In real life, people have to juggle a lot of responsibilities, sometimes even at the same time, whether it's school, work, or family obligations. In the world of anime, however, characters seem to have all the time in the world to go anywhere the plot needs them to.
If the character is an adult, the issue is often that they should be at work. If the character is underage, the issue is that they should be spending time studying, especially in Japan, where high schools demand difficult entrance exams. In some extreme cases, a school-age character might not even attend class at all. Some stories try to come up with explanations as to why these characters have so much free time, while others simply rely on the audience's willing suspension of disbelief.
10 Sailor Moon: The Sailor Scouts Have Free Time For Whatever The Villains Are Up To
In Sailor Moon, the Sailor Senshi have a lot of free time. They're always up for whatever mundane activity that turns out to be something the villains either started or infiltrated, whether it's entering a handmade wedding dress contest, taking ice skating lessons, putting on a production of Snow White, or attending a princess-themed finishing school. By the third season, they also have enough free time to get involved in the lives of whoever the enemies seem to be targeting that week.
Fans have even noted that the Senshi rarely have to deal with enemies while they're in school. The Exam Battles in the manga aren't even an exception to this, since they mostly involve the girls getting attacked while preparing for exams, not during them.
9 Ouran High School Host Club: Not Even Haruhi Is Seen Going To Class
In Ouran High School Host Club, characters must have a lot of free time to devote so much of the plot to the school's clubs. Actual schoolwork and class attendance rarely come up, even though Haruhi, the main character, is a scholarship student.
Given that the students appear to come from lavishly wealthy backgrounds, it makes sense that the majority of them wouldn't have to worry about after-school jobs. Despite what the title says, Ouran appears to be an elevator school that caters to students from kindergarten to high school, meaning students probably don't have to worry about entrance exams, at least upon enrollment.
8 Powerpuff Girls Z: These Girls Fight Evil Like The Originals, Despite Their Powers Being A Secret
In Powerpuff Girls Z, the girls have the time to save the world and enjoy activities like taking part in a fashion show or coaching an aspiring soccer player. Similar to Sailor Moon, this often puts them right in the clutches of a villain's plot. They do have classes, but usually are able to get out of them with an excuse. That said, this does become a plot point in one episode where Ms. Keane thinks they're willfully skipping class.
This is probably a holdover from the original American cartoon, where everyone was aware the girls were out saving the day and they usually got a free pass to do so. In the anime, however, their powers are a secret. The girls aren't sisters in this version either, meaning they even have to keep their double lives secret from their families.
7 Inuyasha: Kagome's Family Is Surprisingly Supportive Of Her Skipping School To Go On Adventures
Ever since Kagome fell down a well into feudal Japan in Inuyasha, she's really been devoting most of her time to the past. Kagome's time traveling doesn't grant her any advantages when dealing with the present, as time goes on while she's away.
Her absence from school is noted and her grandfather usually covers for her. Unfortunately, to her embarrassment, his excuses tend to be things that would affect someone closer to his age than Kagome's, usually some sort of illness. All in all, her family is surprisingly supportive of her adventures.
6 Ranma ½: Soun Tendo's Job Seems To Come With A Lot Of Free Time
Soun Tendo of Ranma ½, the father of Akane, Kasumi, and Nabiki, has a source of income that's shrouded in mystery. Granted, he runs a dojo, but he doesn't have any students, suggesting his true source of income lies beyond occasionally renting the space out. In the manga, the only clue about his job is that he once claimed to have gone on a business trip. The anime, however, had him on the town's council.
Even so, he has a lot of free time and spends much of it playing shogi with Genma, occasionally dropping everything to go on trips.
5 Durarara!!: It's A Surprise That Walker & Erika Even Have Jobs
Erika Karisawa and Walker Yumasaki from Durarara!! are a pair of otaku who seem so close that they're often treated as a single character by fans. Their abundance of free time, which they use for various manga-based shenanigans, makes it shocking for some characters to learn they actually have jobs: Walker is an ice sculptor and Erika makes jewelry.
That said, both of them are freelancers, so it does make sense for them to have control over their schedules, regardless of how much free time they have.
4 Monster Musume: Kimihito Gets Government Support For Housing Monsters
Kimihito of Monster Musume has a part-time job, but it's never explained exactly what he does and he's never seen working there, so he has plenty of free time to get involved with the monsters' various shenanigans.
It's later explained that he's entitled to government funding for housing the monsters, but this isn't revealed to him until after he had already been supporting them without much explanation. For their part, some of the girls help by either getting jobs or sharing family wealth. They also help with household chores, but sometimes this causes more work than less.
3 Food Wars!: The Culinary School Focuses More On Competitions Than Actual Classes
The students at Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute in Food Wars! seem more focused on cooking competitions than actually attending classes at the school. As the series goes on, classes tend to be discussed more than actually shown. Given that some of the characters start the series as young as 15, it can also be surprising for viewers that the students don't appear to take any traditional school subjects needed to get their high school diplomas.
2 Pokémon: Brock Might Be Making Up For Lost Time
Brock of Pokémon originally didn't have much free time, having to take care of his siblings with his parents having left home, though in the English dub, it was originally stated his mother was dead. But after his father returned, Brock joined up with Ash to accomplish his dream of becoming a Pokémon Breeder.
After being replaced with Tracey, he eventually returned to the cast, but doesn't seem to have devoted any of his time to furthering this goal. It's possible that he just changed careers; he leaves the gang at another point to become a Pokémon Doctor.
1 Yu Yu Hakusho: Yusuke Didn't Really Go To Class To Begin With
Yusuke of Yu Yu Hakusho was already known to skip school before he died, came back, and started going on supernatural adventures, which means days, if not months, of him disappearing without explanation. Granted, people might expect this of him, but even Keiko seems able to skip school without anyone noticing or caring.
While the anime rarely addressed this, the manga implied that Yusuke's mother pulled a few strings with some powerful yakuza connections to help keep Yusuke in school.
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