STORY: 3/10
The story revolves around a clueless bloke who apparently lives in an alternate universe where clueless, spineless freaks can get so many women they could make every harem anime crap their britches in fear and jealousy. He chooses a girl to be his love, but during this time with her he begins to grow apart from her, and other girls begin to find him attractive. Drama ensues when he cannot decide who to be with.
The cowardly protagonist's spineless inability to tell any of them whether or not he wants to leave them causes you to hate him more and more as the series goes by. This is an animated version of a visual novel by the same name's worst route, which is made all the more apparent as you watch the protagonist make mistake after mistake after awful mistake, strung together by scenes that obviously are the same within all routes of the series, adding jarring mood swings within the show's writing that make the viewing all the more uncomfortable.
Surprisingly, however, it ends on a very good note.
ART: 3/10
I've always disliked anime with the art style that School Days goes for. Movement, backgrounds, and objects all look fairly average, and what doesn't look average looks terrible. Eyes on characters are horribly oversized and faces (especially the bridge of the nose) look terribly angular. At some points, what I was meant to see as a head looked like a distorted Dorito chip with terribly plastered on hair. Background characters are sometimes not even given a face and are instead human-shaped blobs of grey, which I wouldn't mind if they were too far away from the protagonist, but instead these are characters seen mere feet away from the protagonist. Again, it all adds to a general unease when you watch the series.
SOUND: 2/10
I literally cannot remember a single thing when it comes to the OST of the show. None of the songs were memorable, all of it being generic, milquetoast, corny piano songs that fail to add any feeling to what was happening on screen. The OP is harmless and the ED is generic. It's all that. It's all generic. It's all boring. Nothing is unique when it comes to sound design within this show. None of the voices are interesting or even memorable enough to be mentioned and I think that's the real kicker. I'd give this thing anything above a 2 out of 10 if it even tried, but it didn't. It's all boring, generic, simple, and safe. Nothing is new, nothing is different, which is why it was rated as low as it is. You'd probably tell me "Oh, if it's average, it could be a 5/10!" but to that I say no. You shut your mouth. There's a huge difference between a soundtrack being "generic" and a soundtrack being "average". At least a generic show would have more than one mood to their music other than "unemotional dramatic piano". The only reason this drivel is anything above a 1 out of 10 is because there's more than one song in the OST.
CHARACTER: 1/10
Hoo boy. Here's where we get to the worst part. If I could rate this anything past 1, it would get a -10. Every character is an unlikable, heaping, despicable pile of lies and idiocy. Love interests are all incredibly bland and none of them are worth remembering. They're generic tropes who, if they aren't getting fondled by out despicable protagonist, are just talking about the innate desire to wrap their arms around Blandy and show him what happens during School Nights, if you catch my drift.
The protagonist is the worst. Literally, the worst. I cannot think of a single good thing about this character's personality. He's despicable, you cannot relate to him, he's selfish, he's rude, he's ignorant, he's a lightning rod for women in the show and hatred in reality. His very presence on my screen caused me to be filled with vitriol. The only time he shows any backbone is when he finds a new girl he wants to make his, before becoming a pusillanimous hooplehead who shows no interest in anything to do with them. I don't even know how to word the sheer amount of hatred I find for this man. He's awful. He's just awful.
ENJOYMENT: 2/10
The only reason my enjoyment isn't 1/10 is because I had a friend who would laugh at my rage and encourage me to keep going through this garbage. If I had watched this anime alone, I would have had no way to vent my rage, only letting it stew inside me and forcing me to drop this dreck with a 1/10 enjoyment rating.
OVERALL: 2/10
The fact that this exists, means that we've already lost. The only reason this virulent trash of an abomination I would call an anime is anything other than a Pathetic 1/10 is the satisfying ending. Do not watch this show. Do not. Please. For the love of all that is holy.
