"I have touched the flower that everyone wants. The feelings for that flower, I have put into words. To hurt this world was not my intention. If there was no one there to question you, would that mean you could do anything?"
Preface:
Well, today is Valentine's Day, so what better series to review than one of the most controversial love stories ever to be put in animated form? That's right, I'm talking School Days, one of the biggest cases of subverted expectations I've seen in recent days.
Overview:
Our story begins with two star crossed lovers, Makoto and Kotonoha (Katsura). Young love is so fragile, and so
...
fleeting, and none know this better than our dear characters. Enter Sekai, third party, and friend to both.. What happens next is a rollercoaster of emotion (mostly fury), detachment, lies, betrayal, and sociopathy, right up to the very end, where the story of our Lovers comes full circle. When the truth comes out, Makoto, Kotonoha, and Sekai learn the full ramifications of the consequences they wrought.
Art: 3 (two points for eps 11, 12, one point for the rest of it)
The characters are animated poorly, barring the last two episodes. Inconsistently drawn, poor facial and body animation, TONS of stillframe, key frames are few and far between. While there's not a lot of action, even the mundane slice of life is animated roughly. Uneven drawn edges, lack of faces or animation of faces during speaking, and generally repetitive environments (including a shot of the front of the school that’s used about 352 times an episode). The attention to detail is decent, however. Some of the art is useful in the symbolism, (more on that below) such as the trains and certain details in houses, and the school.
One recurring, and annoying, tendency of the art is when there's a pan and the image is rotated about 80 degrees to one side- rather irritating to have to turn your head to look at it.
The last two episodes are animated extremely well by comparison. Faces show real emotion, character movement and framing are much more purpose driven and subtle (something it was heretofore lacking a lot of, subtlety).
Sound: 4
OP and ED are fine, nothing to report. I started skipping the OP after about episode 4.
Voice acting is decent- not Trinity Seven, but also not absolute garbage. The main character’s voices aren’t particularly grating, but some of the supporting casts’ are.
Soft piano music sets the tone in some dramatic and playful moments, nothing distracting, and nothing really enhancing.
--- Spoilers from here on---
Characters: 5
I wanted to give a point to this category for every character Makoto has meaningless, detached, sociopathic sex with, but decided against it.
Makoto is our MC- selfish, uncaring, and a borderline sociopath- he exists only to indulge his own narcissism, regardless of who he affects or hurts. He seems absolutely callous to the feelings of the girls he comes into contact with, and the effect on their psyche. Incorrigible pervert, pushy, and clueless, he's a self gratifying user, and pure slime of a guy. He has no qualms about cheating on his girlfriend, or the irreversible effects that has on one's relationships, or even those of the future.
Though there are some times where it appears his decisions have some measurable effect on his mental state, he always manages to follow up with something self serving and detestable, but, he's still human, and it shows in his times of weakness. He goes from being the object of many a lady's desire, to being an absolute pariah, and being hated by essentially everyone that he knows.
Kotonoha, the first girlfriend, is a repressed, timid girl who really gets mixed up in all of this. She's honestly the only character in the show I found sympathetic, because she didn't ask for any of what happens to her- to be lied to, betrayed, and repeatedly torn down, despite her headstrong (and later delusional) belief that Makoto is in love with her. She gets absolutely ragged on by every other female character in the show, even though she's the only one ever in the right by claiming to be Makoto's girlfriend. We see this poor girl experience an immense amount of emotional trauma- abuse from her 'friends', mistreatment at the hands of her so called lover, that it's no surprise that by the end of the show, her psychological state is significantly altered. What was once a kind, shy girl was rendered into a soulless husk, devoid of any life aside from her dissociative, misguided obsession over Makoto. The real love that she once felt became nothing but an empty shell. Symbolic, I think.
