School Days, Bad End is Bad
Posted by 0rion on September 28th, 2007 - 12:01 am
I didn’t enjoy it at all.
You know, it’s funny…after all the build up, all the delays, all the bloggers flaming away at Makoto with the heat of a thousand internets, when I finally got to see the long awaited moment - it didn’t make me happy at all.
Watching the cast slowly spiral out of control throughout the series, and then finally crash and burn at the end, was like watching an impending train wreck. You knew it was going to be horrible, but you couldn’t pull your eyes away from it.
And while I wasn’t part of the torch-bearing mob vociferously calling for Makoto’s head, I certainly was not hoping for a Good End to the show either. Now that I’ve been able to witness Makoto receive his just comeuppance, however, it really struck me what a tragedy this show is.
Of course, it’s awfully hard to feel any kind of sympathy for Makoto…or any of the cast, for that matter. But as the series of flashbacks showed the happier days of the past, before this whole messy situation got started, I couldn’t help but think that it was a very deeply unfortunate outcome. Plenty of people make really stupid mistakes when they’re young and lacking in maturity. Even the events of School Days are not that far removed from the reality of some people.
Perhaps the reason why I didn’t like the series that much was exactly because it was a bit too real. Your standard harem romcom tries to keep things somewhat plausible, but it intentionally stretches your suspension of disbelief so that you don’t take it too seriously either. Instead of being my usual dose of blissful evening escapism, School Days reminded me of all the Bad Stuff™ in the real world that I usually don’t like to think about when I’m watching anime.
So in the end, as much as I was looking forward to this episode, I really couldn’t get into it.
With one key exception: the ending was tremendous. Nice Boat lol!
*sigh* I’m gonna go watch a couple episodes of Hidamari Sketch to get my genki back.
I recommend you do the same. Even if you didn’t watch School Days. You know, just on principle.
School Days is depressing, so here’s some Yoshinoya-sensei.
And yes, I do really like to start sentences with conjunctions. 
And we all know conjunctions at the start of sentences are good.
But, now that it’s over, I definitely see the characters differently. I was rooting for Sekai at first, but I really felt the Setsuna flashback put Sekai in a terrible light. Only Kotonoha was innocent of deceit, and she went crazy from all the backstabbing (and front-stabbing, incidentally) that went on.
I wasn’t really calling for Makoto’s head either. I didn’t think he was bad enough to deserve death, and Kotonoha is the only one who got with Makoto without knowing what a cad he was; ironically, she was the only one who didn’t hold it against him. All the other girls had prior knowledge, and used Makoto just as much as he used them.
The easiest way to enjoy School Days is to not get attached to the characters. Then, it’s just a lol-fest throughout. Er…that’s just my opinion. x)
Well, at least there was a boat in it (nice boat ^^)…
I dropped this anime and just decided to watch the last episode, I am satisfied with the ending ^^.
i LOVE the ending. Goodbye Makoto.
@Kabitzin
I agree that Kotonoha was the closest thing that story had to an innocent, although given the fact that she snapped so easily, I can imagine her going berserk and sawing people down in the future regardless of the events depicted in the show.
@Totali
Yeah, I suppose so. I guess I just haven’t spent enough time on 4chan to be able to get lulz from senseless rape and murder.
On the other hand, the show did spawn some pretty epic new memes and catchphrases, and admittedly that’s been pretty funny.