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AUTHORS NOTE (23/1/14): Near the end of the review, there is a spoiler regarding the final episode. I urge you to watch the series before reading the review or -- if you aren't interested in the series/have dropped it -- read it if you so desire.

Don’t be fooled this anime’s poster: it’s not all happy girls and good times. School Days is the adaption of a visual novel with the same name, infamous for its brutal bad endings. A notably absent genre this should be categorised is psychological – it shows the worst of human desire in a twelve episode, slow-paced fashion which is either ... a make or break depending on taste and overall dedication to observe when the plot actually moves forward. School Days is a satirical take on the harem genre as a whole, taking on the realistic approach when it comes to the genre deciding that the main character will inevitably get every woman he’s ever interacted with. In reality, this is not the case and School Days explicitly shows the consequences of wanting too much and giving next to nothing in return.

And that’s why everyone should watch it.

I’m serious – no other anime can replicate the emotions that School Days is capable of, one of which is mainly pure anger. It’s possible to feel emotionally attached to a number of the characters, though in the end it’s realised that their actions have been brought upon due to lust, a factor that would’ve cementing School Days into pornographic territory if not of the actual plot and character development. It starts off cheerfully and as it goes on, the temper of the audience will rise to the point of smashing their television or computer in disgust due to the characters’ actions. They say school is one of the most beneficially periods in a person’s life: School Days shows the exact opposite.

The plot follows token male harem protagonist Itou Makoto who develops a crush on a girl – Kotonoha – whom he observes on the bus every day with lustful eyes or at least, eyes of affection. It’s Makato’s first year at High School and he’s seated next to Sekai, another girl in which e feels no affection for yet is as outgoing as a celebrity. Sekai finds out that our token protagonist is in love with Kotonoha and decides to become her friend in order to obtain information about her so Makato will actually know something about her and not stare at her body endlessly. Sekai and Kotonoha do legitimately become friends, with Makato later confessing to Kotonoha ending the first episode with them being a couple. Makoto tries to thank Sekai for her effort and there’s only one thing Sekai will take for a reward: a kiss.

That’s all in the first episode – a fast pace never seen again.

Perhaps ‘protagonist’ isn’t a word well-suited for Makoto as his main objective is to bang anything that shows the slightest sense of movement. The main factor that attributes to the anger School Days supplies is the main character. Itou Makoto is not a role model. He’s not someone to aspire to and he’s not someone you’d like to know unless you’d want to have a fleeting orgasm with. He’s a relentless hormonal machine similar to the Terminator – he’d bang everyone until he has a nice glass of brandy before banging the actual target. Itou Makoto is perhaps the perfect definition of “the worse”, a complete knob of a ridiculously high caliber and yet is the basis for any viewer of the male gender who would like nothing else to be the Terminator of sex.

And the side-characters aren’t much better. Sekai is everything that Makoto desires that Kotonoha isn’t or in better terms, won’t perform. Being as horny as a rabbit, Makoto’s quest for seemingly endless sex doesn’t start at Kotonoha, but at Sekai after a couple of episodes in that cement Makoto’s douchebaggery. By the end of the third episode, he finally decides that he’s sick of her due to not being entitled to sex after a period of time. Not taking it steady is Makoto’s bread and butter, as in he just wants to spread his butter all over his seemingly endless bread – wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Perhaps it’s because every other side character has a vagina and the only other character that has a knob doesn’t supply any moral support and would be just horny as our main character. We don’t really get to know the other side characters that the Sexinator bangs very well, which is a shame because they’re all part of an indecisive wanker’s sexual quest of glory. They actually have motives, unlike our lovable cyborg sex maniac so that’s a big plus in their court.

Perhaps something else that brings School Days down is the rather unappealing art style. The characters don’t seem very attractive, especially the female characters. This is an oddity considering the harem genre that School Days deconstructs over the course of the series, however this has lead me to believe that it was entirely on purpose – what does Makoto see in all of the girls over the course of the series? He decides to pound every woman he comes in contact with and even falls in love several times, yet there is seemingly nothing that contributes to his sudden attraction or at least his hormones being set a full throttle. Being based off a visual novel, it’s not really unexpected for School Days’ lacklustre art as it’s practically ripped from the game itself.

Another gripe to be had with the anime is its slow pace. The finale felt like an eternity to reach, as nothing much happens – or at least, that’s what it seems to be with Makoto going back and forth as he’s just as indecisive as any other harem protagonist. It emulates what it’s actually like to be in school: nothing happens for a while and any drama that occurs may pace itself out to the point of wanting to reach the end as fast as possible. However, when it gets to the finale, everyone will scream for joy and it remains as one of the greatest endings in the history of anime.

And it deserves a paragraph of its own. So, spoilers ahead!

