. . . . . . "Second Year Protagonist"@en . . . "High schools are a very common setting, which means the hero is generally a high school student. But how old should they be? If they're seniors, there's a chance that graduation issues might interfere with the plot. If a first year, they're new to the school. Either one can complicate things. To avoid that, the writers will often opt to put them between the two poles, leading to this trope. The hero is free to have the widest range of plots without stressing about graduation or being new. Examples of Second Year Protagonist include:"@en . . "High schools are a very common setting, which means the hero is generally a high school student. But how old should they be? If they're seniors, there's a chance that graduation issues might interfere with the plot. If a first year, they're new to the school. Either one can complicate things. To avoid that, the writers will often opt to put them between the two poles, leading to this trope. The hero is free to have the widest range of plots without stressing about graduation or being new. Depending on the medium and culture, there can be more to it as well. For example, the Japanese school system divides high school into three years instead of four. There's also more importance placed on age. The end result is that the main character of a high school setting is normally a second year. Why? As a second year, he has both kohais and senpais, meaning it allows for more variety; you have the more mature third years and the immature first year students as best friends, tough rivals or love interests. While of course the heroines' actual personalities will vary to an extent, it usually gives a hint to the viewer or player of how they will act, or just allows you to label them easier. Or the greater diversity may merely appeal to the audience. It is also sometimes evoked in the division of sections, especially if the classes are arranged in a hierarchical order based on academic performance. Being put into the first, or \"star\" section may interfere with the plot due to academic pressure (except when it's the focus of the plot, of course) interfering with the protagonists' high school life, while being in the last section may indicate that the protagonist is of poor academic standing or is a delinquent. That's why the protagonist is usually put in the median section of the year level. This type of classification standard in Japan; a protagonist in Anime or Manga will be put into section 2-C or 2-D for the matter. For whatever reason, the main characters in high school settings are often divided among these lines. While not an ironclad rule (such as in the case of School Days or Clannad) it is actually surprisingly rare to find a high school setting that breaks this mold for no reason. Examples of Second Year Protagonist include:"@en . . . .