School Days - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[Kristen]

I think since I watched this with everyone else, I should give opinions.

The Goods:
Animation Quality (9/10). Looking at the quality of the characters, scenery, and action which takes place, it is amazing. I could not ask for better. It was basically Kyoto Animation quality.
Seiyu (8/10). I've heard a lot that these voice actors were just trying to hard to sound like the original. Having never played the game, I must say that this is probably just comparative. I thought that the Seiyus were very good. Sekai and Makoto in particular, as long as Setsuna. It would be a 9 if Kotonoha had a voice that displayed some form of emotion.
Script Eps. 1-11 (7/10) I won't say that these episodes were great. However, to me they told a very compelling and interesting story. Was it messed up? Sure. But I think it was more than fun trying to figure out what was going to come out of this in the future episodes, and seeing how big of a hole Makoto could dig himself into. It was a very nice story for those parts.

The Bads:
Editing (5/10). Black Blood? I'm sorry, but if you're going to censor something, do a good job with it. The black just killed everything. I felt I was more disgusted with the black than the red of Higurashi.
Adaptation from the game (4/10). I've never played the game, but I know enough about it to judge this. You cannot throw together every single ending to make a story. It makes it choppy. The last couple episodes were exactly that. Choppy.

The Ugly:
Episode 12 (3/10). This episode was far too abrupt, and took out the chance of morality in the series. It became a series that told a story with no purpose thanks to this episode. It also failed to tie in Setsuna to the story, and failed to show what happened afterwards. This is the first series that I just decided to forget this episode happened and make up my own in my head.

Overall:
6/10. This is very low on my anime list because of the last episode. Had they made something like Makoto realizes his love for Sekai and becomes a good faithful father, It would've been an 8 or so. But rather, they made me throw up my dinner last night.

[Shana]

So let's begin.

Animation Quality: 8/10 - Very Good.

Sometimes the AQ disgusted me; becouse they did not explain WTF M and X were in that Y place (As episode 6 first scene).

VA's: 7/10 - Good.

Kotonoha's, Sekai's and Makoto's VA were all good; I'm disappointed of Otome's VA, her VA hear'd as hoarse (Don't remember how to type it, just remember that's an homophone of "horse") . It's not that bad, though, but I can be better.

Script: 6/10 - Average

I did like the whoooooleeeeee script, but not Sekai's script. She was all the time talking of "But Makoto's Kotonoha-san's Boyfriend..." repeating and repeating.

Adaptation from game: Don't know how to rate this one, I did not finished the game yet but from what I've played, a 7/10 is good - Good.

The only real SD's character is Kotonoha why? Becouse of what I've played, Sekai wasn't that free in the game. And Makoto wasn't a ladiesmen as in the anime.

Setsuna wasn't a real "important" character in the game.

Remember that I did only played 2 chapters of the game

Editing: What does this one mean? the how-they-did-drawn-characters?

OST: 8/10

Overall,
3/10

Why? That ending was so tasteless: Some of we did want Makoto to die, or something as that; I did not want something like that, was it really NECESSARY to take THAT way? It's REALLY absurd, who'll kill her/his Boyfriend/Girlfriend becouse of be cheating? Gawd.

[W-General]

10/10
Perfect life lessons for teenagers with raging hormones in high schools. Girls keep your clothes on and guys keep your **** in your pants.
Love the ending. Surpassed even the game's endings because there's more people dying.

[smk]

While, I've yet to post here often I figure I may as well get my thoughts out on the anime somwhere since barely anyone I know has watched it or is watching it.

Basically, I felt that the story was... interesting. While, maybe not as good as other anime it did keep me on my toes. There were some key parts that were overall to be expected. Such as, whom Makoto was going to choose when it came to the bonfire dance. It obviously going to be Sekai simply because he preferred her at that current time. Overall, the story wasn't compelling enough to make me feel shocked like some other anime have. It kept me on my toes but, I never really got much shock out of it. As far as the rating for it... 7/10.

