Hi, my name is thomas hales and this is my review of school days.

This anime is one that deeply tuched me in ways that i had never felt before, when i started to watch it i saw people saying it had a bad ending and i was like well how could this get bad? well let me say no one ever saw that coming lol.

to start with the main character is someone we can all synthesize with he is the average man, see now what most people don't realize a man is designed to think about sex 24/7 its in our nature to reproduce and spread our seed as much as we can to make sure the human race continues, this guy knows this.

see now i dont think its the ending that scares people, its the fact that this anime is soo much in tuch with real life its scary because this sort of thing does happen and a lot.

now it starts with him falling in love, then it shows you how people can change and so can ones heart. and then it can show you the scary side to love and how love can drive you insane.

the main character makes you want to punch him in the face because he is the type of guy who sleeps with loads of girls but doesn't care about any of them. by the end of this anime you will hate him

ok time for a spoiler :)


so to finish things off i would like to say this anime is about love/romance, phycology and a big slice of life

i rate this 10/10

p.s: sorry if there's any spelling mistakes and lack of punctuation.

First of all, this anime series is anything but innocent in spite of its typical and slice-of-life sounding title. And it's highly inadvisable if you suffer from anger issues and are the type of person who'd smash your computer screen into pieces when something doesn't work the way you want it to.
Coming back to the aforementioned doubtable innocence of this anime's title, this story was based on an eroge, and as the definition of this word infers, one thing that you will definitely encounter in this series will be quite a few scenes with sexual implications and secondly, an untraditional character development. With this I definitely wouldn't recommend this series to anyone who still loiters in the typical romance plots a la Sailor Moon and hasn't yet discovered what the trope "friends with benefits" means and the humiliations that can be brought with it.

If all of this doesn't deter you from proceeding, then you're quite welcome to further with the reading. ;D

**Warning - may contain minor spoilers**

Anyway, this series turned out to generate an incredible amount of hatred within its audience, especially against the lead character, Matoko, like no other show I know. One of the main factors that made me quite curious about it and ended up making me watch it.

School Days is often put in the romance, drama, harem, school categories which I believe aren't really fitting. True, this show does contain a few elements of each previously mentioned genre yet I can't really consider those as fitting...Personally, I'd categorise it under "psychological drama" because of its gist being of utmost psychological and dramatical nature.

As for the art, you won't have to worry. The art is honestly good.

Coming to the plot. This story is revolving around three main characters. Makoto, of easy virtue and a sociopathic schmuck, Sekai, a manipulative bint, and finally, Kotonoha, an insecure shy and demure personality.
The story deals with the inhibition of the individuals' emotions, the restraint of expressing them, and the outcry for conformity that seem to be so built-in in Asian societies, particularly in Japan. Proof of that would be the indirect communication that is happening between the various characters particularly when the subject is touching the emotional and sexual aspects of life. Due to this suppression of the individual's basic urges to express himself and the issues that are plaguing his mind all the characters in this anime are, in fact, absolutely emotionally and sexually pent-up.

Regarding the high expectations that each and everyone has to meet up with to survive in Japan's social system then it's no big surprise that all of them seem to be so emotionally crippled. Makoto is faced with the problem of meeting up with the very high standards that are being set for Japanese men; getting good education, good job, found a family and of course being financially good off to support this all. But that's not all, the boys in this show seem to be under the influence of this cliche that is apparently quite widespread amongst males where a boy is considered a man only once he proved his manliness which is best expressed through sexual experience which seems to be the only option left to validate his existence as a man. And the fact that all the girls seem so willing to succumb to his sexual urges doesn't help either. But we can't blame them either, them being brought up in the typical Japanese fashion where the gender role is not to be disregarded and a woman shouldn't say no when it comes to the social obligation of satisfying the males' needs.

That's when a form of rebellion comes to existence amongst these characters, they express their desperation through unchaste behaviour, which is of course absolutely against society's criteria, ergo rebellion. With this having acted out of social norms hence they can no longer prevail as respectable members of that society which they realise quite quickly and the despair brought with this realisation leads to one dramatical bloody catastrophe which probably will satisfy a lot of viewers' expectations especially those who amounted an intense quantity of hatred during this show.
One bloody awesome ending, I must say.

I loved this show so much. Especially for the fact that it had such an intense psychological depth and prettily depicted the possible consequences that could possibly meet a member of society who acted outside of what is socially acceptable and didn't restrain himself from trampling over one heart after an other just to satisfy his urges. And, it gave one a quite respectable insight on Japan's social issues. This show represented all of this very decently.

Kudos to the creators of this anime.

