Ask John: Why Are College Entrance Exams So Important in Anime?

Question:
Why is failing to pass an entrance exam to a university or other school as a major plot point in so many anime series like Love Hina, Sister Princess, Chobits, etc.?

Answer:
As anime is made for Japanese viewers, it’s natural that anime would deal with topics familiar to Japanese viewers and relevant to Japanese society and daily life. Success or failure in school entrance exams is a major plot point in many anime because it’s a tremendous event in the real lives of many Japanese anime viewers.

Public schooling in Japan is only mandatory through middle school/junior high school. Because high school attendance is not mandatory in Japan the way it is in many other industrialized nations, Japanese high schools are free to instigate selective admissions policies, and exist largely to prepare students for college. In fact, it’s not uncommon for even private elementary and middle schools to utilize entrance exams to screen potential attendees. While circumstances are changing in Japan, traditionally college has been seen as the gateway to a lifelong career, and it’s not uncommon for a Japanese college student to be offered a job that he or she will keep directly out of college until retirement. Because hiring is based so heavily on recruitment out of colleges, getting into a prestigious college is both a tremendous status symbol for both the student and his/her family, and a virtually guaranteed path to career stability. Anime shows such as Hana Yori Dango and Oniisama E… focus on characters that attend prestigious high schools only to maintain appearances and status for their family.

The college entrance exams in Japan are notorious worldwide for their difficultly, in part because they focus not so much on reasoning and analytical ability, as memorization and recitation of facts ranging from the entire ancestral lineage of Japanese nobility to the precise length of the Amazon River, and everything in between. Countless anime focus on the time period in young people’s lives known as “shiken jigoku,” or “exam hell,” when all free time is devoted to studying and memorizing as many facts, dates, locations and other bits of academic trivia as possible.

Students that fail to pass school entrance exams are called “ronin,” a term traditionally meaning “masterless samurai.” Anime series including Love Hina and Maison Ikkoku focus on “ronin” attempting to pass college entrance exams on subsequent annual attempts.

It’s not uncommon for Japanese students to spend several hours a day after daily public school in private “juku” cram schools designed specifically to teach students how to pass school entrance exams. Anime including NieA_7 and Chobits make a point of showing their main characters attending these “juku” schools. The Japanese educational system, and its side benefits for the family of a successful student, has also created the phenomenon of “kyoiku mama,” or “education mama.” Japanese mothers are famous for being ruthlessly competitive with each other regarding their children’s educational advancements, and kyoiku mama are known to go to extreme lengths to pressure their children to succeed academically. Although not as common in anime as “ronin,” the kyoiku mama stereotype does also appear in anime, most notably in the form of Chi-Chi in Dragonball Z, who is always concerned with how much (or how little) study time her son Gohan is getting.

Considering that gaining entrance to a good school is tantamount to gaining a good job and a bright future, conversely not passing college entrance exams is traditionally considered a tremendous failure. And this condition is used often in anime to develop characterization. Yuusaku Godai’s inability to pass his entrance exams in Maison Ikkoku mirrors his inability to successfully court Kyoko. Mayuko’s attendance of juku in NieA_7 emphasizes her “poorness” and her sacrifices. Keitaro’s inability to pass the entrance exams in Love Hina underscores his timid and put-upon personality. On the other hand, in the Orange Road movie, to subtly suggest a positive future in store for Kyosuke and Madoka, both of them pass their college entrance exams on the first try. And numerous anime series end with, or use success in entrance exams as a symbol of future prosperity and happiness.

This subtle element of Japanese culture in anime is often overlooked or misunderstood by Western fans, but is a totally familiar conflict and thematic device known to Japanese fans.