Gakkougurashi!
School-Live!

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This is one of the few mangas I would buy, if it ever came out to NA. This series is one that is full of moments that will keep you on the edge of your seat and warm your heart at different moments.

The story and characters are what define this series best. What appears to be a simple slice of life series about girls living on campus, is quickly revealed to be much darker.

This is one of the best survival series I've read next to 7 seeds, highly recommended

Gakkou Gurashi! tells the story of three girls and their teacher who make up the School Life Club -- a group that essentially lives at school as part of their club activities. This manga is something of a mixed bag, to say the least. As one of Manga Time Kirara's more unique titles, you should first expect an abundance of cuteness. If you're bothered by the typical moe art style, then this is probably not for you.

Once you cross that hurdle, you're in for one of the most strangely enjoyable experiences out there. Gakkou Gurashi! juggles elements of horror, slice of life, mystery, and comedy ... and it does a good job of making all of these things work together. My overall impression is a positive one so far, but it's not without its flaws.

You're initially presented with a lighthearted comedy about an earnest and energetic young girl and things quickly become sinister. Gakkou Gurashi!, for better or worse, changes in tone quite frequently. It comes off as your standard gimmicky cute girls schtick, but that couldn't be further from the truth. On the surface lies a charming cast of cheerful, cute girls. Later on, it becomes more apparent that there's an ominous aura that was present right from the start. There's an almost hollow feeling brought about by the characters pretending everything is okay.

Our protagonist is the happy-go-lucky Yuki, a girl who always does her best and cares deeply for her friends. Joining her in the School Life Club is the twin-tailed tough girl Kurumi and the big sister figure Yuuri. Their supervisor, Megu-nee as she's called by the girls, keeps them in check. The characters are seemingly bland and relatively static, although I attribute that primarily to the setting. Yuki herself is more complex than I give her credit for and the only generally uninteresting character is the mature Yuuri. The girls bond through a common goal of survival and we see slow, but meaningful growth in each of them. You come to genuinely care about the well-being of the group. Their struggles become more grim and worrisome as the plot progresses.

The plot itself isn't anything particularly groundbreaking, but the execution more than makes up for that. If you haven't already guessed, an outbreak of a strange disease has ravaged humanity and the School Life Club is composed of a few survivors. This is without a doubt the weakest part of the experience, but by no means is it utterly terrible. It seems like just aimless survival, but there are hints of a larger subplot unfolding. A lot of conflicts are resolved in stupidly convenient ways so don't expect much depth. Additionally, some of the dramatic moments are undermined by recurring gags or art changes.

The art is solid and serves its purpose. Cute when it has to be, gritty and dark otherwise. Expect frequent shifts in style. These changes are generally for comedic effect and include elongated eyes and strangely shaped mouths. A lot of pages give vivid face shots and pay close attention to the details in the hair and eyes. The backgrounds are decent enough.

With all of that being said, this is an all-around good manga and something I'd recommend to anyone that fits into its niche demographic. If you like cute girls and minor horror/mystery, then feel free to give this a read. Thanks for reading, I appreciate your time.

School Live is a psychological horror of cute girls doing cute things while trying to survive the zombie apocalypse.

The story is very basic, the girls are surviving in a zombie apocalypse. Its very standard in terms of the zombie genre but it's the characters that truly make this series shine. The cast is so lovable to the point of dangering your health from worrying about their safety. Yuki is my personal favourite and she's one of my favourite characters ever. She's very complex just like the rest of the main four and that's what I love about this. Kurumi is the lovable tomboy, Yuuri is ... the kind older sister and Miki the serious kouhai. If I ever had to choose a favourite group it would definitely have to be the School Living Club. They just have so much good chemistry together that makes the series that much more fun and engaging to watch and read. The manga helped develop what I already knew about these complex characters and got me so engaged to the point of tears and heart-pounding worry. The characters are constantly evolving and showing new sides to them that keeps me reading and wanted to see more. By the end of the manga, I genuinely think the main four of this series are some of the best-developed characters I've ever seen. Especially how they handle Yuki is my favourite part of this series. The mangaka really has made a beautiful piece of art here with this cast and story.