Now that it looks like that the final episode is going to be a DVD-only episode, I decided that I didn’t want to wait for such a long time just to close off this series. After all, it’s not like a bloody ending is going to save this series and heck, we all know what’s going to happen anyway. Shows like Red Garden and Zombie-Loan who also have a few DVD-only episodes have shown me that by the time they’re finished, my memory will have become too fuzzy to write a good review of it. I may edit this post after watching the final episode, but for now I just want to get over with this series.

Okay, let’s get started with this train-wreck now, shall we? School Days is another one of those hentai-game adaptations, but it’s a special one: the original game became notorious for a few of its rather bloody endings. Because of this, it’s become a fan favourite: you can’t go to any on-line anime-community where you won’t find tons of fans rambling about various death treats towards the main character. In the end though, this series became an utter failure.

Let’s start with about the only good point of this series: the male main character, Makoto. I know it’s ironic, but this guy actually finally deviates from some of the clichés that plague all of his colleagues, and most important of all: he’s realistic. It’s a sad thing, but in real life there are tons of idiots who just date girls without caring about any of them. You’ll love to hate this guy, and the things he does to all the poor girls in the series.

I wish I could say the same about the female characters though. The story is just so incredibly fixated on that bloody ending that it turns every single female character into a plot-device to get toward that ending. Actions are forced, characters conveniently run into each other, and most of them are a tad too often in too much angst, preventing them to connect with the viewers.

Still, at the halfway point, I would have actually considered School Days decent enough. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but the love-triangle that develops was interesting enough to make me keep watching. And then, as the series draws to its end, everything falls apart with some of the most forced and blatantly obvious plot twists I’ve ever seen. I won’t mention them for the sake of spoilers, but you should be able to guess their nature, with School Days being a hentai-game adaptation and all.

And then the setting! Seriously, it nearly looks like Makoto is in a school with only TWO GUYS in it. There is another guy (the so-called “rival” that you see in nearly every hentai-game adaptation) but he’s just good for one minor plot-twist and he just disappears afterwards without leaving any trace.

Seriously, if you were planning to watch this one: don’t. The scriptwriting and plot twists are just too forced and artificial to really form a connection, not to mention that 75% of all the scenes are incredibly annoying to watch, due to the characters being teenagers and all. While I admit that it could have been good, the scriptwriters just ruined it completely.

Ok, so one day, at home with a cold, I decide to give a try to this anime. I don't know what made me choose this one inside the huge list of anime on this site (I just watched three of those for now). But most of all I don't know what made me go on after the first episode, which is very disappointing for a guy like me. I usually don't like love stories full of clichés and with the school as a setting. I don't like love stories at all, if I must be honest.
And, believe me, if you are like me, you'll probably decide to quit this anime as soon as you've watched the first episode, or maybe even during it. I don't know who to thank for not having done so. I never heard of this series before and never read a review, and nothing in the first ep. makes you think this is going to be something different than what it seems. But it is, and in a really amazingly sick way.

I'm glad I continued watching till the end, maybe the best ending I've ever seen in an anime. I've seen a lot of reviews after watching it. If you want my opinion, don't read any review which talks about the plot, or reveals the ending. For this reason, I won't tell you anything else.

Just watch it.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this Anime. It had me gripped from start to finish and I would recommend it to anyone who appreciates the trials and tribulations of being a Teenager at High School. My School Days are long gone but this Series evoked so many memories for me I may well watch it all again in future years. It will have you chuckling in laughter, embarrassed in shame, angry and upset but what ever emotions this invokes in you, you will truly appreciate this is a masterful piece of work that expresses the many difficulties of growing up from Teen to Adult. A mature Anime this that may well encourage non Anime fans to watch and change opinion if they don't appreciate legendary shows such as Neon Genesis Evangelion yet.

Like all good stories, this anime takes the audience on a ride that reveals itself little by little. It focuses on the lives of a small group of high schoolers who strive to explore their adolescence but lose track of something important along the way. It begins as many high school romance stories begin, but ends in the darkest corners of what a heart in love is capable of.

I'll cover a couple of characters now and the situations they found themselves in. I'll place these into a spoiler section as well, but my review only makes sense if you've seen this anime in its entirety.



I think the most chilling aspect of this story, as others have indicated, is that the potential to do terrible things to the people we care about is in each of us. Many people eventually feel the sting of each side of the fence: to betray someone, to be betrayed, to want what someone else has, to want out of your situation but not have the strength to break it. Everyone's pain is great and there is no easy way to handle it from any character's point of view. It's the ugly part of us that we try to reject and ignore. We try so hard to look at life through rose-colored glasses that when we see something like this we're repulsed by it. But I think the revulsion is often not with the characters themselves but with that small voice within our hearts that says, "I could do that... I can understand those feelings."

