Line #119 Main/SchoolgirlSeries


1	A subgenre of SliceOfLife, Schoolgirl Series tend to revolve around a group of female classmates and their antics and adventures during and after school. Depending on how comedic they are, such series may feature a rather unusual school where [[RuleOfFunny highly unrealistic things happen]]. Expect a [[SenseiChan very immature teacher]] in control of a WackyHomeroom, though a StraightMan educator may also be thrown in, both to add a friendly adult perspective and act as a {{foil}} to the childish antics of the heroines or their teacher. Closely related to CuteGirlsDoingCuteThings.
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3	Schoolgirl Series can also have more serious or romantic elements, but are similar in how their main focuses are on the [[DayInTheLife day-to-day]] activities of a group of girls in school and the friendships that grow through them. Sometimes there is a main heroine in the story and if that is the case, the series may have some ComingOfAge elements.
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5	Male characters may appear, but they rarely enter into the main cast and if they do they are [[TheOneGuy outnumbered by female ones]]. Occasionally, this element is used to such a degree that one may wonder why EverybodyIsSingle and yet people rarely mention relationships or dating in many of the more comedy-centered Schoolgirl Series.
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7	In Japan, these kinds of series almost always have men as their target demographic. They generally focus more on {{moe}} than outright {{fanservice}}. The GenrePopularizer is the {{shonen\|Demographic}} series ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'', which featured many of the tropes that later examples would follow. Though the anime-centric language may lead you to believe otherwise, the schoolgirl genre is also present in the West, with 1931 German film ''Film/MadchenInUniform'' the UrExample.
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9	----
10	!!Tropes commonly associated with Schoolgirl Series:
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12	* ACupAngst
13	* AloofDarkhairedGirl: Virtually guaranteed to either be part of the main cast, or the supporting cast.
14	* BeachEpisode: Almost mandatory for any self-respecting Schoolgirl Series.
15	* BespectacledCutie: There's often at least one girl who wears glasses, which typically add to her cuteness.
16	* BishoujoSeries
17	* BoobBasedGag: For when big boobs are used more as a source of comedy than [[StealthPun "tit"]][[BuxomBeautyStandard illation]].
18	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Will overlap with AttentionDeficitOohShiny if the character is a GenkiGirl.
19	* TheComicallySerious: At least one of the girls will fill this role, likely to double as [[OnlySaneMan 'the sensible' one]].
20	* CuteClumsyGirl
21	* DoItYourselfThemeTune: It's very common for the opening themes to be performed by the main characters' voice actresses, and on some occasions the voice actresses tend to form groups from the series as a result.
22	* DCupDistress: There's usually one who's well endowed and self-conscious because of it.
23	* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: There's bound to be at least one such character in a schoolgirl series, especially at an AllGirlSchool.
24	* EverybodyIsSingle
25	* FestivalEpisode: Equally obligatory in Japanese HighSchool settings as the Beach Episode (see above).
26	* [[FourGirlEnsemble Four / Five-Girl Ensemble]]: May also overlap with [[FiveManBand Five-Woman Band]].
27	* GenericCuteness
28	* GenkiGirl
29	* GirlishPigtails
30	* TheGlomp
31	* UsefulNotes/InsideShoes: Often are ColorCodedForYourConvenience to tell upperclassmen from lowerclassmen.
32	* {{Iyashikei}}: Some series can qualify for this trope.
33	* {{Joshikousei}}: The ''entire point'' of this subgenre is to see high school girls in cute uniforms doing cute, low-key things together.
34	* KaraokeBox: Not as often as the BeachEpisode, usually with the HollywoodToneDeaf.
35	* [[HoYay Les Yay]]: Often, but not always, but may go so far to overlap with a PseudoRomanticFriendship.
36	* ManChild: Often overlaps with SenseiChan if the character is a teacher. If female, they're often an OldMaid.
37	* {{Moe}}
38	* NiceGuy: Well, Girl: Expect at least one character in the main cast or secondary characters to fall into this trope, usually the TokenMiniMoe.