In the final episode of School Days, everything goes down – Makoto and Kotonoha reconcile after he’s realised that being a robot only made for having sex with everything in a one centimetre radius isn’t has glorified as it should be, after Sekai reveals that she’s pregnant with his child and every girl he has had sex with in his school – which is nearly all of them – begins to fear him due to this sudden revelation. However, seeing them reconcile in front of her, Sekai murders Makoto when he suggests that she should get an abortion. Kotonoha visits Makoto’s… corpse, in his room and takes matters into her own hand: by killing Sekai on the school rooftop in an admittedly badass fashion. Beforehand, she cut off Makoto’s head and put it in a duffel bag. After she killed Sekai, Kotonoha invalidates her previous claims of pregnancy, which means all of this tragedy has been caused by a lie and most likely cementing everyone’s hate for her as a character and a work of fiction. The final scene depicts Kotonoha and Makoto’s head stranded on a nice boat, thus ending the series.

So, after all of the negative things about it, why did I give it a high score?
School Days – for this viewer – had something that is nearly indescribable that kept me hooked the entire time. I hated the characters, I didn’t particularly like the art style or the music; yet I wanted to see how it ends, I wanted to see how exactly the tragedy plays out. I had heard about people discuss this absolutely hating and even liking it, I can see why it’s hated amongst many people. It absolutely ensnared me the whole time and even if you hate everything about it, you still want to see how it ends. If a series can keep a viewer hooked the whole time even if it’s being despicable and absolutely loathsome, it has achieved something great. That’s why I believe that anyone and everyone should watch School Days.

If you don’t want to, however, my spoiler saved you some time. You’re welcome.

Little Busters suffers from something I like to call “Key Syndrome”. Effects of it include a male lead, a bunch of attractive females who have their own characters arcs as a means of developing them, a story that really sticks with the viewer and inane fantasy nonsense that shouldn’t be there to begin with. Key Syndrome mainly works in the anime’s favour however, with Clannad being the most potent example of how the formula works. Little Busters attempts to do the same with the same attitude and demeanour as Clannad, dare I say, it’s practically the same thing. Does this make Little Busters bad? No, ... though it makes it very misguided as its own individual series to the point where it’s nearly the same than watching another anime altogether.

And, no: I haven’t played the Visual Novel. It’ll be evaluated as an anime only.

Little Busters stars token Key Syndrome male lead Riki, a boy who lost his parents and suffers from narcolepsy, which will put him to sleep whenever the plot wants to come to screeching halt. Compared to Tomoya from Clannad, he’s seemingly fortunate to not have parents and actually have people supporting him from the very beginning – such a lovely change of pace. Riki is a second year student at a high school along with the rest of his social group, including the most popular male in the whole school (who, interestingly, likes to fuel the Yaoi truck with Riki) and a shy girl who spends her time with cats until she is inevitably developed into including more friends into her life and comfort zone.

One of the things Little Busters seemingly did not contract from Key Syndrome is the plot – it’s surprisingly weak and instantly forgettable, which isn’t a good sign. Riki and his gang of misfits form a new school baseball team; because it’ll be the last thing they do together. The popular aforementioned male – whose name is Ryousuke – will be graduating after the school year is over, since he’s the oldest member of the group. The team is named Little Busters, due to it being their group name when they were kids. However, the plot transcends the baseball and becomes Clannad: Riki meets girls along the course of the story, they have tragic pasts and it’s up to him to basically resolve their anguish through friendship. Another plotline is that Riki and the shy girl must do eight challenges in order to find out the secret of the world.

There’s too much going on and this is the main problem of the entire anime.

At first the baseball plotline seems like the most prevalent one – it’s usually the main focus and something baseball related happens nearly every episode, so of course it’d make sense that it’d be the main focus and yet Clannad bursts into the room, holding baseball against its will. Little Busters tries to follow its older brother rather too closely, in the centre of its large shadow. Unlike Clannad, where those character arcs are mainly devoid of any fantasy, half of the character arcs in Little Busters have a fantasy element which is not explained whatsoever. This is particularly jarring in the last character arc, in which a deus ex machina saves the focused character in the most ridiculous way possible. The secret of the world plot seems to be, curiously, the main story yet it’s rarely touched upon and may as well been the entire series. Little Busters suffers from too much going on and the Key Syndrome didn’t give it the factor that it needed the most.

The unfocused plot becomes somewhat problematic when other characters are introduced, which is another problem with the series. Usually, a great plot is complemented with great characters, as both the story and characters stick with the viewer. With its messy plot, Little Busters’ characters can’t complement the story whatsoever, rather complement each other. Instead of introducing a character for the sole purpose of having a character arc about them, Little Busters did something that would’ve worked tremendously if the story wasn’t unfocused – introduce the characters long before they become a main focus. In their introductions, they’re usually the focus which allows the audience to get to know them better, allowing you to care for them later on. Not all of the characters get an arc to themselves, such as Kurugaya who acts as a voice of moral reason and always wants to be surrounded by the rest of the female cast (she pilots the Yuri plane). Little Busters’ characters are the most endearing part of the entire experience, brought down by its riddled story.

