There are spoilers in this review But the section with potential spoilers is marked as such.
I just have to say I really enjoyed it. It was painful to watch throughout but that ending was brilliant in my opinion. I appreciate the whole thing reflecting on it now. I'm really glad I watched it in the end.
Story
The story is about High School life and the relationships between boys and girls and how they interact each other and the consequences of your actions.
It also demonstrates that people on the sidelines get hurt to when someone makes a mistake. In this story allot of people get hurt. It may not be the best written anime out there but it's certainly well executed in my opinion.
I think the story itself is important to see if you are Harem fan. I dare say their isn't probably many harems like this. Although I haven't seen that many myself. I'm just basing that on what others have said about the show.
I do think that this show get's allot more flak than it deserves.
Tech
Lets start with the art style. To me it seems rather depressive. Now this isn't really a bad thing as I think it helped set up the story well in the direction the director wanted to go with this. It all looks dark and that suits the style of the show just fine.
The sound was in good quality and the voice acting was also well done too. Of course there are always moments when you cringe but that's to be expected.
Characters
This is the interesting part for me. The characters are what make this anime. They all show their weaknesses and reasons to dislike them well. This I think is important in the characterization of this show. The whole point is basically to demonstrate the weak points in humanity.
I found that Makoto wasn't as bad as everyone claimed and really wasn't the one responsible for how everything turned out. I think he copped the flak because he was the guy. Rather Sekai is the one to blame. But not to many people realise this or accept this.
Characters **Potential spoilers in this part**
At around the middle of the show I found allot of the characters annoyed me. They all seemed to be against Kotonoha for no good reason other than their own selfish desires. The reason I believe she liked Makoto obsessively was he was one of the first people to treat her kindly. Because naturally Makoto is kind, whilst he is quickly brought out of this by Sekai and her selfish actions. I'm not excusing Makoto he didn't do right by what he did, and he made lots of poor choices; but he was dragged there by a temptress.
Conclusion
School Days is a unique viewing experience. Its frustrating, painful to watch and makes your blood boil sometimes. But it also makes you weep and causes you to reflect upon yourself.. It's a unique rollercoaster. I think it's a ride not soon forgotten and I think everyone should experience it, even if they don't like rollercoasters.
I think we could all learn some valuable life lessons from this.
My favourite part was the ending. To me it was what made it all worth watching. If I wasn't committed to finishing it I would have dropped it and would have hated the anime. But I came out of it appreciating it for what it was and was satisfied with it.
Score: 8/10
