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View Poll Results: School Days Total Series Rating
Perfect 10 94 20.75%
9 out of 10 : Excellent 58 12.80%
8 out of 10 : Very Good 59 13.02%
7 out of 10 : Good 58 12.80%
6 out of 10 : Average 43 9.49%
5 out of 10 : Below Average 27 5.96%
4 out of 10 : Poor 15 3.31%
3 out of 10 : Bad 12 2.65%
2 out of 10 : Very Bad 8 1.77%
1 out of 10 : Painful 10 2.21%
-1 out of 10: I want the time spent watching this back 69 15.23%
Voters: 453. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 2007-09-27, 23:06   Link #21
patnam
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like the first season of higurashi, school days give a good start containing romance jokes. Then it ran through out the despairing part (mostly the ending) thus turn violent and bloody (pukes).
BTW, it would suit the series.
Hope Overflow would make OVA for the series, maybe contain the alternate ending either it would be a happier and delightful end or the worst and despaired end......
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Old 2007-09-28, 00:32   Link #22
Tasdern
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OMG! Now THAT was one hell of a ride. I'm glad I stopped reading anything about the series once I heard that a bad ending was possibe. I was bummed that it wasn't going to be a total suprise but I was supprised by this ending. WOW. How creepy can you get?

Spoiler for A question about Kotonoha.:

I wish I could easily burn these to a DVD so my wife would watch it on TV.

Shocking, truly shocking. A very good ride!!!!

DAMN THAT WAS GOOD!!! How can I go to sleep now? Wow. what a creep factor.

Its STILL creeping me out! I can't remember when anything had such an effect on me.
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Old 2007-09-28, 01:05   Link #23
alphabetdude
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Best Trainwreck Ive Ever Seen !!!!!!!!!!
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Old 2007-09-28, 01:13   Link #24
patnam
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Hope there will be made in live action version...
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Old 2007-09-28, 01:43   Link #25
Blue_Mercy
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I could rant and rant about how School Days was disappointing in so many ways, but I'll leave you with this. Any show without a single intelligent character(yes even Setsuna) will automatically get a 1/10 from me regardless of how good it is in other areas.
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Old 2007-09-28, 02:45   Link #26
hipeach
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blue_Mercy View Post
Any show without a single intelligent character(yes even Setsuna) will automatically get a 1/10 from me regardless of how good it is in other areas.
welcome to harem anime
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Old 2007-09-28, 03:37   Link #27
Solace
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Not my idea of a good show. Too much hype for something that isn't all that groundbreaking. Other shows have done what this one tries to do, and better.
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Old 2007-09-28, 04:16   Link #28
KholdStare
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First of all:

Animation Quality: 9
Voice Actors: 8
Script: 4
Adaptation from Game: NA
Editing: 5
Music: 9

Total: 7/10

First, I was quite disappointed with the ending, because it was just sad...not SaiKano sad, not KgNE sad, not Grave of the Fireflies sad, but it was disturbingly sad. Other than that, I didn't mind most the series. I spent a big chunk of my posts defending Sekai and Makoto's actions on their character threads, but I did turn against Makoto when he started having sex wildly with Otome for no reason at all. However, I did not with for Makoto to die a painful death, but that he will be with no one in the end.

This series did indeed surprise me, because I never thought I would come close to forgiving Makoto and believing that someday he could show remorse about what he's done. The animation and voice acting was close to excellent...seriously. I give animation the 9 only because of the black blood. It's a good drama, but failed as a romance adaptation...but hey, maybe they didn't have that in mind. The suspense led me to rating some of the shows 10/10, and they are well worth 10/10...just not the ending.

One final thing...I love the music for this show. Anime is rarely all bad, and for many of the shows I wouldn't find excellent I love their music, such as School Days, InuYasha, Bokura ga Ita, Koi Kaze, etc.... (I'm not dissing these anime. I do enjoy them, but I have a very high standard for "excellent" anime.) Even though this anime ended, I will still be listening to its sound tracks for a while, I can tell you that.
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Old 2007-09-28, 06:46   Link #29
StrawberryKitten
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Animation Quality: 9
Voice Actors: 10
Script: 9
Adaptation from Game: 10
Editing: 8


:B
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Old 2007-09-28, 14:14   Link #30
Darklightz
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I loved this anime from beginning to end.

