Review of School Days
I should start by stating that I didn't like School Days. It is definitely an anime you will not forget, mainly because the end is so suprising and so shocking that there is no way you can forget it (that's all I can say without spoiling). However, if it weren't for the last episode, the rest of the anime isn't something worth remembering. Story (1) - The story is the typical love triangle, with a higher voltage than the usual and a really surprising twist in the end. I must admit the ending in memorable. But as memorable as it may be, I thing it iswhat I hated the most. I didn´t hate the ending "per se", which is interesting, but the fact that I felt cheated. I have nothing against surprising endings, but please, give me some kind of hint throughout the story. It´s a fundamental principle of storytelling: don´t cheat the reader, or the audience. It felt as if I had made a mistake and was watching the end of another anime. Even the genre was changed without notice. "Surprising" and "cheating" are not the same. My impressión would have been completely different if I had felt some kind of signal that could help me at least foretaste the direction the story would take, while keeping the surprise effect.
Characters (1) - Here lies the other grand failure of this anime. The characters have no charisma, I couldn't feel related to any of them, I couldn't feel sympathy for any of them. You don't need the characters to be "good and nice people" to like them, but you need to al least get to understand them and their behaviour. I felt completely detached. The fact that you can't connect with any of the characters throws you completely out of the story.
Art (6) - The art and the sound aren't that bad. They aren't memorable either. As regards the art particularly, I see a problem in the character design. They all looked the same. I also found it a little boring and lacking in colour (even though the lack of colours is intentional and it makes sense).
Enyoiment (1) - I didn´t enjoy School Days at all. I finished watching it because it was short. If it had been longer I would probably have dropped it. But If you like shocking endings, you may want to give it a try.