What starts off in this series as a really cute & almost innocent like school life/love/relationship triangle & turn of events as to be expected in a typical anime series genre, towards the end, (especially in the last episode, which is the biggest eye-opener of them all!) it pretty much makes you jaw drop in surprise with it's horrific outcome & the slight horror tendencies!

I'll admit that I was pretty freaked out myself when I saw what happened, but soon got over it & it didn't cloud my overall judgement & opinion of this otherwise really good series! I recommend it to anyone who is into this genre of anime, like me, and who likes twists in the storyline that they just weren't expecting, let alone a happy ending, which this series totally doesn't have!

This was an interesting series i would have to say.

First off:
I'll hit the characters. It is a rather basic cast with its mains in the triangle and the supporters being just that supporters. The supporters do a real god job at progressing us through the story and then letting the mains take the stage and do their thing. From start to end the supporters played key roles. When things got serious at the end it was all the mains. It being a 12 episode series you cannot expect to get much back story or insight on the characters, but wat we were given was quite good.

The Story:
The story itself found its base and used it from the start. Instead of having a common anime love triangle they went at the bad side where nothing good can come out of it. since wen as a love triangle seriously worked out besides in comedy. everything that occurred had power within it. Him going from girl to girl added intensity to the ending animosity towards him. the ending was no nice lovey dovey ending at all feeding off of all the insecurities of the mains it was quite original. the story itself showing the bad side of a triangle shows it ending in the most tragic way. well paced, well organized, and never got away from where they needed to be. Karma is the single word that comes to my mind as I elaborate. What goes around comes around.

Overall: 8/10
A good cast and a well Conveyed story should make it more of a 9/10 however it is an 8/10 in my book. What it lacks is the ability to get someone who catches a single ep to want to watch the rest. It is heavy so hitting a limited audience in its genre since most people expect a comedic love triangle instead of something as intense as this. I love the concept by hitting the reverse end and going at a triangle in a serious manner. With one jaw dropping ending it made the 12 ep. grind feel accomplished. everything adds up and leads to the end. disorganized in no way. Since the suspense added to the story it really would be hard to re-watch it unless it is forgotten and then rediscovered.

~Glasslemon

School Days starts off as an innocent tale of love...
The protagonist [ Itou Makoto ] is typical teen who thinks about sexual inter-courses & other perverted stuff, & has a crush on a girl with over sized breasts [ Katsura Kotonoha ], his "train-mate" who just so happens to have a crush on him too. They eventually develop with the help of Sekai, Makoto's seatmate. But although she helps the "train-mates" with their relationship, she is actually hiding a secret infatuation or crush for her seatmate, who is inevitably seen by her best friend, Setsuna.
But then, the complications begin as Makoto & Sekai become closer & closer, and evidently ignores Kotonoha after their so-called "practice" which, supposedly, is to help Makoto develop his relationship with Kotonoha & take it to the next level. His feelings change & cheats on Kotonoha with Sekai, having the whole viewing audience splashing anger at him & then feeling sorry for the girls involved.
Kotonoha sees them kiss at the train station, but continues to be blinded by her love for him & acts as if she saw nothing [that's some big patience, understanding, caring & loving girl]. Setsuna helps Sekai with Makoto & blocks Kotonoha's number from his cellphone, so that he wouldn't have anymore distractions and focus on his budding romance with Sekai. But even though Sekai loves Makoto, she can't help feeling guilty for betraying her friend & tells him that he has to break up with her, but since Makoto's a perverted guy, he can't do so.
Soon after, Kotonoha & Sekai bump into each other in front of Makoto's apartment and face a heart-breaking confrontation leading to Sekai's absence from school the next day.
But, us viewers soon find out that there are more than just 2 people who like Makoto. Katou, a friend since middle school, has liked him ever since they met, but had no courage to tell him her feelings. It also seems like Setsuna has her own little feelings for him as well, having liked him since she heard his words of encouragement after being bullied because of her height at the freshman orientation.
The school fair just so happened to make things worse, as a number of events take place. Katou finally gathers up the courage to tell him how she feels & they make out in the "break room". Later, after a chaos between classes fighting to get customers, Setsuna, while getting more supplies, tells Makoto that she will be leaving Japan after the school fair ends and entrusts Sekai to him, thinking that she won't have any more worries about leaving Sekai. Setsuna wanted to hold a special memory in which she's the only one who's supposed to know & kisses him, only to have Kotonoha as a witness. The school fair ends with a dance at a bonfire for couples & promised Sekai the dance, although he also said yes to Kotonoha after he gave in to her begs & the temptations he face. Kotonoha witnesses the two dancing together at the bonfire, looking happy. Makoto thinks that ditching her would make her snap, wake up & realize that he doesn't like her anymore, but then, he was wrong.
While cleaning up the school fair, Setsuna, Makoto & Kotonoha bump into each other & Setsuna leads Kotonoha into thinking that she & Makoto are the real ones dating & kisses him, & although she is left temporarily startled, it doesn't really work in the end. Sekai finds out about Makoto's make out session with Katou later that night at a party. Katou's friends seem want to have a triple make out session with Makoto and he accepts without second thought. He also ends up sleeping with Kuroda Hikari, a friend of Sekai, though she doesn't really approve of this treatment. By then, he becomes a complete womanizer.
Sekai then shows signs of early pregnancy & tells Makoto, & ends up telling the whole class. Setsuna has already left by then, telling her about her big move via e-mail. Nobody wishes to sleep with Makoto now, & he's ended up wandering around town during the Christmas Season & sees a Kotonoha not in her usual self and he goes back to her. They go back to his house & Sekai sees and follows them to see what they were going to do. She ends up witnessing the two kissing.
The other girls linked to Makoto cut off all ties with him, Katou even told him that he changed from nice guy to womanizer, and thinks of him as a stupid guy, having got over him.
Sekai is outraged & stabs him several times in his bedroom, his last words? "Sekai....". She then goes back to her abode & starts crying, only to receive a text supposedly from Makoto, and tells her to go to the school rooftop, which was full of memories for them. She goes, I have no idea why, & sees a bag. Then Kotonoha appears behind her & starts their final confrontation, saying that she manipulated him and planned the whole thing up, in which Sekai replied to as she didn't intend for this to happen. Kotonoha tells her that Makoto is here with them, "open the bag". she then sees Makoto's head & plans to kill Kotonoha and brought the knife she used to kill Makoto, but is stopped and gets killed by Kotonoha instead, having reverted back to her soulless self, and says, "There is no baby in your stomach".
The ending seen is shown & she's on a boat, hugging Makoto's head, saying, " We can finally be alone, Makoto-kun."