I give it a total of 9/10

I especially loved the presentation. In the beginning you see the shy Makoto looking at Kotonoha from far apart, and the cute Sekai wants to help him out, so you relax thinking to enjoy another cheerful romance comedy featuring Makoto's clumsy attempts at romance. But then he instantly gets hooked up with Kotonoha, so the anime is about something else, but what? Then you see Sekai kiss him and now think it's about betrayed love and that Kotonoha will slap him and he will fumble his way into her good graces again, but again this doesn't happen. As each episode gets darker and more intense you realized you thought you would be riding a pony when in fact you put yourself on top a rabid lion.

I also liked how everyone was flawed. Going back on everything, if there had been a truly pure character reminding everyone of the right thing, it wouldn't have been as impactful as the jolly mess we have now.

The only downside is that the girls adoration for Makoto was pushed. How long can so many girls stay deluded like that?

Still a great series and one of my favorites now
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Old 2007-09-28, 14:15   Link #31
Nyao
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I give it... 9/10...pretty much same reasons as you DarkLightz...
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Old 2007-09-28, 16:48   Link #32
Nvis
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10/10

Well that last ep completely blown Gurren Lagann out of my top 1 this season.
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Old 2007-09-28, 17:36   Link #33
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Totally overrated. Maybe if they didn't make the girls all flock to him as if he's the only man alive then it would kept some realistic values.

7/10
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Old 2007-09-28, 18:43   Link #34
Klashikari
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Let's begin my rant..

Well for starter: I was initially attracted by this series, mainly because of the weird hype about back when the anime was announced months before.
After much spoiler galore (i asked for this anyway) and many valuable descriptions from Skyfall, i tried the game first out of curiosity (which i would regret many times, however).
I pretty much covered like, the third of it when the anime started to air, so I was kinda wondering which "route" (as it isn't really possible to name the path, due the horrible branch type of this game).
Thus, i was pretty much ready for almost "anything".
Unfortunately for my sanity, the scripters decided to go panzer to take the players from a blind spot. And... it didn't work for me.

Let's proceed


1) Image Quality:

1.1 Sakuga
The art was kinda faithful to the game, though it was rather dull, and less attractive.
What struck me immediately was probably the colors, pretty much flat, dull and lacking of impact. The lack of gradiants and shades isn't attractive either. Fortunately, the art itself is constant, though some proportions are a bit off (mainly kotonoha: the length of her skull and her cup size).
The unoriginal visual aspect is even worse if we consider the overuse of the same background. I'm aware it is a school life anime, and so, you shouldn't expect anything of high magnitude.
That said, the lack of details weren't exactly a plus.

1.2 Animation
The animation itself is very decent, thought nothing really special.

The big issue was probably the camera, which was hardly original. Many still shot, and middle plans. Of course, for this kind of genre, dynamic camera isn't really a plus, it might be an hinderance instead. However, the anime could emphasis much better on the "feelings" of the characters with specific zoom and the like.

In short
The visual quality doesn't have any major issue. School Days has rather a decent score in that regard, despite lacking of something charming or outstanding. Not exactly a strong nor a weak point then.
7/10


2) Sound Quality:

2.1 Voice Actors
The seiyuu actually fit well the personality of their characters. Hirakawa Daisuke proved to be even more "boring" and "flat" for a lazy and unconcerned Makoto.
Okajima Tae didn't have many trouble to use a "innocent" and timid voice, while Kawaragi Shiho could express the noisy and direct approach of Sekai.
While their voices are pretty much adapted, the expresion and "passion" in it aren't great, however.
This problem affected particularly Okajima and Kawaragi. Okajima wasn't exactly convincing for either her cold/psychotic/lifeless tones, while Kawaragi literraly failed Sekai's anger, especially in episode 12 (her voice was so rough in the phone call then it almost turned into someone else's).
This is a bit too bad, considering their performances in the game were better, despite some impression of "reading" in various instances.

As for the side characters, they follow rather one dimensional traits and don't exactly have many issues to perform it.

2.2 Opening / Ending
Considering the sheer amount of ending, it will be hard to critic each of them (and i must admit, i'm a bit lazy).
Let's see for the Opening.
It is simply misleading to the very core. Innocent blue? Quite ironic isn't it...?
To be quite honest, the very first time i heard it, i cringed considered it was nowhere near of the original game OP, the one used for the end of episode 12. The very start of the opening is simply a chaotic noise rush, giving forced impression of "happiness" and "fluff".
If we consider how the singer was kinda flat, and how the instrumental part was underwhelming, it is a very poor opening to me.

