By now, most of us know of School Days. Whether it's for the TV ending, or the actual ending, we all know School Days. This anime is hard to give a solid review of, because you can validly look at it 2 ways, and this review, I hope to tackle both of those perspectives as best I can. Spoilers are inevitably ahead, so if you haven't watched this, careful.
First up, as a psychological anime.
This is why I can easily give this a 8 or a 9. This anime portrays just how easy it is to have you mind destroyed by your own emotions. Our male
...
lead, Makoto, is a very indecisive, dumb, guy with an overactive libido and short attention span. He sets his eyes on one of the most beautiful girls in school, goes out with her, and just plain gets bored of her.
Throughout, you watch as she, Makoto, and their friend Sekai slowly fall into utter despair. Makoto is a promiscuous young man sleeping with a grand total of 7 different girls (8 implying he slept with Kotonoha at the end). And all of this started because he was bored with Kotonoha and Sekai liked him. Over the course of the series, it is found that Sekai likes him and he starts to date/sleep with her, 2 other girls like him and sleep with him, one ends up sleeping with him after visiting his house, and 3 other girls sleep with him simply because they want to try him out.
None of them have a hint of remorse or regret for anything they do. Makoto sees it as just another lay, Sekai thinks he's only in love with her, and all of the other girls are just fueling their own ambitions, whether it be lust, like, or love.
During the entire time he is sleeping around, he is still dating Kotonoha, avoiding her, and lying to her. You watch the slow breakdown of this girl, who is already dealing with bullies of her own, and she slowly falls into a pit of misery. By episode 10 you see the lifelessness in her eyes. She calls Makoto, who has her blocked, and believes she is speaking to him over the phone about future plans when it isn't even happening.
Even as a psychological anime, you get the reward of watching as all of the reapings of what has been sown come together in a violent, sick ending. This is what happens when you mess with someone's emotions so much and for so long. They do crazy things.
Second up, a slice of life romance.
This perspective, which is a big reason why the rating of the anime is so low, is commonly perceived when watching this and rightfully so, even the title card makes this out to be a slice of life romance, is harder to deem worthy of a 9. From this perspective, I can only give a 4 at best, and that's just being generous.
At first, you feel genuinely bad for Makoto. He's a nice guy, but he's a bit clumsy. Your typical slice of life MC. He tries really hard, and he goes a bit overboard when he first starts dating Kotonoha (with the help of Sekai of course). But he becomes a real jerk at about episode 5. He starts showing interest in other women, specifically his friend Sekai.
He doesn't show a slight bit of restraint, he doesn't show a slight bit of control or remorse for anything he does proceeding that. None of the characters do. None of them have a sense of doubt or remorse or intelligence in them. They are all completely immoral. Funny part is, that is a slice of life. There are people like that out there. Kotonoha gets raped, Makoto sleeps around, Sekai lies about being pregnant to keep Makoto around.
By the end of the show, you feel so bad for Kotonoha, you hate Makoto, you hate Sekai, you hate pretty much everyone who has been in contact with Makoto. None of them stopped to think, "This is wrong, he's dating this person/I'm dating this person." They just did as they pleased.
The last episode though, it turns your sadness into happiness as you watch Makoto and Sekai get their just desserts. Kotonoha, completely loses the rest of her mind as a result of Makoto and Sekai's actions, and you watch her float on with her own delusions.
As a slice of life romance, this does terribly. You pretty much hate everyone except Kotonoha, you question the morals, you question why this was even made. This is one romance you'd want to stay away from.
In the end, I can only give this a 5, because I see this both ways. I was dreading the beginning, hating the middle, and in love with the end. I've never wanted to see a character be killed, but watching them finally get theirs was an experience I couldn't help but smile at. If you're looking for a psychological anime, this is it, probably your quintessential one. If you're looking for a romantic slice of life, you're best bet is to high tail it out of here while you can.
Oct 8, 2013
School Days
(Anime)
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By now, most of us know of School Days. Whether it's for the TV ending, or the actual ending, we all know School Days. This anime is hard to give a solid review of, because you can validly look at it 2 ways, and this review, I hope to tackle both of those perspectives as best I can. Spoilers are inevitably ahead, so if you haven't watched this, careful.
First up, as a psychological anime. This is why I can easily give this a 8 or a 9. This anime portrays just how easy it is to have you mind destroyed by your own emotions. Our male ... 
Aug 17, 2013
Yosuga no Sora
(Anime)
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Yosuga no Sora is the story of a brother and a sister, who are twins, who move to a village to live alone after their parents die. The brother Haru is your typical male lead who is handsome, kind, and self-sacrificial. His sister, Sora, is bratty, cold, and seemingly uncaring. Of course, that changes over time, typical to any tsundere girl we'd encounter in anime.
This story seems like a harem at first. Multiple girls falling in love with our MC. But it's not traditional. He doesn't just pick the obvious female lead counterpart, but the story has multiple arcs in which Haru has relationships with ... |
