School Days

After reading the only other comment posted here, I felt compelled to add my two cents.

First of all, MOST men do not, in fact, date tons of women without caring about any of their feelings. Men like that exist, but they are a special class of jerk.

That aside, this is an amazing series, but I do agree that it is not for the faint of heart. It starts off light and funny and progressively grows darker and darker towards an amazing ending that finally brings the downward spiral of intensifying emotions to a crashing halt.

The animation is quite beautiful and the characters and their actions are as flawed and complex as you could hope for in a romantic series. I found myself loving and hating them at different times and that, in my mind, is the mark of good writing. If you have some solid emotional resolve, I think you will enjoy this series from beginning to end. Do heed the warning, however, as this is a ride you honestly may be changed by, if you take it to its conclusion.

It has already been said, but it's true so I'll say it again. It starts off light like a normal romance anime, nothing special, but at the 4th episode it starts to get darker, and darker, and heavier, then suddenly the final episode arrives and hits you in the stomach with a baseball bat. I watched the entire series in 1 day because I couldn't wait to find out what happens next, so it was around 1:00 AM when I saw the last episode. I couldn't sleep too well, I was emotionally disturbed for about a week but afterwards I just relaxed and started laughing.

I re-watched many of the episodes (including the ending) and still love them. The characters are likable, (everyone may hate Makoto, but they aren't reading in between the lines) the story is moving, and I can't remember anything else to say. I recommend this for people who either have a strong stomach, or a barf bag.

It may be a bit unrealistic, but then again, when the hell are animes ever realistic?

Not for the faint of heart, this anime misleads you at first with vibrant backdrops, beautiful animation, and positive themes like friendship and love. However, Love very quickly loses it's hold on the story as more and more characters are introduced and the downward spiral begins.

If you're anything like me and get attached to characters instantly you'll find at least one character you're rooting for, but as you descend through the chaos and deepening darkness you should start to feel something for almost every single character.

The way School Days gradually and carefully shifts gears is incredible, as you realize all the dark themes were there since the start, subtly.

And the darker and darker it gets you are constantly reminded by the title name that even though the matters at hand are so small and trivial, in "School Days" love, or what you think is love, can be all that matters, and it make can or break your entire "world."

School Days is a sadistic perversion of the High School Romance genre - out is the usual staple of charming characters, sensitive moments and budding romance replaced by lust, cheating and vengeance. To this end the show has to be given credit for it's new take on a well worn story dynamic - taking people in with it's cutesy exterior and presumed love triangle set-up before shattering their expectations with a slow but carefully executed increase in both drama and cruelty.

It's also unparalleled in it's ability to make you despise it's characters; chief among them is the main male protagonist Itou who shows such selfishness and inability to emphasize throughout you wonder if he has genuine mental impairment! Other characters are more multi-layered, showing good aspects (at least at first) but they too also succumb to the general depravity as the show meanders on from one deranged low to another. Towards the end, things start getting a bit too depraved - which almost takes you out of the narrative entirely but then the brutal conclusion rears it's ugly head with all the force of a steam train and you realise now why the depravity was necessary - it had all led us to this one point. The cathartic moment where the people in question get what they deserve.

School Days is a short, sharp jolt out of the nice cutesy preconceptions we have about High School Romance stories. It's unforgiving, sadistic and depraved - but all the while strangely compelling. It has to be applauded for its creativity and how it manages to conjure up strong feelings of hatred towards it's characters. While it couldn't be universally recommended, it's worth watching to those who can stomach it as something that's very unique and different.

Well, this review will be rather short for I don't have a lot to say about this series.

First of all, there is nothing wrong with the animation itself, it is good enough for today's standards. The story is well build and all the other technical details are also good.

However, The story starts as a regular high school comedy. Up to the third/fourth chapter everything goes well. They build you to think the story is totally different to how its going to be. In the fifth chapter, the plot thickens. I'm not really going to say how because I think I could be spoiling the series for you but if you have watched the movie Thirteen and you multiply what you felt there for a thousand you may get how I felt when I watched it.

There is other good things about this series like the fact that it is completely different than most series, characters are not cliché and most importantly it shows a social reality that everyone is aware of but nobody really thinks about. (Most guys date tons of women without carrying for their feelings).

This series scarred me for life.... This is by far the heaviest series you will ever see. Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't sleep in like 3 days and some of the stuff still hunts me all day long.

I do notttt recommend you this series.. however I do encourage you to watch it (or at least try to) if you think this kind of stuff does not affect you a lot (its good to watch something different to what you usually watch).But... Consider your self warned.