One of the best parts of School Live that make it so good is its use of psychological manipulation. This series will mess with your head on so many occasions. Its what originally got me so interested in the series in the first place and after finishing the anime I immediately started researching and learning about all the little details the series does to portray information, especially surrounding Yuki. Honestly, the psychological elements of this series are unmatchable and masterfully done. Its one of the only series to every genuinely trick me into believing one thing, only for the truth to be shocking me to the core.

The art for School Live is AMAZING!! The mangaka really has a skill for doing character expressions as if you simply search a reaction shot of a character from School Live you'll immediately see. Their expressions really give a sense of dread or happiness depending on the situation. The detail the mangaka gives with some of the frames are extraordinarily done and is the best art I've ever seen from a manga.

Now admittedly I feel the anime did a 10x better job on the portion it covered but that's because they probably had an amazing director to make the changes from manga to anime to enhance and improve it. The manga portion was still enjoyable to read and the second you get past the anime section of the manga it really kicks it into high gear of tension, fun and memorable moments till the very end. This story will never leave me and it was an epic journey from start to end.

In conclusion, I HIGHLY recommend anyone who likes horror, CGDCT, Slice of life, or simply find the premise interesting to immediately pick this up and give it a read, you won't regret it.

This manga is absolutely amazing. I read it to the current issue in one day. One thing I would STRONGLY suggest is that you go into this series completely unspoiled, since a large part of enjoying it hinges on not knowing how situations will turn out.

Here are the main reasons I like this manga so much:

The girls are pure, adorable, and beautiful. Beyond that, they're pretty believable, and the character development in the more recent chapters has been really good.

There is consistent plot development in almost every single chapter, the pace isn't jarringly fast and it certainly isn't boringly slow.

I found my heart beating really ... fast while I just plowed through the chapters because of the danger constantly hanging over the characters and the murky background of the events that have taken place in the manga's world.

This manga does not fuck around.

Spoiler Free Review :3

First of all, if you have not watched Gakkougurashi or read the manga, don't read any reviews don't read a synopsis, none of that. Going in blind is not something I personally did, but I would recommend that to be the most exciting way to read this.

I came from the anime of Gakkougurashi wanting to see if it was as good as it's anime adaptation, as I had not read much manga in the past. And what I got did not disappoint in any way, it was even better than I had expected. I found it to be a very good series ... to read, and I would personally recommend it to basically anyone.

STORY - 9/10
The story is done quite well, and although not the strongest thing about the manga, it is still quite exceptional. I think a few things could definitely have been expanded upon and more explained, though.

ART - 10/10
The art in Gakkougurashi is done very well. I have found near to zero obvious flaws with it. I think the art style goes well with the series, even if it isn't the most unique.

CHARACTER - 10/10
In Gakkougurashi, I think the characters are one of the best parts of the series. Every single main character is given their own development and issues. No character in the series is made out to be perfect in anyway or with no good things about them. Gakkougurashi tries its best to give every character personality, and I would consider it to be done very well. Just like most categories, of course a few things could at least be a small bit improved on.

ENJOYMENT - 10/10
I found Gakkougurashi to be very enjoyable over all. Personally the enjoyment was the best part for me, and this manga series never failed to have me ready to read more.

OVERALL - 10/10
Overall I rate the series a 10/10 with no doubt in my mind. If you would like, I would think you should go and read this manga as soon as you can! :)

Gakkou Gurashi, a surprisingly creepy manga, didn’t seem to be the type of story I would like. Originally sounding like a cheesy, slice of life comedy about a “School Life Club”, I almost skipped right over it. However, noticing “horror” tag I thought that it could be interesting. So far, the manga greatly exceeded my somewhat low expectations.

Although the plot may not seem especially unique - hundreds of movies and shows exist about apocalypse scenarios - the execution makes the manga special. With the show continuing to have a school setting and fake slice of life theme, it allows the characters and each of their ... mentalities to truly shine. The main character, Takeya Yuki, blocks out the horrible truth of her surroundings and tricks her own mind into believing that their life is normal. She constantly keeps up a cheerful attitude by generating exciting club ideas and keeping the situation light-hearted. Wrapped up in her own fantasy, she keeps herself in the dark about the apocalypse; even Yuki’s friends continue to support her by playing along with the false life she creates. They all live in an abandoned school building together, along with one teacher, but Yuki hallucinates healthy students and normal buildings. Blocking out the tragedy: a common defense mechanism for many people who go through traumatic experiences. Yuki is a fairly complex character, growing and fighting just as any other normal girl.

