Most high school anime keep things lighthearted and easygoing, but the slice-of-life psychological thriller Classroom Of The Elite presents a cutthroat environment where only the best can succeed. Kiyotaka has become notorious as one of the laziest, yet most intelligent, anime characters of all time because of his deadpan disposition but masterful manipulations.
Classroom of the Elite fans can rejoice, as the series has finally returned with a third season that's currently airing as part of the Winter 2024 lineup. However, for those needing something to pass the time while they wait for new episodes to release, there are plenty of other great anime series out there with a similar tone and theme to this iconic title.
Updated February 28th, 2024 by Chelsea Steele: Classroom of the Elite is one of anime's most iconic and unique slice-of-life series, combining the classic high school setting with the thrills of the psychological genre. For fans of the series looking for their next watch, there are many great titles available with a similar story that's sure to satisfy. We've updated this list to meet CBR's current publication standard, providing even more info on some of the best anime that Classroom of the Elite fans will love.
10 Smartest Characters In Classroom Of The Elite
Classroom of the Elite is an anime that reinforces the school of hard knocks archetype, but knowledge requires more than book smarts in this anime!10 No Game No Life Follows Two Gamer Siblings As They Enter A Virtual World
No Game No Life
Siblings Sora and Shiro make up the most feared team of pro gamers in the world, The Blank. When they manage to beat God himself in a game of chess, they are sent to a world where all disputes are settled with games.
- Release Date
- April 9, 2014
- Cast
- Yoshitsugu Matsuoka , Yoko Hikasa
- Main Genre
- Animation
- Seasons
- 1 Season
- Creator
- Jukki Hanada
- Producer
- Yōhei Hayashi, Shō Tanaka, Mika Shimizu, Satoshi Fukao, Asako Shimizu
- Production Company
- Madhouse
- Number of Episodes
- 12 Episodes
No Game No Life Rating Scores
MyAnimeList |
8.07/10 |
IMDb |
7.6/10 |
Although No Game No Life's premise doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel, it once boasted some popularity. The NEET sibling duo of Sora and Shiro start a life in a brand new, virtual world where they take over as the game's top players. However, the anime's stunning animation and likable characters make it feel unique.
Plus, Classroom Of The Elite fans will definitely enjoy the shut-in siblings who lead the series. Sora is a lot like Kiyotaka. They're both deadpan strategists who always think a few steps ahead. Shiro is also a bit similar to Horikita.
9 The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya Stars A Snarky, Deadpan Protagonist
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya
The crazy adventures of the SOS Brigade, led by the insane but charismatic Haruhi.
- Release Date
- April 2, 2006
- Cast
- Tomokazu Sugita , Crispin Freeman , Wendee Lee
- Main Genre
- Animation
- Seasons
- 1 Season
- Creator
- Nagaru Tanigawa
- Production Company
- Kadokawa Entertainment, Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Kyoto Animation
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya Rating Scores
MyAnimeList |
7.83/10 |
IMDb |
7.8/10 |
15 Most Overpowered Anime Characters, Ranked
OP anime characters are really fun to watch, as they take out whatever enemies come their way so easily their abilities seem impossible.Classroom Of The Elite fans are all too familiar with Kiyotaka's signature deadpan commentary throughout the series. It's not particularly humorous, but fans can't help but get amused by some of his comments. The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya's Kyon is very similar to Kiyotaka.
As one of anime's snarkiest male leads, Kyon is a classic example of a male tsundere. He's surrounded by quirky people doing whatever they can to annoy him, so it just makes sense that he'd make similar sarcastic commentary. There's never a dull moment in The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya, primarily because Kyon is such a strong male lead.
8 Death Note Is A Thrilling Murder Mystery Series
Death Note
Original title: Death Note: Desu nôto.
An intelligent high school student goes on a secret crusade to eliminate criminals from the world after discovering a notebook capable of killing anyone whose name is written into it.
- Release Date
- October 21, 2007
- Cast
- Mamoru Miyano , Brad Swaile , Vincent Tong , Ryō Naitō , Trevor Devall
- Main Genre
- Animation
- Seasons
- 1
- Production Company
- D.N. Dream Partners, Madhouse, Nippon Television Network (NTV), Shueisha, Video Audio Project (VAP)
- Number of Episodes
- 37
Death Note Rating Scores
MyAnimeList |
8.62/10 |
IMDb |
8.9/10 |
Though they may not look like it initially, Death Note and Classroom Of The Elite are actually pretty similar. Classroom Of The Elite's drama appears much more chill than other slice-of-life series, while Death Note is more dramatic and overexaggerated to drive the plot.