The art style and music is something that’s… not exactly worth mentioning. It’s the same studio as Angel Beats so the characters retain that style, which isn’t exactly bad but it doesn’t scream fantastic: it’s a very colourful art style that isn’t dull, yet also isn’t impressive at the same time. The music is something that could be called forgettable. The opening and ending themes are alright at best, nothing too inspiring but the music cues are usually overshadowed by Riki’s annoying narration every ten minutes or just casual discussion. This is one of the factors where it doesn’t try to be Clannad, though perhaps it should’ve been. Clannad’s music was so touching and memorable: it made it stand out. Little Busters is, unfortunately, weak in both of these areas. It’s taken its cues from areas that already needed some improvement.

Little Busters one-ups Clannad in one factor though: humour. Little Busters seems to be a lot funnier than its older sibling, which ultimately is brought by it’s interesting characters and their mannerisms. Kurugaya will always coin a lesbian joke here and there, yet it involves herself; that not only seems appropriate but also hilarious given the comedic situations that ensue later. One of the characters, Masato, will usually get into a fight with another character. This is played for laughs, as Ryousuke will ask the other students to throw any item that can manage to get their hands on, which usually ends badly for Masato, who is usually given a gag weapon, such as soap. This does happen often during the course of the series, though it’s funny every time to see him defeated in a different way every time. Upon defeat, the victor gives him a name which upon he will be called for the rest of the day or longer. It’s one of those occasions where, despite being in another language, the humour crosses over well with western audiences.

Little Busters isn’t a bad experience, dare I say that it was actually enjoyable. However, the fantasy feels very misplaced, as it shouldn’t really exist in the first place. The story was all over the place, it lacked a true central focus and the art and sound isn’t the best you’ll ever see. However, the characters are the best part of the entire series, some of the themes in the character arcs are actually endearing, which is a shame since it seems like they should be the main focus of the whole thing. The ending isn’t complete, though a second season is on its way which will basically be Littler Busters: After Story (though it’s called Refrain). In the end, Little Busters will have you remember its characters, it’s funny moments and its charm. With the preview at the end of the final episode, we can only hope that Little Busters: Refrain will be even better.

Sword Art Online – it’s the anime where you either hate it or love it. On paper, it seems like a very good idea: ten thousand people are trapped in a virtual world with no way out other than completing all one hundred floors of the world which get increasingly difficult. Gamers everywhere would love this concept and as a gamer, I won’t lie when I say that Sword Art Online intrigued me. The first episode was very promising – beautiful art with some of the most gorgeous scenery, a nice tutorial for not only a newcomer to the game, but the audience as well ... and a main character that seemed very likable. The future looked bright for the series and I anticipated more.

And, in one fell swoop, the delight of the first episode vanished as it went on. And on.

That’s not to say that the entire series should be exactly like the first episode, it shouldn’t. The problem is that everything that made the first episode so great is absent from the rest of the series. The breathtaking environments and even the likability of the main character seem to crash and burn as soon as the second episode hits. People hating on the beta-testers, labelling them as “beaters” when they’re clearly the people you would want helping you the most. It’s very strange that as it goes on, you’re introduced to characters that you’ll be seeing more of but only if they haven’t appeared for six episodes. Those characters in particular are the most interesting ones.

The story follows Kirito, one of those aforementioned beta-testers that already knows the ropes and happenings of Sword Art Online. He starts off as a guide to another character in the very first episode, being very energetic and helpful towards him. The problem is, due to his real life shut-in tendencies, Kirito likes to be by himself, therefore being a solo player. When it’s discovered that no one can log out of the game, it’s revealed that the ten thousand people in the game can’t escape and their minds are trapped in the game. If they die in the game, they’re dead in real life. If someone takes off the headgear needed to play the game, it’ll fry their brain and kill the player. It is said that whoever can complete all one hundred floors of the game can escape and free everyone. With that, Kirito goes on his merry journey to save everyone, though his initial intent is to save himself.

The premise is good, but the execution is absolutely poor beyond belief. As the series goes on, the overall life-or-death theme goes out the window for the main character, since he becomes far stronger than anyone else in the game. As the series goes on, there are a lot of time-gaps. It can be several months before something important to the plot actually happens and there isn’t much of a care regarding who has died besides those who the main character knows. Early on in the series, Kirito meets a small guild who doesn’t know his true level or his strength. Within the guild, there’s a girl who believes she’s not very strong and takes a liking to Kirito after they have a talk. Within the same episode, she dies. This gives the illusion that you’re supposed to care about that character, wherein she’s given no time to develop and the only connection she has to us is a few lines she spoke to the main character which is the loosest form of character development. There is little to no character development throughout the whole story.