Most endings have a better mood, and i salute the fact they could use many differents, without any problem. It is a bid too bad the cellphone sequence doesn't reflect that much the difference, but it isn't something that bad anyway.

2.3 Inserted Songs
There weren't many of them, but their timing were quite nice.
The only exception is probably for the one used for episode. Basically they used the calm and slow portion first when sekai assaulted Makoto, while the violin would be much more appropriate.
The extended use of it for the aftermath and second murder wasn't really appropriate, considering the complete shift in the atmosphere of the episode. That said, nothing really peculiar to note.

2.4 BGM
They weren't particularly striking, but they have the merit to fit most scenes, though they weren't as effective as the inserted songs for the critical scenes.
The set of BGM is a bit unbalanced: there are some dull tracks, most are good, and there are few gems (especially the violin one used in episode 1)
In various instances, the silence was inappropriate, slowing the pace a bit in the process.

In short
Aside for the miserable performance of the OP, the sound aspect of SD is pretty much good in that regard.
8/10


3) Script:
This is probably the biggest issue of this anime. Basically, the whole ordeal of the characters wasn't really smooth in term of pace and content.

3.1 Characters:
A very very sensible subject... literaly, a mine field.
Debates on "who is right, who is wrong" aside, the characters have something in common: flaws.
This fact is not problematic in anime, as perfect characters are usually dull and favourable for ugly conclusion and various other obnoxious results, such like deux ex machina etc.
The problem with "flaws" in school days is basically: there are too much of them.
The characters lack of charisma and solid standards to actually give some empathy to the watchers. What generate so much debate are probably the clash between the 2 prime girls and the aftermath/consequences of Makoto's questionable deeds and decisions, but that's it. There isn't many much to say about the characters outside of the predicament of the main plot, and it leaves many plot holes and so forth, with the biggest of them: how could they actually cling on Makoto for more than the half of the series?

While the human aspects weren't asbent, the defaults/flaws were so exaggerated that the whole setup of the plot became cranky, giving so much bad aftertaste that the cohesion of the story becomes very questionable.
Thus, because of this, various overkill reactions weren't exactly shocking. Worse, many personality shift (especially Makoto) pops randomly, giving an horrible and shacky "character development".

The episode 11 was probably the biggest mistake the scripters could do, as they were throwing characters completely unconcerned by the main plot into the very core of the fray.
These plot devices begun to be even more ridiculous when nothing is explained, and especially not how it is resolved (mainly, Setsuna's case)

How did hikari end in Makoto's bed? Why didn't they actually show what happened with Setsuna, and especially makoto's reaction?
Talking about Makoto, his reactions were completely unpredictable and most likely out of the blue.
Various "revelations" giving him superficial "redeemable" reactions, though either too late or fruitless.
Worse, it isn't even coherent with his mindset (for example: his feeling outbreak about sekai, which is hardly logic).
To me, they tried to use some "good parts" of the game, and inserted forcefully in the anime plot, which wasn't compatible AT ALL.

Still on the flaws, the characters never learn, and this is the scary/genius part of the anime. Makoto is able to do whatever he wants, blowing further and further the balloon until it explodes. The problem in such concept is mainly the "plot" itself: how it will conclude, and how "plot twists" can act to spice it up.
And that is the problem, because they actually use devices, instead of a coherent story progression.
Remember kotonoha's new aggressive tactic? It didn't last long right?
What about Otome's stance?

3.2 Story progression
Everything fall apart, as the development begun to conflict with what the scripters wanted to shape.
No, they didn't elaborated the script around the possible and logic consequences with the causes from the previous episodes. Rather, they played the wild card of "WTF BBQ" erraticaly. It beguns with Setsuna's case in episode 7, which in the end, didn't exactly have some impact, until they just flesh it out from nowhere in episode 12.
They could actually use this character in various other instances, with various hints, instead of forcefully adding her in such state of the plot (giving even more OOC impression around Makoto).
This is the same for Otome and Taisuke in episode 9. They suddenly take action, and the direct consequence is simply... even more problem for Makoto, though the direct impact just... vanished somehow in 2-3 episodes later. Their implications were quickly erased from our memories (especially Taisuke, who hardly makes any appearance after the festival).