Sekai, our third 60 degree angle of this love triangle, sets herself up as a jealous and manipulative friend who only acts "in the interest of helping Makoto get what he wants". She uses his perverted nature to get close to him under the guise of helping him with "special practice" to understand girls so that he's able to finally hook up with the girl he's been crushing on. She is driven, and shrewd, and actually seems to genuinely care for Makoto, and ironically is the person who really sets things into motion with the infidelity, and is the origination of the problem though she never sees it that way herself. She, through her own machinations, sets Makoto up with herself, but at the same time plays him off on Kotonoha and triggers the boundary-less relationships that form the crux of the conflict within. The way that she turns on him later, with a classless and utterly selfish attempt to keep Makoto with her smacks of hypocrisy, juxtaposed to her earlier efforts, and reminded me of Makoto himself with the self seeking and ugly way it was presented.
Is she his girlfriend? Are they just friends with benefits? She has a clear answer, but Makoto seems to have different ideas about it.
There are some other girls who make appearances, but side chicks and booty calls weren't important to the character, so I'll ignore them too.
Story and Overall: 6, 6
Had I solely gone on word of mouth, reviews, and the score, I'd have never watched School Days, as I've heard nothing but terrible things about it, aside from the uniquely shocking conclusion, but I feel that "School Days" is a much more complex commentary on relationships and life than many other reviewers on this site, and elsewhere on the internet believe (OOO wow, dissenting opinions on the internet, who'da thunk?)
In my opinion, School Days is a deconstructivist take on the Harem genre. It shows a realist take on the idea of having multiple girlfriends and them all being okay with it, because no-one truly "possesses" the desired person. The idea that jealousy would never take over when someone has something that you long for is a novel one, but one that's ultimately flawed. School Days exhibits that we all possess jealousy and covetousness in some way, and that suspicion, deceit, and betrayal all play into it, RARELY with a favorable outcome.
While this show makes a STRONG case for monogamy and reinforces the ideas that fidelity and trust in relationships are necessary for them to be healthy and functional, I think it also examines the inner being of Makoto. Makoto is a character who doesn't know what he wants out of a relationship. It starts off innocent enough, the hugging and kissing, and quickly falls down a path to more and more pushiness, and an insatiable lust for what seems to just be dispassionate sex addiction. It delves into the psychological aspects of cheating in a relationship, and the every growing mountain of lies and deceit that one has to maintain to keep up the facade; and while Makoto is unable to do so, he sees his web of deception unravel before his eyes.
An ironic note: the name "Makoto" is explained in the beginning of the show to mean Faith.
Symbolism, Foreshadowing and Callbacks:
I thought that School Days did an excellent job with the foreshadowing and symbolism. Having known the ending going into the show (but not who actually commits the act, and the Boat Scene was also unknown to me), I was on the lookout for subtlety, and was pleasantly surprised to find it.
1. The movie theater and stage play scenes were particularly interesting. Within the first 3 episodes, we had the plot play out before our eyes in about 30 seconds, but in a meta way- the two girls in love with the guy, who then fight amongst each other, and decide that neither can have him.
a) Setsuna goes to a stage production, and the dialogue is referential to the conflict at hand. (see opening quote)
2. In episode 6, Kotonoha sees Makoto and Sekai together on a train passing by the station she's standing on. She believes it to be a mistake, and thinks nothing of it. Later, it's Sekai who's at the train station, who believes Makoto to be home, and sees Kotonoha with him on the train.
3. Also in 6, at the moment Kotonoha reaches the rooftop, she drops her roll of blood-red yarn thread, which unravels as it rolls down the stairs. Symbolic, and important.
4. Kotonoha is cooking in her kitchen, and her gaze lingers on the knives for a second.
5. At the end, Makoto is making tea, which, as it comes to a boil (symbolizing his choices and the impending, extreme consequences they bring upon him) burns him.
