Review of School Days
I finished this show in a single day. I was intrigued by the horrible rating on this anime, so I wanted to watch for myself. I can see why this show has a low score, but I gave it a 9 for a reason. I honestly had no idea what I was getting into, and oh boy was it the most beautifully depraved and cataclysmic piece of art I've ever seen. There will be *SPOILERS* from here on, because I simply cannot imagine this review making sense without them. Story (10/10): I'm not going to do a play-by-play of the whole plot, but here are thehighlights. The story is a very simple Harem/high school romance drama. At least, that's what I thought at first. We get to follow a wide array of mentally unstable and vindictive characters, including the main (antagonist?) Itou Makoto and his many love interests. Katsura Kotonoha is his initial target (yes she was a target because we all come to realize what a horned up bastard Makoto is) and is seemingly a sweet, shy girl, not unlike many young Japanese girls. I assume these people are seniors in high school what with the way they act, but I don't think it's ever clarified. Overall, the entire cast devolves into a drama so thick and messy that it leaves you wondering how it all "came to this."
There are a few important factors to the story's progression, such as the pacing. As opposed to many other animes I've watched, the initial episodes are a bit slow, and the intensity really starts following in episode 4. This was a conscious decision on the director's part I'm assuming, because by structuring the story in such a way, we find Makoto slightly likable at first. This sets us up to be disappointed not very long after.
The sexcapade that begins once Makoto starts fooling around with Sekai is a whirlwind. For a while, it seems Makoto truly likes her, but eventually bangs the whole damn school, including Sekai's own friends. This creates obvious tension among the ladies, and Makoto digs himself the ultimate grave (literally). He ends up pissing of Sekai (who faked a pregnancy that resulted in the ending mess) by abandoning her once she becomes "pregnant" and gets back together with Kotonoha, who at this point, is severely mentally damaged by him. Makoto doesn't do this before having a foursome with Kotonoha's bullies though!
The ending is the final and absolute degradation of Kotonoha's mind. After Sekai kills Makoto (which was cathartic, I will admit) for abandoning her and their "baby," Kotonoha discovers this and then kills Sekai, but not before literally beheading Makoto, shoving his head in a duffel bag, bringing it to the school roof, and then murdering Sekai by cutting her uterus open to confirm that no, there was no child in there. She then takes Makoto's decapitated head and escapes to sea on her yacht, where she cuddles it endearingly. What a beautiful, horrific mess.
One last thing. The scene where the basketball girls watch the video footage from the break room was one of the most disturbing parts of the show. It really solidified to me how awful this school was. Not only is this a crime where I'm from, but it was humiliating, disgusting, and wrong.
Art (3/10): Obviously, this is going to be a low scoring category, and the main reason why I gave the show a 9 instead of a 10. The art style and animation are downright awful. Nobody is cute in this show; they all look like discount store Clannad characters. The hairstyles are a particular brand of ugly. Also, it's kind of hard to tell some of the girls apart sometimes.
Sound (6/10): Nothing too memorable. I didn't like the opening nor the ending sequence.
Character (10/10): The characters in this show are evil. Not one of them, besides Kotonoha, is innocent. Obviously, the main perpetrator of drama and pain is Makoto, who willingly cheats, lies, ignores, and abandons. However, the girls in this show make themselves available to him by seduction. Makoto is a simple-minded grunt who can only think with his wiener. Sekai is beyond surprised when, even after dancing with her at the festival, Makoto turns his back on her and has sex with multiple other girls.
The principle here is simple but profound: you lose them how you get them. Sekai only started messing around with Makoto because she initiated sexual "training" that quickly became very real (although, Makoto mentions he's tired of Kotonoha and makes mutual moves on Sekai). This happens when Makoto is not yet broken up with Kotonoha. So, Sekai bagged Makoto when he was still taken. She could not possibly expect the ending of their own relationship to not have a similar ending. I saw this coming, because I know cheaters. The other girls, who I cannot remember their names, are equally as mean and make moves on Itou. I can't imagine why he's so popular at this school, but it's a harem, so what the hell.
We don't know much about anyone's life outside of school. There are no adults in this whole show except a single teacher. Makoto's pervert friend takes advantage of Kotonoha's fragile state of mind and has sex with her at the festival, making all TWO of the male characters in this show absolute douche bags. Usually I wouldn't like this detached aspect much, but since their lives seem to revolve around school drama anyways, it fits the story well. All these characters are unlikable. All of them. Makoto is a typical guy who doesn't actually want to put work into a relationship and wait to have sex. He just wants it outright, which is what draws him to Sekai. He exhibits a pattern of using and throwing away girls that he's bored with, only to have all his partners abandon him in the end. He shows minimal remorse for what he does, even saying "she doesn't matter" when Sekai asks about Kotonoha before they have sex. The characters in this show were never meant to be likable, but to illustrate the cutthroat nature of finding yourself sexually and romantically. That's the point. They don't need to be particularly fleshed out because their lives are the drama.
Enjoyment (10/10): Like I said, I finished this in one day and immediately wanted to make a review. I had a lot of thoughts about it, especially how I don't think it deserves below a 6 on here. I really, really liked this show despite the awful art style. It was different from other high school romance dramas, and entered the arena with no holds barred. I appreciate it for that.
Overall (9/10): I would recommend this show to anyone. It illustrates the mental/emotional damage that womanizers have on women. It shows that people don't respect relationships. It exploits the ineffectiveness of young people's communication styles. It shows us viewers just how low someone can go as a result of the actions of others. And for that, this anime deserves a healthy, hardy 9.