YMMV / Rival Schools

• Awesome Music: "Atsui Kodou" is used as the OP for both the PSX version of United By Fate and Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2. Listen to it once and you'll find yourself repeating it on infinite loop.
• Badass Decay: Poor Raizo went through this starting in the very first game of the series. You'd think a guy who looks like this◊ and is portrayed as the mastermind of the kidnappings would be the Big Bad, right? Nope, it's his nephew Hyo who's pulling the strings of the plot. Then in Project Justice, he takes a beating from new Big Bad Kurow to show how badass the new guy is and doesn't even get to be a playable character in that game.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Compared to the other main characters (Batsu and Hinata), Kyosuke's popularity is still rather large — so much so that he got into Capcom vs. SNK 2 over them (though they do appear in his Level 3 to help out as a small consolation). Being a Bishōnen helps. The fact that Batsu and Hinata are basically Shotoclones for a game that's already full of them (Ryu, Ken, Dan, Sakura, Akuma, Sagat, Morrigan, Iori, Terry, Ryo, Yuri, and Athena) doesn't hurt either...
  • Akira's popularity relative to her role in United by Fate was rather large. Seijyun seems to have been created just to give her her own story separate from the Gedo guys' adventures. Her popularity was likely one of the biggest contributing factors to her being chosen as the representative for her series in Street Fighter V, making her the first playable rep from Rival Schools in the series as a whole.
• Game-Breaker:
  • In both games, Roberto.
  • In United by Fate, Hyo and Sakura were also considered top tier characters. Gan also had an infinite combo.
  • In Project Justice, Roy, Hideo and Momo all were considered top tier.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The game was originally going to be called Justice Fist, with the plot revolving around the strongest fighters in the world gathering for a massive tournament. The eventual decision to focus on a school setting and a cast primarily consisting of teenagers stemmed from various employees noting that the original plot was too similar to that of Street Fighter. The same can be said of many other fighting games.
  • Bin Shimada's role as Kurow is pretty hilarious if you take into account he is the official Japanese dub voice of Luke Skywalker, who also had a unusual relationship with his twin sister, except in Luke's case, he didn't even know Leia was his sister in first place. On the other hand, not only Kurow's relationship with Yurika is shown is a very dark light, but also Kurow is the complete opposite of everything Luke is.
  • The main Team-Up Assist for Daigo (Kazama) has him shrug off an opponent's attacks before delivering a decisive blow while his teammate unanimously praises him and mimics his motions, regardless of who his teammate is. Years later, a certain fighting game competition player named Daigo (Umehara) would create a legendary EVO tournament moment in Street Fighter III (effectively using the Parry System to No-Sell an entire Super and precisely finish off the opponent) and become the kind of player everyone aspired to be with numerous people trying to follow in his footsteps.
• Les Yay: Pair any female character with Tiffany and use her Team-Up assist to watch Tiffany embrace and kiss the girl’s lips. Her partner is stunned for a moment after getting smooched, but given that it heals her HP, it’s safe to say that she enjoys it. Her opponents aren’t safe either, as Tiffany can give them a face-full of her boobs with her grab.
• The Scrappy: Momo. Obnoxious design even for the series, shrill voice and ridiculous in-game prowess compared to her size makes her not well-liked among fandom.
• That One Boss: Gorin High's second story mode battle is a 2-on-1 matchup that pits Natsu against Shoma and Roberto, with the odds stacked heavily in their favor. Shoma gets to start the fight with a tag team partner and 3 full stocks of super meter ^note he gets 5 in the PlayStation version. Meaning, they can use their Burning Vigors and team up attacks, right from the start. Plus, anytime Shoma initiates a team up, Roberto comes onto the field and recharges their super meter by 2 stocks (by 3 in the PS version). Whereas Natsu's on her own and doesn't get jack shit (i.e. no super meter to start with). In the amount of time it takes her to gain one full bar, Shoma and Roberto can gain dozens and can AND WILL frequently interrupt any attempt she makes to use her BV's by double-teaming her. Put simply: If you're using Shoma, it's a cakewalk. But if you're using Natsu, it's a rage-inducing exercise in frustration.
• Values Dissonance: Overlapping with Americans Hate Tingle, Roy Bromwell suffers because of this. In Japan, he is seen as a Mr. Vice Guy at worst and an ideal student with values that resonate well with its own school system and culture, and whose charisma reminds players of the mystique and exoticism of American freedom and shows like Beverly Hills, 90210. Conversely, he tends to rub American players the wrong way and gets dismissed as either a Jerk Jock, an insulting Eagleland stereotype, or a lame knockoff of other, well-loved American fighting game characters like Terry Bogard.
• Visual Innuendo: Natsu’s Team-Up assist is described as her giving her ally a pep-talk, which increases their Guts. However, due to her height, when done on certain characters the start of the move looks like she’s pressing her partner’s face against her breasts. I guess that’s one way to encourage them...
• The Woobie: Yurika. The poor girl is only is participating in Kurow's plans because of how much she cares for her little brother (and this is in spite of the verbal abuse he heaps on her). If the player manages to get an ending with her in Project Justice's board game, she also reveals she doesn't like the things she's had to do as a part of the Darkside Society and pleads to the player character to forget about her so the PC doesn't have to face the wrath of the society with her.

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