I'm gonna admit, this was one of the more enjoyable shows for me this season. I rate heavily on personal enjoyment, so for the most part, this series was high up on my seasonal watch queue. No, I did not like the characters although I do understand that they were meant as a contrast of the world they were living in. No, I didn't like the sudden, out of the blue tone shifts that the show presented. No, I didn't think that this show was tapping into the full potential of what it could have done, but hey, it was enjoyable, so I kept coming back.
Now let's go to episode 11, shall we? This was, by far, the best episode School-Live! had put out. It felt like the characters were truly desperate, they were genuinely terrified, and that all hope seemed lost. They were struggling with just about everything and on the brink of death throughout the entire episode. Not only that, but holy shit was the music in this episode good. I'd say around the 9 minute mark when the portable radio was played and the soft, enchanting singing started drifting out as you see the character's struggling to stay alive was phenomenal. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was extremely excited to see what episode 12 (the grand finale) would bring us.
And it completely let me down. It was bullshit. I'm about to list all the things awful about this episode, so be prepared for a shitstorm of complaining.
First, it's not possible that Taromaru remembered Yuki and saved her life. It's a zombie. Everything leading up to that point would have suggested that, while the zombies are relatively aware, they do not have control over their actions, they act to kill. Taromaru saving Yuki would blatantly state that the zombies can control themselves and enact self-restraint, of which none do, let alone a dog which has about 1% of the mental capacity humans do.
And then all it fucking took for the whole problem to solve itself was to say "School's out, go home"?! Are you fucking kidding me?! That's just bullshit and I refuse to accept that. It was almost comical it was so overly simple and stupid. That is in no way how a zombie apocalypse story should end. Not only is it just utterly off tone with how the entire series went, it's just illogical. I cannot stress to you enough how bad this ending was. I'm a perverse person. I wanted them all to die and for the series to end. I would have easily given this show a 9 and called it the best of the season. Unfortunately, School-Live! decided that they just weren't going to do that and instead opt for a cop-out.
How were they to know that there was another dog down there? If I were in that situation I would've just assumed the dog heard a noise and went down there because, let's be honest, it's a dog. That's what dogs do. There is no reason for them to have assumed that, and yet they did, so whatever.
And the graduation ceremony. Oh man, the graduation ceremony. Don't even get me started (it should be evident that I'm about to get started, it's an expression, leave a "Helpful" on my review please). Basically, they just decided that instead of closure, they were gonna go the Angel Beats! route and try to just make you cry as their way of forcing people to like the show. It was disgusting watching high school seniors cry at every slightly inspirational thing people said. And it dragged on for so fucking long. A solid 10 minutes were spent just saying goodbye and whatever else they felt like crying about.
And finally, the last main problem I have with episode 12 is the lack of closure. So many things left unexplained. How did the outbreak first happen? What was Megu-nee's connection with it? Why did the girls in the school not just construct a ton of weapons so they wouldn't have to rely on that damn shovel for everything? Did they ever get to a safe-house? How do the zombies not starve and rot away? Why has nobody made any attempt to establish long-distance contact? Is the infection localized or is it on a global scale? Where are all the zombies in that final scene where they're just cruising down the highway and there's no one to be seen? And where the fuck are they going?
This show just made me so mad after how well it set itself up to just dissolve into a mess of emotional crap that I cannot give it a recommendation and the only reason I give it a 7 is because of episode 11.
Thank you for reading, and as always, feel free to tell me what you thought.
