Nerawareta Gakuen

Very little changes in Kenji Seki's daily routine. Every morning, he takes his dog to the beach in the hopes of catching a glimpse of his classmate, Kahori Harukawa, while she surfs. Afterward, he meets up with his neighbor and childhood friend, Natsuki Suzuura, and they walk to school. In essence, he lives an idyllic life where the only thing he has to worry about is how to finally confess his feelings to Kahori.

The routineness of Kenji's life is interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious transfer student. Ryouichi Kyougoku, who claims to be a psychic, has both the charisma and popularity that Kenji has always dreamed of. Before long, Kahori begins to show feelings for Ryouichi, and Natsuki becomes distant whenever Kenji tries to talk about his feelings.

As Kenji's life is thrown into disarray, how will Ryouichi's arrival impact those around him? Nerawareta Gakuen follows these formerly typical high schoolers as they become involved with the supernatural.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Suzuura, Natsuki Main

Watanabe, Mayu Japanese

Harukawa, Kahori Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Seki, Kenji Main

Honjou, Yuutaro Japanese

Kyougoku, Ryouichi Main

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Jinno, Yuu Supporting

Kimura, Ryouhei Japanese

Yamagiwa, Yuriko Supporting

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Tooyama, Riku Supporting

Morota, Kazunori Japanese

Seki, Mother Supporting

Saisho, Misaki Japanese

Nakajima, Jou Supporting

Takaoki Japanese

Suzuura, Mother Supporting

Mizuno, Yu Japanese

Yodo, Akiko Producer

Hirayama, Tadashi Producer

Nakamura, Ryousuke Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation, Screenplay

Shimizu, Youji Sound Director

Reviews

Jan 5, 2022

WaynorthVT

Recommended

Even though the movie was stuffed with whole bunch of clichés. I generally found myself enjoying it. This anime has its issues and I would call it far from a master piece. But it also has its moments. Firstly the characters in this movie felt real and their emotions were genuine. Next were the was the art which I have got to say amazed me every time from small details such as the sand on the beach to the way that the characters looked. Overall I would recommend people to give it a try and I'm probably going to rewatch it sometime .

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 25, 2025

95ry

Mixed Feelings

I hate it when the writer and director thinks he is a genius and that he is the best by making his story Complex and confusing and that no one understands it. I am sad because the wonderful drawings and beautiful characters were wasted because of the bad plot. He thinks that his story is wonderful because he makes a lot of things Complex and confusing. Man, we can't read your thoughts. There are millions of possibilities that can be put in place of the important missing things. Also, what is the point of the story if you want me to figure out what the ... story is? Do you want me to write instead of you ? Just tell me what the damn story is and don't make me confused while I try to understand what happened. The sad thing is that I loved the characters and the world, so I am angry. However, if it was another bad story, I wouldn't have cared, but I loved the movie, so I feel like my head is going to explode, especially since I watched the movie at the beginning of my entry into the world of anime and I had beautiful memories of it, but when I rewatched it, I discovered that it was bad. 😞 I just want to sit with the writer and ask him what he was thinking and what the story is. My head hurts from thinking too much because any possibility I put may not be the true and the correct one . Is anyone one feeling like me ?😂
i love the animation and the music but its not everything the most important thing is the plot and the story but when you hide it you will ruin everything
Excuse my writing, I used a translator Google

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Nov 19, 2025

AeroGunz

Not Recommended

“Psychic School Wars” is what happens when you cut out a good 30% out of your script and lose its identity along the way.

I would divide this movie into two parts:
The first part could work as the first act. It actually does most things that the first act should. It establishes the characters of interest (Ryouichi, Kenji, Natsuki and Kahori) , their relationships and interactions, presents the status quo of the world, and introduces the catalyst of change. Is it done competently? Not even close. It’s like watching the first draft before it goes through an editor. Even this early the movie sets up ... plot points that are never explained despite being rather crucial for the overall plot. The movie has a runtime of about 100 minutes (without the credits) and yet it deems fit to waste the little time it has, setting up things that it will never return to.
The second part is… hard to watch. It piles up more and more mysteries, more and more questions that are important to the plot that will never get answered and it tries to be deeper than it really is with the pseudo philosophical angle and the use of “A Midsummer Night's Dream” as a metaphor. It culminates with the most nonsensical finale you could imagine.