Kurumi, the “guardian” of the group, constantly carries around her shovel for protection. She devotes her time to cleaning up the campus so that the zombies won’t interfere with Yuki’s life, and carries out many of the most terrifying tasks. She works very well with Yuuri, the somewhat soft-spoken club leader, who constantly works on making sure the school building stays livable for everyone. Both desperately cling to the idea that by helping Yuki, they can also find happiness within their devastated world.

As an artist, I can see the strengths and weaknesses of Sadoru Chiba’s artwork. Everything appears very charming without any overwhelmingly large flaws. Although the styles are quite different, the art can be compared to “Madoka Magica” because of the “kawaii-but-actually-dark” theme. The art, without being overly gory, manages to create a creepy atmosphere even if the characters are simply smiling and participating in everyday club activities. The artist takes advantage of creepy textures to create mysterious atmospheres that make the manga more thrilling. Never knowing what lurks around each corner, the reader can only see from the character’s perspective, which works well with the theme. Character design is rather simple - girls in school uniforms and common hairstyles - but it may have been the author’s purpose so that readers can relate to them.

Overall, the manga seemed to be very well-written and planned out. No mile-wide plot holes or unnecessary time-skips. The pacing feels very natural because the reader won’t be bombarded with events, but it stays exciting enough to not become boring. Someone with a weak stomach, but still a love for creepy stories, would probably like this because of the censorship (not sure if that’s the right word) of creepy scenes. Stories that leave room for one’s imagination to roam generally produce better results, and that certainly seems true for this manga.

I must say, starting off this manga I didn't have high hopes for it. Zombies aren't really something that catch my attention. Even so, I fell in love with Gakkougurashi.

There's something about bonding with the characters as they struggle to have a normal life, with each of the characters being quite unique in their own way. We see them are their highest highs, and especially their lowest lows. Rarely is there the chance that I disliked a character in this manga (two instances really, I feel as if they weren't fully fledged out), and the friendship among everyone is lively and heartwarming. Surely there are ... areas in the manga where things get tough. There are many instances where characters begin to question their own sanity, after all they're in an apocalyptic situation, but its always wonderful to see how the characters' build strength to pull through.

I loved watching every character slowly grow, it felt as if I were with them every step of the way. And for that, Gakkougurashi now holds a special place inside my heart. I feel as if I'm quite biased in writing this review, but I must say, it's certainly worth the read.

So I finally got to reading this thing. I probably chose the worst time, since during depression season, the last thing you need is even more sadness.

A great series exploring themes of "growing up" and "moving on". Has inconsistent pacing and tonality, from juggling between slice of life and horror. This means I often realized a conflict existed when the conflict was already over, but also made every jump-scare or reaction shot that much more effective, since you never knew when something horrible will happen, when another friend will die.

That was the first half. The second half is much weaker, first losing the themes, then ... losing all risks and fears on 66% of the story. I also hated the pseudo-science sections, they just didn't fit with the series.

A horrible translation may be one of the reasons I had a hard time following the story.

I'd still recommend it with a 7.5/10 score. The first half being so strong, it carries the second half on the shoulders of lingering feelings alone.

TL;DR Great read, terrible timing

I actually watched the first few episodes of the anime before starting the manga. While the they share similarities, the pacing and order of events differs slightly between the two. As I slightly prefer the manga’s version, I would recommend watching the first episode of the anime (which does a great job drawing you into the story) and then if you enjoyed that proceeding to the manga. The manga definitely has a darker and gorier feel to it, while the anime is a bit more lighthearted. That being said, both are great.

+Great initial twist with good foreshadowing
+Good balance of charm and horror
+Gradual reveal of ... the mystery and world-building while still keeping suspense
+Contrast of hope and hopelessness
+First arc ends on a satisfying yet open ended note

-More character development needed
-Some twists predictable and obvious
-Second arc loses momentum and direction

I highly recommend the first “high-school” arc of the manga. However I would also recommend stopping after that arc, as I feel the story and characters take a definite downturn at that point. Even though stopping means that you won't get to see what happens, the first arc has a perfect stopping point that ends on a bittersweet note.

Hello everyone, since you're reading this, you wanna hear my opinion and review of this, so let's just get right into it!

