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Story:

On the surface, School Days appears to exist simply so it can torture fans of the harem genre. But in actuality, it is a deconstruction/satire with morals (“be faithful to your significant other” “don’t treat Women like objects”). However, what lies underneath is not the only thing that matters. The journey from event to event moves at a grueling pace, padded with dialogue, fan service (which operates against the “don’t treat Women like objects” moral), and gags that fall flat. The events themselves are melodramatic, and supported by illogical actions and cruelty. We are given no prior indication that the characters are capable of what ... they do at the end, so while the ending is shocking and memorable, it seems to come from nowhere. Personally, I felt that there was not enough content to properly fill 12 episodes.

Art:

When scenes take place in a populated area, background characters rarely move. This may be true to the original game, but as an anime it comes off as lazy. The female characters have pointy chins, pointy noses, and the same type of animesque eyes. Without the distinct hairstyles, I wouldn’t know the difference between girls. The animation mostly focuses on close-ups, while long shots are almost always a still frame. The color and shading is nothing spectacular, but it is fine.

Sound:

‘Kanashimi no Mukou e’ is a very memorable song. Other than that, I cannot recall a single note. The theme is forgettable, and the sound-effect gags used in the first couple episodes did nothing for me. The voice acting is good, but in all fairness I’ve never seen a sub anime where the voice actors were terrible. Overall, I’d say there isn’t much to notice in the sound department.

Characters:

Makoto starts off as a goofy, likable guy. Personally, I can understand why he started doing what he did, but as the show progressed he became cruel to near sociopathic levels. Sekai was vapid; her oblivious nature is taken to comically stupid levels at times. Kotonoha is meant to be the innocent, naive character but I found her to be rather boring. Come to think of it, there was not a character in this show who was not either boring, vapid, cruel, or naive. There is nobody to relate to, and as the show progressed, it became harder to empathize with anyone.

Enjoyment:

I thought this show was a boring waste of time. As a matter of fact, I enjoyed the OVA’s way more than I did this anime. The characters do not act like people, intended messages become blurred through hypocrisy, the plot moves slowly and covers very little, and at the end we are left with an ending that amounts to shock value.

I'd recommend School Days to anyone who hates harems and has the patience of a saint.