We always talk about what would happen if a major earthquake ever hit such a highly populated place like Japan. Unfortunately, it is now a reality.
As you probably know, on March 11 Japan had it's worst earthquake to date - magnitude of 8.9, and was hit by aftershocks measured as high as 7.1 . The earthquake triggered a tsunami that sent 30 foot waves along the country's northeast shore. Hundreds- possibly thousands- are reported dead, and hundreds more are missing.
Even if you are not religious -I'm surely not- please keep them in your prayers.
Konnichiwa, minnasan! Welcome to my blog.
Today, I will review what may be one of the most infamous anime of the modern age: School Days.
DEFINITE spoilers, so beware if you haven't finished the series!
School days, like many recent anime, is based off of a hentai game. What made it so popular, however, were it's several violent "bad" endings, in which one character or the other is either murdered, or commits suicide. Nearly all of the good ending, however, involve him getting with two or more girls, so...whether they are actually "good" or not is completely up to you and your individual moral standards. Anyway...
Naturally, it was decided that this game would be adapted into a manga, and an anime series. Also, (as if you didn't know...) this series is where the internet meme, "Nice Boat," originated.
So, here's the plot. And here's where the MAJOR SPOILERS come in.
Our protagonist, Makoto Itou, rides the train to school every day. One day, he notices fellow student, Kotonoha Katsura, who incidentally rides the same train. Following a rumor about a cell phone charm, "Take a picture of your crush with your cell phone, and if no one finds out within a week, you will be together," he snaps a picture.
Later in class, however, he realizes that the very idea is ridiculous. He decides that he is satisfied just watching her. Pretty normal, albeit a bit creepy.
Just as he is about to delete the photo, another classmate, Sekai Saionji, discovers it, and takes it upon herself to get the two together, against the wishes of Makoto.
Idiotic Mistake # 1.
Makoto, your friendly neighborhood jackass.
*cue booing and hissing*
She befriends Kotonoha, and, after setting up an awkward lunch between the three, Makoto asks Kotonoha to be his girlfriend, and she accepts.
After all that she's done for him, Makoto feels that he owes Sekai. As they are waiting for their trains, Makoto asks Sekai what she would like in return. As her train arrives, she bends down and kisses Makoto. She then boards her train and wishes the flabbergasted Makoto good luck on his date with Kotonoha.
Typical love triangle, right? Well, for now, I guess.
Episode 2 is all about Kotonoha and Makoto's first 2 dates, which goes...well...not good, due to Makoto and his sex-o-holic tendencies (Too much physical contact, trying to kiss her...him getting bitch-slapped >:3). Sekai scolds Makoto, and tries to explain to Kotonoha that Makoto is trying to make her happy. She meets him at the train station later, and surprises him with a kiss.
Sekai then offers to give Makoto "PRACTICE LESSONS."
Idiotic Mistake #2.
Makoto, however, still has his mind set on, as Sekai puts it, "doing perverted things,'' with Kotonoha, but she, understandably, isn't comfortable with it.
So, when she refuses, he claims that being with her is "tiring."
And it continues to be tiring until episode 5, when Makoto begins to cheat on Kotonoha...with OMG Sekai. (as if you couldn't see that one coming. :P )
In Episode 6, Makoto and Sekai contemplate how to break this news to Kotonoha, with Makoto claiming that they shouldn't, and Sekai, the opposite.
Well, while they don't end up telling her then, Kotonoha finds out on her own, overhearing their conversation on her way to the roof. However, being the WEAK, DEPENDENT person she is, she refuses to believe it, despite the fact that she friggin' heard it come from his mouth.
Episode 7 is the day before the School Festival. Kotonoha still refuses to believe that Makoto is cheating on her. Otome Kato, one of the many girls in class that bully Kotonoha, has recently found out that Kotonoha is dating Makoto, whom she has feelings for. Of course, she takes her anger out on Kotonoha.
Kotonoha Katsura.
Quite possibly the weakest anime character in history.
Meanwhile, Sekai has told her best friend, Setsuna Kiyoura, that Makoto and Kotonoha have broken up, and they are now together. She spreads the news, even going so far as to block Kotonoha's number from Makoto's phone. Hearing that they have broken up, Makoto's friend Taisuke Sawanaga takes the opportunity to ask Kotonoha to the folk dance. She responds by saying that they haven't broken up, and declines.
Later, she goes to Makoto's apartment with the intent to ask him to the folk dance. She spies Sekai's shoes at the door, however, and leaves. Sekai, feeling guilty about being caught there, decides to leave, but runs into Kotonoha downstairs, and gets bitch-slapped.
The next day, Sekai stays home from school. Makoto visits, telling her that what they are doing isn't wrong. (WTF?) Of course, she disagrees. He leaves, and is met unexpectedly by Kotonoha on the train, where she asks him to the folk dance...and if he wants to touch her boobs. o_O
As Makoto and Setsuna are carrying materials back to their classroom, she informs him that she will be moving to France after the festival.
When they get back to the classroom, Makoto falls asleep, and Setsuna steals a kiss from him...right as Kotonoha is passing by.
Oh Snap.
Of course, Kotonoha is upset, and confronts Setsuna, threatening to tell Sekai.