Death Note gives Classroom Of The Elite fans the character-driven plot they are looking for. Unlike Light, Kiyotaka remained passive for most of the series and let the narrative tell the story for him. Death Note is a classic shonen staple that every anime fan should watch at least once, and it's still relevant today.
7 Komi Can't Communicate Follows The Titular Heroine As She Attempts To Make 100 Friends
Komi Can't Communicate
An elite and aloof schoolgirl is in fact severely withdrawn and anxious about communicating with others. An ordinary schoolboy befriends her and helps her to open up and talk with people.
- Release Date
- October 21, 2021
- Cast
- Aoi Koga , Gakuto Kajiwara , Rie Murakawa , Rina Hidaka
- Main Genre
- Anime
- Seasons
- 2
Komi Can't Communicate Rating Scores
MyAnimeList |
7.88/10 |
IMDb |
7.7/10 |
Most slice-of-life high school anime series are rather predictable and don't stand out as anything too unique. Komi Can't Communicate, however, has brilliant animation, a unique art style, and a character-driven plot to really secure it as a standout series among others in the genre.
Komi Can't Communicate follows Shoko Komi, a girl with terrible social anxiety who wants to make 100 friends by the end of high school. Tadano, the first person who realized that writing to her was an effective method of communication, offered to help her with it. Komi is significantly more chaotic and comedic than Classroom Of The Elite, but it's definitely worth watching.
6 Hyouka Follows The Daily Life Of A Genius Slacker
Hyouka
Hyouka centers on Oreki Hotarou and his life in the Classic Literature Club. His mundane world is flipped upside down as they begin to solve various mysteries.
- Release Date
- April 22, 2012
- Cast
- Yuichi Nakamura , Adam Gibbs , Daisuke Sakaguchi , Aoi Yuki , Caitlin Glass
- Main Genre
- Animation
- Seasons
- 1 Season
- Studio
- Kyoto Animation
- Creator
- Shoji Gatoh
- Producer
- Justin Cook, Michael Harcourt, Hideaki Hatta, Makoto Itô
- Production Company
- Kadokawa Pictures, Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Kyoto Animation, Lantis, The Klockworx
- Number of Episodes
- 23 Episodes
Hyouka Rating Scores
MyAnimeList |
8.07/10 |
IMDb |
7.7/10 |
Hyouka's Houtarou comes off like a total slacker who only cares about sleeping, but he's actually a genius. He just never applies himself because he prefers to conserve his energy. Much like Classroom Of The Elite's Kiyotaka, Houtarou is apathetic to his surroundings but has impressive deduction skills.
They both purposefully keep average grades to avoid standing out and try blending into the background as much as possible. Unlike Kiyotaka, however, Houtarou doesn't care about using his deduction skills to read other people like a book and use certain information against them. Houtarou prefers solving mysteries with the rest of the Classics Club.
5 Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War Features A Romantic Battle Of Wits
Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War
The proudly privileged top two students of an elite school each makes it their mission to be the first to extract a confession of love from the other.
- Release Date
- January 12, 2019
- Cast
- Aoi Koga , Makoto Furukawa , Konomi Kohara , Yutaka Aoyama
- Main Genre
- Anime
- Seasons
- 4
Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War Rating Scores
MyAnimeList |
8.41/10 |
IMDb |
8.5/10 |
30 Best High School Anime, Ranked
Tons of anime take place in some sort of high school setting, but there are some truly stellar examples of the genre out there.Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War has significantly more energy than Classroom Of The Elite. However, both series seem to share fans. Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War stars two brilliant high schoolers who serve as the president and vice president of the elite Shuuichin High School's student council.
Kaguya and Miyuki are madly in love with each other, but instead of confessing, they use a series of bizarre mind games to trick the other into spilling their guts first. As the title suggests, love is war, and whoever confesses first loses. The series would be much shorter if Kaguya and Miyuki would just let go of their pride, but that takes all the fun out of it.
4 Assassination Classroom Follows A Class Of Eccentric Students Training To Become Assassins
Assassination Classroom
A powerful creature claims that within a year, Earth will be destroyed by him, but he offers mankind a chance by becoming a homeroom teacher where he teaches his students about how to kill him. An assassination classroom begins.
