Does all High School AU fanfiction have to suck?

#1
Maybe I'm just a cynic, but I come to find almost all High Schoo AU fanfics tend to be terrible.

I don't think the idea of taking characters from their canon plot and transferring them to a high school like setting is bad by default. Gurren Lagann even had an official manga that did that and it was pretty good.

However, most of the ones I've read tend to make the following mistakes:

1. Strip the characters down to the barest essentials, in worst case, names and appearances only.

2. Maintain hardly any original flavor from the original canon.

3. Original characters, or worse, self inserts are added that utterly dominate the plot.

The result usually tends to be horrible Mary Sue riddled wish fulfillment where the author interacts with the characters, the plot is just there to help the author live out their fantasies, and the characters are just cardboard cutouts reading from a badly written script, their source characterization be damned.

Me, I'd like to think not all stories in this genre have to be terrible, but then again, maybe I'm just too much a cynic, so I was wondering if anyone else had any other opinions on the subject.
 

Shirotsume

Not The Goddamn @dmin
#2
The Naruto story Ricochet was technically a highschool AU, and it's absolutely awesome.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
#3
If you are worried about your bias due to being a cynic, I'm probably not the best to comment, as I am a pessimistic cynic myself. :)

In any case...

For English language fan fiction stories people like to write what they know, which most have been to American or European high school or are even still in it for the younger ones.

While I will not say the ratio is 100% bad, the simple fact of the matter is that really does not work too well when it comes to Japanese fan fiction unless the series already occurs in a remotely close to normal High School. Why... because for the most part Japanese anime does not take place in an American or European high school.

Sure, high school series can work for some series, Ranma and Sailor Moon after all take place in high schools (junior high starting for SM), I grant they are Japanese (and not American or European) and not exactly standard high schools... but it at least is workable.

Take a series like Inu Yasha as a simple example, Yes Kagme is a product of the Japanese school system, she even is in some small amount of episodes shown in modern times with school kids. But it is rare indeed to see her in school, and 90%+ of the series takes place some 500+ years ago, with no school system we would really recognize as such. Placing canon Inu Yasha, and say Naraku, in a modern day high school is on the surface at least just dumb, they are not human, not from modern times, not Japanese citizens (maybe Japanese legends), and have no knowledge of modern history or what we consider educational basics... To change characters and plot enough to get them into a normal high school, basically guts the series of anything important. Plot characterization, setting, etc...

I could say this for many other series, either there is no canon high school, or the canon high school is so far from the norm that changing it to be such is a dreadful idea unless perhaps as a lark or omake or parody (Orun High School Host Club in a normal high school for example could be amusing as a one shot, much like instant coffee to them).

Think I picked a bad series in naming my example? Try Crest/Banner of the Stars... the education system of the Abh empire is so different it is not remotely comparable, to place Jinto or Her highness in one, or change the plot to make some of the elders a teacher, would utterly destroy it.(sniggers, as if Rear Admiral Spoor Aron Sekpadao Letopanyu Peneju would be happy teaching English or history, yes that *is* her full name).

Still think I picked bad? Even some anime occurring in schools does not give a proper baseline. Both Orun High School host Club and Princess Lover occur in supposed High schools, but high school life in canon for either of those series is *nothing* like any normal school even in baseline classes. Heck, OHSHC does not even ever really show a actual class in the series except one or two very brief scenes... despite occurring on the school grounds for a large part of the series.

People have taken this high school scenarios thing to exceedingly ridiculus levels over the years, I've even seen for example people attempt to make *transformers* fan fiction with them in high school... (remembers one particularly bad one where Megatron wanted to understand love, so demanded Starscream kidnap a human female, and proceeds to do so by luring her out of the building by having left her a love letter in her locker)

How about Fantasy worlds... ugh... El Hazard or Lodoss Wars fro example I cannot see remotely working in a modern high school backdrop at all....
 
#4
PCHeintz72, thanks for the really detailed answer, and I mean that in utter seriousness.

However, while this seems to be quite common with anime, I've noticed a lot of series tend to be given an utterly lazy treatment when transferred to a school like setting, not necessarily high school (college is a slightly less common alternative I lump under the same umbrella).

