The Top 5 Fictional Schools

School sucks, and that's something EVERYBODY can agree on!

School is the biggest waste of everyone's time ever conceived by human minds and does nothing for society but teach them useless crap that they'll never put to use in their lives. I know I've done all sorts of lessons at school and aside from English and Literacy, none of them have done anything for me. School didn't even help me in deciding what I wanted to do for a living, I chose that myself based on my passion and love of media! So, when it comes to my current life as a self-published author, I don't have school to thank for that! It genuinely feels like school is useless in this day and age when we could better educate ourselves just by spending five minutes on the internet than a whole day in a single classroom. Even reading good books would educate people better. In my eyes, that's how we should educate people rather than sending them to school. At least that way nobody has to deal with bullies and stuck-up teachers who don't do their jobs properly and will punish the victims instead of the bullies.

But of course, in the world of fiction, even school manages to look pretty awesome. Yes, only in fiction could school EVER look cool. XD In the world of fiction, you get schools that you only WISH you were being educated at instead of what we have in the real world. These are schools that teach you all kinds of awesome things and even their very appearance looks awesome to the point you wish you could visit them just to have a look around. And so this post is here to talk about some of them. Ever thought that school sucked? Well these schools might change your mind on that.

Pack your bags and don't forget your homework everybody! We're going to school in the best way possible as I count down the Top 5 Fictional Schools...

Number 5: Hogwarts from the Harry Potter franchise

I'll confess, this school is ONLY on the list because of iconography, not because I actually think it belongs here. As any Harry Potter fan will joke about, Hogwarts is actually a pretty terrible school that's a death trap to anyone who attends it, and you have to wonder how it hasn't been shut down yet. But as I say, I can't do a list about fictional schools and NOT include this one, so it's here. Harry Potter fans, you're welcome. =P

As iconic as it is, Hogwarts is still worth including at least for the sheer novelty behind it. I mean let's be real, a school that teaches you how to do magic? Who wouldn't want to attend this place? If it weren't for Hogwarts's terrible health and safety records, I know I'd be pretty pumped at the idea of going here. Hogwarts is a school that easily appeals to the minds of the young children reading Harry Potter. The pure escapism of going to a school that teaches you stuff beyond your wildest dreams is infectious. I'm no fan of this franchise, but even I can't deny the sheer appeal it has, and the concept of Hogwarts is part of that appeal. The school itself has a fantastic design that looks very fantastical, like something out of an ancient fairy tale or medieval story, which suits the fantastical nature of Harry Potter. If a school for wizardry existed, it would definitely look like this, no question about it. I also like how well thought out this place is. Hogwarts has different classes for different kinds of magic such as potions, casting spells, learning how to fly a broom and so forth. The different classes and subjects that have a magical twist to them make this school feel more believable as a result. If a wizardry school existed, of course it would operate like this!

The only thing I'm not onboard with is the whole "four houses" thing the school has. Classism only promotes bigotry and gives people a superiority or inferiority complex, and the house system only adds to that problem. Instead of sorting students into houses based on their intelligence and capabilities, they should just sort students into different classes and let them figure out their own capabilities. If it operated like this, then we wouldn't breed people like the assholes in Slytherin now, would we?

Classism aside, Hogwarts is a school that is iconic for multiple reasons, and it can't be denied that the place set the benchmark for magical schools in fiction. I wouldn't want to go to this school as I'd probably die there, but for the wizards and witches attending, they went to a school that teaches them only the best of magic...

Number 4: Hexside School of Magic and Demonics from The Owl House

Now unlike Harry Potter, I actually like The Owl House, so naturally I'm a bit biased in favour of THIS school when it comes to magical schools.

Hexside School of Magic and Demonics is essentially the Boiling Isles's equivalent to Hogwarts and even works in a similar class system, albeit their class system is based on magical powers rather than being sorted into houses. The school runs on a Covens system and you wear a coloured uniform depending on what Coven you're sorted in. The colouring is as follows:

• Red - Bard

• Orange - Beast keeping

• Yellow - Potions

• Green - Plant

• Light Blue - Illusion

• Blue - Healing

• Purple - Oracle

• Orchid - Abomination

• Brown - Construction

• Dark Gray - Detention

• Light Gray - Undecided; no track selected

And let's not forget how Luz wanted to try everything and got herself a rainbow outfit as a result. What makes the Covens system less problematic than Hogwarts's Four House system is the fact that this was a deliberate ploy on behalf of Emperor Belos to make the Boiling Isles easier to conquer when the Day of Unity arrived, so at least it's actually depicted as problematic and shown to be a bad thing, unlike at Hogwarts where nobody seems to have a problem with such an obviously flawed system. But enough comparing the two, how's Hexside as its own school? Quite fascinating to say the least. Not only does the school have this fantastic ancient European look to it in where it looks like an old castle with a striking white and blue colour scheme, but it's a very diverse school in where it feels like anything and everything is welcome here. We see all sorts of creatures attend this place from the monstrous looking to the more human looking creatures, and anyone of all sizes can be a student here. I also love the various magic subjects that can be studied here from illusion magic to plant magic and much, much more. It truly feels like if you were a student here, you could study magic of all kinds and it's so cool to see.

