Diversos tipos de yoga

The in cred i ble pres sure on teens to make the grade ap pears in any school drama. Hu mor and ca ma ra de rie are how stu dents deal with the con stant sense of life’s op tions nar row ing down with their next test. Any tra di tional mid dle or high school com edy, in clud ing Kare Kano, Here Is Green wood, and Azumanga

Daioh, de light in nee dling the se ri ous ness of the geekier stu dents while ac -

knowl edg ing the im por tance of do ing well and es tab lish ing a good rep u ta tion at school both ac a dem i cally and so cially. Kare Kano mocks the drive to be a per fect stu dent by show ing a her o ine who ex cels only for the praise of oth ers, not a sense of ac com plish ment or de sire to learn. Here Is Green wood fo cuses more on dorm life than class life, but the im por tance of school loy alty, spirit, and achieve ment fea tures through out the se ries, es pe cially in sub plots that include major traditions like annual sports competitions.

Ex ams!

Jap a nese stu dents take their first school exam at age six to de ter mine where they will go to el e men tary school, and things only be come more high pres sure from there. Get ting into the “right” school not only sets ac - a demic goals but also sit u ates and re stricts a stu dent’s ca reer ex pec ta - tions. Stu dents keep a care fully con structed study sched ule and at tend ex tra classes, juku (“cram school”), held af ter school, to make sure they can com pete for the better schools. Be cause al most 98 per cent of chil - dren go to high school, these ex ams do not de cide whether stu dents at - tend school but in stead de cide which high school they will at tend. Ex ams are the ul ti mate mea sure of a stu dent’s worth.

The foils for these du ti ful stu dents, ei ther as un an tic i pated ro man tic in ter - ests or true en e mies, are stu dents who scorn schol arly pur suits, the “cool” kids who skip class, dis re spect teach ers, and don’t care about fol low ing the ex pected path. Reck less teens who ig nore the ac a demic rou tine are both ad mired and con sid ered ab nor mal, as with Par a dise Kiss’s Yukari and Crazy Love Story’s Shin Hae. The manga and anime Cromartie High School is a school made up en tirely of mis fits, gen er at ing hi lar i ous, sur real ep i sodes that spec u late on just how a school full of renegade and delinquent teenagers would run.

In Cross road, Natsu tries to com fort his step brother as the pres sures of liv ing up to ex pec ta tions in school and at home push him to ward self-de struc tion. Cross road © 2003 Shioko Mizuki/AKITASHOTEN. Eng lish text © 2005 Go! Me dia En ter tain ment LLC.

Used by per mis sion.

At the same time, the ac a demic pres sure and the so cial hi er ar chies of school are what haunt and drive many teens to en dure bul ly ing and are one fac - tor in Ja pan’s high sui cide rate. The stress caused by school is laughed at in manga, as when stu dents go to ex treme lengths to re tain in for ma tion when study ing for a par tic u larly im por tant test, but it is also shown as the source for des per ate and of ten harm ful be hav ior. Life by Suenobu Keiko fol lows two teens caught up in the pres sure to suc ceed in their high school ex ams. Ayumu is dev as tated when her best friend fails and turns to cut ting her self to deal with her

pain and con fu sion. Con fi den tial Con fes sions fea tures a stu dent who takes speed to help her get her school work done, and for a while it works—she has enough en ergy fi nally to please her par ents, but in the end her de pend ence on the drug and wild per son al ity shifts cause her to lose ev ery thing: her friends, her fam ily, and her self-re spect. Even the tra di tional mag i cal girl fan tasy

Fushigi Yugi starts off with its her o ine Miaka des per ate to avoid go ing to cram

school but trapped by her mother’s ex pec ta tions that she apply to a high school she knows is far beyond her reach.