Does anime really play up the school bullies trope, or does stuff like that actually happen at Japanese schools...?

One example is Honey Lemon Soda. Idk about you, but when I was at school (UK), the quiet kid wouldn't actively be laughed at in the open, get their locker raided, and be ridiculed for simply being quiet... Like that's just evil levels of bullying.

There's a ton of other examples as well from other shows where it feels like the bullies are just maxed to 11/10 for no reason.

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shadowtheimpure2026-01-20 15:44

Oh no, it happens and far more often than the Japanese government would like the world to know. That is why they try to get the videos taken off the internet of bullying incidents in Japanese schools rather than actually addressing the root of the problem.

Deriniel2026-01-20 16:06

it always surprised me how the bullies act in anime.Both the male one and the female one.

The anime i saw where girls bullied other girls, it's what I'd expect from men (head in the toilet, breaking them psychologically, sometimes beating them up). Men instead just go for stuff that would get them jailed here,like on jobless reincarnation, tying a naked boy to the school gate?wtf?

I don't know how true this depiction is but it always left me baffled

RyaReisender2026-01-20 15:50

Maybe you were just lucky.

In my school I was bullied openly too and I'm not from Japan (nor from UK).

filimaua132026-01-20 15:51

I hear bullying is severly worse over in Japan. Anime may seem like its exaggerating, but its not. Teachers even get involved.

WasteStart70722026-01-20 15:55

I have no personal experience of attending Japanese schools, but I know several Japanese people who experienced bullying and it was pretty severe, one person was even forced to stop going to school.

Outside of Japan this also happens, I was personally bulled for having an early puberty and being taller than all my classmates.

Fools_Requiem2026-01-20 16:13

Considering the number of shows featuring characters trying to "reinvent themselves" going into high school or going to a high school that they KNOW no one else from their middle school is going to, this has to be a huge issue.

Fuck, a show called Slow Start features a girl who fell behind a year because she missed a year (for reasons I don't remember). She is CONSTANTLY worried about what the kids will think of her if they were to learn that she's a year older than they are and takes a lot of steps to make sure no one finds out. It's a cutesy SoL show and basically glosses over how serious the reaction could realistically be if kids learned it.

WasteStart70722026-01-20 16:23

> It's a cutesy SoL show

It's deeper than that. This show features several people who are "late" in their lives — a girl who couldn't enrol in high school because of her illness, a girl who failed university exams, and a girl who can't find employment after univercity. Every single character "failed" at some stage of life. This anime was created to support such people with the message that having a slow start isn't a problem and they will be okay.

qef152026-01-21 00:08

I loved it, also luckily it is Kirara, which means that no girl is a punchline (or at least they are very happy).

ghostpickleonastick2026-01-20 15:57

I don't want to be one of those "let me google that for you" reply people, but if you want to have your day ruined you can definitely google this one.

Small_Balls_692026-01-20 16:07

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ghostpickleonastick2026-01-20 16:13

Yeah, and what they're bullied over can be something as simple as hair color being brown instead of black. Like imagine having to dye your kid's hair just to send them to school.

Zarerion2026-01-20 15:58

Idk the specific show you’re referring to here, but in general, bullying is a very real thing that happens all over the world.

Kids haven’t necessarily learned empathy yet (not even always through their own fault, environment as well as the developmental stage of their brains plays a role here) and it’s easy to gang up on individuals if it means your own position in the group isn’t threatened. There is a shitload of psychology and sociological involved here but the short answer is yes.

You not having experienced or witnessed it in your time as a pupil doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, it just means your environment either didn’t facilitate it, which obviously can happen, or you just never noticed (bullying doesn’t always happen in the open, it can happen subtly snd when others aren’t looking) or you didn’t WANT to notice because it’s way easier to pretend to not see and forget than deal with the feeling of wanting to help but being unsure of how.

And yes, bullying can get very brutal if it goes on for a while and the bullies go unchecked, as they will keep pushing the envelope to test the limits. Beatings, insults, theft or breaking of property. Everything an adult would get arrested for is often overlooked as „kids being kids“ when it’s bullies doing it.

Be happy about your blessings but don’t project your experiences onto others, because that in turn would belittle them and fuel the situation they’re already in.

sagevallant2026-01-20 16:06

I mean, Japan has EXTRA pressure to conform to society compared to the western world. It's only natural for that to result in more bullying of anyone who is different.

Zarerion2026-01-20 16:11

That’s a fair point but I’m not personally knowledgeable enough about the specific situation in Japan to be making that statement and want to base my argument more on universal circumstances.

I’m just a dude that loves Anime and Japanese culture, I haven’t studied it though.

Aware_Step_61322026-01-20 18:13

As a Japanese person, I often see protagonists in foreign dramas who are extremely ostracized simply for being "weird," so it's very interesting to see the psychology of always bringing up "Japanese society is..." in discussions like this, rather than "the grass on the other side of the fence." (In Japan, rather than being bullied because they're weird, it's more common for them to be timid and not fight back, so they become the target of bullying.)

