It’s time for another Luvjapan Anime Review. This time we take a look at an interesting anime series with a somewhat simple plot but very disturbing and unexpected ending specifically for those that haven’t read or played the source materials. The series we’re talking about is School Days which aired from July until September of 2007 running for 12 episodes. We’re going to take a look at the anime only and of course there will be spoilers here.

 

Summary:

In modern day Japan there was a simple high school boy named Ito Makoto. Ito has a long time crush with a girl named Katsura Kotonoha but just can’t tell her of his feelings. Enter Sekai Saiyonji who is Ito’s classmate who acts as a bridge for Ito towards Kotonoha. The progression is smooth with Ito eventually ending up with Katsura but Sekai is left a bit jealous so in a sense seduces Ito to fall for her. This is where the love triangle escalates as Ito and Katsura are a couple but Ito is also after Sekai now. This in turn leads to a future break up with Katsura and Ito. The episodes follow through until the eventual pregnancy of Sekai forcing Ito to go back to Katsura. This is a spoiler as Sekai kills Ito and Katsura kills Sekai. In short the crazy Katsura drifts on her yacht holding Ito’s head beside her. You’re probably confused how this love triangle ended in disturbing fashion but that’s one of the series’ better qualities.

 

Strong Points:

• The series’ plot is very simple to follow. It’s the classic boy meets girl, gets together and the unexpected murder in the end which is truly a strong point.
• The length of the series is also short and sweet. The pacing is just perfect and doesn’t leave you wondering if they left out anything because they didn’t.
• Ignoring the ending, the balance of genre is good starting from a simple and charming high school life to something serious later on.

 

Weak Points:

• There are some characters that are a bit forgettable perhaps due to the short run of the series. There were other girls that you could have cared for but they didn’t do that.
• Animation was somewhat average but not too bad. It just came off that most characters look a bit similar to each other.

 

Final Evaluation:

School Days for those who haven’t watched it would come off as misleading. People will see it as a high school flick series showing the problems of high school life which it does. It does become serious later on as well as having that unexpected and disturbing ending. It starts good with the classic high school formula and ends better than most anime series of the same genre.

Rating: 7/10