Cormier Botchan and Student Days

So between Botchan and Student Days, I wasn't too fond of either of them. But they both have interesting elements that incorporate the Japanese school system. In Student Days, it's clear that education is everything to the Japanese. The students spend hours studying and even stress themselves out for college entrance exams. However, to me, it also seems that some of the students lose morale after studying for exams, only to fail them and be denied admission, such as Kenkichi's friends, who eventually give up or just leave the examination. Even worse is Kenkichi's eventual suicide due to his failure of the exams and Sumiko's rejection.

About Sumiko, she was just horrible. The way she led Kenkichi on and on then went for Kenji! I swear, if the setting for Student Days was in America it would've ended totally different! Kenji would've been hospitalized and Sumiko would've been slapped at the very least. This kind of makes me feel like Kenkichi was a weakling, but the Japanese have different morals regarding personal behavior. But anyway, her eventual "dumping" of him makes me wonder what it takes for a girl to like a guy in Japan. Because it seemed like Sumiko just ran with the winning team. In this case, Kenji.

Botchan and Student Days DVD cover

 However, in Botchan the hierarchies amongst teachers are obvious. Red Shirt and Buffoon clearly the two at the top of the hierarchy, with teachers like Hotta (Porcupine) in the middle, and others like Botchan and Koga (Weakling) at the bottom. And to keep everyone in their place, Red Shirt and Buffoon make sure that no one "overthrows" them even though they're the most corrupt characters in the anime. Because they're higher up in the hierarchy, they feel that rules and standards don't apply to them. Which "allows" Red Shirt to see the geisha and to revoke her engagement to Koga. I've experienced similar things in my high school where AP's (assistant principals) have a level of authority over teachers and even reprimand them for not following certain "procedures." It's really ridiculous to me because it seems like the second someone gets even a shred of power, they abuse it. But I guess that's just life :/