Even if we put the characters aside, the absurd amount of events in favour of "screwing up" is even worse than the game. This is probably the reason why the script part felt so horrible to me: absolutely not a constant nor coherent evolution, the characters development is almost inexistent and bursting into exaggeration.
The "waterfall" flow of several batshit events just screwed the pace of the series, which turned to be VERY VERY unbalanced, as almost everything happen in the last 4 episodes.
This is the reason why episode 11 was so laughable as many if not all plot twists in this episode were nearly impossible nor realist. It quickly turns the show from "questionable" to "mediocre", giving more "comedy" aspect than drama.
I don't think I should reinforce the aspect that if a show actually gives the complete opposite feeling (here comedy instead of drama) of what it was supposed to do, it is a very very bad sign of mediocrity.

-
The pinnacle is probably episode 12, the complete "non sense" in my eyes.
Basically, the scripters just use the "bloody bad end" card so they don't only get away from the messy plot, but they can actually have the joy and praises of fans.

Many inconsistencies with the characters are present, which just nail the coffin even more.
The biggest problem is probably Sekai's death.
Again, aside of "deserving it or not", which has NOTHING to do here, it is rather the meaningful aspect of it, and especially the logic behind it.
Basically, Sekai killed Makoto, resulting into Kotonoha's insanity.
The problem here is: Kotonoha still consider Makoto's head as "makoto", and doesn't mind if he is dead. WORSE, she is actually happy with this, but just keep the "baby issue".

Isn't it stupid? I mean, what would happen if Sekai lied and said "i went and saw your doctor" ?
Kotonoha had absolutely no revenge wish. it is even more twisted, as she can now have literaly Makoto for herself, as it is hardly possible to take him away from her. If she had a single sense of "sanity", she would actually try to kill herself, much like in the game, to be with him eternally.
In the game, she kills sekai only if she is an hinderance for her, after many screws up, and obvious happiness with Makoto.
In Kotonoha's logic "Sekai dead => Makoto for me". However, this cannot be applied if Makoto is already for her, either when he was alive, or reduced into this pathetic head.

If Kotonoha was really an avenger, why only her obsession with the "baby"? Why she is simply checking like a psychotic? Just because she lose her sanity, her murderous intent should be activated out from the blue? This doesn't make much sense. They used her insanity so they CAN kill sekai.
Hence, the sanity "plot device", instead of being the cause of "sekai death", begins to be a "requirement flag" raised to kill this character. In other words, it was artificial and superficial

Let's not mention that Kotonoha didn't kill Sekai in the game in "To my children" ending. That explains pretty much. (and before you ask, no Kotonoha wasn't really sane in the threesome path leading to this. Makoto screw a lot to the point she was the one who suggested the threesome idea. She wants Makoto that badly, to the point she can share him)
Now, another stupid point is probably Kotonoha HAX skills before executing Sekai.
I know Sekai was too obvious with her knife. The issue is that Kotonoha isn't exactly sane, and her movements are not realist, not to mention that Sekai's left hand was free. Even "bloody conclusion" of the game looks more realist than this.


Makoto's behaviour was even more silly, as he didn't have any SINGLE remorse or consideration for Sekai after the baby incident.
And suddenly... he begins to be sensitive to Kotonoha breakdown in episode 11, turning into "true love", and even having some inner thoughts "i was selfish, bla bla bla" ? The fact he even pats Sekai's abdomen when he was killed is even less logic, considering how he was crawling for his life, and how he was pitiful.
That was probably one of the worst attempt to "redeem" a badly scripted bad character.


this is probably the reason why i felt the bloody end was rather an attempt to finish this series without any trouble, as it is plain fanservice, rather than good storytelling.
And before you are hammering the fact "a non dead-end isn't satisfying", there are many way to make it a "bad end" without any death (even with violence, but not necesseraly any death). Death isn't something which can always be allocated as "greatest sacrifice of a hero" or "best punishment for a villain/despicable character".
There are many ways how to completely screw Makoto without killing him, and without forcing any of the girls to commit suicide so he got owned by this sight.
And truthfully, suffering several decades is much worse than the physical death, to me.


