School Days
| School Days | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Original Manga | |
| Director/Artist | Keitaro Motonaga |
| Format | Anime (TV) |
| Made By | TNK |
| Episode Length | |
| # of Eps/Volumes | 12 |
Contents
Genre
Sum it up in a Sentence:
Nice Boat.
Main Description
School Days (スクールデイズ, Sukuru Deizu?) is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by 0verflow and published by Stack, and was originally released for the PC on April 28, 2005.[1] It was subsequently released as a DVD TV game by Stack, followed by an all-ages port titled School Days L×H published by Interchannel for the PlayStation 2, in both limited and regular editions, on January 17, 2008.[2] School Days has since then received two spin-off titles, Summer Days and Cross Days, and has made several transitions to other media, including a twelve-episode television and two OVA anime by TNK, a two-volume manga by Homare Sakazuki, six novels and a radio drama series.
School Days has been described as a modern mix of Azumanga Daioh and Tenchi Muyo, but with fabulous boats.
Anime
A twelve-episode anime series was developed by TNK with joint production by Avex Entertainment, Lantis, Marvelous Entertainment, Pony Canyon and Jinnan Studio. The anime aired in Japan between July 3, 2007 and September 27, 2007 on TV Kanagawa.[12] On July 4, 2007 Chiba TV and TV Aichi also began to air the show with TV Saitama, TV Osaka and AT-X respectively picking it up a day after each other. The series has since been released in six limited and regular edition DVD volumes. Each volume contains one disc with two episodes NTSC formatted in full-color with Digital Theater System audio with each limited edition volume coming bundled with a numeric respective six track radio disc titled Radio School Days Shucchōban, Hoshū. The School Days anime adaptations contain fifty-six music tracks, fourteen of which are vocal themes by various artists. The remaining forty-two are background music tracks arranged by Kaoru Okubo.
Two OVA episodes were also produced and released. On March 28, 2008, a month after the final TV series DVD had been released, TNK released "Magical Heart Kokoro-chan" (マジカルハート☆こころちゃん, Majikaru Hāto☆Kokoro-chan?), a magical girl parody spin-off, in both limited and regular editions; the former bundled with a six track radio disc. The other title "Valentine Days" (バレンタイン デイズ, Barentain Deizu?) was a DVD exclusively bundled with the limited edition School Days L×H PlayStation 2 port, released with the game on January 17, 2008.
Main characters
Makoto Itō|伊藤 誠|Itō Makoto
Makoto Itou is the unlikely protagonist of the series. A generally mannered and composed student in year one of class three, his life becomes complicated when he begins to unfaithfully initiate polyamorous relationships with girls that he is unable to singly commit to. Though he is initially casual, gregarious and understanding, his addiction to womanizing the female protagonists over time corrupts his personality and he instead becomes more apathetic, rash and egotistical towards others, regardless of interpersonal harm or later consequence. Makoto lives with his divorced mother and has a younger sister name Itaru who lives with their father. He is good friends with Taisuke Sawanaga and Otome Katou.
Kotonoha Katsura|桂 言葉|Katsura Kotonoha
Genteel and reserved, Kotonoha Katsura is a student in year one of class four who is on the Student council and serves as one of the most pivotal characters in the story. A cute and noticeably well-endowed bookworm, she becomes the initial love interest of Makoto early into their second term, and with some effort from Sekai Saionji, becomes his girlfriend after she reciprocates her affection for him. While Kotonoha for the most part is calm and gentle, she has a very delicate conscious, which under stress leads to irrational culpability, delusions and even malice. She has a younger sister name Kokoro and lives with their wealthy mother Manami and father in the fictional area of Haramihama. She is disliked by Otome Katou and is subject to her FABULOUS teasing and trolling.
Sekai Saionji|西園寺 世界|Saionji Sekai
Sekai Saionji is a student in year one of class three who is the antithesis and foil of Kotonoha. A playful and outgoing classmate seated directly next to Makoto, she takes a curious interest in him during their first acquaintance, and in every medium of the series, helps to establish his bond with Kotonoha. Though genuinely upbeat, Sekai does occasionally show a more serious side, and when sufficiently frustrated can be loud, selfish, overemotional and even manipulative.
Story
Makoto Itou is a young Japanese high school student beginning his second term at the fictional Sakakino Academy, which from his daily train rides to and from the school, becomes infatuated with fellow student Kotonoha Katsura; a girl that also commutes. When a new classmate acquaintance of his, Sekai Saionji, discovers his secret crush on Kotonoha, she helps introduce both of them to each other and overtime they grow closer and agree to date. However in spite of her proud and triumphant matchmaking efforts, Sekai inadvertently becomes jealous of the new couple, having also developed feelings toward Makoto, with hilarious consequences involving nice boats.
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Personal Opinions
BornOfMachine
I first picked this show up because of some passing mention I saw on a forum. I watched the first couple episodes and pegged it as the usual moe heartwarming blah blah romance story and just kind of ignored it for a while. Two days ago I finished the series. Despite the premise looking extremely typical, the traditional harem framework comes apart towards the end and the result was a really unique and awesome show. I don't want to spoil it so I won't say anymore but I really recommend this one!
sedo
I have to say I really enjoyed the series. I haven't heard the best reviews of it from external sources, but I think they're focusing too much on the parts that could have been done better. I have to say, the ending was pretty unexpected. That's why I enjoyed it though, as there were a lot of twists and turns that you'd never have thought of. I would definitely recommend this series, especially people who enjoy nice boats.
ViggyNash
The first 9 or 10 episodes or so represent everything terrible about high school harem. If you do not end up wanting to not just kill, but maniacally beat the crap out of nearly every main character with a baseball bat while senselessly screaming yourself hoarse (or something similar) then you might have to take a good, deep look at yourself. You will hate these characters and the story they create.
After that, the facade starts to break down and we are given one of the most horrifying yet satisfying conclusions in anime. The ending single-handedly redeems the entire show and turns it into something else altogether. This is a show worth watching, but it'll feel like pulling a bullet out of your own shoulder while cruising on a pretty nice boat.
Links
Anime News Network Encyclopedia (anime)