39	* NoAntagonist: There is usually no antagonist in a schoolgirl series and even if there is one, the said antagonist will most likely be played for comedic purposes or as a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
40	* NonUniformUniform: It's common for some characters to wear their uniforms differently as a way to express their individual personalities, especially if the show has OnlySixFaces and there needs to be a way to tell the characters apart more easily.
41	* {{Ojou}}: Often has a BigFancyHouse, sometimes more than one and is a [[TheDitz ditzy character]] as well. Expect Type 1 if she is a main character, Type 2 if she is a SitcomArchNemesis (although this is less common).
42	* TheOneGuy: Often the ''only'' guy in the series.
43	* OneGenderSchool: Quite a few series take place at all-girl's schools, so the number of male characters can be limited as much as possible. If it's not this, than there usually seem to be a lot more girls around than guys (which is sometimes justified by letting the series take place in an art club or something similarly "girly").
44	* ProperTightsWithASkirt
45	* PuniPlush: Often, but mostly dependent on the art style.
46	* SailorFuku
47	* SchoolFestival
48	* SenseiChan: If there's a teacher in the main cast, she's almost always just as immature as her students.
49	* ShrinkingViolet: Often an AloofDarkhairedGirl as well. Will often have a HimeCut and be well endowed, but [[HollywoodPudgy self-conscious]]. May overlap with BespectacledCutie / {{Tsundere}} characters.
50	* SkinshipGrope: Often the primary basis for the [[HoYay Les Yay]] elements.
51	* TaremeEyes: Often the {{Cloudcuckoolander}} and GenkiGirl characters.
52	* TokenMiniMoe: Expect at least one character to fit this bill.
53	* TokenRichStudent: There's often at least one character who's an {{Ojou}} from a rich family, but she still somehow attends the same middle-class public school as everyone else.
54	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Almost always included among the main cast and likely to be best friends.
55	* {{Tsundere}}: May often be the [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]], but also can be NotSoAboveItAll.
56	* TsurimeEyes: A trademark of the {{Tsundere}}, moreso for {{Kuudere}} types like the AloofDarkhairedGirl, and {{Bifauxnen}}s.
57	* TwoTeacherSchool: One of them will be the main SenseiChan, while the other will often be her [[VitriolicBestBuds friend]].
58	* UnlimitedWardrobe
59	* VitriolicBestBuds, often between the {{Tsundere}} character and the GenkiGirl. Often, but not always a ChildhoodFriends and TomboyAndGirlyGirl / RedOniBlueOni relationship, especially if the {{Tsundere}} in question is the [[StraightMan Straight Woman]] / [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]].
60	* WeightWoe: At least one character will be sensitive about her weight gain.
61	* {{Yonkoma}}: Almost a rule, if the series in question is a manga.
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63	----
64	!!Examples:
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66	[[foldercontrol]]
67
68	[[index]]
69	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
70	* ''Manga/AChannel'' is such, plus a few LesYay overtones.
71	* ''Manga/AfterschoolDiceClub'' focuses on a group of girls and the board games they play at a specialty game shop after school.
72	* ''Manga/{{Aiura}}'' focuses on a group of three high school girls and their antics whenever they have free time.
73	* ''Manga/AkebisSailorUniform'' is about Komichi Akebi and her life after starting middle school, where she hopes to make lots of friends since she's from the country and doesn't know a lot of people her age. She also stands out for wearing a SailorFuku even though the school's uniform has changed to blazers.
74	* ''Manga/{{Amanchu}}'' focuses on schoolgirls at a high school in Shizuoka, as they join the school's scuba diving club and enjoy the wonders of underwater exploration.
75	* ''Manga/AnimaYell'' is a {{yonkoma}} series that is about a high school cheerleading team.
76	* ''Manga/AnneHappy'' is about a group of schoolgirls who have all been deemed "unfortunate" in some way. Hilarity ensues as they all try to deal with this.
77	* ''Manga/AsobiAsobase'' is an absurd {{Parody}} of this subgenre, as while it focuses on three girls at an all-girls' middle school and their antics in the Pastimer's Club, said antics can be rather over-the-top and the girls are often moronic jerks towards each other and other people. It may look like a typical "cute girls doing cute things" series, but the girls frequently do and say things that are decidedly ''not'' cute.