In short
Clearly not, this series couldn't end happily (no way in frozen hell), but it could be conclusive and/or bad for the characters, while being good in the regard of story telling and story progression.
Therefore, i can only put the worst note for this aspect of the serie, as they were trying to fool around with plot devices, squeezing many "insane events" to rumble the situation even more, and finishing the mess with the most tasteless and easiest way.
1/10


4) Adaptation from the game
The game wasn't actually an excellent one to begin with.
The way how the story can progress without the full control of Makoto was really something horrible for various part of it.
Due the sheer amount of "ZOMG" factors and complete batshit "deathflags", the game was unpredictable.
Still, the numerous different endings (though the third is rather bad) helped to actually portray the characters without various sides, (even makoto), to the point that nothing is set in stone, and the chaotic situation can differ greatly from the shocking bloody bad end.

In that regard, the Anime was "faithful", in a very bad way.
The anime barely tried to take the general structure, but certainly used almost every wicked aspects of each characters, without letting them their shining and "noble" moments. We will NEVER see Makoto defending Kotonoha against the bully. We shall not see Sekai and kotonoha alliance, nor the possible way for an actual "good ending" for Otome, etc.

They simply removed every aspect of it, and served the characters in a very gloomy and dark spotlight.
As result, the characters are hardly likable, but their flaws begin to be overwhelming, leading to exaggerated situations and labors.

This could be "okay", if they actually not shuffled the game content, into such extent that it doesn't really make sense as an anime stand alone.
It begins to be even more mindraping, as episode 11 turned the show into a joke, with various "routes" sitched altogether without any logic or foreshadowing hints.
And the pinnacle was indeed the bad end, which is in fact not that "original", since they simply combined the 3 bad ends from the game into 1. (though Kotonoha "suicide" in the anime is rather peaceful and "unfair" in contrast with the other 2 dead meat)

In short
I was expecting angst and such story telling, so it could give a "shining" side of the game, as even twisted, it can be enjoyable, which wasn't the case for me in the end.
4/10


Conclusion
This anime suffered from good prejudice, especially the characters, because the scripters just poked fun of the already twisted story.
School Days is probably one of the most controversal series, as the story presentation looks innocent and realist, until the "dark side" of it, beguns almighty, to the point the meaningful side of it just let its place for a dark parody of angsty romance.
It is a waste of potential, as the start was slow but smooth, until everything begins to be silly and plain awful.

an unbelievable disappointement, which i give a score of
3/10 - bad


This "essay" is of course my only opinion, and i don't pretend to get an appreciation more worthy than anyone else's.

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Last edited by Klashikari; 2007-09-29 at 15:15. Reason: typos
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Old 2007-09-28, 18:49   Link #35
guiltygearxt
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this anime is pure fanservice

6/10 for me

possibly the most twisted and fu*ked up anime in history

Last edited by guiltygearxt; 2007-09-28 at 19:15.
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Old 2007-09-28, 19:05   Link #36
Kilian
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OMG, what were the creator's thinking... not much I suppose. The show was crappy but kind of entertaining in a weird way nontheless. Can't say that I'm not happy about Makoto's end. He certainly got what he deserved. Overall pretty much a waste of time, but well, I've seen worse shows. 4/10
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Old 2007-09-28, 19:44   Link #37
Seraphis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ankoku View Post
Not my idea of a good show. Too much hype for something that isn't all that groundbreaking. Other shows have done what this one tries to do, and better.
Could you give examples please?
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Old 2007-09-28, 20:02   Link #38
Pakxenon
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I reviewed the anime. http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl...117&attid=5165

8/10 based on my enjoyment level. Starts off innocently as another harem anime, but then turns into a drama-fest and spirals into the characters' actions and their demise. Fun to watch! Not fun for those who don't know background information (which I really stress that everyone should know before watching School Days) or hoping for a happy ending.
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Old 2007-09-28, 20:06   Link #39
Malintex_Terek
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Wow, the scores are everywhere for this show.

...

Personally, I think it's the best harem show ever, with a hillarious and delicious ending. Clannad? I liked it better when it was called Kanon.
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Old 2007-09-28, 20:30   Link #40
Iorek
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10/10 for me. I loved the fact that it started off very light-hearted and ended in brutal violence... definitely different from what I'm used to seeing. I also very much love the music for the opening/insert/ending songs; I can't stop listening to the vocal OST. The only thing I disliked about the series was Makoto's voice in the first 3-4 episodes... it's like the voice actor was trying too hard for a while there.

PS:
Spoiler for in reply to Perishthethought's post...:
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