Animation? What's there to say? Honestly, it was satisfactory to me. As long as I can see and be able to tell what they are doing and who they are it's decent. If it looks great then it will work out good. I felt that the animation was very good, looking at some of the animation of the game based off pictures the anime comes close to the quality of the game. But... may have suffered due to lower quality of TVs? Don't know. It was good anyway, 8/10.

Voice Actors... I hadn't played the original game myself. So, I'll just go by what I thought was appropriate for the characters' personalities. Makoto's VA was all well and good, Sekai's did a nice job on her "shocked" emotion. Kotonoha... it fits her to an extent but, feels like there's not much emotion there. Like, she's just stating her opinion of Makoto every moment she can. Rather bland if you ask me. The side characters were suitable except maybe Otome's, hers felt rather awkward when compared to the other girls. I liked Setsuna's VA though! It reminded me a lot of Yuki's personality from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Overall: 7/10

Script? Well... I think it was decent. Things went the way they were supposed to, however, I felt that Episode 12 kind of pushed the limits of the script as far as Kotonoha goes. I mean, sure, she wasn't sane but to be that insane enough to do what she did PLUS behead her boyfriend is kind of crossing the line in my mind. It was perfectly fine for her to be insane enough to think she was on a date with Makoto, talking to Makoto, and so on when she had that break down after Makoto told her the truth straight up. It was clear that in Episode 12, she still wasn't as sane as she was in Episode 1 or 2. I felt it was somewhat OOC, but, I suppose it was good enough despite that. Overall: 6/10

Editing... well there isn't much to say here other than the black blood made me cringe more than red blood might have. It gave off that creepy vibe, as though you were actually watching someone being stabbed. Not my cup of tea but, it did its job I suppose. Overall: 4/10

Anime adaption compared to the game? Well, I never played the game so I can't really judge this.

Overall, I wouldn't give this anime a 10/10 for some minor nitpicky things. I just didn't find some scenes that great, especially, the scene where Taisuke takes advantage of Kotonoha. Again, not really my cup of tea but ah well, it did what it was supposed to. I'd give this anime perhaps, a 6 or 7/10. Perhaps... a 6.5/10 will do it justice enough. I just can't bring myself to give it a 7... it was good and original, just some parts also felt rushed, IMO.

[HashiriyaR32]

I likened way this anime played out to loading a pistol and firing it.

Ep 1-8: Loading the magazine round by round.
Ep 9: Inserting magazine into pistol
Ep 10: Racking the slide
Ep 11: Deactivating the safety
Ep 12: Aim and fire

Overall, I give the series a 7/10, since I instinctively knew it would be a trainwreck right from the very beginning.

[hipeach]

Originally Posted by ChrissieXD

It also failed to tie in Setsuna to the story, and failed to show what happened afterwards.

Setsuna in the story? she's carrying Makoto's last evil seed in France. what happened afterwards? Kotonoha sails to France and buthers Setsuna to finally wipe Makoto's genes off of existence

[Goldmember]

Originally Posted by hipeach

Setsuna in the story? she's carrying Makoto's last evil seed in France. what happened afterwards? Kotonoha sails to France and buthers Setsuna to finally wipe Makoto's genes off of existence

Exactly.

Set-chan won at the end.
For Kotonoha , we don't know.

[Cheezy]

4,5/10

I didn't really like this series that much.
The characters were despiceable, animation and art could been better, music was nothing memorable and the voice acting was nothing special, imo
The last episode was pretty good though.

generic harem anime, not too bad but could certainly been better.

[Lost-Wisdom]

Episode 12 was far the most gruesome and violent endings of the whole series. I mean, they actually killed a Main character and others.

Did anyone understand what happened to the other characters? They were completely non-existant in this episode. Weird eh?

Oh yeah, by the way.

