Anime and "S-Class"

[Cikomyr]

So in Naruto, there was S-class criminals... Maybe S-class ninjas?

In Fairy Tails, there are S-class wizards.

Is this a Japanese thing? Where does it comes from?

[Lord Raziere]

Probably because it stands for "super" or "superb" or "superior" and some Japanese schools use "S" a grade above A.

[JoshL]

not sure how accurate it is, but wikipedia says:

A ranking used to describe a level that is so superlative that it cannot be described by the traditional ranking system (A, B, etc). It may be used in real or fictional tournaments such as in martial arts, fights in fiction, or video games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-rank

[Peelee]

The Dragon Ball Z Budokai and Xenoverse games all have S as the highest grade to get. I always figured it was "super" or "superlative." Looks like I was right.

[Kitten Champion]

It was used in Jojo's Bizarre Adventures as an easy informal ranking of the various attributes for Stands.

Though, I believe most of it comes from video games, where informal tier ratings are common (for fighting games especially) and it's a common practice to give an alphabetical or a "★★★" rating to missions/challenges or reward a player with such a rating based off of their statistics.

It's bled a lot into the Isekai/jRPG-esque kinds of manga/anime/LNs/WNs, for much the same reason as its an easier shorthand to explain power/difficulty concisely than a numerical system without lots of qualifiers.

[Starwulf]

IIRC Aakame Ga kill also used an S class rating system, though for the monsters that roamed the land, and not the people, though the monsters really don't play much of a part in the series, hell the show starts out with an A class monster(huge freaking creature) terrorizing some guards, and the protag(well, kinda?) wipes it out in a blink of an eye without even really trying.

[Topaz]

I first saw S-class used in Yu Yu Hakusho (1993) to rank the power of demons.

[Rynjin]

It's used in almost anything Japanese made. Devil May Cry ranks from D(ull) to S(mokin')S(izzlin')S(tylish), for instance. The SABCD grading system is almost universal among action games and anything Japanese with a power ranking system, and many western works as well.

It's used just because "S" looks more interesting and cooler than "A". Seriously, that's the entire meaning behind it.


The Dragon Ball Z Budokai and Xenoverse games all have S as the highest grade to get. I always figured it was "super" or "superlative." Looks like I was right.

Xenoverse's top ranking is actually Z rank, not S. You need to work a bit harder, it seems. ;)

[Metahuman1]

I seem to recall also seeing it in One Punch Man to describe the very best hero's and the most dangerous threats.

[Razade]

It's just a general Japanese ranking system. Pretty sure you could find examples from real life too. A quick Google gives this.


Originally created in Japan where anything below grade ‘C’ was considered a failure. The 'S-Rank' allowed for a wider range of obtainable grades and thus player motivation, meaning that it was soon adopted by western developers who realized that the ‘S-Rank’ was much cooler than the boring ‘A’. An A rank is commonly obtained by getting a 90% to 95%. If the player is flawless or achieves perfection in something, it qualifies as an S . Many people have wondered what the S stands for… Special? Super? No one knows for sure.

S ranks can be used in many areas but are most commonly found in video games although they are used in other places such as in certain governmental agencies, the military and in some schools.

So. Yep.

[Peelee]

Xenoverse's top ranking is actually Z rank, not S. You need to work a bit harder, it seems. ;)

I was always better at Budokai 2 and 3 anyway.:smalltongue:

[Cespenar]

And some games/anime even go further, with SS and SSS ranks.

The whole thing is quite funny, really.

[JadedDM]

I first saw it in Final Fantasy 7. Class S was the best rank of chocobo you could breed.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/920144122917907757/A45FEDBC3EA27DAB990A482BD9714B9AA612DE54/

[Ramza00]

The S probably does not stand for Super, Special, or other similar meanings that is fan head canon. Here is a more likely origin story.

Originally in Japan the grading system after World War II was A, B, C, and F in some schools or A, B, C, D, and F but having a D was less common. Well some teachers wanted to show something better than a rank A, thus the S rank was born. While the A rank gets the yū (優) very good, B rank ryō (良) good, and C rank ka (可) satisfactory / passable, the S rank comes from Shū (秀) which stands for Exemplary.

The Shu sound for the Kanji that means Exemplary being backported to the US in translations and other culture that the US imports from Japan (manga, anime, video games) as the letter S.

[Velaryon]

And some games/anime even go further, with SS and SSS ranks.

The whole thing is quite funny, really.

And then there's the old Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon, in which Dr. Robotnik's (I refuse to call him Eggman) goons were called the S.S.S.S.S. squad... and yet were some of the most stupid, incompetent buffoons ever seen in children's cartoons. :smallcool: So apparently if you get too many S's, it brings you down in the other direction. :smallbiggrin:

For real though, I have seen the S, SS, SSS rankings in several games, so it's definitely a widespread thing at this point. I wonder what will happen when game designers decide SSS is no longer enough.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Cikomyr: Anime and S-class
Me, a yuri fan: Ooh, this is my kinda thread!

...Oh. Okay. Yeah S rank is usually the one above A rank in Japanese games and stuff. I knew that. :smallsigh:

[Cikomyr]

Cikomyr: Anime and S-class
Me, a yuri fan: Ooh, this is my kinda thread!

...Oh. Okay. Yeah S rank is usually the one above A rank in Japanese games and stuff. I knew that. :smallsigh:

...what?

Whats the ration between "s-class" and Yuri?

[Peelee]

...what?

Whats the ration between "s-class" and Yuri?

Seconded. His revenge in Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 was pretty meh. Like, a B at best. Some of the new units were pretty cool though.