Now… I will be talking about “plot” and “story”. Many people use those terms interchangeably. I’m not one of those people, so to make sure everyone is on the same page…
I use the definitions for “plot” and “story” as Lisa Cron describes them:
“What happens in the story is the PLOT, the surface events.”
“STORY is about how the things that happen affect someone in pursuit of a difficult goal, and how that person changes internally as a result”.

I don’t think I saw a more convoluted mishmash of plot points and stories. This movie wants to do too much in too little time. It wants to be a coming of age story, a romance, a time traveling tale and have a deeper message about connections. It failed on all fronts. Some more than others but in general not one plot point is resolved in any meaningful way, and sometimes not at all.

The most insulting thing in this movie is a simple question of why Ryouichi even travelled to the past. The answer to that question changes depending on what the movie is pretending to be. Ryouichi states that his father sent him to the past to enact his revenge. Fine. That’s a simple and straightforward enough reason. But that point never comes up again. We never get to know on whom, for what or even how that revenge was supposed to go. The second reason that is given is that he is to awaken psychic powers to as many people as he can so that an apocalypse could be prevented. Ok… how? How would that help? Even on a small scale the movie presents, it would only create a divide between people with powers and those without them. The school is a perfect example of that. So how would awakening a bunch of teenagers help with anything? Do you need to wait until they are grown ups in positions of power to do anything? Ok, but it will take time. Let’s say at least 10-15 years. During that time the divide between the powerful and powerless would only grow. It wouldn’t stop the apocalypse, it would just create a dystopia on earth. And before you start saying that some would want to help, yes but as history of mankind shows, playing the “Us vs them” card is a powerful tool of control and the majority will want to be in the group that will provide the most benefits. It’s just human nature. On top of that nonsense the movie contradicts itself. Ryouichi states that if he fails he will take all that awoken to the power with him to his time. That implies that he thinks a bunch of kids can stop an apocalypse. An apocalypse that isn’t even on the horizon yet. Sounds like a really bad plan.

The script really wants me to think of Ryouichi as a tragic hero but I find him annoying and rather boring. Especially after one event. The first person he awakens and recruits to his cause is a troubled girl he saves from suicide. For whatever reason that girl starts to act like she is in charge of the operation. She still listens to Ryouichi but in general she acts like she’s the top dog to the point of even using the hourglass (I’ll get to it) to test other people and goes as far as to threaten those that get in her way. Also we don’t see her after she tests Kahori. She just disappears and we don’t know what happens to her. She becomes one of the most important antagonists and yet she is just forgotten.

On the subject of powers… I’m an avid fan of fantasy, fairy tales and SF. Two of my favourite writers are Franz Kafka and Phillip K. Dick so mind fucks and weird things that happen with little to no explanation aren new to me. This movie does them wrong. Every time Kafka made his protagonists go through strange shit without any explanation, the event itself wasn’t as important as what comes after. My favourite example of that is from Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”. Gregor Samsa wakes up an insect? That’s not as important as what happens to him and his family after that. The transformation is just a catalyst, nothing more and nothing less. The process itself isn’t important to the greater story and plot. This movie positions the powers as one of the most important aspects of the plot but never truly establishes them. In the beginning it seems those are just something like telekinesis for communication and mind reading but at the very end it’s shown that they might be more than that. Ryouichi is told to erase Kenji so it’s not as simple as just telekinesis. What is known is that Kenji’s powers are far superior to Ryouichi’s but, again, we are not told in what way. Is it just a numbers game or does it also relate to what exactly he can do? Don’t think about it, the writers didn’t.

