History Main / SchoolFestival

* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', nearly a whole week (in game time) is spent setting up the plot for the Culture Festival... which is then rained out by one of the largest typhoons in years. This was a disappointment for [[MostGamersAreMale a small segment of the fanbase]], who ''[[{{Fanservice}} really]]'' [[{{Fanservice}} wanted to see Yukari in that]] [[{{Meido}} maid costume]].
** You ''can!'' Check the security camera in the briefing room...
** Not just the fanbase; several [=NPCs=] moan their great disappointment out loud, and the Main Character is asked if he's disappointed for the same reason.
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' had a festival as well. It doesn't last long and all it really does is give you brownie points with some of your social link friends. As a side note: Don't mention "Group Date Cafe" to any of them.
** Or either of the Beauty Contests (The Guys had to crossdress, and the girls had to wear swimsuits in school.)

* ''GreatTeacherOnizuka'' manga ends with one being in the works.

* ''CodeGeass'' liked it so much, they did it twice: the first season has the annual SchoolFestival as a whole episode, complete with a horror house and StudentCouncilPresident Milly's attempt at making the world's largest pizza. ''R2'' has one in honor of classmate/high-ranking noble Suzaku, who had just returned to the school. Both festivals have a good deal of HilarityEnsues and {{Fanservice}}.

* The original ''Manga/YuGiOh'' manga featured a School Festival story that culminated in Yami Yugi killing a school bully with a test tube full of nitroglycerin. It was awesome.
** To elaborate: Yugi's class had set up a carnival booth for the school but some {{Jerkass}} upper classmen demanded the space for their okonomiyaki stand and wrecked the booth and put their massive grill in it's place. Yami then shows up and challenges the head jerkass to air hockey on their grill using a puck of ice with the tube of nitroglecrin in it... and using his oppnents tendency to hit really big against him by splitting the puck, causing it to break and explode next time the jerkass hit it. Awesome.

* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' has more than one of these:
** In the R anime, Rei's school organizes one and Rei is slated to sing in there. Too bad the MonsterOfTheWeek crashes it. In the manga, this is played differently as [[spoiler: Kooan of the Ayakashi sisters infiltrates it as a student and fortune teller, then attempts to recruit students for Black Moon and gets them killed. She dies in her duel with Moon, but Rei are kidnapped by Rubeus.]]

* ''MahouSenseiNegima'' takes the trope and runs with it. A [[ElaborateUniversityHigh city-sized school]] having a festival somewhere in size and scope between Disneyland and Mardi Gras, complete with airship rides, a [[TournamentArc fighting tournament]], holographic amusements, a parade with everything from costumes to HumongousMecha, beauty contests, concerts, plays, and the usual student-run cafes and haunted houses. Negi's class does a haunted house of their own, which is helped by the fact that one of their classmates just happens to be a ghost. It also happens to be one of the largest arcs in the series, with half the manga by the time it concluded either leading up to or taking place during it. The whole affair is capped off with a small war.
** They also have a 1:1 scale replica of l'arc de triomphe and a fleet of zeppelins with large [=TVs=] on the side.

* All of Ai Yazawa's long series set in a High School involve one. In ''TenshiNankaJaNai'', since the main characters are in the student council, they have to organize it themselves. In ''Manga/GokinjoMonogatari'' and ''ParadiseKiss'', it's an excuse for the aspiring fashion designer protagonists to create a PimpedOutDress.

* ''KoihimeMusou'''s HighSchoolAU BakersDozen trilogy wraps up with an episode set at St. Francesca's school festival. The main characters do a cafe dressed in Shuri's outfit from the main series, and every other class gets to put on a show.

* ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' includes two festivals, one where the class has a riceball stand (with [[DudeLooksLikeALady Yuki in a dress]] as a sideshow attraction) and the next year when they stage a {{Cinderella}} play. [[FracturedFairyTale Sorta]].

** To elaborate: Yugi's class had set up a carnival booth for the school but some {{Jerkass}} upper classmen demanded the space for their fried octopus stand and wrecked the booth and put their massive grill in it's place. Yami then shows up and challenges the head jerkass to air hockey on their grill using a puck of ice with the tube of nitroglecrin in it... and using his oppnents tendency to hit really big against him by splitting the puck, causing it to break and explode next time the jerkass hit it. Awesome.

[[folder:ComicBooks

May involve a SchoolPlay.

* ''Manga/IrisZero'' chapters eight and nine: The have not one, but two, battling kissaten, MaidCafe vs. classical Japanese dress cafe.

* ''MahouSenseiNegima'' takes the trope and runs with it. A [[ElaborateUniversityHigh city-sized school]] having a festival somewhere in size and scope between Disneyland and Mardi Gras, complete with airship rides, a [[TournamentArc fighting tournament]], holographic amusements, a everything from costumes to HumongousMecha, beauty contests, concerts, plays, and the usual student-run cafes and haunted houses. Negi's class does a haunted house of their own, which is helped by the fact that one of their classmates just happens to be a ghost. It also happens to be one of the largest arcs in the series, with half the manga by the time it concluded either leading up to or taking place during it. The whole affair is capped off with a small war.