For instance, it should not be hard or impossible to write the series "House" or "Law and Order" (any of them) into a HS AU style, since the characters are complex enough you could transport most or all their characters and even some of the original canon to a degree to a different setting and still manage to make it entertaining and somewhat original, but even then, I've seen some horribly low effort work where fanfic authors can't even be bothered to think that far ahead and just cut and paste the characters and some of their more stereotyped characterics into a HS AU setting and leave it at that, even though the canon provides some wiggle room to change the setting without murdering the character portrayals.

A series that is very flexible in this regard would be "Doctor Who", which has even set a few of its stories in school like settings, but even then, despite the flexiibility of the series allowing almost any setting and the characters to make sense, I've still seen some ridiculously low effort in most HS AU in that genre.

.......I could go on, but I guess what makes me cynical is that even with works that allow for lots of wiggle room and creative reinterpretation, there still seems to be a low of low or even zero effort done to adapt them to HS AU plots, and the cynicism comes from the fact I'm fairly convinced a well written story of this type could be done for a lot of series and be just as if not more entertaining, but it seems so few authors are willing to be that creative, even when the canon they are working with is pliable enough.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
#5
But...

Most of those series, even if it were possible to transfer to a High school setting, would lose a lot if not all its backdrop, which is make makes them appealing in the first place.

Take Law and Order... I could easily see them actually using high school kids to gather some information, or even as deputized or honorary secret members. aka like say the anime series Sukiban Deka did (which I quite liked). However, that is not the same as transplanting those police officers, lawyers and judges into a high school setting, it would hold 0 appeal to me.

Likewise, Dr. Who picking up teen high school characters as companions would hardly bat a eye at, as he certainly has done it often enough, take Ace and the 7th Doctor, or some of the companions of the last couple doctors. But actually making a Dr. Who fan fiction actually take place in high school... again 0 appeal.


The maturity and intelligence of a college student should be immeasurably higher than a high school student, and we do have college level anime out there, just not near as much. Oh My Goddess comes immediately to mind. I could more easily see Law and Order working at the college level, as you have classes for cops and for lawyers, so it would offer opportunities for guest appearances, and crossover characters. There actually was a Columbo episode made somewhat like that, that took place at the college level and he turned a case into a teaching opportunity toward a class of students.
 

Glimmervoid

Well-Known Member
#6
Nugar did a fun little story where Team 7 from Naruto infiltrated a high school and had to play the part. I miss Nugar :( Of course, that story was only AU because it took place in the AU Lies universe.
 
#7
PCHeintz72 said:
But...

Most of those series, even if it were possible to transfer to a High school setting, would lose a lot if not all its backdrop, which is make makes them appealing in the first place.

Take Law and Order... I could easily see them actually using high school kids to gather some information, or even as deputized or honorary secret members. aka like say the anime series Sukiban Deka did (which I quite liked). However, that is not the same as transplanting those police officers, lawyers and judges into a high school setting, it would hold 0 appeal to me.

Likewise, Dr. Who picking up teen high school characters as companions would hardly bat a eye at, as he certainly has done it often enough, take Ace and the 7th Doctor, or some of the companions of the last couple doctors. But actually making a Dr. Who fan fiction actually take place in high school... again 0 appeal.


The maturity and intelligence of a college student should be immeasurably higher than a high school student, and we do have college level anime out there, just not near as much. Oh My Goddess comes immediately to mind. I could more easily see Law and Order working at the college level, as you have classes for cops and for lawyers, so it would offer opportunities for guest appearances, and crossover characters. There actually was a Columbo episode made somewhat like that, that took place at the college level and he turned a case into a teaching opportunity toward a class of students.
I concur, believe it or not. The college version of this story type is used so much less than the high school version but but is infinitely more plausible, and would definitely make more sense in most fanfiction where this type of AU is attempted.
 

WizardOne

Well-Known Member
#8
No, it doesn't have to suck. But it does. The reason is that the type of people who are obsessed with high school enough to want to mutilate a setting to fit it, are usually highschoolers themselves, who generally suck at writing and keeping their fantasies out of the fic.
 

