The Beginner's Guide to Anime: School

(Mostly) all anime that use a school as a main setting follow a lot of sterotypes.  There are even anime out there that are based entirely on a high school, such as The Daily Lives of High School Boys or the recently popular The Irregular at Magic High School.  Usually you can find a school setting in the genres slice-of-life, romance, shoujo, and of course, the school genre. (More on genres in the next Beginner's Guide to Anime post!)

The classroom:

In anime where a standard classroom is used, there always seems to be a repeating pattern of where characters are placed.  It is very common for the main character to be in the far back left corner (see diagram), close to the window.  Of course, this picture is not correct for all anime, but it gives a good idea of the stereotypical seating plan.  For example, in the anime Tonari no Seki-Kun: The Master of Wasting Time, Seki-kun sits in the bottom left of the diagram, while the secondary character, Yokoi, sits to his immediate right.

There are certain standards in which class seatings in anime run by, as well as a few things to know when reading this diagram:
-The doors are usually sliding doors.  Also, it's common for the wall between the front and back doors to have windows on them.
-The main character may not have a rival.  If they have one, the rival is usually as far away as possible, or relatively close.
-The indifferent genius may be seated where the childhood friend is if they are a secondary character.
-Transfer students that are not main characters usually go in one of the middle columns, towards the back.  It's unusual if they are on an outside column.
-Class representative is usually either in the front, or second row.
-The love interest of the main character may be beside them.
-As said above, the main character may not always be the second last desk of the left column.  They are usually put in that corner though.
-If there is a mysterious youth in the back left corner, they usually are an important character.  Typically the rule is the more important of a character, the closer they sit to that corner...
-The back may have a clock as well.

The roof:

A typical school rooftop.  

Almost all schools in anime have a rooftop that is fenced by chain link fence.  Usually the rooftop of the school is treated as a meeting place for the main character and someone else, whether they be romantic interest or friend.  If the rooftop is open to students, it's common to see characters on the roof eating lunch.  The picture to the right looks like the school lets the students use the roof, since there are artificial grass and benches placed.  If the school treats the roof as student restricted zone, the main character usually finds access to it.  Sometimes they steal a key, climb through a window, or get access through a teacher (usually a young teacher that everyone likes).
Although the rooftop may be treated like a sacred meeting place for friends, it's also sometimes used as a meeting place for fights.  Bullies sometimes drag their victims to the roof to beat them up, or a love triangle climax may choose it's resolution point on the rooftop of a school.

The infirmary:
When a student gets sick or injured, they're brought here.  Like in real life.  ...What did you expect?

A smaller infirmary

Typically people who simply feel a little dizzy come to get checked out, usually brought by a friend.  Or, the character fakes being dizzy so they can skip class.  And for every sport-type anime I've watched that involved high schoolers, the infirmary is visited at least once.  If you find one that doesn't use it, please tell me ^.^
Also, a lot of medicine is typically stored here.  A lot.  I mean full cabinets of over the counter drugs.  In some horrors in which an apocalypse happens, the infirmary is not a bad destination for supplies.

I must say, I'm rather impressed with how well the anime world handles health care.  My school certainly does not have full size single beds with curtains like most anime schools do...

The clubroom:

The Student Cultural Research Club from Kokoro Connect

In Japan, schools typically have a large variety of extra-curricular activities that students participate in.  These activities are student led, with a teacher as a supervisor.  Any club can be created as long as it is approved by faculty, and enough members join from year to year.
Typically a clubroom is a smaller room in the school that may or may not be in a separate building on school grounds.  The club rooms are meant to simply be a meeting place for the clubs, unless they need more space or a different venue, such as a light-music club, or a kendo club.  The club room shown above is a typical room that is neatly kept, but there are some strange ones out there.  The club room in The Dusk Maiden of Amnesia is in an abandoned building, and has a hidden basement... (sorry if that is a spoiler)