* ''MaidSama'' has at least one of these, with the Student Council President vetoing what she considers ridiculous suggestions for class booths.

* SailorMoon has more than one of these:

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** By the way, at that episode Konata got her class to do fortune-telling (see ''SuzumiyaHaruhi'' example, above) and in Yutaka's class, [[YuriFanboy Hiyori]] used it as an opportunity to get [[{{Bifauxnen}} Minami]] to wear something masculine...

* ''FruitsBasket'' contained a SchoolFestival episode.

''Bunkasai,'' the "Japanese Cultural Festival," is an important annual event at nearly every school in Japan from junior high to university (the dates are different from school to school, to allow observers to attend multiple events). It's a day to show off the students' talents and the school itself to parents and prospective students. Instead of a shrine-based ''matsuri'', a FestivalEpisode may well be based at a school's Bunkasai.

Each homeroom class will put on some sort of event (justified from the educational standpoint as teaching the students how to run a business); the two most common involve turning a classroom either into a small cafe (''kissaten''), or a HauntedHouse (''obakeyashiki'', from ''{{obake}}'', meaning monster or ghost, and ''yashiki'', mansion). This itself has become such an ingrained part of the trope that it is rare to see any other possibilities discussed when a class is trying to decide what to do for their participation in the festival (this is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh''), but carnival games and student-crafts shops crop up from time to time. Student clubs will also participate, generally creating club-theme-related attractions in hopes of attracting future recruits. Theme costumes will be commonplace.

In addition to events held within the school proper, with classrooms temporarily transformed into shops, the school grounds will be used for outdoor stalls like those of a shrine ''matsuri''.

It's highly likely that any manga or anime set primarily in a school will have a Bunkasai episode or even arc. The wackier the story and the larger the campus, the more elaborate and strange the festival will be...

* The festival in ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays'' forms a major plot point, since the dance around the bonfire is used for couples to declare their love. Of course, the "lounge" at the haunted house helps some too.
** There was also some amusement to be had by the fact that one class actually ''did'' do a "haunted cafe", staffed by zombie cosplayers.

* ''{{Inuyasha}}'' featured a two-part SchoolFestival episode centering on the ''bunkasai'' held by Kagome's school. The series being what it is, several monsters show up and Kagome and Inuyasha are obliged to find and vanquish them while Kagome tries to both prevent anyone at the school from catching on ''and'' fulfill the various responsibilities her friends have roped her into. HilarityEnsues.

* Having an art school setting, ''HidamariSketch'''s ''bunkasai'' is really ''cultural''-- students (if not [[strike:cough [[CosplayOtakuGirl Yoshinoya]] cough]] teachers) have to put on display their art pieces and {{school play}}s. This school festival arc was about Yuno's quest for a topic for the aforementioned art piece.

** The Railgun side of the arc involves a plot to kidnap Mikoto Misaka that accidentally grabs one of her clones instead, a mind-controller [[LaserGuidedAmnesia erasing all memories of Mikoto from her closest friends]], the swim team girls being badass, two Level 5 espers teaming up against a Kihara, plus a few flashbacks to [[spoiler:said mind-controller's heartwarming interactions with Mikoto's very first clone]]. Oh, and the overly-confident Tokiwadai girls get curb-stomped by a school of low-level espers who were very cautious and well-prepared.

* The [[NonIndicativeFirstEpisode first episode]] of ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' shows the video the [=SOS-Dan=] created for the SchoolFestival, which is shown in episode 12. Yuki's class does fortune-telling (with Yuki being amusingly exact), and Mikuru's class did a yakisoba cafe, while Kyon and Haruhi's class "copped out and did a survey" and Itsuki's class performed a play (''RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead'').

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', this gets a twist due to the [[PsychicPowers espers]]. Powers ''are'' allowed in competitions, which means the lesser schools are inevitably completely shown up by the better ones, even with a handicap. Though Touma's class of Level Zeroes does surprisingly well, and not because of his AntiMagic hand. It's because [[BerserkButton someone made their teacher cry]].

** The ''Anime/{{Persona 4}}'' anime has a whole episode dedicated to this trope.

* In ''RevengeOfTheNerds'' homecoming is celebrated with an Olympics-type series of events such as "riding a tricycle while consuming mass quantities of alchohol," the javilin, a burping contest, and a musical/sketch contest.

* In ''{{Persona 3}}'', nearly a whole week (in game time) is spent setting up the plot for the Culture Festival... which is then rained out by one of the largest typhoons in years. This was a disappointment for [[MostGamersAreMale a small segment of the fanbase]], who ''[[{{Fanservice}} really]]'' [[{{Fanservice}} wanted to see Yukari in that]] [[{{Meido}} maid costume]].

* ''{{Persona 4}}'' had a festival as well. It doesn't last long and all it really does is give you brownie points with some of your social link friends. As a side note: Don't mention "Group Date Cafe" to any of them.
** In TheAnimeOfTheGame, there's a whole episode dediated to this trope.