Speaking of Kenji. It is stated that his powers are sealed and it’s implied, and later confirmed, that his grandfather did it. Ok. Why? Because he wanted his grandchild to have a normal life? Does one of Kenji's parents also have sealed powers? Why not just train Kenji to use his powers properly and thoughtfully instead of sealing them? Kenji had no idea about those powers even existing just a couple of days ago but grandpa unlocked them on a whim and now he’s a damn Kwisatz Haderach that saves everyone and can use things he never saw before. No training, no exposition dump about his powers, nothing. It’s just so damn lazy and nonsensical. I really can’t believe this script got accepted.

The mechanics and rules of time travel are really vague. It seems that to travel back in time Ryouichi had to use a futuristic hourglass. Ok. Solid idea to have a tool for that but… it’s also stated that Natsuki went back in time to save Kenji without using any sort of tool. So how does that work? That time travel also drained Natsuki of all her power. So now the power has a limit? Is it a resource that you never get back or is there a way to regenerate it? Will Kenji lose his powers if he plays with them too much? The script answers none of those questions.
The hourglass itself is also a rather interesting multi-tool. Not only it works as a time machine but also as a tool to test people if they have powers. Judging by some of the scenes it could also be a memento of Ryouichi’s mother but that’s never stated outright, it’s something I came up with after seeing some of the scenes.

If you think the movie can’t have more abandoned plot points you are in for a disappointment. Ryouichi is accompanied by a talking animal that in the beginning is positioned as sort of a secretary. He said he needs to report back to Ryouichi’s father only to later be revealed that it is his father… Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? If those animals are people then who is the animal that Kenji is seen with in the after credit scene? I have so many questions about this…

Kahori is the most useless and pointless character within the main cast. She does nothing and her only function is to be a pseudo love interest for Ryouichi. I’m using the word “pseudo” because their whole relationship is really badly written. They barely speak, don’t have much screentime together yet the movie wants me to buy in the fact that they are in love with others? The fuck? Now listen, I’ve read Sternberg's triangular theory of love more times than I care to admit during my time at the university, and according to it infatuation is a kind of love but I don’t think the writer knows about this work and had a totally different type of love in mind. Watching Kahori and Ruouichi interact and act like they have feelings for each other is really painful, they have close to no chemistry at all and yet their separation is portrayed as something tragic. Eff off.

Another plot point that the movie focuses on is the cell phone ban. For some reason people with psychic powers want to ban all phones from school. Why? We don’t get any sort of info why that would matter. We don’t get any sort of info if phones generate some sort of interference with the powers themselves or make it harder to read minds because the user is focused. Natsuki even is trialled for bringing her phone. The trial itself is an interesting idea that starts an actual dialogue about the nature of connections between people. If given to a skilled writer that scene alone could have more impact than the rest of the move. Unfortunately it ends up just a plot point for plot points sake and a cheap reason for Natsuki to be on trial, so that Kenji can save her.

Surprisingly the best part of the movie for me was Natsuki. Now let’s get something clear, I find her the best part of the movie, that does not mean she is good in general, but compared to the rest of the cast she might as well be. Out of all characters she’s the only one that actually has complex thoughts and feelings and acts accordingly. She is in love with Kenji but her feelings can’t get through to him. She is deeply hurt when Kenji tells her he is interested in Kahori. She even time traveled to save his life when they were kids. Her chemistry with Kenji is actually solid. I would believe that those people know each other and are friends on the way to becoming something more. I was actually surprised how well their banter was written. Yes she is loud and annoying but it matches her age and archetype. I’m surprised but I almost like her.

This review is getting too long and I’m not done with plot points that are abandoned or nonsensical but I don’t want to write a short novel here. At the end of the day this movie is bad. Really bad. The only redeeming quality is the visuals. It’s a really good looking movie. It’s a shame that those visuals don’t serve a script that would be worthy of them. This isn’t a movie. It’s a poorly written conglomerate of scenes that are only loosely connected to each other.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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