School Days

By: Robert Murphy

Any guy can safely say that at some point in their days walking like a zombie through the halls of their high school, they stumbled upon their very first crush, a woman you couldn't help but notice and would have done anything to talk to her. Makoto Itou is a shy young man who has found himself in this similar situation when he notices the beautiful Kotonoha Katsura that rode the train with him to school every day. Like most shy guys though Itou wasn't going to let anything come of it, this is until his new classmate Sekai Saionji intervenes and gets the two of them closer and closer to one another. This, of course, made my younger self die a little inside for never being as lucky as Itou seems to be when it comes to dating, not only that but having a girl set him up with another girl. But the show isn't so cut and dry and it would seem that Sekai did all this because she has a thing for Itou (COME ON!) and things begin to lead down a dark path for Itou.

Now do not get it confused, Itou is no saint in this story and in all honesty I've never hated a character more in a show. School Days, which was marketed to me as a scary anime to watch, starts out fine enough for a more drama or romantic style anime. Itou likes Katsura quite a lot and when Sekai notices her as his phones background, she cannot help but get the two of them together. It's actually nice, if you're into that sort of thing, but then it comes out that Sekai has feelings for Itou which is alright and when the two kiss in the first episode I thought it was alright since Itou hadn't started officially dating Katsura yet. However, this becomes impossible to avoid as Sekai lures Itou into "practicing" what girls want and thus begins the decent into the shows maddening tale of cheating, sex and general high school drama. In a way, I almost feel bad for Itou because Sekai is the spider that sets this whole web of lies and trouble into affect from the beginning but you know it takes a real dick to keep it going for as long as Itou does.

Every time Itou meets a new girl in the series who is interested in him, he immediately gives them a once over to see how hot they're and will actually comment on it in his head. He then proceeds to have sex with each and every one of the girls who he comes across, some you don't even understand how they end up naked in his bed or on the roof or in the gym equipment room, it's an endless list. A moment in School Days that truly made me laugh was when Sekai has finally established her relationship with Itou and then someone jokingly makes a comment about him cheating. She laughs it off saying that he wouldn't cheat on her but in my head I'm thinking "YOU DENSE MORON" the guy cheated to be with you, he's likely to cheat to get someone else. Itou has no remorse for anything that he is doing in the show, he is a text book scumbag and every time he talks I wanted to punch the living crap out of him. True, the girls continue to have sex with him but at first it's because they legitimately have feelings for him and that gets in the way of rational thought, the rest see how many girls want Itou and get curious about what he's like in bed. The whole thing just disgusted me and watching the show was like having an itch that you just couldn't scratch for 23 minutes an episode but it gets scratched in the last episode, wonderfully scratched!

The person I felt the most sorrow for was Katsura, sweet and innocent Katsura, she wanted nothing more than to be with Itou who was her first boyfriend. Katsura is treated like a complete doormat by the mean group of girls in her classroom (they all have sex with Itou by the way) and she doesn't see what Itou is turning into at all. At one point in the show I had to stop and pause it because it was just too upsetting to watch Katsura as she stays up through presumably most of the night to make Itou a sweater for Christmas. There are plenty of moments like that for her character but that one stuck with me the hardest and made me want to kick the crap out of Itou even more. This brings up the fact that the show gets darker and darker from the point on where Itou finally grows a pair and tells Katsura that they are no longer together. Katsura goes into a deep depression and is shown in many more gut wrenching scenes afterwards but also our spider Sekai makes a come back too. Turns out that Itou didn't know what a condom was and got Sekai pregnant, in typical high school jackass fashion he denies it's his and even mentions some "alternatives" to having the kid. 

By the end of School Days, the thing I questioned most was why the heck there was such an upbeat and positive opening theme to a show that was about some jerk scoring with half the girls in his school. It may be a little dark for me to say or it even may be wrong for me to say it but I'm happy with the ending to the show and when you all get there, you will see what I mean. The last episode was actually the only part that had me interested anyways when I saw the name come up on a few anime pages, so I don't think I can be blamed. The only thing worth while watching is in fact the climax at the very end because the rest of it just made me sad. People out there may defend the show saying that it describes high school life and what it's actually like but I highly disagree because even though high school can be dreadful and possibly a hard part in your life, it's nothing like this. 

Good:

- The ending, plain and simple

Bad:

- Itou has become the number one most hated character on my anime list, he's rude, disgusting and shows no remorse for everything he's done

- The horrible mistreatment of Katsura throughout the show will really bum you out

- Sekai and her manipulation of Itou almost makes me hate her just as much but at the same time it's not even close

- Lewd and unnecessary behavior for the girls in the show

Scully Rating: 1.0 out of 10