Time: School Days

"You can't show how you feel just by wanting something to happen."
-Kotonoha Katsura​

To say that I was a bit hesitant to write this review would be an understatement. Mainly because of all the blowback I'd receive from those who would rather be set aflame than have to watch School Days again. But with my initial viewing of the show years ago, I had a much different experience.

So let's get into it: School Days.

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Story:

The story for School Days seems pretty generic for any school love story anime: guy/girl likes guy/girl, they go out, and the third wheel starts to develop romantic feelings for the protagonist or love interest, resulting in a love triangle. However, this is where it gets interesting. As the story progresses, the protagonist attempts to juggle the two girls, but then sort of gives up on one of them. Over time, the story begins to sink lower and lower into a mixture of feelings: pity, annoyance, but most notably, anger. This isn't really the type of series to watch if you're expecting everything to turn out happy and sunshiny. This is mainly because of the actions taken by some of the characters in the show.

Characters:

I'm pretty sure this is where most of the hate and ire for the show originates. Except for the fact that, in my opinion, I think they did an alright job in this department. With the exception of Kotonoha, the majority of School Days' cast are really unlikable. Now, when I say this, I don't mean they have the personalities of a fish, but rather the actions of the characters will make you want to throw your computer across the room, pull your hair out, and make you scream "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!", which is why I think they do their job so well. I feel like the creators of the show (or for the visual novel for that matter) had the idea of purposefully making Sekai and Makoto unlikable as some sort of punching bag.

Art:

Artwork for School Days was produced by studio TNK who, with the exception of High School DXD, haven't made anything of notable mention (at least to the best of my knowledge). The artwork for the series is decdnt to an extent, but not much special mention. Though these shows were made by different studios than School Days, I sort of found shows like ef: a tale of memories and sola to have strikingly similar art forms.

Also...

Spoiler

Have fun trying to un-see that.

Audio:

Honestly, there isn't really all that much to give to the audio for this series. With the exception of the last episode (if you've seen it, you know what I mean) where the voice actors do an above average performance, the majority of the series' voice acting is just average. As for the soundtrack of the series, the only track I can give any special mention to is a track that played near the end of the series when it reached it's climax (again, if you've watched the series, you know which one I'm talking about).

Verdict:

When people told me about this series, I was told to stay away from it as if it was the plague. However, due to my human nature, it meant I had no choice but to watch it. If you've expecting this series to be like other harem anime like SHUFFLE!, Rosario+Vampire, or Clannad, you're definitely looking in the wrong place. The only other series I could really compare this show to would be Rumbling Hearts (Kimi ga Nozomou Eien) and even that show has at least a bittersweet ending.

Bottom line: if you're expecting everyone to be happy and satisfied in the final episode, close your tab and look for something else. But if you're a sadist and looking for something a bit different, by all means, give it a watch. Just be sure to post a reaction video of you watching it on YouTube so I can laugh my ass off.

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If you'd like me to review a show, go ahead and comment down below and I'll see what I can do so long as it's not an extremely bulky series (Naruto, Bleach, Fairy Tail, One Piece, etc.) ^_^

 

I'm sorry, but I can never watch that anime again!!! There is a limit to how depressing a TV show I will watch and that ending threw me for a loop and I didn't watch any anime because of that for almost a year!!!

 

I quite liked the ending. And not just because I hate my fellow man, but because it was something different. I'll most likely not watch it again, but it was much different than the legion of harems stinking up the market recently

 

i like it for going towards the bad end (iirc, it was an adaptation of a visual novel) which i'd call a bold move for a genre (slice-of-life highschool lovey-dovey hijinks? there's a name for that, right?) that tends to give us the "golden end" a lot in their anime

 

i Like It ♥

 

The review or school days? Or both?

 

i hated school days worst anime ever in my opinion

 

I'm ashamed.

I 'dropped' (I don't drop things, I just bookmark the upload and tell myself I'll watch it later) 'School Days' after episode one -- I had 0 prior knowledge about the series, but just wasn't feeling it. The words of others has definitely turned me off moreso.

I had gotten 'True Tears' vibes from it, and I hated 'True Tears' -- particularly the bullshit ending, but I digress.

Spoiler: sp0ilerzz!!11

I might just bite my lip and watch it through, if the decapitation is THAT satisfying.

 

Quite honestly, mate. If you already know the ending, there's not much else to see

 

Oh.

Shame -- I'll 'watch' it, none the less.