Review of School Days

Ah, School Days. What an experience. It's become such a phenomenon in the anime community (Nice Boat!) that most people have probably already seen it. If you haven't for whatever reason - and especially if you haven't had the ending spoiled - you're missing a diverse little head trip. First off, you're going to need a good bit of patience. SD likes to tease it's audience, to the point that you could really consider the first 11 episodes as painfully slow buildup to the (admittedly awesome) finale. That tension encompasses a veritable roller-coaster of emotions, styles and themes. You'll see cute awkwardness give wayto genuine affection, best friends turn on each other and just about every girl in this school find the main character to inexplicably be a sex God. Oh Japan, so silly.

That would be the easiest way to categorize School Days, as a harem anime. It doesn't really come out until about halfway through, but once it does, it doesn't shy away from the taboo. The show shifts genres parallel to a shift in tone from the witty, cheesy cliches that japanimation is famous for into a bleak social commentary so smoothly and naturally that disbelief is never broken.

This is really School Days' biggest strength; being able to contrast perverted grade school humor with stark images of heartbreak. You can easily go into the show just looking for a lighthearted diversion and be satisfied. Similarly, if you're willing to sit through the shtick humor and (at first) angst-ridden melodrama, you'll end up with surprisingly well-developed characters and an extremely gratifying ending.

Artistically, the show isn't perfect. The animation isn't bad, in fact several scenes were quite evocative, if a bit trope-heavy. The voice acting really shines, especially later on, once the characters round out, at least in the Japanese dub. The soundtrack is straight J-pop for better or worse. One nice little facet is that they use a rotating selection of songs for the end credits, keeping the experience fresh. They only add music to a handful of scenes within the show, and while I really liked them all, more music overall would've helped.

School Days ultimately suffers from an unfortunate medium transition. Originally appearing as a harem simulation game with multiple unique endings, the anime directors had the difficult task of picking one ending to a story meant to be dynamic and fluid. Many elements of this carry over; prepare for innuendo more overused than some (perhaps not all) may care for, and anyone who can sit through the first 11 episodes and not want to become a staunch feminist should probably seek a psychiatrist. That said, I was surprised to find the care to storytelling present in what I wrongly assumed would be a shallow perversion. It's no classic, but I enjoyed taking the time to absorb the experience.

And I sure as hell am going to think twice before I go out with two girls at once.