Warning!! Contains a lot of spoilers...but read on if you want to know what i think & my somewhat summary of the show.
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...