Manga/Anime/Novel where "graduation" plays an important part?

Jul 9, 2020 9:22 PM

Offline

Nov 2014

591

Hello.

I'm graduating in a few months and I wanted to look into Japanese media that would treat the topic (even if it's only fpr one arc) at any level of education (Junior High, High, College..).

Besides so many manga series are ongoing and the cast still hasn't graduated (lol)

I know that graduation plays a role in Clannad, in K-On and in Love Live, as it does in Just Because! (and in some visual novels such as Hatsuyuki Sakura it's a SUPER big deal) but I would like to inquire about other titles I am not aware of.

Please feel free to share your insights.

Thank you very much.

Jul 9, 2020 9:46 PM

Phloup

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Feb 2017

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For anime, I've only got Assassination Classroom.

For manga, you might be interested in checking Score of seventh class. or From now on we begin ethics.

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Jul 9, 2020 10:05 PM

Aidamis

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Nov 2014

591

Phloup said:
For anime, I've only got Assassination Classroom.

For manga, you might be interested in checking Score of seventh class. or From now on we begin ethics.

Thanks, will look it up

Jul 10, 2020 5:58 AM

SeijiSensei

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May 2012

18055

"Graduating" is a big issue in idol stories like AKB0048.

Jul 10, 2020 8:59 AM

Aidamis

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Nov 2014

591

SeijiSensei said:
"Graduating" is a big issue in idol stories like AKB0048.

I ve only watched Imas and a few ep of Cinderella Girls.
Apart from Wake Up Girls that is, and two or 3 ep of LL and LL Sunshine.

How is AKB0048 compared to them? Thanks

Jul 10, 2020 10:30 AM

SeijiSensei

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May 2012

18055

It's set in the far future in a galaxy where entertainment is banned in some sectors. The girls in AKB0048 are "successors" to some of the more famous members of the actual AKB48 group like TakaMina in the video below. They stage guerrilla concerts and fight galactic soldiers as we see in this clip from the opening episode. The four little girls on the ridge are the protagonists and join the group after a time-skip.

AKB0048 obviously had a pretty decent budget given that it was an advertisement for the actual group. And they used some of those funds to hire Kawamori Shouji (Macross) to direct and the prolific Okada Mari to write the script The songs are all covers of famous AKB48 hits sung by the seiyuu. In this clip the opening number "Aitakatta" is a song of welcoming. The second song, "Shoujotachi yo," is a girl-power anthem.

All the girls go through a rookie period with an eventual graduation ceremony. The graduation episodes appear in season two.

SeijiSenseiJul 10, 2020 10:45 AM

Jul 10, 2020 7:43 PM

8oomer

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Oct 2014

6693

The most extensive (and touching) sequence I've seen leading up to a graduation and the graduation itself was the 3 episode-long arc for the Maria-sama ga Miteru series (during the 2nd season, episodes 3, 4 & 5).

Sakura-sou no Pet na Kanajo -- had a touching closing speech (episode 23) one of the most memorable parts of the series

Gokujou Seitokai -- another heartfelt ceremony including the singing of "Aogeba Toutoshi" (one of the traditional Japanese graduation songs)
Youtube Link

Lovely Complex -- this one ends with a hilarious (and touching) graduation speech by the 2 protags

I also remember seeing the "2nd button custom" in an anime but I don't remember which. The custom is explained in an article I found (along with a lot of information about Japanese graduation ceremony in general.

8oomerJul 29, 2020 4:06 PM

Avatar: Anzu Kadotani from Girls und Panzer. XMas awesomeness version by Charenji :)

Sig by MissIntrovert.

Jul 11, 2020 4:49 AM

Edocchi

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Jun 2016

1932

Oh, I didn't know graduation is Hatsuyuki Sakura's main theme

Jul 29, 2020 7:11 AM

Aidamis

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Nov 2014

591

Edocchi said:
Oh, I didn't know graduation is Hatsuyuki Sakura's main theme

One of. I didn't finish the main game, please don't spoil, but maybe it's just personal bias but I could relate a bit to the protagonist. And I thought that Tamaki wishing for him to graduate was actually the same as wishing for him to "graduate from a bad life" "graduate from his miserable self" "step forthrightly into the adult world" so to say.

This sounds like a very powerful message. It's so easy to get caught up in resentment and just yell in anger while remaining a clueless ungrateful bastard who closes their eyes on all of the beauty that exists and is only fueled by rage.

Even when they think they've achieved their objectives those people often end up empty husks. That's why so many revenge stories (esp if the vengeful one is not a main character) end up with the vengeful dying. They don't really have anything going in their life once they've "vented it all out".

This reminds me of the bummer ending of the story on which the Jack Nicholson film "the Pledge" was based on. A man vowed to drag a child killer to justice but was disgraced when he could not ambush the criminal and lost his trail. The tragic irony was that on his way there the child killer got into an accident and died, yet no one found the body.
"Justice from heaven" didn't feel like justice to the near retirement cop who was desperate to give the family closure, yet could not, and ended up bitter and sad.

It's good when people learn to "graduate" from a life with little meaning, or abandon an objective which only reflects back negativity at them. It's like when lawyer youtuber Leonard French left the divorce lawyering industry because it stopped being rewarding and took a tool on his psyche to witness so many people hell bent on making their ex-suffer, children be damned.

I myself graduated from a state of depression and nihilism when I discovered spirituality and self-help. This led to the next battle - still fighting the "messianic complex" and learning to become more self-centered, for others' sake to.

Jul 29, 2020 7:42 AM

#10

Dukur

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Aug 2013

150

Namaikizakari has graduation but it's not the main focus.

Jul 29, 2020 8:24 AM

#11

Aidamis

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Nov 2014

591

Dukur said:
Namaikizakari has graduation but it's not the main focus.

Thanks I will look it up

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Manga/Anime/Novel where "graduation" plays an important part?

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