Review of School Days

First and foremost, it's basically impossible to discuss this anime without at least some minor spoilers, so, you've been warned. School Days... Usually when you look at reviews and there's a ton of 9s and a ton of 3s there's a reason for that and certainly after watching it I can see exactly why this anime is so divisive and polarizing. This will NOT be for everybody. In fact, it won't be for MOST people. However, just because something isn't necessarily meant for mass appeal does not mean it isn't interesting or doesn't have any positive aspects. Let's discuss! The main character in particular, but arguably noneof the characters, are likeable. Every character in this anime is varying degrees of selfish, dishonest, weak, promiscuous and seriously lacking self-esteem, and in the case of the main character he's also a borderline rapist who treads or outright oversteps the line regarding consent. And, because anime, every girl in the show inexplicably wants his D.

Anime where every girl in the show has a thing for the main character is nothing new. In fact, they're a dime a dozen. The key difference is in almost all of those the main character is a bland, generic, forgettable nice guy who never actually makes moves on any of the girls or sleeps with any of them and that's completely the opposite of what we have here. This main character is a total jerk and sleeps with every single girl he's able to with absolutely zero regard for their feelings or the consequences. His motivation is solely to get it in. He's callous and cruel and that's the point. This anime isn't designed to be HAPPY or FUN- this character is the way he is by design.

The main character's complete unlikability and his non-stop selfish and manipulative actions throughout the show all set up what is, to say the least, one of the darkest, most messed up, most memorable endings I have ever seen. I'm talking to the point of there's no doubt in my mind this time ten years from now I will still remember this ending, whereas with many anime I couldn't tell you the main character's name three months later. I LOVED this ending. I wish more shows were like this. But, undoubtedly, not everyone will feel the same way.

As far as the takeaway from the show, one can see it two distinctively different ways. I saw a dark, unpleasant show that wants you to step back and think about emotional abuse, selfishness, cruelty towards others, consequences to our actions and the extremes people can be driven to if treated badly enough combined with whatever pre-existing issues they may have. Others may simply see a trashy, classless sex fest with a super messed up ending that doesn't have any point other than appealing to deviants. I see more depth here than that but it's clear not everyone has the same appreciation.

So at the end of the day, would I RECOMMEND School Days? No. I think it's meant for a specific kind of viewer as opposed to a general audience and I couldn't feel confident that any given person reading this review would be highly likely to enjoy it. Did I ENJOY School Days? Very much so, and I wish more anime weren't afraid to be this level of dark, unpleasant, different from the norm and featuring characters that are intentionally shitty. There's way too many generic shows out there with forgettable characters, happy endings and heartwarming wholesomeness when you watch it. This is the opposite of that and it's far more rare but equally beautiful.

OBJECTIVE RATING- -

You just can't with an anime THIS polarizing and needing a specific audience.

PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 8.5