MrModsMusic2026-01-21 03:41

I don’t think OP was projecting or belittling anyone. As far as I could tell, he was just asking the question that many (including myself) are curious to know because we never personally experienced this type of extreme behavior at school. It’s good that people are here to spread awareness though because it seems like it really is a pretty widespread and serious issue, considering the amount of people who have commented to share stories about their own experiences.

Fools_Requiem2026-01-20 16:05

From my limited understanding, anyone who is remotely different is ostracized. It seems to be a big reason why so many shows feature schools with a uniform.

I watched a video about a girl of European (or American) descent who was born and raised in Japan. She mentioned that because she was so good at speaking English, that her teacher singled her out as a way of criticizing the rest of the students for not being as good at English. Kids are assholes, and I can see that causing a huge issue if the teacher was anywhere near serious.

Popeychops2026-01-20 16:06

I went to a UK state comprehensive in the 2000s and I experienced incredible, banal violence. It was at least a weekly thing to see a fight, or someone's bag smashed or defaced, pins, pencils, etc thrown at someone in class until they snapped.

The target was invariably picked for egotistical reasons though. It could be as simple as bully is ordered to answer a question they don't know, and their victim knew the answer.

Blabime2026-01-20 16:07

Same as the US probably. Bullying is real, but Hollywood shows much wilder school bullying than I've ever seen. It might exist somewhere, but certainly not everywhere.

Yingmyyang2026-01-20 16:14

Bulling in Asia a different ball game one would think the bully’s want to end their victims.

nefarious_dareus2026-01-20 16:17

It prob depends on the school and types of kids in it but iirc, she goes to a pretty low test score school so I don’t think it’s out of the ordinary for bullying to occur there

Illya___2026-01-20 16:22

It pretty much happens everywhere at world, they just brush it off everytime...

JamesSomdet2026-01-20 16:30

It happens everywhere. It actually kind of happens to a lesser degree in the US, counterintuitively because of all the school shootings. It’s kind of in the back of everyone’s mind—you don’t want to go too far that they’ll snap. However, in other places like Japan where there isn’t really that fear of repercussions, bullies feel a lot freer to do their thing.

Realistic_Sound9132026-01-20 16:35

Just because it doesn’t happen around you doesn’t mean it didn’t happen elsewhere. It just means you were lucky to go to a good school or at least lucky enough not to encounter that kind of shit.

I was a quiet girl and can't speak loud because of my voice, so they would make fun of me whenever I spoke, even on the occasions I need to talk in class. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. It went much deeper over the next three years, during which they targeted every single thing they could mock about me. It only got worse.

One example of being laughed at was when I couldn’t even go to an exam one day. As soon as I walked up to the school gate, they were already waiting for me, laughing at me in public. One of the boys even tried to drag me inside just so they could mock me more. So yeah, it does happen people will actively laugh at and target someone, anywhere.

Isekai_Dreamer2026-01-20 17:17

bro, it happens right here in america lol. i been to different highschools due to my parents moving.

preppy highschool in washington state: all the white kids are straight up hardcore racist. they mock my eyes, say 'ching chong' etc, the teachers ignore it, the police ignore it, and the ones who don't make fun of you pretend you don't exist. they mock you and physically push you around every time you walk by in the hallway. then they have the gall to say that they are proud to be democrat.

Ghetto highschool in minnesota: really mixed racial backgrounds, so i thought i'd be safer there....nope! the mexican kids try to sell you drugs and steal your shit every chance they get. The black kids are of 2 kinds: the super chill and funny ones, and then the others are always looking for a fight, and if you look them in the eye they'll chase you and try to beat your ass. I had to keep my bike helmet on to defend myself from random suckerpunches. they're so violent that even the racist white kids are suddenly 'please we only want peace.' they take it a step up from the white kids back from the preppy white school. you really need to be in a gang to defend yourself. You know it's really bad when you spend 90% of your days skipping out on school because it's so violent, and you STILL GRADUATE somehow.

the bullies rule the schools and love to cry victim any chance they get. lie cheat steal to get your way, it's the law of the jungle out there.

timpkmn892026-01-20 17:43

>There's a ton of other examples as well from other shows where it feels like the bullies are just maxed to 11/10 for no reason.

You've never seen any American TV shows/movies with kids getting shoved into lockers, or whirlies in the toilet?

saga9992026-01-20 18:08

American here. Back in my days, kids would literally join gangs for protection. I don't know what's actually happening in Japanese schools, but they are believable enough.

Particular_Leader2222026-01-20 18:42

It just an unrealistic illustration just to make arc intresting being bullied for just existing doesn't make any sense. I was also a victim of bulling and the reason was same but they laughed and all threw my bag not worst then that.