homes, and do odd jobs for each other doesn’t mean they like each other…right? Maybe Ryuji and Taiga have a more complicated arrangement than they think.

18 Hyōka

MyAnimeList Score: 8.07

Hyōka is an anime adaptation of Honebu Yonezawa’s Classic Literature Club novel series. Broadcast in 2012, the series follows Hōtarō Oreki as he’s forced to join the school’s literature club to keep it from disbanding. He befriends Eru Chitanda, a fellow member who makes him solve mysteries with her. They range from the disappearance of her uncle and the ending to a bizarre film to a series of robberies across the school.

It’s a charming story about a boy who learns to use the energy he prefers to conserve, with some urging from his friends and family. The anime received favorable reviews for its light mystery focus, and it has a manga series that’s still running to this day. There’s even a live-action film from 2017 for those who want to delve deep into the franchise.

19 Assassination Classroom

MyAnimeList Score: 8.08

• Genre: Sci-fi action comedy.
• Studio: Lerche.
• 2 Seasons, 47 Episodes altogether.
• Available on Hulu (Season 1), and Crunchyroll (Season 1 & 2).

For those that thought Elite needed a little more shōnen aspects to it, Assassination Classroomshould scratch their itch. Created by Yusei Matsui, it’s about an alien who threatens to destroy the entire planet. Being a sporting extra-terrestrial, it gives the Earth a whole year to produce someone strong enough to kill it in battle. He’ll even teach them how to put up a fight against him.

Taking on the name ‘Koro-sensei’, he became the homeroom teacher at a Japanese high school to provide these classes. The students think they’re outmatched, but with a little studying, they can find the creature’s weak point. The original manga was one of Shōnen Jump’s more popular series during its original 2012-2016 run, and the anime series continued the trend. Though its run was brief, it stood out thanks to its anime, OVA, and live-action movies.

20 One Outs

MyAnimeList Score: 8.33

One Outs seems more like a baseball-themed spin on Kakegurui or Kaiji, as it combines the sport with gambling to overcome the odds. But like Elite‘s Ayanokōji, its protagonist Toua Tokuchi is a genius trapped in the little leagues. He managed a 499 consecutive win-streak at one outs (pitcher vs batter showdowns) by throwing nothing but fastballs, yet only saw it as a way to earn extra cash.

That changed when, desperate to get Tokuchi to join his struggling Lycaons team, the legendary batter Hiromichi Kojima managed to break his streak. The team’s boss, Saikawa, doesn’t care for Tokuchi and didn’t want to pay him a proper salary. So, Tokuchi came up with a special ‘One Outs’ contract: he earns ¥5 million for every out he pitches, but must pay Saikawa ¥50 million for every run he gives up. It makes every game the Lycaons play a make-or-break deal for Tokuchi as he helps the team rise through the ranks.