- Genre
- Animation, Action, Comedy
- Language
- English
- Number of Seasons
- 5 Seasons
- Debut Date
- January 9, 2015
- Studio
- Lerche
Assassination Classroom Rating Scores
MyAnimeList |
8.08/10 |
IMDb |
8.0/10 |
Assassination Classroom stars Class 3-E, a group of underperforming students ostracized by the rest of the school unless they can improve their grades by the end of the year. It's also full of the school's most eccentric personalities. Right off the bat, it has a similar premise to Classroom Of The Elite.
Unlike Class D, however, Class 3-E is tasked with successfully assassinating their yellow octopus-like teacher, Koro-Sensei, before he destroys the planet. Countless assassination attempts ensue. By the end of the series, fans realize that assassination isn't something to be taken lightly.
3 My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Centers Around A Cynical High School Student
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
About an antisocial high school student named Hikigaya Hachiman with a distorted view on life and no friends or girlfriend. His life change when he was forced to enter the "Volunteer Service Club" by his teacher.
- Release Date
- April 5, 2013
- Main Genre
- Animation
- Seasons
- 3 Seasons
- Characters By
- Cat Thomas, Melissa Molano, Takuya Eguchi
- Creator
- Wataru Watari
- Production Company
- Brains Base, Feel, Marvelous Entertainment
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Rating Scores
MyAnimeList |
8.0/10 |
IMDb |
7.9/10 |
Classroom Of The Elite fans will definitely enjoy My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU. Most of the characters are actually lighthearted, but like Kiyotaka, Hachiman is an apathetic protagonist with a sarcastic remark for every situation. Hachiman has no friends, takes no initiative to make any, and is a total pessimist.
He believes that youth is just a waste of time and that anyone who romanticizes it is lying to themselves to feel better. He wrote an essay criticizing how people interact, and his teacher punished him by forcing him to join the Volunteer Service Club. Hachiman eventually opens up to others more throughout the series but remains pretty cynical and introverted.
2 Prison School Takes Place In A Prison For Delinquent Students
Prison School
Hachimitsu Academy, once an all-girls school, has become co-ed, and teen Kiyoshi is one of five boys to enroll. When he is caught peeping, Kiyoshi is sent to the schools prison, where his punishment is carried out.
- Release Date
- July 11, 2015
- Cast
- Hiroshi Kamiya , Katsuyuki Konishi , Kenichi Suzumura , Shizuka Ito
- Main Genre
- Anime
- Seasons
- 1
- Studio
- J.C. Staff
- Creator
- Akira Hiramoto
- Number of Episodes
- 12 +6 OVA
- Network
- Funimation
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll , Funimation
Prison School Rating Scores
MyAnimeList |
7.6/10 |
IMDb |
7.6/10 |
15 Anime To Watch If You Liked Prison School
Possessing an intense premise and adult-like humor, Prison School quickly became a popular anime, and there are many that follow the same format.One of the most polarizing aspects of Classroom Of The Elite is its sheer amount of fan service. Fans who don't like it generally avoid other anime that include it. However, fans who didn't mind it will definitely enjoy Prison School. The series takes place at Hachimitsu Academy, which has a prison for unruly students.
The protagonist, Kiyoshi, was caught peeping on the girls and was banished to the school's prison. There, he endured humiliation and torture and tries to escape with his fellow inmates. Prison School is an uncensored, raunchy, twisted freak show that isn't for the fainthearted.
1 Kakegurui Follows A School Of Elite Students Who Gamble For Status
Kakegurui - Compulsive Gambler
A gambling prodigy comes to an elite school run by games and turns the order upside down.
- Release Date
- July 1, 2017
- Cast
- Saori Hayami , Minami Tanaka
- Studio
- MAPPA
- Streaming Service(s)
- Netflix
Kakegurui Rating Scores
MyAnimeList |
7.24/10 |
IMDb |
7.1/10 |
Similar to Classroom Of The Elite, Kakegurui takes place at a unique academy where students can gamble their way to the top. Unlike in Classroom Of The Elite, however, the students at Hyakkaou Private Academy don't earn their stripes through hard work and good grades.
Kakegurui is all about gambling. Instead of just focusing on the fundamentals, students at Hyakkaou Private Academy also learn how to manipulate and destroy others. With unsettling visuals, terrifying circumstances, and lots of fan service blended with horror, Kakegurui is an edgelord's dream.