Would I actually want to go there? Eh...probably not. This place is still a death trap just like Hogwarts is, I mean have you seen the detention monster for starters? Also Principal Bump's the kind of guy who looks the other way when bullies like Boscha are causing problems for the students, so it's not all great.

As is, when it comes to magical schools, I'd say Hexside is easily one of the best depictions of the concept and it was always fascinating to explore this place whenever we spent an episode here. This is a school that can make your days there truly feel magical...

Number 3: H.I.V.E. from the H.I.V.E. books

This is a school from a book series with no pictures, so I don't have an ACTUAL picture of the school itself. Sorry. ^^; This cover that has the school's logo is the best I can provide.

H.I.V.E. is a series of novels by British author Mark Walden, and next to Alex Rider are among some of my favourite books I've ever read. The premise is one of the many reasons why I loved reading them. I mean come on, a school for villains? How is that idea NOT appealing, I may ask? And before anyone says anything, yes, I'm aware that Teen Titans already beat Mark Walden to the punch. I'm pretty sure he wasn't aware of that at the time he wrote these books. Besides, the way he executed the concept was different to how Teen Titans did it, so it's not like he copied them. Even the acronym for his H.I.V.E. school is different in where it stands for "High Institute of Villainous Education", whereas Teen Titans's H.I.V.E. stans for "Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination".

Anyway, H.I.V.E. in the Mark Walden book series is described as being a hi-tech facility that's stationed inside an active volcano (yes really) and is shown to be impossible to escape from. No joke, the plot of the first book is all about Otto Malpense and friends trying to escape, only for it to turn out Dr. Nero (the man in charge of the school) played him like a fiddle the whole time. It really is a case of "you will stay and study with us and that's final" when you end up a student here. H.I.V.E. also operates on a class system, in this case "streams" in where you have Alpha stream as the top dogs and Henchman stream as the bottom. Technical stream and Political/Financial stream are somewhere in the middle, but they barely get any focus compared to Alpha and Henchman. H.I.V.E. teaches villainy in its various forms from robbery to political manipulation toe weaponry and so much more and the way Mark Walden describes the place and how it functions feels pretty amazing to read about. As I'm no bad guy, I obviously wouldn't want to attend here, but it's still a cool school to read about in these books. I also like how the staff are all standouts here with Colonel Francisco as a literal army colonel or Ms. Leon in where she's ended up trapped in the body of her own pet cat (no, I'm serious). And of course, there's Dr. Nero who is accompanied by his faithful assassin and right-hand woman, Natalya, aka Raven. If you misbehave in this school, you'll answer to her, and that's NOT something anyone wants to do!

H.I.V.E. is a cool concept for a school and Mark Walden shows a lot of imagination in describing how the place functions and what it looks like. If these books get adapted into films one day, I'd love to see this place depicted as a real-world setting. Who knows how awesome they'd make it look. If you're someone who indulges in a little villainy, this may be the place for you...

Number 2: Duel Academy from Yu-Gi-Oh!

Why the hell doesn't THIS school exist?! Screw maths, science and geography, I'd totally love it if I attended a school that taught me how to play Yu-Gi-Oh! That's the best idea for a school EVER!

Introduced in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Duel Academy was when the franchise began to expand the world of Yu-Gi-Oh! and see how far they could go with its concept about saving the world via trading cards. Before we have "Card Games on Motorcycles", before we had "Card games so advanced that we can wage war with them", we had "Card Games At School". On paper, it's a pretty silly idea and sounds ridiculous, maybe something out of a Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series gag. But in execution, it manages not to be as daft as it sounds, and considering the world that Yu-Gi-Oh! is set in, it kind of makes sense why a school that teaches you how to play the game would exist. If we can have schools that teach us how to play competitive sports, and in this world Duel Monsters is at the same level as competitive sports, then why not have a school to teach us how to play it? Besides, Yu-Gi-Oh! has become ridiculous complicated to play in this day and age, so maybe a school that teaches us how to play it would actually be a good idea...