78	* ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'' is a {{yonkoma}} about a high school geology-cum-astronomy club, and two of their new members that has some common history.
79	* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' is generally considered the biggest TropeCodifier for schoolgirl series, following the enormous success of the both the manga and anime, and it established many of the character tropes commonly associated with this subgenre. It mainly focuses on an ensemble cast of high school girls and their teachers, with the only named male characters being the creepy [[DirtyOldMan Mr. Kimura]] and [[Creator/NorioWakamoto Chiyo's father]], who only seems to appear in daydreams as a giant catlike creature. It tends to focus on comedic side of things. Many series that came after ''Azumanga Daioh'' [[FollowTheLeader follow its formula pretty closely]], along with the elements above, drawing comparisons such as "[[RecycledINSPACE Like Azumanga Daioh, but in/with X]]". It became ''so'' popular that ''Manga/DokiDokiSchoolHours'' is considered to be a copycat, even though its manga came out two years earlier.
80	* ''Anime/BangDream'' focuses on high school girls who form a band called Poppin' Party.
81	* ''Manga/ACertainScientificMentalOut'' is almost entirely about the girls of Tokiwadai Middle School. While half the plot is about the students fighting over which of their preferred candidates takes the queen bee throne, the other half is those candidates fighting a much more serious and dangerous battle about the school's past.
82	* ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'' has undertones of this, especially in its {{Filler}} arcs.
83	* ''Manga/ChroniclesOfTheGoingHomeClub''
84	* ''Manga/DailyLivesOfHighSchoolBoys'' is a [[GenderInvertedTrope gender-inverted example]].
85	* ''Manga/DiaryOfOurDaysAtTheBreakwater'' follows four girls in a school club focused on fishing.
86	* ''Anime/DoItYourself'' is about a group of schoolgirls in a home improvement club.
87	* ''Manga/DokiDokiSchoolHours'' is the earliest example on this list and as such is seen as the TropeMaker of some of the most widely used tropes. However, the series itself is more of a downplayed example, since there are an equal amount of male characters.
88	* ''Manga/EncouragementOfClimb'' follows the experiences of a group of school-aged girls who do mountain climbing.
89	* ''Manga/{{Fullmapla}}'' is about the OddCouple of a GenkiGirl and a SilentSnarker who [[TalkingWithSigns talks with numbered signs]].
90	* ''Manga/GAGeijutsukaArtDesignClass'' focuses on a group of girls (and a couple of boys) at Ayanoi High School, most of whom are enrolled in G.A., a class that specializes in arts.
91	* ''Manga/{{Gals}}'' is about a trio of kogals and their adventures in and out of high school. Unlike most anime/manga examples, both the manga and anime are actually [[ShoujoDemographic aimed at girls]].
92	* ''Manga/GirlFriends2006'': A classic of the YuriGenre, which features a realistic portrayal of a ComingOfAgeQueerRomance, which the central pair being very confused about their feelings and featuring large amounts of Gayngst and WillTheyOrWontThey.
93	* ''Manga/{{Hanayamata}}''
94	* ''Manga/HarukanaReceive'' follows a group of high school girls and their aspirations to compete in the junior beach volleyball tournament.
95	* ''Manga/HidamariSketch'' features a group of girls who live in the Hidamari Apartments and attend a nearby art school together. One of their teachers at their school, Yoshinoya, [[ManChild sometimes seems much less mature than they do]]. In some ways the series tells the story of how the main heroine, Yuno, matures from being a naive freshman to being more of an adult.
96	* ''Manga/HighSchoolGirls'', also known as ''Girl's High''.
97	* ''Manga/HinakoNote'' focuses on cute girls and their theater club.
98	* ''Anime/HisCooolSehaGirls'' is about MoeAnthropomorphism versions of Creator/{{Sega}} consoles attending high school.