[Lord Raziere]

...what?

Whats the ration between "s-class" and Yuri?

its a romance genre term,where two girls of school age develop a strong emotional perhaps even romantic bond, usually one upperclass and one underclass, when they got old enough they then grow out of it move on heterosexual relationships. the idea is that such a relationship is a "practice" relationship for real ones and that holding onto such a relationship is a form of immaturity, essentially saying that the whole thing is a phase. this genre was banned by the japanese government in 1936.

this of course gave rise to the yuri genre we know today.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Some of the new units were pretty cool though.

True. Yuri's real revenge was the introduction of dual gatling guns everywhere. The world will never be the same.

Also thanks for the detailed explanation, Lord Raziere. I didn't mean to derail the thread there.

[Cikomyr]

its a romance genre term,where two girls of school age develop a strong emotional perhaps even romantic bond, usually one upperclass and one underclass, when they got old enough they then grow out of it move on heterosexual relationships. the idea is that such a relationship is a "practice" relationship for real ones and that holding onto such a relationship is a form of immaturity, essentially saying that the whole thing is a phase. this genre was banned by the japanese government in 1936.

this of course gave rise to the yuri genre we know today.

I knew that Yuri is lesbian love anime. (Male equivalent is Yaoi), but why assume Yuri when S-class is mentioned?

[Kitten Champion]

I knew that Yuri is lesbian love anime. (Male equivalent is Yaoi), but why assume Yuri when S-class is mentioned?

Class S is also used as a term to describe that genre.

[Lord Raziere]

I knew that Yuri is lesbian love anime. (Male equivalent is Yaoi), but why assume Yuri when S-class is mentioned?

Because its a related term, it has a lot to do with the yuri genre and its influences can still be felt. its unfortunate, but a lot of yuri isn't actually about faithful representation of lesbianism. its not like Korrasami where the victory is being represented, its about the relationship being lasting and realistic because of the assumptions involved.

[Ibrinar]

I knew that Yuri is lesbian love anime. (Male equivalent is Yaoi), but why assume Yuri when S-class is mentioned?

Mentally Add S-Class to the beginning of the post you quoted they aren't explaining the term yuri. Especially the stuff about it being an immature phase they should grow out of is a class S thing and why I would consider it a negative term if you are looking for manga with a f/f couple.

[Devils_Advocate]

There's a TV Tropes page (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RomanticTwoGirlFriendship). (Of course there's a TV Tropes page.)

Oh, right, this thread was about something else. There's a page about that (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RankInflation), too, because of course there is.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I think the Street Fighter games had an S rank. That's what I immediately thought of anyway.

I also mentally link it to super, so in my headcanon that's what it stands for.

[Vinyadan]

It comes from Sonderklasse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_S-Class

[The Fury]

So, followup question-- Has there ever been a joke about a character that doesn't understand the ranking system and misinterprets the meaning of "S-class?"

Y'know, like "Aren't you worried about facing Brick-Fist in the tournament?"

"No, why would I be? He's only ranked as an S-class."

"... S-class? Only?"

"Yeah, 'S' for 'shrimp,' right?"

"No, th-that's not what it means."

"Oh. It must mean 'sucks' then."

[Lord Raziere]

So, followup question-- Has there ever been a joke about a character that doesn't understand the ranking system and misinterprets the meaning of "S-class?"

Y'know, like "Aren't you worried about facing Brick-Fist in the tournament?"

"No, why would I be? He's only ranked as an S-class."

"... S-class? Only?"

"Yeah, 'S' for 'shrimp,' right?"

"No, th-that's not what it means."

"Oh. It must mean 'sucks' then."

Not to my memory. They have a different language remember? that joke wouldn't translate.

[The Fury]

Not to my memory. They have a different language remember? that joke wouldn't translate.

True, there could be a few words in Japanese that start with "S" that mean "terrible," "weak," "dumb," or something else that would suggest that the "S-class" ranked fighter is a pushover. I mean, it obviously wouldn't be the exact same joke for all I know it might be possible to get something close to it.

[Cespenar]

So, followup question-- Has there ever been a joke about a character that doesn't understand the ranking system and misinterprets the meaning of "S-class?"

Y'know, like "Aren't you worried about facing Brick-Fist in the tournament?"

"No, why would I be? He's only ranked as an S-class."

"... S-class? Only?"

"Yeah, 'S' for 'shrimp,' right?"

"No, th-that's not what it means."

"Oh. It must mean 'sucks' then."

With that many anime around, I'm sure one of them must have pulled something like that just by pure statistics.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

With that many anime around, I'm sure one of them must have pulled something like that just by pure statistics.

And given how long some of them ran most of the big series probably eventually did have characters who could laugh at S-class. Dragonball Z took almost a hundred episodes before someone went supersayan, and look where that got them.

[The Fury]

And given how long some of them ran most of the big series probably eventually did have characters who could laugh at S-class. Dragonball Z took almost a hundred episodes before someone went supersayan, and look where that got them.

Oh yeah, the whole Dragonball franchise is crazy like that. My understanding is that one of the themes of the franchise as a whole is that upper limits are for chumps. It's awesome.

[An Enemy Spy]

Not to my memory. They have a different language remember? that joke wouldn't translate.

Alternatively, the misunderstanding coulb be that the character thinks S-Class is bad because it's so far down the alphabet.

[GloatingSwine]

Alternatively, the misunderstanding coulb be that the character thinks S-Class is bad because it's so far down the alphabet.

I've a feeling that the concept of "S-Class" is so well understood in the target audience that you could only do that as part of a joke about how the character is exceptionally stupid or unworldly.