Spoiler for Sekai:

Sekai started all this, it's all her fault. I hate her, she was playing with everyones head, and she got what she deserved, thank god for Katsura for killing her.

[Computer_guy]

I was expecting something like that to happen. This was just wierd romance. My first romance that ended like thins. Most of the ones i watch are happen ending ones and this was a just an anime that had 2 of the main characters die and some girl go really freaking crazy over a boy. Animes take love way to seriously. In real life things really dont happen like that.

[CJL13]

Originally Posted by HashiriyaR32

I likened way this anime played out to loading a pistol and firing it.

Ep 1-8: Loading the magazine round by round.
Ep 9: Inserting magazine into pistol
Ep 10: Racking the slide
Ep 11: Deactivating the safety
Ep 12: Aim and fire

Overall, I give the series a 7/10, since I instinctively knew it would be a trainwreck right from the very beginning.

I'd liken it more to Joker's pistol from Batman Beyond.

Ep 1-8: Sweet and innocent, yet menacing.
Ep 9: Loads gun and magazine.
Ep 10: Racks slide, deactivates safety, and aims.
Ep 11: Shoots, has a flag with bang on it, you feel relieved.
Ep 12: Fires the flag and kills you.

[HashiriyaR32]

Originally Posted by CJL13

I'd liken it more to Joker's pistol from Batman Beyond.

Ep 1-8: Sweet and innocent, yet menacing.
Ep 9: Loads gun and magazine.
Ep 10: Racks slide, deactivates safety, and aims.
Ep 11: Shoots, has a flag with bang on it, you feel relieved.
Ep 12: Fires the flag and kills you.

lol, nice one

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Lost-Wisdom

Episode 12 was far the most gruesome and violent endings of the whole series. I mean, they actually killed a Main character and others.

Did anyone understand what happened to the other characters? They were completely non-existant in this episode. Weird eh?

Oh yeah, by the way.

Spoiler for Sekai:

Sekai started all this, it's all her fault. I hate her, she was playing with everyones head, and she got what she deserved, thank god for Katsura for killing her.

now now she has suffered as well so i dont think it is fair to lay all the blame onto her. sure if she didnt start the ball rolling it wouldnt have turned out this way but...meh...that is how the story goes

as for the others...who cares about them? *goddam bitches*

[Whitemoon648]

Originally Posted by Lost-Wisdom

Episode 12 was far the most gruesome and violent endings of the whole series. I mean, they actually killed a Main character and others.

Did anyone understand what happened to the other characters? They were completely non-existant in this episode. Weird eh?

Oh yeah, by the way.

Spoiler for Sekai:

Sekai started all this, it's all her fault. I hate her, she was playing with everyones head, and she got what she deserved, thank god for Katsura for killing her.

Sekai didnt play with every one's head. She didnt plan all of those things so that she could get close to makoto.

The thing is kotonaha is evil in her own way too. She accucsed sekai of being like a mastermind and planning all of those things in adavance so she ( sekai ) could get close to Makoto( Which she didnt ).

But Sekai didnt plan any of those things. Its true she overdid it with that " practice" session but she didnt really did it because she wanted to take makoto. And yes she didnt do it to help him. It was something of mixed. it started as helping him mixed with having feelings for him .

Also the person pushing to be with sekai (almost the whole series) was Makoto. Sekai even told makoto( couple of times) that Kotohana was his girlfriend but makoto didnt listen.

So if any one at fault its Makoto.

[Darklord_bg]

This show had a lot of potential, but somewhere around episode 9 it plunged downhill. The last few episodes were so artificial that I couldn't take the show seriously anymore.

It felt like the producers wanted to make Makoto sleep with all the girls in the show and then meet a gory end. This way the viewers get to see sex, fanservice and blood all at once. Sounds perfect doesn't it? There is just one "little" problem - a complete lack of logic and consistency in the show.

