In the world of story telling, masterpieces comes in different forms. Some TV shows are great because they fill you with laughter, others are great because they fill you with sadness. Some movies are great because they fill you with fear, others are great because they fill you with doubts.
School Days is great because it fills you with hate and anger. The common point is that an awesome piece of work moves you.
School Days sparked off many controversies because this approach is extremely rare. Hate and anger aren't enjoyable, and therefore people said the anime is terrible. But are sadness and fear enjoyable ? I don't think so. But then, are movies that make you cry your eyes out or freeze your guts with fear terrible ? Certainly not.
And that is why i think School Days is amazing; this anime cooks your guts with vinegar and ammonia. It's painful. And this is art, that's why the anime is classified as seinen (adult show, different from mature rating) : it is not a show you enjoy, it's a show you feel with your guts.
Some people say the characters are awful. I beg to disagree, the characters are despicable and hateable, not awful. It is quite easy to make a character looks cool, but not so to make it inspire hatred. Make it mean and it will looks badass, or just a villain. Make it clumsy and it will looks pitiful.
School Days achieved universal hatred, and I truly think this is an amazing performance.
More precisely, you may hear that the characters are shallow or unrealistic. My opinion differs. I think that the characters are like everybody, and at the same time nobody is like that. There is no true shallow people, they just look and act shallow, and it's the same thing with the characters in this anime. Some may look shallow, like real people. This makes them more realistic than in many other shows. Also, people like Makoto or Sekai do exist, that's why 'Scumbag Steve and Stacy' are well known on the internet. Everyone have a little scumbag inside, we just don't realize it, and usually don't end up this badly.
Others say that the ending made up for the anime. Again, I think this is wrong. The ending is like the screwable cap of a plastic bottle; it fits perfectly, it's the only thing that could, it closes the bottle, but it's useless alone. It's also like a singer in a band of 12 musicians; he's often the only one that shines, but he's awesome because the others 11 carry him and make the whole fantastic.
My opinion is that the episodes are perfectly put together. Each episode is exactly a bit more unwholesome than the previous one. It starts with a suspicious first episode, and ends with a wonderfully fucked up last episode. Maybe it even starts with the title, which is probably the sole innocent thing in School Days.
On top of that, this anime is full of details that makes it brilliant. Why did they show a character like Nanami ? It's like spicy sauce on a pizza ! Why the knitting ? It's a metaphor ! Why did Makoto's cell ask for the PIN ? It serves no purpose. Or does it ?
There is much more, and you can't possibly notice them all in one run. Most of them are insignificant, but my point is that School Days is rich and perfectly executed.
I think the main reason why many people find this anime terrible is that, because of its unusual nature, it is easily mistaken. I think it's like a man who want to watch a thriller, and end up renting a horror movie by mistake. He will probably think this movie sucks. His point of view would probably be much better if he watched the same movie after his friend said "Wow this one is amazing, watch it tonight, alone and lights out".
The key point to understand the true value of School Days is to keep in mind that this anime is NOT enjoyable.
This show is like a magnificent painting of a hideously mutilated corpse.
School Days is a piece of art, a unique masterpiece that carved my mind with scars.
It is really hard to watch, it leaves you with a harsh taste in the mouth, but it MUST be watched.