The character that seemed interesting before the plot downgraded her was Asuna, the love-interest. She was introduced in the same episode the series began to show its “weak-points” if you will. She started off as a very strong female character, someone who many people could aspire too. She becomes basically second-in-command to the biggest guild in the entire game and is shown as very dominate, willing and caring. As the series goes on, the caring aspect goes way out of proportion as it becomes the only thing she can do: care. She becomes Kirito’s emotional anchor; his soulmate – no longer a badass, independent, strong woman character. The fact that there were other characters that were her eventually downgraded version before the plot made her less interesting than a plank of burnt wood and she was tossed into that crowd is severely disappointing for her character and the audience alike.

The art style and the music seem to be the only things that the series has going for it. The designs of the characters, clothing, weaponry, monsters, and locations – they all look good and appealing to the eye, with fight scenes looking magnificent. The music accompanying those scenes and the series as a whole isn’t bad in itself. It’s very grand and epic, music fitting for an actual video game. While these are the only good aspects of the series, it’s bad when you need something else to be more appealing than the story or characters. The fight scenes look great, yes, but it’s not gratifying enough to acknowledge that your lacklustre characters and plot are enough to keep an audience: you need flashing fighting and ecchi scenarios to be more intriguing than anything else.

Sword Art Online really shows just how emotionally draining it can be during the final episodes. During the fight against the Big Bad, the creator of the game, Kirito becomes impaled with his sword and all hope is seemingly lost. At this moment, it seems that we would be getting a bittersweet ending and that the series would’ve ended on something we wouldn’t call a “high note” but to show you can’t fight your battles alone- Or, you could just break the game and not die. This is when the series knows it’s being ridiculous, by having the main character break the rules of a perfectly designed game. Does it make any sense? No. Is the main character awesome for accidently finding an exploit that should exist in the first place? No. This was the moment a fanfiction writer came into the office, squealed that the main character was about to die and wrote in nonsense. It doesn’t make for a good save and it’s randomness out of nowhere is insanely bad.

Oh, and: it’s revealed that the Big Bad had no motive at all after losing. Fuck. You.

After all that, everyone is freed from Sword Art Online and the two lovebirds can live happily ever- there are still eleven episodes left!? Yes, that’s correct: there is a second season in which Kirito goes into another game that was launched during the time Sword Art Online in order to save Asuna because her mind was transferred into the other game after Kirito saves everyone due to the fact that the creator will marry her while she’s in her comatose state as he wants her family’s riches and- did this just become a lot more ridiculous? It’s odd when the audience thinks that this new plot is strange and may as well not exist.

The second season doesn’t introduce any other worthwhile characters besides Kirito’s cousin, who is in love with him because the harem set-up from the first season won’t die out. It’s a shame that the second season tries to bring back an aspect that wasn’t interesting or even necessary in the first place. Unlike Asuna or his cousin, there was no real development for the other female characters to fall in love with him. Even so, there wasn’t really any development for Asuna or his cousin to fall in love with him either. The romantic aspect of this anime is without a doubt underdeveloped and probably shouldn’t have been one of the themes. All of this is here to give us a reason to care for badly written, clichéd and unable-to-relate-to characters that could’ve been replaced with rubber gloves filled with acid.
Asuna’s a damsel-in-distress? They just won’t let her be the only good main character, will they?

The second season, shockingly, is a lot better than the first season. The villain actually has a clear motive right from the beginning unlike the previous villain, the relationship between Kirito and his cousin is more elaborate and understandable in contrast to Kirito and anyone else in whole series and the climax isn’t botched up with breaking the rules for no reason. Unlike the climax happening in the game, like in the first season, it happens in real life and it’s very dramatic, something that this series didn’t pull off that well until the final episode. With that in mind, it can be ridiculous as well and strangely dark. The villain would qualify as a rapist, groping and liking Asuna’s breasts. There are slug monsters which, if given more screen time, would’ve given us some tentacle hentai that would be most unwanted and the fact that his cousin doesn’t know who Kirito is in the game despite the voice and very similar appearance until he mentions Asuna’s name.

This could’ve been a lot better, it really could’ve but it’s just so bad that it’s a wonder why people thought this was good in the first place. A friend of mine said it was good; he was shocked when I said I thought it was bad. For what it’s worth, Sword Art Online will only appeal to those who want action and attractive women that will be used in countless H-Manga. Sword Art Online is bad, though it doesn’t go into the territory of being absolutely terrible. It’s start was great – why did it have to get worse as it went on. Overall, Sword Art Online is a bad anime with bad characters and terrible writing. Avoid it for your own benefit.