The Story, (5/10)

The story isn't really special at all, the girls are in a zombie apocalypse, they live in their school, and they try to survive. But just because the plot isn't anything new, doesn't mean that it isn't good. I really liked the execution of how it was done.

The Art, (8/10)

Chiba Sadoru does a wonderful job of making the cute slice of life scenes cute, and the scenes where everything goes down the toilet, very well. When you see the characters that had ... their usually moe face, and then you see their faces twisted in horror, it definitely gives me a rush. Seriously some of their expressions (I'm looking at you, Rii-san, Yuki-chan!) definitely got me surprised.
Seriously like one time, my BF was over and I was reading vol. 5 and I literally shouted at her, OMG I NEVER SAW HER WITH DAT EXPRESSION BEFORE! And she looked at me, "Wtf?" Looked at the expression. "WTF" So yeah, the Chiba-san is very good at making both moe and horror.

But one of the other things I like about the art, (Which is probably true for other mangas) Is that it is not censored as much like the anime (I'm looking at you Terra Formers!) unlike the anime, you get to see more of the zombies, and just how gross they look, now it has been almost three years since I've watched the School Live anime, so there may be scenes where they do show zombies, it's just I know the manga has them much more detailed.

The Characters, (7/10)

The characters themselves are not too special, it's how they deal with the situations. Kurumi and Rii-san both baby Yuki to help her not realize the truth, but when Naoki Miki comes in the picture she tries to change that. Or when at first you think Yuki is the one messed up in the head, you think otherwise when you see the situations that happens to them, and their reactions (I'm looking at you Rii-san ;)) which I enjoy very much.

MY OFFICAL OPINION:

The Good:

Actually, I will tell you how I got to this manga, I was first introduced to the anime, and the only reason I watched it was because I didn't want to watch Highschool of the Dead because it had too much ecchi for my taste, but I wanted to watch a zombie anime. I watched School Live, I enjoyed it, except for the ending, so then, I was still a noob Manga wise, and I did not like reading scanned versions of manga, I made a choice to get the manga of School Live, to see if it would be better. I was not disappointed (Btw making a decision to get a manga series is a hard choice if your 12)

If you have watched the anime, around where the anime ends is where vol. 5 is. And by god I am so happy vol. 6 is coming, It also has a completely new character on the cover I have never seen before.
I enjoyed the anime, but the anime had a piss ending, and now that the manga is continuing that, I am really happy.

The BAD,

This probably does not apply to many people but for me it does. The manga volumes themselves go by pretty quickly for me, and I had made the mistake of buying them from amazon at full-price. But another downside to the manga is the characters reactions, I know I said earlier I liked the reactions, but I mean only some of them. You can relate to the character Naoki-san at times and you think, GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE. Or, WHY DON'T YOU ALL FIGHT WITH SHOVELS. So sometimes when they are so care-free and it does irritate me

So, why should you read it?

Well, if you like mangas that are "Not what you think" Or, you are pissed off at the anime ending than this is for you. (Btw vol. 6 will be relased March 21, 2017) Or in general you like zombie stuff.
Do not read this if you do not like seeing lolis being hurt and crying. Cause that happens.

So anyway, thank you for reading my review

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

---

Gakkougurashi tells the story of a group of high schoolers who are members of a self-titled "School Life Club." They do all of their daily events inside the school itself, from making meals, studying, even sleeping in the club room.

We have four main protagonists.

Takeya Yuki is a bubbly girl who's almost always smiling. No matter what situation she's in, she always manages to be able to find a positive side to it. She's normally responsible for coming up with creative things for the club to do.

Wakasa Yuuri (most usually called Rii-san/chan), is the most responsible of the group, acting as a big sister to ... the other members, but most especially to Yuki, who would otherwise get herself in trouble if not occasionally scolded. She's kindhearted and gentle, though she's not afraid to be firm if the situation calls for it.

Ebisuzawa Kurumi is an athletic tomboy who is rarely seen without her trusty shovel. Once a member of the track club, she is very fast and agile, leading to her normally taking the lead in club activities outside of the school. Like Yuuri, Kurumi always keeps a watchful eye on Yuki.

Naoki Miki is the newest (and originally unwilling) member of the School Life Club, recruited after a trip to the local mall. At first, she doesn't like the others, and frequently snaps at them, especially regarding Yuki. Finally, though, she warms up to everyone, and comes to love them as much as they love each other.

