But my goal is to not to idolize them.
Rather, it is to provide a more realistic look at these uniforms because it is easy to develop fantacised images about these things due to its popularity among manga titles.
The tight fitting, stand-up collar jakets are commonly called 'tsume-eri' and they were the popular school uniform of choice before the 70's.
Just for information, the more common blazer + dress shirt + slacks + tie type uniforms are called 'blazer style' or simply 'blazers'.
Another type of uniform, the iconic Japanese-schoolgirl 'sailor' uniforms should be familiar with almost everyone.
Tsumeeri uniforms consist largely of three pieces of clothing: jacket, slacks, and shirt.
There are many variation in the cut, but the basic structure was the same.
An interesting fact about the jacket is that the buttons are fake.
The front of the jacket is held together by hooks or clasps.
The students are sometimes given the freedom of choice in the shirts.
Caps of various styles used to be worn, but not any more.
The uniform is quite constricting since layers of stiffer fabric are inserted in to the shoulders, back, chest and the collar to give the distinct form.
It really enforces the purpose of uniforms to the extream.
Everyone wore the uncomfortable jackets with the exact same cut.
It was to teach kids to sacrifice their individuality.
Of course it gave the more rebellious types all the more reason to 'customize' their jackets.
That's why Nagi's jacket has the flamboyant pictures inside the jacket, where it is hidden.
Another popular way to be rebellious was to wear bright red t-shirt or colorful socks.
There are many studies published about the bad ergonomic and educational properties of these uniforms and therefore schools eventually adopted the blazer style over the tsumeeri.
There are still several schools around Japan that have chosen tsumeeris.
You can see an almost complete list here:
http://tumeeri.hp.infoseek.co.jp/tsumeeri.html
'Manga Reality' or 'Hollywood Magic' can make them look good when worn by exceptionally good looking individuals, but otherwise...the real tsumeeri uniforms almost never looks cool.
