School Days Review
Curiosity got the better of me and I watched this series entirely to see “what the big deal was”, since it was such a controversial topic. Since I’ve read various things about the series in blogs and such, I already knew the basic aspects of it including what sort of ending it would have. School Days is basically a typical otaku harem title where everyone is, for some reason, inexplicably obsessed with a rather dull main character. The difference in School Days is that the main character is a jerk who takes advantage of all the female characters, inciting their various jealousies and creating conflict between them. All of this leads to an over-the-top, bloody confrontation and finale.
The entire series simply felt too artificial for me. None of the characters were all that interesting and their actions were too obviously in the hands of writers. Let’s not get into the aspect of likability, as I formed no connection at all with any of the characters. I find the endless discussions about this series strange because I personally I couldn’t manage to care about a single one of these characters’ or their relationships, which all felt thin and without much substance. I can barely muster up enough to write a review of it (which is why this review is so short). I can see how it would get attention as some sort of novelty but I can’t see it as anything more than a manipulative and melodramatic “shock” story.
What disturbs me is the way that some bloggers say that School Days is important as some sort of “lesson in morals”. Has humanity really descended to the point where we need an anime to tell us such primitive lessons in morality? Actions have consequences? Selfishness hurts others? Consider the feelings of others? I would certainly hope most people can figure these things out on their own. If you have any sort of optimism about meaningful human relationships, I would avoid School Days. 
4 responses so far
I thought School Days was an interesting show. Though I came from the it was out of my norm of a show to watch. To keep it short, I thought it was interesting none the less, it might follow the basic plot of many other shows, but I thought the twist it had was wroth the watch.
Though with your point about not being able to care about the characters or how not caring about any relationship is the point maybe. The way I see it is that it moved like that for a reason, though at this point can I really use that digging that deep.
I think that people saw the ending as a sort of release in that the main character gets what is coming to him though I’d think there should have been a way of tastefully going about it. The problem that you highlight correctly is that it all feels too forced and while I don’t mind dastardly villains, the better ones have some redeeming quality to them. Makoto, on the other hand, doesn’t have any.
The good thing about School Days is that I can always point to that show whenever someone says “Harem Lead X should just bang all the girls!”.
I watched the anime and read parts of the manga, and although I found the series at first intriguing due to curiosity, I ended up disliking the anime in general. As you and zzeroparticle have pointed out I loathed the obvious coercion of the plot devices/twists and the lack of any redeeming qualities in the characters, especially in Matoko.
But what I truly disliked about the series, which links back to the lack of redeeming qualities, is that the psychotic frame of mind and emotional turmoil of Kotonoha and Sekai was over dramatic and disturbing to witness, on a psychological level. It has some interesting themes/motifs but executes them poorly.
The characters are in a such a dangerous and painful state of mind that the choppy character development and lack of connection between the audience and the characters makes all the melodrama, violence, and sex seem pointless (and also a bit unsettling to watch sometimes). It serves no other reason than to engage the audience in those qualities for no good reason.
A real guilty pleasure.
If you’re optimistic about boy/girl relationships, please don’t watch this anime.