Review of School Days

Jesus christ, where do I start? I've heard bits and pieces about this anime over the years, and how it has a big plot twist at the end, so recently I decided to finally give it a go. And oh boy, was I disappointed. [spoilers for the show, but i won't be going into heavy detail!!] story: hot garbage, absolute hot garbage. it's your typical confession thing at the start, with the best friend encouraging the guy to ask the cute girl out. it then leads to some lighthearted ish moments with them, but it goes downhill once the MC starts acting up. i would not havesat around for more than an episode, had i not known the story would eventually deviate from this very generic romance plot

art: eh, it's got your typical art style for its time so i'm not really complaining about that. others have criticised the poor animation, but i personally don't pay too much attention to that usually, especially not in this show because honestly I was trying to skip through half of it as much as possible

sound: actually, i didn't mind it! the piano was kind of cliche but quite pretty in the moments it was in, and i'm a sucker for happy go lucky sounding openings. in fact, the opening was probably the most enjoyable part of this show for me

characters: and this part, THIS PART, is probably what pushed this show from mediocre romance to unbearable to watch at times. makoto is an absolutely horrible person in this show, and yes, i'm aware that's kind of the point to highlight the main themes of betrayal and its consequences, but what makes it worse is that basically every other character other than MAYBE katsura seems to have no moral compass whatsoever. this dude, who is completely average in the looks department and has a perverted and indecisive personality, somehow manages to get a girlfriend, cheat on her, then cheat on that girl with multiple other girls and yet some of them still love him?? like... how... how did they manage to create so many frustrating characters with little to no redeeming qualities in just 12 episodes

enjoyment: like i said in the sound bit, the op was probably one of the nicest parts of each episode. that, and the thing that happens in episode 12 where the guy finally gets his damn payback for emotionally ruining these girls' lives. but no, i did not like watching this tbh. even in the moments where the girls are crying and clearly being emotionally tortured, they still manage to include a bunch of fanservice in the form of upskirts and angles showing off the breasts. i just... i'm aware that this is probably not intended at my demographic, but surely this is just bad taste considering the nature of this show?

overall: if it didn't have the reputation it did with the ending, i would've turned it off immediately. it has a shitty plotline, overwhelmingly frustrating characters, and not even the plot twist could save it from being generally a bad show