School Days

All I have to say is that karma went full throttle in this series.

Let's just start off with a bit of background; School Days is an infamous anime based off of a Japanese visual novel, now the visual novel has about 12 different endings, the anime's ending basically shows the worst possible outcome.

This anime has some AMAZING PRODUCTION it's super solid and the people who made this anime knew what they were doing with the pacing, the music, the timing, everything was top tier. The pacing at times feels slowed down and personal which adds on to the overall tone, personal. After all, the developments of the story are dark. There's a lot of foreshadowing towards the end about the big twist with Makoto. This show is brilliant, all the characters were flawed individuals but none of them deserved the ending they received, but even so none of the actions taken by the characters were unreasonable. The grand finale was brilliant, it was dark, it was extreme but it was built up to that point perfectly. There aren't words to describe just how great the execution was of the scene was, the music, the framing, the pacing and the dialogue. Everything worked together perfectly.

We can take this anime as a cautionary tale on the consequences of cheating and how that can affect others negatively.

This anime is a unique experience, I recommend going in blind when watching this anime. It's definitely more surprising without the spoilers I was unaware of that and unfortunately made the wrong choice and got spoiled but even so I was still shocked by the events which transpired towards the later half of the series.

Flaws: The middle part of the anime felt long and slow, for me it was a little boring, for others it was regular pace. Some even complain that the last few episodes felt rushed however i myself I enjoyed the pacing at the beginning and towards the last 3 episodes.

Overall I would give this anime a 8/10. This anime could of went in many different directions but it was clear from the start that the anime wanted to use this ending and it was well made, plus I enjoyed it. Honestly I understand the arguments for why this anime was a dumpster fire but I have to give it some props because I enjoyed watching.

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."

Well, this review will be rather short for I don't have a lot to say about this series.

First of all, there is nothing wrong with the animation itself, it is good enough for today's standards. The story is well build and all the other technical details are also good.

However, The story starts as a regular high school comedy. Up to the third/fourth chapter everything goes well. They build you to think the story is totally different to how its going to be. In the fifth chapter, the plot thickens. I'm not really going to say how because I think I could be spoiling the series for you but if you have watched the movie Thirteen and you multiply what you felt there for a thousand you may get how I felt when I watched it.

There is other good things about this series like the fact that it is completely different than most series, characters are not cliché and most importantly it shows a social reality that everyone is aware of but nobody really thinks about. (Most guys date tons of women without carrying for their feelings).

This series scarred me for life.... This is by far the heaviest series you will ever see. Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't sleep in like 3 days and some of the stuff still hunts me all day long.

I do notttt recommend you this series.. however I do encourage you to watch it (or at least try to) if you think this kind of stuff does not affect you a lot (its good to watch something different to what you usually watch).But... Consider your self warned.

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.