FinalMax

Well-Known Member
#9
The other variety of people writing high school fics are likely people who were dissatisfied with their own experience, despite realizing that is where they "peaked" socially. Similar to a parent living vicariously through their child.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
#10
Here is one relevant to the topic...

Caught on FanFiction.NET in the Fate Stay Night Section...

Act Naturally î – by Ms. AtomicBomb reviews
"Your marks are dropping." Four words had begun one hell of a roller coaster. Arturia Pendragon is, of course, an ordinary girl. She goes to school, has a very close friend; Jeanne, and no romance. Recently, her marks have been dropping, and her concerned Mathematics teacher wants to help her. But she always tries to decline him. Human AU. Fate/Zero; exception Joan. Lancer x Saber.
Rated: T - English - Romance/Friendship - Chapters: 2 - Words: 2,178 - Reviews: 2 - Follows: 1 - Published: 8h ago - [Arturia Pendragon, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne] [Saber, Lancer]
 
#11
PCHeintz72 said:
Here is one relevant to the topic...

Caught on FanFiction.NET in the Fate Stay Night Section...

Act Naturally î – by Ms. AtomicBomb reviews
"Your marks are dropping." Four words had begun one hell of a roller coaster. Arturia Pendragon is, of course, an ordinary girl. She goes to school, has a very close friend; Jeanne, and no romance. Recently, her marks have been dropping, and her concerned Mathematics teacher wants to help her. But she always tries to decline him. Human AU. Fate/Zero; exception Joan. Lancer x Saber.
Rated: T - English - Romance/Friendship - Chapters: 2 - Words: 2,178 - Reviews: 2 - Follows: 1 - Published: 8h ago - [Arturia Pendragon, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne] [Saber, Lancer]
I'll have to look that one up, not sure if to be hopeful or nervous given that summary though.

However, if you ask me, Fate/stay night is actually a good series to use for a High School AU. They already proved officially you could strip out most to all of the seriousness and the characters doing whatever would still work with characterization intact, albeit exaggerated for comedy (the Carnival Phantasm series). Fate/hollow Ataraxia also did this to a fair extent.

If anything, it would be really easy to still maintain most all of the canon and transplant the characters to a high school/college setting and as long as long as a halfway competent fanfic author kept OCs from overpowering the work and focused on keeping it character driven, I could see a great High School AU fanfic being the result.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
#12
Boy are you going to be disappointed... I actually took the time to read those first 2 chapters.
 
#13
PCHeintz72 said:
Boy are you going to be disappointed... I actually took the time to read those first 2 chapters.
Thanks for the warning.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
#14
GethN7 said:
PCHeintz72 said:
Boy are you going to be disappointed... I actually took the time to read those first 2 chapters.
Thanks for the warning.
Does that mean you read it? I seriously want to see your reaction... based on the hopeful post you made....
 
#15
PCHeintz72 said:
GethN7 said:
PCHeintz72 said:
Boy are you going to be disappointed... I actually took the time to read those first 2 chapters.
Thanks for the warning.
Does that mean you read it? I seriously want to see your reaction... based on the hopeful post you made....
One, took the time to read it and * facepalm *, Saber seems so OOC.

Then again, it seems to be based on Fate/Zero, which I've only seen a little of, so I can't be absolutely sure, but regardless still reads like it's in name only.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
#16
GethN7 said:
PCHeintz72 said:
GethN7 said:
PCHeintz72 said:
Boy are you going to be disappointed... I actually took the time to read those first 2 chapters.
Thanks for the warning.
Does that mean you read it? I seriously want to see your reaction... based on the hopeful post you made....
One, took the time to read it and * facepalm *, Saber seems so OOC.

Then again, it seems to be based on Fate/Zero, which I've only seen a little of, so I can't be absolutely sure, but regardless still reads like it's in name only.
I have, sadly, seen most of Fate Zero (I really did not like Fate Zero). Saber wore a suit, drove a car, acted as a bodyguard to Emiya Kiritsugu's wife and daughter. When she fought and acted mostly on her own she was pretty much like she was in Fate Stay Night... meaning, not at all like this HS AU story.
 
