I finished watching School Days (in one sitting) and got exactly what I had expected. Now don't get me wrong, what I expected still utterly shocked and disturbed me in a way that I'll probably remember for a long time. And for that, I ranked this series as a 10.
This psychological drama started off fairly innocently. Light humor, boy likes girl, other girl helps boy try and get girl, things get crazy from there. It's all fairly formulaic. But that's about where it ends in its unoriginality and it ends pretty quick.
I think it was only about one or two episodes in that situations started becoming less "haha that's pretty embarrassing" to ".....oh crap, did that just happen?" What's more is the situations are all fairly believable in a way that reminds me of how crazy relationships became in high school (minus some obvious stuff of course) and that things can get out of hand fast.
If you've taken the time to read other reviews you will quickly discover that the general consensus is that the male protagonist is a terrible person. I completely agree. Now, while I would never wish terrible things upon another person, by the end of this series I was so completely disgusted with the way he was handling the situation it was almost unconscionable. Makoto is hands down one of the most despicable male main characters I've encountered. While is he (as usual) crippled by indecision most of the time this is strictly limited to his verbal interactions with fellow characters. When he does make a decision, it's more often than not one that will make you face palm (seriously, my head hurts because I was hitting it so much). By the end, you can no longer even justify his decisions by teenage hormones but more so that he's clearly a sociopath. His complete disregard for the repercussions of his actions goes beyond "troubled youth" and lends to the realm of utter insanity.
By the end of School Days I was so distraught about how do these girls handle all of this crap he gives them that I completely overlooked how messed up they were as well! Now, not all of the female characters were beyond redemption. For example, Nanami seems to be a pretty upstanding person, but that's where it ends. Towards the end of the series you find out how morally inept they all are. Even with seemingly the best of intentions, there isn't a single character in the series that didn't do something wtf-worthy.
While it was easy to find all the terrible things I disliked about each character, it's equally easy to overlook the redeeming qualities as well. A perfect example would be Otome. Early one, she's a pretty unlikeable character and for good reason. At the end of all things, even though a bunch of stuff she did was pretty bad, she had a decent heart and even had a "hell ya, you go girl" moment.
Another thing I found wonderful about School Days was the art and music. Character animation was all pretty top notch from what I could tell. Scenes were crisp and attractive, but not so busy that it drew attention away from what the characters were doing. Every environment was beautifully done and really draws you in.
This was all masterfully combined with a great, classic score of music that drew out the emotion of every scene. If I wasn't so busy trying to cope with the shock of what happened at any given time, I might have shed a tear or two because of a beautiful moment. After reflecting on it further, I think this was done to reserve moments of silence for those times when the characters did something shocking to which I tip my hat. One thing about a musical composition in media is that it is often used to illicit an emotional state at the time of the event to allow the viewer to essentially "know what to feel and when to feel it." This was clearly absent in several pivotal moments of the series to cause the viewer to reel emotionally and feel stranded in thought (re: Buffy the Vampire Slayer s5ep16 "The Body" - which won an Emmy for this btw).
School Days left such an impression on me that it made me question all of the decisions I've made in my love life over the years. The heart and mind are terribly fragile things and this series reminds us that we should all be vigilante in how we treat other people. I strongly recommend this anime.
