School Days

After reading the only other comment posted here, I felt compelled to add my two cents.

First of all, MOST men do not, in fact, date tons of women without caring about any of their feelings. Men like that exist, but they are a special class of jerk.

That aside, this is an amazing series, but I do agree that it is not for the faint of heart. It starts off light and funny and progressively grows darker and darker towards an amazing ending that finally brings the downward spiral of intensifying emotions to a crashing halt.

The animation is quite beautiful and the characters and their actions are as flawed and complex as you could hope for in a romantic series. I found myself loving and hating them at different times and that, in my mind, is the mark of good writing. If you have some solid emotional resolve, I think you will enjoy this series from beginning to end. Do heed the warning, however, as this is a ride you honestly may be changed by, if you take it to its conclusion.

This anime starts off like a normal high school romance anime, but if that's the only thing your looking for I would stay away. The show itself is very well written, and has very good characters and development. I will try and give no hint at spoilers here, but that's rather difficult. The show involves a love triangle where a high school boy seems to have to make a choose between a new-found friend, or his new girlfriend. The difference between this show, and other high school romance anime is a serious tone. Most bad reviews written about this show are from people who were expecting a different genre. If you are open minded I don't see any reason why you wouldn't enjoy this show.

Not for the faint of heart, this anime misleads you at first with vibrant backdrops, beautiful animation, and positive themes like friendship and love. However, Love very quickly loses it's hold on the story as more and more characters are introduced and the downward spiral begins.

If you're anything like me and get attached to characters instantly you'll find at least one character you're rooting for, but as you descend through the chaos and deepening darkness you should start to feel something for almost every single character.

The way School Days gradually and carefully shifts gears is incredible, as you realize all the dark themes were there since the start, subtly.

And the darker and darker it gets you are constantly reminded by the title name that even though the matters at hand are so small and trivial, in "School Days" love, or what you think is love, can be all that matters, and it make can or break your entire "world."

School Days is a sadistic perversion of the High School Romance genre - out is the usual staple of charming characters, sensitive moments and budding romance replaced by lust, cheating and vengeance. To this end the show has to be given credit for it's new take on a well worn story dynamic - taking people in with it's cutesy exterior and presumed love triangle set-up before shattering their expectations with a slow but carefully executed increase in both drama and cruelty.

It's also unparalleled in it's ability to make you despise it's characters; chief among them is the main male protagonist Itou who shows such selfishness and inability to emphasize throughout you wonder if he has genuine mental impairment! Other characters are more multi-layered, showing good aspects (at least at first) but they too also succumb to the general depravity as the show meanders on from one deranged low to another. Towards the end, things start getting a bit too depraved - which almost takes you out of the narrative entirely but then the brutal conclusion rears it's ugly head with all the force of a steam train and you realise now why the depravity was necessary - it had all led us to this one point. The cathartic moment where the people in question get what they deserve.

School Days is a short, sharp jolt out of the nice cutesy preconceptions we have about High School Romance stories. It's unforgiving, sadistic and depraved - but all the while strangely compelling. It has to be applauded for its creativity and how it manages to conjure up strong feelings of hatred towards it's characters. While it couldn't be universally recommended, it's worth watching to those who can stomach it as something that's very unique and different.

For a matter of fact this anime is good, the problem is the characters, each one of them seems to have only one motive and all of them just feel really flat and unfinished and, yes I know "read the manga" they say but the way this anime's plot has been planned out just quite litterly feels shallow with only the ending just being a WTF moment for me, all the other events are pretty much unnecessary or are just there to make the runtime longer. If you are a man of culture give this one a watch, but if you are looking for a mind-bending story to get invested in this ain't gonna be your cup of tea. 7/10