Enjoyment, and Conclusion: 6
High school is just brutal guys, and the outcome is not always pretty- this is the heart of School Days. What we think is right is sometimes wrong, and even when we know it's wrong, sometimes we don't want to be right. An absolutely shocking and brutal conclusion to an otherwise wretched slice of life/ harem show left me speechless. It was a struggle to get through the first 7 episodes, but from 8 to the conclusion were a dark, tragic, and ultimately deserving series of events. Even as I write this, I have no words for the ending of this show, other than that I will not forget it.
Now, for the question that's so hotly contested: is School Days the worst anime ever?
No, but it depends on the viewer. There's a lot to hate about School Days, but if you have a taste for the psychological, and can stomach the first half, which is pretty painful and rage inducing to watch, it sets up a second half that gets deep into interpersonal relationship conflicts, and what extremes people can go to when they're irrational, because love... is irrational. The conclusion to this show was one that was remarkable at the time, and will be discussed from now on. A pioneer in the genre (yandere) as well- so it has some value in that.
tl;dr:
+ justice is served in a twisted way
+ gets better past the halfway mark
+ dark, surprising conclusion
- detestable characters
- side characters fall in love with main character for no reason
- garbage SOL plot *up through episode 7
- terrible dialogue at times
- bad animation
Nothing says love like a journey with a beautiful girl on a yacht, floating off into the sunset--
and then they were finally alone, "just the two of them".
Happy Valentine's Day.
Alternative Titles
Japanese: スクールデイズ
More titlesInformation
Type:
TV
Episodes:
12
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Jul 4, 2007 to Sep 27, 2007
Premiered:
Summer 2007
Broadcast:
Wednesdays at 02:15 (JST)
Licensors:
Discotek Media
Studios:
TNK
Source:
Visual novel
Duration:
24 min. per ep.
Rating:
R+ - Mild Nudity
Statistics
Ranked:
#115272
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#291
Members:
633,167
Favorites:
3,107
Available AtResourcesStreaming Platforms | Reviews
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Your Feelings Categories Feb 14, 2015
"I have touched the flower that everyone wants. The feelings for that flower, I have put into words. To hurt this world was not my intention. If there was no one there to question you, would that mean you could do anything?"
Preface: Well, today is Valentine's Day, so what better series to review than one of the most controversial love stories ever to be put in animated form? That's right, I'm talking School Days, one of the biggest cases of subverted expectations I've seen in recent days. Overview: Our story begins with two star crossed lovers, Makoto and Kotonoha (Katsura). Young love is so fragile, and so ... Jul 3, 2013
A character that is not likable is not the same as a bad character. You wouldn't complain about the characters "doing stupid things" in Othello, would you? That's the point of a tragedy. Othello believed the lies about Desdemona because he was a flawed human being as Makoto cheated because he was a flawed human being. Things are not as simple as detractors make them seem and you can’t expect a cast of deeply flawed characters to make smart decisions, like the detractors of the series supposedly would.
Where did we get this idea that a character must be likable and flawless to be a ... Nov 22, 2008
Watching School days... and enjoying it requires a special type of person. The sort that that can view the suffering of fictional characters like a curious (or evil) scientist who conducts social experiments on a bunch of unknowing test subjects (victims) with intense academic interest (while cackling madly).
The entire anime is essentially a social experiment taken to extremes. What happens if you take a horny teenage guy with little self-restraint, and give him the temptation of almost unlimited sex? What if you add into the mix a group of fangirls, who tend to always regard sleeping with the guy who sleeps with the ... Jan 22, 2014
Characters - The characters are ALL, ALL devoid of ANY logic. It is VERY clear that this anime started out as a visual novel. The characters are absolutely ridiculous. Almost nothing that they do makes sense. There is one character that you will feel empathy for, but only for a couple episodes. Very quickly this character turn into complete trash like the rest. Apparently every single girl in this show is insanely stupid. Girls in this show are portrayed to be walking sex dolls with JUST enough brain power to give consent to sex. The ONE THING that I will give to this show about
...
