What do you think of school setting comics?

[Chocolate]

Are they overdone?

[annaportia]

I think it depends on how you do it. There are A-LOT of tropes in that 'genre' (for lack of a better word), such as the "mean girls" trope, or the "geeky girl who ends up with the star football player" trope etc.. But I think you could create a different type of comic/novel with a very unique feel, that just has a school setting. If I was going to create something in that vein, I would try to avoid as many of those tropes as possible, because most of them are extremely overdone. That being said, it is possible to use a common 'trope' but twist it around in some new and interesting way that keeps the story fresh. Hope this is helpful!

[IndigoShirtProd]

School is just a setting. It's like asking if you're tired of stories that take place near a forest or at a place of work. And it's a good setting for getting a multitude of different characters together who might not be in the same place otherwise. I can understand feeling like it's too common of a setting, but it is a setting that most people can relate to. No, I don't think the setting is overdone, but maybe some character types are.

Anyone who's gone to a school, specifically a high school or secondary school, with more than 500 hundred students per grade will tell you that some of the cliché dynamics don't make much sense. Not only because people are multifaceted, a football player can also be in band and be a top student academically, but because the common tropes are too small in scope to be feasible. What I mean is, for something like a "mean girl" to work, either the whole school population is small or it's only relegated to one grade. Both of which never seem to be the case where those tropes are used.

[MarMarTche]

I'm definitely less interested now than I was when I was in school and a few years out but it didn't stop me from loving jujutsu kaisen. It just depends on how good the story is.

[NickRowler]

I don’t think it’s a bad setting. However, similar to what other people said, I am sick of some of the dated tropes. You know like the stupid bully jock, bratty cheerleader, underdog bully victim nerd, popular rich queen bee, etc. I just want more dynamic characters that feel like they were written by someone who actually attended a school.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

In general, I agree with @IndigoShirtProd: school settings are just that-- settings. What's more, they are real, contemporary settings: if you want to write a story set in the present day starring people from age 6-18, school is probably gonna be a part of it, whether you particularly want it or not.
Basically, when school stops being a thing billions of children and teens are involved in each year, then we can talk about it being 'overdone'. At this moment in time, it's simply a facet of reality.

HOWEVER, I kinda get where the idea of school settings being 'overdone' comes from...most likely, the plethora of anime/manga where it's basically an aesthetic. ^^; And one that gets leaned on heavily...you can see this in amateur works, where the first few scenes are often just cookie-cutter school manga panels: like, outside the school, the MC waves to her friends while running with her bag in one hand. Or a character sits at their desk, staring out the window, and another character comes up and interrupts their daydream.
Or before you even get to the school, the classic 'character is late and runs out the door with a piece of toast in their mouth'. ^^; It's like, the first thing you see isn't even story; it's just tropes, with the author's characters doing and saying things you've already seen in a hundred other places. I don't know of any other 'genres' that seem to thrive on such repetitiveness...

With that said, I think the best way to approach the school setting (since it's gonna keep being used anyway) is to just...peel yourself away from the tropes. ^^; At the very least, start with a scene that sets your story apart from its thousands of predecessors; do something more unique and memorable than 'character explains their personal motivations while putting on their uniform in the morning'.
All the sameness is cute, but it's not necessary...it's way past time for some fresh ideas.

[Lev404]

I've seen school comics that have surprised me a lot with their original story

Art V Math

[kitschensyngk]

We all know the school setting from the shows we watched as kids. Sure, they can be fun, but at one point you see enough of them that you start noticing certain cliches and tropes.

One of the reasons I started my coming-of-age story comic was because I hated the cliches of coming-of-age stories--dorks, bullies, jocks, unattainable crushes, prissy popular girls, school dances, school plays that are always Romeo and Juliet, etc.

They all taught the same lessons about honesty and friendship and not cheating on tests, but given what's going on in the world today, what is there to learn from a show that insinuates that the worst thing that could happen to you in your teen years is a zit on picture day?

[TedGravesArt]

I agree that it's just a setting, but I see a LOT of anime/manga centered around high schoolers. I think the majority. It's pretty odd considering being in school only takes up maybe a fifth of your life, and I don't see nearly as many anime/manga stories focus on the other four fifths. Maybe it's adult writers looking back on that time in their life fondly, or maybe they're just following trend tropes, I'm not sure. It is odd for me as a 36 year old adult though, since I can relate less and less to these characters as time goes on. Writing stories about adults seems like it has a much larger built in audience, but maybe I'm wrong about that, since kids have far more time to read comics than adults do.
All that aside though, I think you shouldn't worry about whether you're hitting on an overused trope and just write the thing you want to write!

[faisalhussein394]

It is overdone, but I wish there is more horror genre setting in school.

I really wish there's a comic horror setting in schools similar to horror games such as White day and Saiko No Sudoku. We don't get much of that.

[Kelheor]

I actually love school settings Japanese, American, British, whatever.
It's a place that is very important for 10 years of most people lives, so I understand why it's still relevant for many despite being overused.

[sushy00]

Nothing wrong with it, but since I don't go to school anymore, they interest me less.

[Chocolate]

When the anime market is flooded with MOSTLY highschool setting; idk I kind of get bored of the repetitive nature of it. One Piece, Demon Slayer and Attack on Titans brings a unique concept to anime because they don’t relied on school setting in order to create conflicts or have the characters met somehow.

[NickRowler]

Attack on Titans brings a unique concept to anime because they don’t relied on school setting in order to create conflicts

Wasn't there a spin off where they went to school?

[IndigoShirtProd]

When the anime market is flooded with MOSTLY highschool setting

It's easier to consume content you relate to and the largest audience with disposable income is middle class teenagers. I wonder why it's a common setting?

[Chocolate]

Oh no, but that’s a spin off series though? Idk I don’t think it counts because the chibi caters to people who loved small characters.

[system]

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