99	* ''Manga/HitoribocchiNoOOSeikatsu''
100	* ''Manga/HiyoAndVivid''
101	* ''Manga/{{Hyakko}}''
102	* ''Manga/{{Hyakuen}}''
103	* ''Manga/IsTheOrderARabbit'' is a downplayed example; the main characters are schoolgirls, but there's more focus on how they work at various coffee houses and scenes set at school are rare (especially since they all go to different schools).
104	* ''Manga/JoshiKausei'' (the title literally means "high school girl")
105	* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' spin-off ''We Want to Talk About Kaguya'' is part this, part InnocentBystanderSeries.
106	* ''Anime/{{Kamichu}}'' is about a group of schoolgirls, one of whom happens to be a god.
107	* ''Manga/KiniroMosaic'', the plot point being an ''English'' NewTransferStudent.
108	* ''Manga/KomorisanCantDecline'' is a series about a schoolgirl [[ExtremeDoormat who can't deny requests]] and her classmates.
109	* ''Manga/KOn'' fits the Schoolgirl Series template to the T, telling the story of a group of girls who are members of a light music club at an all-girls high school with the spunky "Sawa-chan" playing the role of club sponsor. There is really only one named male character that reappears in the anime and he is the brother of a club member. [[CanonForeigner He never appears in the original source material.]]
110	* ''Manga/LaidBackCamp'' is about a group of high school girls in the camping club, and their camping trips to idyllic places in Japan.
111	* ''Manga/LetsMakeAMugToo'' is about the girls of a high school pottery club.
112	* ''Manga/LuckyStar'' mainly focuses on the core group of friends of Konata, the twins Kagami and Tsukasa, and Miyuki along with a few of their classmates and relatives. This series [[LampshadeHanging hangs a lampshade on]] the EverybodyIsSingle part of a good many Schoolgirl Series when the group wonders why Miyuki does not yet have a boyfriend. It also only has two named male characters that appear for more than a couple of minutes (aside from Anime Tenchou), Konata's dad, Soujirou, and Minoru Shiraishi. What sets this series apart from other examples is its many references to {{Otaku}} culture, and the anime adds a lot of {{Shout Out}}s.
113	* ''Manga/MagicOfStella'' overlaps with SchoolClubStories, all the cast are schools are four of them involves making a doujin game.
114	* ''Manga/ManabiStraight'' combines this with TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture.
115	* ''Manga/MinamiKamakuraHighSchoolGirlsCyclingClub'' is about girls in a bicycle club.
116	* ''Manga/MitsuboshiColors''
117	* ''Manga/{{Mono\|2017}}'' follows three school girls in the Cinephoto Club who join in with a manga artist to travel across real-life places in Japan to take pictures and help her out on her inspiration for her manga.
118	* ''Anime/NatsuiroKiseki'' is all about [[FourGirlEnsemble four childhood friends]], spending their last summer together before one of them moves away.
119	* ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'' is this with the [[QuirkyWork wackiness]] turned up. However, the "schoolgirl" part is actually downplayed; while the main characters are schoolgirls, there are also several male characters who get their own focus and there are plenty of scenes that take place outside of school (particularly with Nano and the Professor).
120	* ''Manga/NonNonBiyori'' follows four schoolgirls of different ages who, along with one boy, are the only students in their whole town.
121	* ''Manga/OneechanBiyori''
122	* ''Manga/PanDePeace'' focuses on a group of schoolgirls who form a friendship based on their shared love of bread.
123	* ''Anime/PaniPoniDash'' revolves around an eleven-year-old girl teaching a [[WackyHomeroom crazy high school class]].
124	* ''Manga/PleaseTellMeGalkoChan''
125	* ''Manga/SakuraTrick'': Stretching PseudoRomanticFriendship into main-text YuriGenre.
126	* ''Manga/SchoolLive'' is what happens when the character archetypes of a Schoolgirl Series are dropped into an altogether different genre and circumstances, in this case a ZombieApocalypse. The series itself is a subversion, since [[SubvertedSitcom it only pretends to be a typical Schoolgirl Series]] for the first chapter/episode until the FirstEpisodeTwist is revealed.
127	* ''Manga/SchoolRumble'' downplays this, as there's an equal amount of male characters to balance out the cast. It's squarely on the more comedic end, focusing on the romantic hijinks that occur between the characters.