Sakura Megumi is the oldest of the group; a teacher at the school and the advisor of the School Life Club, she is usually called Megu-nee by Yuki, much to her exasperation. She loves the girls fiercely, though she mostly interacts with Yuki.

---

Almost immediately, we learn that things aren't always as they seem. The cheerful life that Yuki leads with her friends doesn't quite add up to what's happening around her.

The world that Yuki sees is a delusion brought about as a coping mechanism after most of the city they live in have become wandering undead. In the midst of this zombie apocalypse, the girls try to survive.

On occasion, the juxtaposition of the world Yuki lives in and the real world around her is very interesting. Because her mental state is so fragile, the other girls make no attempt to force her to see things as they really are.

And that's where this manga starts to get infuriating.

It's one thing to want to keep your classmate and friend sane during the apocalypse, but it's another thing entirely to humor her delusions to the point of endangering everyone. More than once, they get into trouble because Yuki doesn't realize that she's putting them in danger. Thankfully, this starts to taper off as the series progresses, but in the beginning, it makes you want to rip your hair out and scream at them.

Another thing I found frustrating was that characters keep secrets from each other simply because the creator doesn't want to reveal a particular plot twist until later on. There's absolutely no reason why some things wouldn't be addressed if it wasn't supposed to be a plot twist.

The art itself is fine, save for one small thing. Sometimes the back teeth of the characters doesn't align properly with their lower jaw, so the curve of their teeth seems to be in the middle of their mouth.

(Then there are the incredibly stupid zombies that inexplicably chase after a glowstick in the middle of the day rather than the living meal right in front of them... I know zombies are supposed to be mindless, but COME ON.)

One thing I can say about this manga is that the story doesn't drag overlong. There are a few places where it slows down, but there aren't an abundance of chapters like this.

As to be expected in an apocalypse scenario, there isn't a large cast of characters, so you're not stuck trying to remember hundreds of faces and names. That being said, there are some supporting characters who show up in the latter half of the manga that serve a relatively small purpose, and they're not exactly memorable.

All in all, it's a decent representation of an apocalyptic scenario, with a few unique ideas thrown in so the story doesn't get stale. If you can overlook some of the more frustrating scenes, it's worth a read.

Well, I came here after watchin the Anime. It ends on what is around volume 5.
Some things get pretty confuse, mainly on the university. But it's a great manga after all. I really enjoyed my moments with these girls. And different from anime, where I kind of "missed" the normal days, here you just get happy for everything that happened. Also, the development of the four main charachters is just amazing. They getting mature along the chapters, understanding their essence and even preparing themselves for the worse is the best thing about this manga.
Also, there is few "script convenience" and things often fall into place.
The ... ending is very good and lets no regret at all.

Gakkou Gurashi!


After watching the anime, I wanted to know how the story continues. For this, I had to start the manga from scratch because there are relatively significant differences between anime and manga.

The manga comes very quickly to the actual point of the story and therefore makes little fuss. The world is ending, zombies are everywhere. And the 3 surviving schoolgirls must prove themselves in this world, so they do not perish.

This manga did a good job at showing the chaos of the apocalypse and capturing the atmosphere well. Likewise, the conclusion and resolution of the story was quite appealing.

The problem ... with the manga is that the author tried to focus too much on the characters without having enough approach. Thus, he created tension and drama in places where it was completely unnecessary. Among other things, the plot of Yuri, which did not find a real resolution until the end. Or Miki's girlfriend who was practically forgotten until the end. Not to mention several moments where the characters should have died and still survived. These were still comprehensible due to the slow enemies. Why some others couldn't escape, however, was completely questionable. But cannon fodder can be killed quickly, although the plot had enough to compensate for all the deaths. With the explanation of the origin of the "virus"


[Story 5]

During their struggle for survival, they meet new survivors and get closer and closer to the origin of the apocalypse. While they try not to waste their last days.

The concept of the story is a little different from the well-known American zombie movies, they use the same scheme. However, here there is a difference, the psychology of the characters is in the foreground here and how the whole world affects their minds.


The implementation of the final arc with the Randall Cooperation was interesting at first but possessed a mostly disappointing and too quick result.

Reminded me slightly of "lord of the rings" in terms of the perspective of the narrative, by the way. In other words, the perspective of the protagonists concerning the plot was that of Frodo.