Sep 27, 2007
**Warning**
This is one of those shows that sets the viewer up for the ending the entire time. If you drop this before watching the last episode, you'll be wasting your time watching this series. Story : It doesn't seem like the story was very well thought out at first (horny teenager in high school trying to get as much girls as he can). The main character, Ito Makoto, is guaranteed to be the worst anime character you'll ever meet. He's popular among the girls at his school because he seems/they think he's a nice guy (I have no idea what basis they have ... Apr 6, 2008
School Days the game was released a few years ago and it drew quite a bit of attention because of the fact that it was completely animated eroge. In addition, a 30 minute non-interactive ‘demo’ (it was basically the same thing as the first episode of the anime) was also subtitled when it came out. Watching this ‘demo’ gave me the impression that School Days had a very typical romance narrative. Well a few weeks later I saw several gifs of the 3 infamous endings. Like many, I when WTF!? and became excited when the anime was announced so I could
...
Nov 28, 2009
We are used to tragedies happening on the grand scale. Famous Shakespeare plays like Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth, the accounts of Joan of Arc , and Oedipus Rex display this very well. Many times great tragedies are set in the past or fantasy worlds. But what would a tragedy that happens in our modern world be like? One that isn't on a grand scale. A tragedy grounded in reality, set in motion by everyday events, in which the worst crime that sparks it all involves cheating on others and not paying attention to people's feelings. This is what School Days attempts to show
...
Sep 6, 2013
A pitfall for many shows that attempt to be dark and mature is that they often mistaken edginess for depth. They present dark world views, display acts of immorality and cruelty, all under the misconception that they are laying bare some dark truth of the world. For an example, look no further than this infamous 12 episode anime series. School Days is the perfect picture of a show that confuses sadism for pessimistic insight. This is a show that is thoroughly patience testing in its sheer unpleasantness; saved from the bottom of the barrel only by the karmic bite of its conclusion. While its ambition
...
Feb 2, 2010
You ever cut your eyes out with a butter knife? Well, you will know the experience once you watch School Days. I was on the verge of just staying in my room for a couple days and not even feeding myself. Yes, this anime was THAT bad. Now by bad, I mean something other than the traditional "shitty" or "garbage" most people are familiar with. I mean, it's just so god awful that it left a sour taste in my mouth. I will expand more on this feeling and provide you with a somewhat accurate portaryal of this steaming piece of doodoo.
Story: The story is very ... Jun 30, 2010
Story: What can I say about the storyline? It has its up's and downs as well as its "WTF" and "...". I can already see the creator of School Days trying to portray an image to the viewers that this is typically a normal life of a teenager would lead, but forgetting that not every teenager leads this type of life. Getting deeper into this, I would say the moral of this story goes beyond your ordinary imagination of ecchi and romance. All I can say is, prepare yourself for a story like no other, a story that even sometimes exist in reality and that
...
Jul 21, 2014
This review WILL contain spoilers.
When I first got into School Days, I didn' know what I was getting myself into. I had heard about it, by people who either loved it or hated it. So I didn't know what to expect from it. 2 years later, I still don't know exactly what I watched. Story: 4 The premise of School Days is simple; boy falls in love with girl but he doesn't exactly know how to approache her, so he gets help from another girl to get them together. Pretty innocent, right? Sure, I thought the same thing, a cute couple with a change of love blooming. Thing ... Jan 14, 2014
AUTHORS NOTE (23/1/14): Near the end of the review, there is a spoiler regarding the final episode. I urge you to watch the series before reading the review or -- if you aren't interested in the series/have dropped it -- read it if you so desire.
Don’t be fooled this anime’s poster: it’s not all happy girls and good times. School Days is the adaption of a visual novel with the same name, infamous for its brutal bad endings. A notably absent genre this should be categorised is psychological – it shows the worst of human desire in a twelve episode, slow-paced fashion which is either ... Aug 31, 2012
School days is a terrible show that is completely dependent on its ending. Otherwise, it wouldn't even be relevant to us.
