I mean most non-anime written for that age range is not taking place in a high school. I really think it is a self-indulgent and recycled anime trope
And when it does take place in a high school, the setting generally fits the story a little better. Like maybe it’s a normal school and something unbelievable happens and takes it off the rails. And look at the screenshot, in non-anime a character put through that transformation would stop caring about Taco Day, but this motherfucker will cut you in half with a sword of pure light if you forget the paper plates
There’s plenty of absurd stuff outside of anime obviously but I don’t often get the sense that a movie taking place in a high school should have taken place in like a interstellar battleship.
Most non animes don’t start from day 1 with a bunch of characters who think it’s totally normal that bunch of random kids learning algebra are in charge of like, a kingdom
I think it’s mostly about not having to spend the budget on backgrounds because every Japanese high school classroom looks the same
Also it’s probably really easy to steal a high school background from one of the countless other anime set in a high school and get away with it, just trace over it and change a few things
In this particular instance, Lelouch needed to hide his identity, and being able to go places as a regular Britannian citizen helped him scope out defenses or perform other covert work. a big theme of code geass was also how the youth of these children was stolen by imperialism, both the Japanese but also the colonizers. But more generally, what are the characters gonna do if they drop out of high school. Josuke from Jojo doesn’t even have enough money for nice shoes, let alone trying to fund himself on stand user adventures. Kakegurui doesn’t make sense in real life but it isn’t supposed to, it’s all the insanity of crazy gambling mixed with the feelings of dread most Japanese high school students have. Blue Exorcist, my hero, and Soul Eater are about schools set up to teach the super powered youth how to use their abilities. Bleach and death note both have a world apart from the real world, so the characters keep up their civilian lives. Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, enders game, and the mysterious benedict society all reflect one of these to an extent. Honestly most western comics are pretty similar as well
Eh, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. Spider-man can’t reveal who he really is because there are warrants out on him, and he’s not rich enough to pay for security on his house or family. The X-Men are a hated minority, so can’t just say who they are. Superman wants to have some time he isn’t treated like a god. But there are other examples that don’t work as well, I agree.