[Charktere 6]

This was the biggest focus on the manga, hands down. However, a completely double-edged sword. The character who delivered it best was Yuki. Which could not face reality and imagined everything was fine. In the course of the plot, she opened up more and more and later understood the truth. But she always kept it to herself to keep the others positive. Also in the Yuri arc, you saw how she developed and tried to respond to Yuri as she had helped her before. What later became clear through the drawing in the notepad was that Yuki has already arrived in the present.

With Miki and Kurumi, on the other hand, there is less to say. They did possess their problems and also fluctuations of will. However, little developed there. Only Kurumi's development of her body was interesting to watch. How the virus reacted to her and under what circumstances it brought her.

Yuri's arc, on the other hand, disappointed me for the most part. Even though it succeeded well in showing the development of Yuki. So Yuri's arc had too little approach, came much too spontaneously, and also ended without real resolution.

Most of the other survivors were unimportant to the plot and had no reason to exist in the manga. Their only reason was merely to bring more life to the work so that the characters wouldn't have been so lonely. It would have been enough to introduce the doctor alone.


[Drawings/Backgrounds 6]

This is the very clearest difference between anime and manga. By being much more detailed and gritty, the manga has managed to create a very good atmosphere.

Certainly, the drawing style of the characters was quite mediocre and did not fit much to the actual setting (similar to Higurashi).



Conclusion

For any horror/psychological and especially fan of "zombies" I can highly recommend this manga. It has required improvement in several points and has wasted a lot of potential. But it has also been very convincing in several aspects.


[Enjoyment 8]

I've got beef with School Live. On one hand, I really do commend it, any series that can convince me to read 78 chapters of material has some sort of merit to it. But in the case of School Live, much of that merit is purely hypothetical. I think this was a concept that had a lot of potential on several fronts, but A) didn't understand the themes it initially presented enough to follow up convincingly, and B) didn't understand the draw of the concept in the first place. But I should back up and define that concept in the first place. School Live, as ... becomes immediately apparent after the very first chapter, is a subversive and psychological take on a zombie apocalypse story. Which makes it a bit difficult to talk about, because it becomes one of those things where the initial draw is really valuable to experience and helps draw in the reader. But I digress. The story follows the aptly named "School Life Club", a school club which focuses on, well, living in the school, a psychological framework created by the other surviving girls for the poorly adjusted protagonist Yuki, as they attempt to survive the zombie apocalypse. I think the real appeal of the concept lies within its scale, and its psychological themes, which at the start, it embraces heartily. But as the series goes on, these roots grow weaker and weaker, until School Live is little more of a zombie story than any other, with the caveat of eternally static characters and frustratingly unnecessary tonal shifts.

Art: 7

School Live's art style is generally pretty inoffensive, and the characters are well designed. Kurumi and Yuki in particular I think have very striking designs, and the attire of the school live club embodies their aesthetic nicely. One big complaint I have in the art though, lies in Yuki specifically. For much of the beginning of the series, by design, Yuki is our lens in the world. Of course that's not to say reality isn't shown through the other characters at this stage, but Yuki's frame of reference, her uncorrupted fantasy provides a consistently interesting contrast to the stark and grim reality. But there comes a point where that isn't really a part of the series anymore, which can really be seen in how the zombies are portrayed. For much of the beginning of the series, whenever Yuki is with the group, the zombies have less form, less definition, because Yuki has no real concept of what a zombie is. It doesn't fit into her bubbly world view, so as she she refuses to interact with it. At the end of the first arc, this ceases to be the case, and the zombies at large become zombies, shambling decomposing dead. Granted, I will say that these zombies are largely better detailed and defined than the traditional zombies we see near the beginning, but it nonetheless undercuts its psychological angle. It could certainly be argued that this art change coincidences with a change in Yuki's character, but that is a WHOLE other can of worms. To keep this simply in the real of the artstyle, its good.