Think about it, remove that "moment" from this show and what do we get? A poorly animated, poorly written story that needs a big kick at the end to leave somewhat of an impression. None of the characters in this show are likable, and all of them are simply nonsensical. There's nothing special about the male MC, and yet all the girls are flaunting their bodies to him. Sekai is a braindead character. Just watching her made me lose some brain cells. Why did she introduce ... Oct 23, 2007
School Days is a Slice of Life, Romantic, Drama about a sordid love triangle between friends Makoto (guy), Kotonoha (girl) and Sekai (girl). This is anime is an adaptation of a visual novel, notorious for its tragic endings and this anime retains that reputation.
As the story begins it seems very average, with the typical storyline that this type of anime tends to follow however both of the girl's questionable behaviour and feelings do make this romance drama very interesting. Even though it is very short, the story flows well at a satisfying pace, with some major unexpected developments that will keep most unable to stop. Yet ... Mar 29, 2008
Length: 12 Episodes
Original Airdates: 07/07 - 09/07 Demographic: Seinen Genres: Drama, Romance, Psychological, (and eventually) Horror WARNING: Contains scenes of sexuality, and a "Nice Boat" ending One-sentence summary: "What the f***!?" Plot Synopsis Makoto Ito rides the train to and from school every day. However, at the beginning of his second term, he falls in love with a beautiful girl that also rides the train. Unfortunately, she barely knows of his existence. Her name is Kotonoha Katsura, and though they attend the same school, they are not in the same class. In an attempt to catch her eye, Makoto enlists the aid of a close female friend of his: Sekai Saionji. ... May 22, 2010
School Days.
Personally, both one of the best and worst anime I've ever seen. Story: 9 I thought the story was technically excellent. Very interesting and completely not what you expect at first impression. While I was watching it, I didn't like it, because it made me angry...but then when I stopped to think, I realized, wow, that means it's actually really skillfully done. It makes you feel everything. Also, the way that they wrapped it up in the end left me speechless. I'm still not even exactly sure how I feel about it, but I think that's how it's supposed to make you feel, and they pull it off ... Aug 24, 2011
To begin with,School days is best to be watched without having any background information of it being a H-game adaptation that is infamous for many things if you want to enjoy this anime to the fullest. With that said,there was so much hype going around School days when it was broadcasted that one had to give it a watch. I did and then realised why all the buzz. Never have I saw an anime coming out from this genre so well-executed,so emotionally-draining.
School days seems like your usual teenage romance drama. Not only does the sypnosis suggests that,it even starts like one. But what you ... Oct 14, 2007
I loved this anime in most aspects, it is refreshingly different from the normal cliche school romance, the characters are very interesting and I might say quite realistic, Ill explain why bellow, for now staying in the anime viewer perspective this show is technically decent although nothing special, the development is twisted delicious with incredible cliffhangers at the end of each episode, becoming rather normal at the start but you always feel like watching the next one quickly. The characters develop interestingly and in an original way, far from your usual innocent kids, I can understand why some people must hate the main character,
...
Sep 12, 2007
OMFG I just can't believe that I've ever recommended this thing to someone.
It started fine, as a love triangle anime, something like Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, but the more I saw the more I hated it. In fact, its a shame to Kimi ga Nozomu Eien to to be included in the same post with School Days. The story, at first, was fine. Like I've said before, a love triangle with a pathetic male, shy girl and a hyper girl. But the more I saw, the less it could be called >triangle<. The creators wanted to make it complicated, but in the end it turned out ... Mar 9, 2008
School Days is just one giant piece of fanservice, and that is it. If you are looking for your typical high school romance, this is not it. This anime takes the "perverted harem" genre to a whole new level-with some surprising and extremely unneccessary twists. The anime starts out average enough- you have your unexperienced, yet cute main boy, the shy girl he has a crush on, and the tsunedere who secretly likes him, but is in denial. The first half of the series revolves around their love triangle. Interesting enough.Throw in some uneccessary boob, crotch, and panty shots while you're at it.
Then all of ... |