I gotta say, the animation was good, typical of a good Japanese anime artist. The music was fine, I didn't really care much about that. The characters were OK, some were going with the flow, others went mad & killed each other...But....
The ending sent shivers down my spine! The whole series had me thinking about life, love, the whole relationship thing. Hmmm... I think this is inadvisable for people under 15, since it is bloody in the end. But the one thing I really don't get is...I loved the show! I was completely glued to it, well, almost completely. & though the show's genre was really confusing, - love, then slice of life, ends up as a psychological thriller - i think the show's producers & makers intended to make this show to teach youngsters about life, & love. Teaches us that we have to things more seriously, namely studies, & not our love lives. To think about things, putting second-thoughts to it, & not to go crazy over a guy, I guess. Think about it, let me know what you think of my summaryish review...

At first glance, School Days appears to be nothing more than a school drama anime. What's amazing is even when it seems as if the rest of the series won't be the least bit innovative or original, it manages to draw you in. Long shots on characters not yet introduced and subtle gestures intrude. The series is great at foreshadowing, simple as that. Then you get a few episodes in, and realize what you're really in for, the show that I can easily say has the most realistic, human, or in other words, essentially flawed characters. Not flawed as in, "they are boring" or anything along those lines, but they are all in a single word, selfish, and thus human. Every action any character takes in this show is self-serving, self-centered, human. Characters use their friends as tools to get what they want, characters betray those closest for their own needs. I'll go into more detail now.

Storyline: The characters drive the storyline, and with such amazing characters, you bet the story is amazing. I can't imagine rating it lower, despite the somewhat generic setting and what at first seem to be generic characters, but these characters are so well crafted, and no other setting would work. 5/5

Characters: Again, the thing that makes this show amazing is that it allows it's characters to be flawed, primarily to always have themselves as the number one priority. You look at a show like Clannad and you can't see an ounce of true anger or evil for that matter in any character. Here, the characters have an objective and they are willing to go for it, even if it means breaking the heart of a good friend or exploiting another. There are very few shows that are willing to do this, and the few I can think of blame such behavior on things like drugs or diseases. Here, the characters act as they are because they are simply human. They act for themselves. It makes for incredible character development and relationships.

Music: Nothing really worth noting, simple as that.

Animation: It's pretty top notch, but no Eden Of The East, simple as that.

Overall: It is worth watching if any of this made you remotely interested. You won't regret it.