128	* ''Manga/SeishunKouryakuhon'' is a schoolboy series that's taking place in the last year of their high school days. It has a bittersweet feeling to it because of that.
129	* ''Manga/{{Sketchbook}}'' revolves around the mostly female members of an art club and their chicken-obsessed, energetic teacher Ms. Kasugano. Well at least the ''Full [=Color'S=]'' anime does. The manga allows a lot more focus for the male characters of the Art Club and keeps it as more of an ensemble series.
130	* ''Anime/ShoujoKagekiRevueStarlight''
131	* ''Manga/SoulEaterNot''
132	* ''Manga/StellaWomensAcademyHighSchoolDivisionClassC3''
133	* ''Manga/SweetMagicSyndrome'', Characters from a MagicalLand go to school in the real world and talk about food, mostly sweets.
134	* ''Anime/{{Tamayura}}'' can be considered as one. The girls may not spend much time at school, but they are often [[{{Joshikousei}} depicted in their uniforms]].
135	* ''Anime/TesagureBukatsumono''
136	* ''Manga/ThighHighReiwaHanamaruAcademy'' parodies this genre; while the story is set at a school and goes through many of the associated tropes, the "schoolgirls" are actually crossdressing men.
137	* ''Manga/ThreeLeavesThreeColors''
138	* ''Anime/VariableGeo'' is a 3-episode OVA adaptation of the ''[[VideoGame/AdvancedVariableGeo Advanced V.G.]]'' fighting game series that centers around an all-women's [[SupernaturalMartialArts MMA competition]] for teenaged waitesses. Most of whom, are between their sophomore - senior years in highschool and nearly all of them are still single, despite their looks. Reimi is the lone exception, being in a SecretRelationship with her personal aide.
139	* ''Manga/WakabaGirl'', a series of short 7-minute episodes about an {{Ojou}} who ends up going to an ordinary school and making ordinary friends.
140	* ''Manga/WaratteSotomuraSan'', is a series about a misunderstood girl who wishes to make friends with her smile, too bad her smile looks like she's about to viciously murder you.
141	* ''Manga/WastefulDaysOfHighSchoolGirls'' has a tone not dissimilar to ''Daily Lives of High School Boys'' above, focusing on the inane and slapstick.
142	* ''Manga/YouAndMe'' is a rare gender-inverted example.
143	* ''Manga/YuruYuri'' is one of these, focusing more on humour and {{Yuri\|Genre}} elements.
144	* ''Manga/YuugaiShiteiDoukyuusei'' focuses on only two schoolgirls, a straight-laced ClassRep and her perverted classmate.
145	* ''Manga/{{Yuyushiki}}'', which shares some similarity to ''Yuru-Yuri'', with slightly less yuri.
146	[[/folder]]
147
148	[[folder:Comic Books]]
149	* ''ComicBook/BlueMonday'' is an American take on the genre, though it features at least two male main characters alongside the three female leads.
150	* ''The Four Marys'', a long-running strip in the ComicBook/{{Bunty}} girls' comic paper in Britain. It's about four girls named Mary that attend a girls' boarding school, and have (usually) age-appropriate adventures. Named male characters come from outside the school and generally appear for one story arc only.
151	* ''ComicBook/{{Lumberjanes}}'' has many of the tropes and character archetypes typical of the genre, but is set at a girls' summer camp rather than a school.
152	* ''ComicBook/{{WITCH}}'' is a mix between this and the MagicalGirl genre, as the comics focus as much on the five main characters' lives at home and school as their [[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld saving the world]]. The [[WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}} show]] focuses a little more on the "fighting evil" side while mixing in the SliceOfLife elements as B-plots.
153	[[/folder]]
154
155	[[folder:FanWorks]]
156	* Creator/AAPessimal's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fic:
157	** A series of works are set in the Assassins' Guild School, a boarding school with a reputation. They're not ''all'' about the girl pupils (WordOfGod is that the author finds girls are more fun to write). Several close pairings of best friends happen. Jocasta Wiggs and Millie Mountjoy-Standish; Mariella Smith-Rhodes and Rivka ben-Divorah; and most lately Johanna Smith-Rhodes Maaijande and Emma "Piles" Roydes. Intense animosities come into it too: Catherine Perry-Bowen and Deborah Rust; Rivka ben-Divorah and Pamela Eorle. The teaching staff manage this carefully. Fights and feuds of the intense sort that happen between teenage girls are not good in a school where the pupils have access to lethal weaponry.
