A character that is not likable is not the same as a bad character. You wouldn't complain about the characters "doing stupid things" in Othello, would you? That's the point of a tragedy. Othello believed the lies about Desdemona because he was a flawed human being as Makoto cheated because he was a flawed human being. Things are not as simple as detractors make them seem and you can’t expect a cast of deeply flawed characters to make smart decisions, like the detractors of the series supposedly would.
Where did we get this idea that a character must be likable and flawless to be a ... good character? Raskalnikov from Crime and Punishment is one of the greatest characters ever written and most people who read the book simply despise him. Any of you guys read the Flashman Papers? It was some of the best historical fiction ever written, but Flashman a worthless douche and was the epitome of an immoral picaresque protagonist. People don’t hate the School Days characters because they are bad characters; they hate them because they are bad people and that simply makes no sense to me. They are fictional characters, you don't evaluate the quality of a fictional character the same way you would evaluate the moral quality of a human being.
Makoto was guilty of lust, but he was not entirely guilty of ignorance. He knew he was being an awful person, but he simply could not help himself. He was weak and eventually he stopped trying to fight his urges. He may be an awful person, he may be the "worst," as he calls himself on several occasions, but his reactions to his situation were anything but unrealistic. When examining his character it should be kept in mind that all of the women who were awful manipulative people and were responsible for making him a female-impregnating manwhore, turned their collective back on him when he abandoned a pregnant girl. And hell, he's the father, is it that ridiculous for him to want her to have an abortion? Should a high schooler be expected to take that kind of news well? It is possible to have some amount of empathy for him as well, as it should be for any three dimensional and well-written character.
School Days is somewhat dependent on its ending, but most series (particularly tragedies) are. To say that it was just a cliché romance before the last episode, as I have oft heard claimed, is simply absurd. You should have realized that this anime wasn’t a typical rom-com in the first episode where Makoto almost gets violent with Sekai over nothing. The infamous ending was the culmination of the rest of the series that was meticulously built up to, and while it was surprising, it certainly did not come out of nowhere in an otherwise normal anime.
Rather than being drawn out and ending with the couple getting together, like most harems, the relationships are established in episode 1. Most harems have an assumed happy-ever-after ending, but in School Days, just like in real life, things aren't always sunshines and rainbows. School Days deconstructs this idea and other tropes such as the "matchmaker crush." There is also a fuckton of fanservice, like there is in most "innocent" romance anime. It's very impressive and entertaining how School Days gives you a set of things to expect (largely through more subtle means than typically thought) and then proves those expectations to be false, one by one.
School Days is not entirely realistic (which I’ll discuss in a bit), but Makoto’s character is actually relatively believable. If all the girls in school suddenly started coming on to a high school guy, he might just act the way Makoto did. Many other harem protagonists, such as Manaka from Ichigo 100%, are also selfish and generally bad people, but most harems attempt to paint the main character as the good guy. School days harbors no such delusions. Makoto is the protagonist, but we are certainly not rooting for him. In this sense it’s a clever and scathing attack on the (mostly atrocious) harem genre.
That said, it’s not true that Makoto was completely worthless or a blank character. It’s also not true that the girls fell in love with him out of nowhere. One girl fell in love with him because he was the first boy to ever stick up for her against bullies. One girl started sleeping with him because he accepted her when she felt unloved. One girl fell in love with him because he didn’t make her feel self conscious and he wasn’t just after her body like all other men. Three girls slept with him due to his impressive sexual reputation. These things all happen, they are explainable and believable. Every character has their own motives and is three-dimensional.
In most anime having/being a shy and pure girl is a good thing. In School Days, just like in real life, it is not that simple. Kotonoha’s shyness makes her difficult to interact with and her prudishness is largely the reason why Makoto cheats. It’s also the reason that she was too weak to just dump Makoto or confront him, which is why the whole debacle got as far as it did. School days makes it clear that her behavior is not normal or healthy and that it’s a result of bullying and isolation. The fact that Kotonoha is an extreme version of an overused character archetype would normally be a flaw, but in "School Days" it’s used to deconstruct said archetype and darkly explore what would make a character this way.
Another archetype that “School Days” deconstructs is the "bromantic foil." You know, the perverted best friend who’s just there for comic relief, has no development, and despite being a huge pervert, can never ever get laid. Well in school days the bromantic foil commits an unforgivable and undeniably realistic act against another character, in a fit of sexual frustration. “School Days” treats that archetype like a character that actually matters and has feelings, you know, like a real person. You might not like him, but he is a well written character who has a clear purpose and significance beyond comic relief. The alpha bitch bully is also deconstructed and is given clear motivations for her actions. She hooked up with the protagonist, which defeats the usual purpose of the trope, where the bully only exists to get fucked by karma. It's also interesting how she is overthrown as alpha bitch and her posse fucks Makoto behind her back; this could be considered karma for her bitchiness, but they ended up being even bitchier than her.
While “School Days” is intentionally exaggerated and satirical in some aspects, it’s actually darkly realistic in others. People do avoid ending relationships because it’s too painful for them. People do refuse to take responsibility for getting a girl pregnant. People do fake pregnancy. These are things that happen all the time and to label them as “melodramatic” or “unrealistic” is ridiculous. There are no incurable diseases in school days, no ridiculous coincidences, and no melodrama. Believability is stretched intentionally in several elements (a certain someone sleeping with Makoto to get him to stop cheating) of the story for satirical and deconstructive purposes, but the work remains realistic at its core. It balances satire and realism in the same way that great works like Candide do.
“School Days” is a mixture between a clever deconstruction, a stunning tragedy, a realistic harem, and a somewhat comedic work of satire. The change in tone, foreshadowing, and build up to the incredible resolution were simply masterful. Watching all of the characters relations entropically crumble was a spectacle to behold. The characters and plot may not evoke positive emotions, but they do evoke emotion, as was their purpose, all the same. School Days was ultimately a shocking and memorable multifaceted experience that I enjoyed immensely and appreciated on multiple levels. The mediocre audiovisuals keep me from giving this anime a 9, but 8 is still a very good score. If you go in with an open mind I think you’ll like it or, at the very least, appreciate it for what it is.
Alternative Titles Japanese: スクールデイズ Information Type: TV Episodes: 12 Status: Finished Airing Aired: Jul 4, 2007 to Sep 27, 2007 Premiered: Summer 2007 Broadcast: Wednesdays at 02:15 (JST) Licensors: Discotek Media Studios: TNK Source: Visual novel Duration: 24 min. per ep. Rating: R+ - Mild Nudity Statistics Score: 5.521 (scored by 399,647 users) 1 indicates a . Ranked: #117542 2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #308 Members: 667,653 Favorites: 3,337 Available AtResources |
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