A good drama show (like Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien) achieves the level of drama by putting the characters into really difficult situations and having them make impossible decisions, where there is sometimes no right choice. School Days does exactly the opposite - it presents its characters with regular mundane problems, that I'm sure a lot of people in the real world face, and makes the characters act retarded. Seriously could anybody buy how all of a sudden all the girls wanted to sleep with Makoto?

Finally, I get to one of the hottest and most controversial topics regarding this show...the ending. It was...how should I put it mildly...extremely distasteful and disturbing. First of all...even though Makoto needed to be beaten up senseless and Sekai deserved a good slap on the face and a spanking, none of them really deserved to die. Things like this happen in real life and they can be resolved in a mature fashion. So, even though I know the viewers are intelligent and won't do anything stupid, I feel like I need to implore all girls who found their boyfriend cheating not to kill him. Just dump his sorry ass! It's really disturbing reading some comments how things like this should happen in real life.
Secondly, the amount of gore in both of the killings was not necessary. A simple stab in the stomach would carry the message, and it would actually have a bigger effect.
Finally, some of the scenes were really disturbing...like Kotonoha cutting Makoto's head off and putting it in a bag, or checking whether Sekai was really pregnant.

In conclusion, I would not really recommend this show to anyone. It's really illogical and inconsistent and the ending is downright disturbing. I'm glad it's finally over and I hope people will stop fussing about it soon (though this will probably be impossible, given the level of popularity it achieved). I'm just mad that the producers used so many cheap tricks (fanservice, gore) in order to appeal to the viewers, while the consistency of the show clearly suffered. If you want to watch a really good romance drama show, watch KGNE.

3/10(just for some good episodes in the middle of the show: 5-8)

[Solafighter]

It seems so, im one of the very less people, who are sad, that sekai ended like this. Sad ending..

[Neki Ecko]

I see that is alot of different scores around the table and it is one of those series that its going to be alot of different opinions and impressions. I think mines is different as well, so lets begins(wall of text, approved by Neki Ecko)

Animation Quality (1-10): Well you look at the animation, I swear its look like the OAV from the beginning of the game, but everything else is subpar, nothing will jump out and surprise or shock people about the animation but they did a good job on certain scene here and there but all of all, the animation is okay. (6.5 of 10)

Voice Actors (1-10): I think VA did a good job to characters' personalities. Makoto's VA was all well and good from his shy self at beginning to the very, Sekai's did a nice job on her emotions she had. Everybody else was so-so, you have some good performaces like Setsuna, Koto, and Kotoro and others was okay, but nothing really stand out to you when you listen to it. (6.5 of 10)

Script (1-10): Now this is going to be a tough one to graded because you have many things you have to think about it.
1) You have to compact all the story arc into 12 eps. I know that they have did all the story arc without compacting it, it will be like 26 - 30 eps even more, and that was going to make people not looking at it if was that long for this type of harem anime(I think they was following KGNE way)
2) I think because what happened with the Axe murder, they have to changed the script up, and in a way it was a blessing and a curse at the same tme. The curse was they have to take out some of the scenes (like if Sekai was carried a child of not, or if Setsuna got word that Sekai was killed) we will not know until DVD comes out or get liceased in the states but the blessing is will get to see a "Nice Boat" at the end.
But this is the first time they use a dark element when it comes down to Harem anime and they did a good job on that, it could been alittle bit better at the end but Makoto is dead and that is what everybody want to see(I dont mind see Otome and Makoto died too but they will get it one day) (8.5. of 10) (added 1.0 for the "Nice Boat")

Adaptation from Game (1-10): They did a good job adaptation from the game to the anime because if they adapted the whole entire thing, it will be like going into the Hentai levels, so they did a okay job on it (7.0 of 10)

Editing (1-10): I know that alot of people is complaining about the black blood but it was black blood or not see it at all and I say, we can look at all the red blood and "guts" on DVDs, I want to see it NOW. Besides that, Editing wasnt too bad (7.0 of 10)