Anyway, Duel Academy was founded by Seto Kaiba (because of course it was) and that's evident in how the class system is set up. We have Slifer Reds as the lowest level, Ra Yellow as the middle and Obelisk Blue are at the top. Still salty that Yugi beat your ass and Slifer the Sky Dragon is the best Egyptian God Card, aren't ya Kaiba? =P Yet it's clear that class systems mean nothing in this school as the only Obelisk Blue students who are actually any good are Zane and Alexis while Jaden, a Slifer Red, wins most of the duels in this series due to being the main character and all. Duel Academy is all about teaching students to play Duel Monsters at the pro level and you can learn pretty much everything you need to learn about the card game here from what a Field Spell is to all kinds of strategies you can pull off and so much more. Students get to duel each other and show off their skills and they even get to duel against teachers, including the school's head professor Doctor Crowler. I also like how the school staff use different decks depending on a student's skill level so they can either go easy on you or go full on to show you what you're in for.

The one thing about Duel Academy I'm not onboard with is the outfits for the female students in Obelisk Blue. Like, who would let female students in ANY school dress like this? Is Kaiba secretly a pervert or something? That's pretty sick to think about... X(

Pervy school uniforms for girls aside, Duel Academy is a school right up my ally. I would happily have gone there if it meant I could forego all those boring school lessons in favour of playing cards all day. Now I wonder what Duel Academy would think if I waltzed up in there with the decks I've been building....

And the Number 1 Best Fictional School is...Blueberry Academy from Pokémon

You don't need to go to school in order to see why this place is awesome and why it's a school that deserves to be at the top of this list.

A school that teaches you how to be a Pokémon trainer is an awesome concept right off the bat, and while earlier games never really took advantage of such a concept, the anime would play about with such an idea in a few episodes and even give us a setting like that in Sun and Moon. It wasn't until Scarlet and Violet where the games truly ran with the concept by having a school be the main setting for the game's story. While Naranja/uva Academy is a cool school, in terms of which school from Pokémon I had to include on this list, it was always going to be Blueberry Academy. I never thought I'd say a school would be one of my favourite locations to visit in a Pokémon game, yet here we are.

Blueberry Academy is so awesome. The design is striking with its sleek, modern appearance and prominent blue colour scheme (duh), the location setting makes it stand out from the rest by being stationed mostly underwater and best of all, you get to learn how to be a Pokémon trainer here. Blueberry Academy is huge, especially its underwater Terarium with four different biomes full of Pokémon you can battle and capture, and there's so much to see in there that you can easily lose yourself just exploring the place. I also applaud the architects for designing this place with comfort in mind as all the parts of the school that are underwater have holographic projectors in the walls to stimulate windows and the outside world so students won't feel so claustrophobic. That's very considerate and it shows that this is a school that really cares about its students. I also love how the BB Club room lets you redecorate it how you see fit, thus showing this is a school that encourages students to express themselves and make things how they like. My personal favourite style of room you can have is the Dark Style here:

It looks so classy, doesn't it? ^^

Blueberry Academy is a school that can also really challenge your skills as a trainer. This is an academy that teaches only the best of the best, and it shows with how every battle you face here is a double battle and the students can battle you with advanced techniques and moves that the average NPC wouldn't have. Even the Elite Four are extremely challenging with their teams all carrying held items and they have move sets to abuse their abilities with to make them even trickier. Some like Lacey, Amarys and Drayton are especially competitive levels of challenging with how cleverly structured their teams can be and the reigning champion, Kieran, outright uses competitive tier Pokémon such as Politoed, Dragonite, Incineroar and more! This is why I put Blueberry Academy above all other Pokémon schools. They can teach you how to be a trainer, but THIS school teaches you how to be a master!

The only downside this school has is that being BB Champion essentially means you're untouchable and have free reign to be a jerk to everyone as Kieran demonstrates in The Indigo Disk's story. You'd think Director Cyrano wouldn't allow such behaviour to go unchecked, but given how absent-minded he is, he probably overlooks it...

Still, this is a school I feel I could enjoy life at very easily. The place isn't a death trap, there's very little bullying here, the architecture is incredible, there's so many Pokémon to catch and train with and you're always in for a tough challenge when you battle. If I could attend any school in the fictional world, it would easily be this one.

Blueberry Academy, the Number 1 Best Fictional School of all time...

And that's it for this list! I hope you enjoyed it and I invite you all to share your comments down below. Which school on this list would you like to attend? Are there any fictional schools not on the list you would attend too? Do tell me.

Join me again tomorrow where I'll be reviewing Moana 2. See you then media fans!