158	** Elsewhere, the canonical setting of the Convent School of the Spiteful Sisterhood of Seven-Handed-Sek (SHS) is expanded upon and is revealed to have the Discworld's equivalent of [[CatholicSchoolGirlsRule Catholic Schoolgirls]]. Compared to the Assassins' School, SHS is more mainstream and typical of the sort of general education the Disc gives to its daughters. Who are tended by kindly and caring nuns with a deep commitment to educating their charges and turning out well-adjusted young ladies. It's not their fault they get girls like [[FightingIrish Shauna O'Hennigan]] and [[FieryRedhead Rebecka Smith-Rhodes-Stibbons]].
159	* ''Fanfic/TokimekiPokeLiveAndTwinbee'' is a series of crossover fanfics and one shots that takes place in an alternate version of the ''Love Live!'' universe that focuses on certain female characters from the ''Pokémon'' games, ''Love Live! School Idol Festival'', ''Love Live! Perfect Dream Project'', ''Tokimeki Memorial:Forever with You'' and ''Twinbee'' with occasional appearances from other female characters from other franchises and it also combines this with various Mon series tropes.
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
163	* The ''Film/StTrinians'' film series is about a group of {{delinquent}} British schoolgirls at a BoardingSchoolOfHorrors.
164	[[/folder]]
165
166	[[folder:Literature]]
167	* Creator/EnidBlyton wrote several of these:
168	** ''Literature/MaloryTowers''
169	** ''Literature/TheNaughtiestGirl''
170	** ''Literature/StClares''
171	* ''Literature/TheGallagherGirls'' series is about girls going to a SpySchool.
172	* ''Literature/GirlsKingdom'' takes place in a school for rich girls and the girls who want to be their maids.
173	* ''Literature/HereComesTheThreeAngels'' is about gradeschoolers playing in a rock band.
174	* ''Literature/TheMarlowSeries'' Although only four out of the ten novels are set at the girls' boarding school Kingscote.
175	* ''Literature/PrincessHolyAura'' by Ryk Spoor, centered around Holly Owen's two slightly overlapping sets of friends and allies.
176	* ''Literature/TheSecretsOfDrearcliffGrangeSchool'' is a homage to the English boarding school variety of Schoolgirl Series, with the twist that it's set in a school where the students are all a bit unusual: DaddysLittleVillain, FishPeople, superheroes, werewolves, ... and there's a sequel now, so it qualifies as a Schoolgirl Series in its own right.
177	** ''Literature/TheHauntingOfDrearcliffGrangeSchool'' is the sequel.
178	* ''Literature/SoundEuphonium'' is about the ailing wind orchestra of a Japanese high school which steadily improves thanks to the guidance of an esteemed music director. It focuses more on the interpersonal drama between the band members (most of whom are girls) than humor, though it isn't entirely free of comedic moments.
179	* ''Literature/SuperCub'' is about a lonely schoolgirl who eventually makes friends and picks up a hobby of riding a Honda Super Cub.
180	[[/folder]]
181
182	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
183	* ''Series/DerryGirls''
184	[[/folder]]
185
186	[[folder:Web Animation]]
187	* ''WebAnimation/TheMostPopularGirlsInSchool''
188	[[/folder]]
189
190	[[folder:Web Comics]]
191	* ''Webcomic/DestinyFailsUs'' revolves around a group of girls making their way through their final years of high school.
192	[[/folder]]
193
194	[[folder:Western Animation]]
195	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTales'' could essentially be described as this. It was a SliceOfLife with FunnyAnimal ponies about characters who were regularly seen attending school. There were a couple of token guys, but most of them were girls.
196	[[/folder]]
197	[[/index]]

Context Main / SchoolgirlSeries