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This actual anime VR high school where you'll be able to get proper qualifications is the first metaverse-based project that makes any kind of sense to me

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But will it simulate having a piece of toast in your mouth while you're running late?

An image of Aominext's proposed metaverse high school, where students can don anime avatars and obtain actual diplomas.
(Image credit: Aominext / PR Times)

Look, we've all been dunking on the whole 'metaverse' concept for a while now. As Phil Iwaniuk wrote for us back in February of last year, anyone who has played video games knows that the metaverse's promised digital wonderland has existed since the days of the CRT monitor.

Second Life, Everquest, World of Warcraft. Heck: if you need a headset to make the comparison, VRChat got there first in 2014. Now there's an actual challenger to that assumption. As reported by Automaton (translated from a press release on PR Times), there's a metaverse project I'm weirdly optimistic about. 

It comes from the company Aominext, which develops distinctly anime-styled metaverse spaces that slough off the disturbing, soulless avatars we're used to from Zuckerberg and his crew—revealing the cute anime avatars underneath, like a VTuber butterfly cracking open its uncanny chrysalis.

What's more, this doesn't smell much like a PR stunt to me—helped by the fact that the company is working with an actual Japanese high school (Yushi International) which already exists in the flesh-world. Automaton reports: 

"The virtual high school will have a three-year, credit-based course with a curriculum recognized by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology." Meanwhile, the press release promises virtual events like cultural festivals and e-sports tournaments for participating students.

An anime student raises her hand in Aominext's metaverse project, a VR school in japan where you can get actual diplomas.