Overall: This series was a rare series that pushes all the buttons and the limits of a person stupidity and trust (believe me, I think it was no trust at all) in this series, many people out there think that ending was way too out there but I have to say this, it actually happen in my hometown one time when I was younger except the girl didnt hang on his head. This series taught all of us a good lesson about relationship and trust the person you loved. This series has its faults and believe me, there was alot but at the end, its serves its purpose. This series is one of the best Dark Drama Anime this year and hopefully its open door for Dark Harem anime out come but not like this one. (9.0 of 10)

[Skyfall]

Please, remember to use spoiler tags (with proper labels) when referring to KGNE or any other anime. Not everyone has seen it, please display some consideration towards these people.

[Nvis]

Originally Posted by Whitemoon648

But Sekai didnt plan any of those things. Its true she overdid it with that " practice" session but she didnt really did it because she wanted to take makoto. And yes she didnt do it to help him. It was something of mixed. it started as helping him mixed with having feelings for him .

Also the person pushing to be with sekai (almost the whole series) was Makoto. Sekai even told makoto( couple of times) that Kotohana was his girlfriend but makoto didnt listen.

Well, the true mastermind should be Setsuna. But Sekai's "practice" lesson led to like a drug addiction for Makoto(which led to the 'Everyone's Makoto' episode). I liked it much better when Makoto was initially shy.....

Well Sekai did force the 'After Festival' dance on him, which directly led to Koto's rape.

[Whitemoon648]

Originally Posted by Nvis

Well, the true mastermind should be Setsuna. But Sekai's "practice" lesson led to like a drug addiction for Makoto(which led to the 'Everyone's Makoto' episode). I liked it much better when Makoto was initially shy.....

Well Sekai did force the 'After Festival' dance on him, which directly led to Koto's rape.

Forced ? That wasnt how i saw it. It was something obvious for Makoto to do.

I remember almost during episodes 3 to 8, Makoto was dating Sekai. Remember they had few conversations about when they should tell Kotonaha and how Sekai was feeling guilty and saying it was wrong for her not to know and Makoto said " he would tell her later". So since they were going out , it was an obvious choice to dance with her.

Also even before the practice session, Sekai and Makoto were more friendly ( more like couples) with each other. As even Makoto said , " being with kotonaha was tiring while being with sekai was more relaxing".

Also you say that the practice session was like a drug adiction for him. Well Its true, but lets compare Kotonaha and sekai. Kotonaha had a better body figures than Sekai and she also told Makoto she could have sex with her, and what happend? Makoto still ignored her .

So If we compare the two female characters, Makoto liked sekai more. And one could say the only reason she went out with Kotonaha was because he felt super guilty about the horible things he had done to her.

For some reason i feel alot more sorry for Sekai than kotonaha, and i think most of the people would do the same if it wasnt because of episode 12. What sekai did was cruel. She snapped at the end. She was so calm and undrestading with Makoto for the whole series. I was so disappointed that it ended like that. If one thing about School days i didnt like was Sekai killing makoto. Although i still think what he did to her was super cruel.

Overal, the only real messed up person in the series was Makoto. He drove every one else Mad and brought upon others sadness and sorrow. First he abandoned Kotonaha and said she loved Sekai. Then after Sekai got pregnant he abandoned her. Although from the last episode it seemed to as though he didnt really wanted to abandon sekai and that the news of her being pregnant was just too suden for him.

So i dont think the main reason He abandoned Sekai was her being pregnant , and it was out of guilt. I think Makoto redeemed himself partially at the end. and there was his selfspeech about how he loved sekai and wanted to be close with her with a remorsing tone.

So i am going to stick with my theory that untill the very end , Makoto loved Sekai more than any one else and wanted to be with her.

P.S. Your are blaming Sekai for things she had nothing to do . Dont you think its kind of unfair ?