Story: 5

This story has problems. There's a point where I feel pretty clearly that the aims of the series and the author change from a short scale, self contained piece, where I would presume its popularity necessitated a development to a much wider scale narrative. This really is almost two different stories, a psychological look at mental stress in extremely hostile, and even futile circumstances, and then knockoff Walking Dead but with a psychological tilt. The main problem here is that this could work, it could be fine if it was always leading to this, but the way the story pivots makes me think that it wasn't really planned from the start. Furthermore, it widens the stakes ridiculously. I am of the opinion, however cynical, that the school life club should have ended in the school. Because once they leave the school, this is no longer school live. The themes it originally wanted to present become dry and hollow in all but very few avenues, and the story warps into something that has no business being as large as it is. Indeed as it goes on, I find much of the conclusions and circumstances leading to, of all things, a happy ending, extremely contrived and silly. Granted, the story tends to remain entertaining, if nothing else, and it plays with ideas throughout that could be of some real intrigue if developed. But it fails to really do so in a meaningful way, in my opinion.

Character: 3

This is the big one, the one thing you want to hinge your psychological story on. If you bill your story as a psychological journey and examination, there must be an understanding of the characters and their development. But. School Live does not contain this. Yuki is nothing but a dead end. And if you like Yuki, like, a lot, you might find solace in this. But it really becomes a problem. Just to expound on this a bit, Yuki is, of course, the impetus for the school life club to even exist. Her fragile psyche and refusal to accept the grimness of reality requires the existence of this veil over the apocalypse, just to keep her alive. The reader can question if this is healthy or not, or if this actively detriments from their survival, but lucky for everyone involved, it becomes a completely moot point. Despite being shown explicitly to struggle between recognization of reality and psychological commitment to delusion, the introduction of Miki marks the end of any psychological intrigue, because through her it becomes clear that these characters have no capability to develop. Miki explicits tries to break Yuki's delusion, and in doing so does not reveal any subconscious or interesting character underneath Yuki's facade. It does nothing but demonstrate that Yuki is.... simply mentally deficient. She comes off as nothing more than stunted and childish, not really creating a veil but almost too undeveloped to even begin to understand her circumstances. And that's the end of it. Although this supposedly "solves" her delusion, she remains the same character, just somehow now without the need to paper over reality, even though nothing in her life or her understanding has changed. Which, as the story progresses, just makes her dead weight. SHE was who needed the framework, once the framework is gone and she continues to treat life like a game, she actively works against the health of the group. It truly boggles my mind how this character was not allowed to develop whatsoever over the entirely of the series. Past that, Kurumi is a fine character, and invariably has the most interesting stuff happen to her, but little is done to expand the really interesting things she experiences. Yuuri is largely static and not terribly interesting, but she does have the best psychological arc with Ruu, probably the strongest aspect of the series past the school. And Miki.... I'm sorry she's just bad. She's cynical and doesn't mesh well with the group, and she has a single, 1 dimensional, character trait: She really feels bad about Kei. She never manages to move past Kei, never has any other development and frankly by the end I was really praying she would bite the dust, because she really just is not interesting. I'll be honest with you I cannot even remember what she does in the university arc, but it was probably wallowing in self pity about Kei. She is the weakest member of the group, she cannot kill zombies because she thinks they might be Kei, and frankly its insulting that she lives through more like like 10 chapters, let along 60. Past that I'm not going to go into any of the secondary university characters, as they do very little except the biologist, but I will say Megumi embodies another problem in the series, namely the inconsistent zombie rules. But while she's alive she's fine.

Its been a whole year since I finished this, and really just thinking about how wasted this concept is still makes me as angry as when I first read it. Almost all the main cast either develop backwards or get written out of the story, the stakes and scale get blown up insanely and without warrant, and all in all the story ends so far removed from what it could (and should have) been. Its really bad news when a zombie series has you actively rooting for the zombies by its climax, and nearing the end of my own reading of this almost everyone but Kurumi was on the hit list. If you're looking to read this, I would recommend never leaving the school, just imagine they get holed up and killed valiantly protecting Yuki's innocence, or accepting the futility of their mission but having enjoyed protecting the remaining vestiges of humanity in the face of the apocalypse. Because frankly I don't think the series understands much of any of why its concept had promise past like chapter 15. If you wanna go past that, you better REALLY like Yuki's attitude, because she never stops. On the whole, School Live, Gakkougurashi, is deeply flawed, and incredibly static past a promising beginning. If you enjoy the characters at the start, there's a chance you could enjoy the same characters by the end. But if you're looking for dynamic and interesting characters, in a well structured and planned apocalypse narrative, I would recommend you look most anywhere else, unless you absolutely must have the School Live aesthetic.