#17
they tend to be written by immature teenagers, that's the audience base they're seeking out after all. they're also over-saturated with cringy tropes and stereotypes
 

goldenarms

Well-Known Member
#18
It's funny to see this topic come up when just two days ago I was reading an article about a series someone pitched to WB called Gotham High. Basic idea of the show -- Bruce Wayne in high school with all his rogues, and Barbara Gordon, because why not? Everyone fits into their own little sterotypes pertaining to High school kids, from the girl next door to the dumb football jock and everything in between.

And I think this perfectly sums up High School AUs -- it's not the characters, but the entire high school experience, that is the star of the show.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
#19
goldenarms said:
It's funny to see this topic come up when just two days ago I was reading an article about a series someone pitched to WB called Gotham High. Basic idea of the show -- Bruce Wayne in high school with all his rogues, and Barbara Gordon, because why not? Everyone fits into their own little sterotypes pertaining to High school kids, from the girl next door to the dumb football jock and everything in between.

And I think this perfectly sums up High School AUs -- it's not the characters, but the entire high school experience, that is the star of the show.
I think, you've missed the point. It is not that high school stories about characters nominally not in high school can't be done. It is that almost all such stories are bad, not because they can't be done, but because the authors of such either are not up to the task, or otherwise make them so OOC as to make them no longer the ones we know and love.

I can say, unless they do a *lot* of work to keep them in character for the changed circumstances, a series with superheros in Gotham High, sounds dreadful. The 'Reasons unknown' is likely (and no, I cannot say with any certainty) because whomever was looking at it came to a similar realization.
 

goldenarms

Well-Known Member
#20
PCHeintz72 said:
goldenarms said:
It's funny to see this topic come up when just two days ago I was reading an article about a series someone pitched to WB called Gotham High. Basic idea of the show -- Bruce Wayne in high school with all his rogues, and Barbara Gordon, because why not? Everyone fits into their own little sterotypes pertaining to High school kids, from the girl next door to the dumb football jock and everything in between.

And I think this perfectly sums up High School AUs -- it's not the characters, but the entire high school experience, that is the star of the show.
I think, you've missed the point.  It is not that high school stories about characters nominally not in high school can't be done.  It is that almost all such stories are bad, not because they can't be done, but because the authors of such either are not up to the task, or otherwise make them so OOC as to make them no longer the ones we know and love.

I can say, unless they do a *lot* of work to keep them in character for the changed circumstances, a series with superheros in Gotham High, sounds dreadful.  The 'Reasons unknown' is likely (and no, I cannot say with any certainty) because whomever was looking at it came to a similar realization.
You misunderstand.

Most characters in a HSAUs are just vehicles to carry the real star of the show -- the high school experience in the way they see it -- and to such writers, they don't care about the fandoms or the lore; it's all about the characters restricted to a high school mentality. The proposed Gotham High story took the barest elements from the characters of Batman and distilled them into high school counterparts meant to play particular roles. Bruce Wayne's the popular rich guy, Barbara Gordon is the girl next door, Selina is the goth girl, Riddler is the brainiac nerd, Ivy is the hot chick everyone wants, etc. etc. etc. Gone are the criminal personalities, most likely their unique abilities and talents, and a good chunk of their backstories, and they're replaced with watered-down histories, all smushed into one universal space at the same age of idiocy, doing things that you'd normally expect out of teenagers, seasoned with their particular flavor of lunacy.

In short, the characters stop existing in a HSAU and are replaced with insulting replicas. Sure they look like their normal counterparts, may have the same name and a sort of similar personality, but somewhere in the process, they lost the nutritious parts of their characters. Unless the characters had some really, really shitty childhoods, their actions are dialed down, if not muted entirely, because high school, and you can't go to certain depths that you normally would in the regular universe without either breaking suspension of disbelief, or screwing around and prematurely ending your story.  If teen!Joker were to, say, gas the lunchroom, he's going to jail, and is going to be removed from the story for good. He's not going to get a slap on the wrist if the writer has any sense of brain; he's going to be locked up. If Bane were to actually break a student's spine for basically no reason, he's done. Catwoman can't be stealing jewelry and beating up cops without it fucking her over in-story, nor can Mr. Freeze do grandiose things like encase the school in ice. If the characters were allowed to act as they normally do with normal powers and skills, why are we writing a High School AU fic for in the first place?

Of course, to be frank, most HSAUs don't even go that far into things, optiong to play the "stupid" card and rewrite characters in ways that entertain them. For example, Barbara Gordon as a vegan-hippie stoner who's forever trying seduce preppy nerd Bruce Wayne with her shroom brownies and getting into threesomes with horndog Joker and the annoyingly stoic-until-she-starts-drinking math teacher Ms. Montoya on the weekends while Principal Gordon overlooks his daughter's and teacher's behavior because he's too busy with his meth addiction that Alfred cooks up beneath Wayne Manor with his chemist and teen lover Poison Ivy to maintain the illusion that the Wayne family is still loaded and not on the verge of bankruptcy due to Thomas Wayne's secret drug and prostitution rings getting busted several years ago. Most HSAUs play things straight instead of for comedic effect, and you tend to get boring, bland, or just dumb depictions of your favorite fandoms in a high school atmosphere.

Oh, noes, Selina Kyle can't find a date for prom?? How will she ever cope??
If you're over high school, you're not going to give a shit. if you're in or approaching high school, you're likely to be as invested as anyone who has a bone in the fight, meaning, if the story is meant to be a shipping of your favorite characters.

Oh, look, here comes Selina's dreamboat, Bruce Wayne! But whoa, he just slipped some GHP in her drink and is going to have his way with the unconscious Selina! Will she be saved from this dastardly bastard?? Why yes, here comes... KILLER CROC TO SAVE THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE!! Selina realizes that Waylon's always been the one for her, and they make sweet, sweet lovin' under the football bleachers.
And so it goes.
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
#21
If that is the case, then they still likely suck... for at least two reasons... a huge number of anime and comic superheros have had bad childhoods (ex. Batman), and that most of the ones I have read seem nothing like high school as I remember it.

Of course, it could just be I've bad luck and always get the dreadful ones.

Probably the only good one to come to mind, and one that is a form of canon at that, is X-Men Evolution... most of the cartoon incarnations have them out of school already and or teachers themselves... but... the one that has them in high school I thought fairly good.
 

da_fox2279

California Crackpot
#22
goldenarms said:
It's funny to see this topic come up when just two days ago I was reading an article about a series someone pitched to WB called Gotham High. Basic idea of the show -- Bruce Wayne in high school with all his rogues, and Barbara Gordon, because why not? Everyone fits into their own little sterotypes pertaining to High school kids, from the girl next door to the dumb football jock and everything in between.

And I think this perfectly sums up High School AUs -- it's not the characters, but the entire high school experience, that is the star of the show.
I feel the need to point out that Gotham High was what kicked off the ideas for Batman Beyond. WB wanted a 'Batman in High School' series, and the creators of B:TAS came up with BB.
 

Yorae Rasante

Well-Known Member
#23
So... in my experience High School fics are in two kinds:

1- High School is the background and not the whole point of the story, or it is an unusual high school, or even if is just a special character in a high school trying to not draw attention, like in Batman Beyond, Static Shock, Smallville and RWBY. These use the high school as a background, maybe at first the high school was a point but it has a deeper story that goes beyond it.

2- They are not actually fics of the fandom, but just use the characters for appearances if even that, and use the fandom to draw attention. I when younger saw some Saint Seiya fics like this that the characters all still had powers and at least tried to adapt their backgrounds as much as possible, but these are the exceptions.
 

The Ero-Sennin

The Eyes of Heaven
Staff member
#24
Any fic can be good, it just needs to be sold well.
 

Anonguy

Well-Known Member
#25
The amount of effort into making the story work determines quality.

When you don't try to sell the setting, no one buys it.

Unless it's Warhammer 40k, then you could get people to happily drink poison for it.
 
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