Meanwhile, during the festival, Makoto is begging Sekai to take a sex break, until she kicks him where the sun don't shine. Of course, he's totally ignoring Kotonoha. When he gets around to checking his cell phone, there are twenty messages from her, saying that she's stuck in her class's haunted house, and "student lounge"...where students can have sex. (Ah, c'mon, didn't your school have a sex room?)
Later on, Otome attempts to ask Makoto to the dance, but is interrupted by Sekai, who later asks Makoto the same question. He remains indecisive.
Otome later drags Makoto to the lounge, and pushes herself on him. And...well...y'know.
Sekai Saionji.
Next to Makoto, she is probably the most hated
character in this series.
Meanwhile, two other classmates, Nanami Kanroji and Minami Obuchi, bully Kotonoha, asking why Makoto is ignoring her. She decides to go to his classroom, but is met by Taisuke, who confesses his "love" to her. He tells her that Makoto and Sekai have gone to the bonfire dance. He then proceeds to RAPE HER.
The next day, Kotonoha never mentions what happened the night before. Taisuke asks to see her again, but she declines. She then runs into Makoto and Setsuna, throwing away trash. Setsuna forces the two of them to officially break up, with Makoto saying that he doesn't love her anymore. Setsuna tops it off by kissing Makoto, saying that the two of them are together. They leave, and Kotonoha is broken.
Setsuna later looks for Makoto, and hears him having sex with Otome in the gym storage room. (All of this is going on IN THE FLIPPING SCHOOL?)
She later goes to his house with the intent of making him promise to remain faithful to Sekai. Makoto, however, knows that Setsuna has feelings for him, and forces himself on her.
She protests at first, but then agrees, under the condition that his cheating days are over. (If that makes any sense.)
Later, we find out that the whole lounge thing was a prank, and there were video cameras set up. Sekai sees Makoto and Otome together, and is mortified. She goes to confront him, but runs into Kotonoha, who tells her that he is with Setsuna.
We find out after the end credits that Setsuna originally had the seat next to Makoto in class, but Sekai had begged her to switch with her.
Sekai, overcome by grief over a mixture Setsuna's leaving and Makoto's disloyalty, misses school for several days.
Hikari Kuroda, yet another classmate, and Sekai's friend, has also begun having sex with Makoto.
Meanwhile, Kotonoha is slowly losing it, walking around, calling Makoto, though her number has been blocked. She walks around town in a daze, talking to her cellphone.
Later, three more girls decide to have a SEX PARTY at Makoto's house, because they want to know what it's like to "have" Makoto. (He is now officially a man-whore, as he has now screwed all but two of the entire female cast.)
Sekai, while scrolling through her old text messages, suddenly rushes to the bathroom and pukes. She concludes that she is pregnant, and announces it to Makoto and the rest of the class the next day, outraged by the fact that he asks if there is a way to, "make it not happen." She then vomits in his lap. :)
All of the girls in school start to avoid Makoto, fearing the same fate as Sekai. Sekai, however, is beginning to like the fact that she is carrying Makoto's child.
Otome shows up a Makoto's apartment, but only to inform him that he has made a change for the worst since middle school.
He goes out for a walk, trying to call all of the girls on his phone, but every one of them has blocked his number.
He happens to run into Kotonoha, and finally realizes what a jerkass he's been after seeing the dead look in her eyes. He apologizes, and she goes back to normal.
He takes her out for dinner, and in the middle of their date, he receives a call from Sekai, who is waiting for him at his apartment. He tells her that he ruined his (sex?) life, and to leave him alone, before hanging up on her. She texts him an apology, destroys the dinner she made for the two of them, and leaves.
However, she happens to catch a glimpse of him and Kotonoha on the train, and she decides to go back to the apartment.
After a brief confrontation, she leaves, but not before witnessing Makoto and Kotonoha kiss deeply in front of her.
Overnight, Makoto send her a text, asking if she'd gone to the hospital yet, sending her over the edge.
She decides to pay him a visit the next day.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is where the shit finally hits the fan.
After a few awkward, thumb-twiddling moments on the couch, Makoto offers to make tea, but Sekai says that she'll do it. She goes into the kitchen.
And sends him a text. (I have friends who do this, and I would've gotten up and asked why her lazy ass didn't just come back and say what she wanted to say. But that's just me.)
He just may be regretting the things he's done...well, too late.
Confused, he opens the text. It reads: "I'm sorry............Goodbye."...
...and he turns around just in time for Sekai to stab the ever loving shit out of him. :)
After a short struggle, (if you even want to call it that,) Makoto, of course, is dead.
A moment goes by, and Sekai has the inevitable, "Holy shit, what did I just do," moment, and hauls ass.
Payback.
It's a bitch, ain't it?
But wait! Theres more!
Eventually, Kotonoha returns, and discovers Makoto's body, thus destroying whatever sanity she had left.
Sekai, cowering in (what I believe to be) Makoto's room, receives a text from Makoto's phone, telling her to meet him on the roof of the school. (I wouldn't go-just saying.)
She goes, knife in her coat pocket. She is met by Kotonoha, who asks if she has gone to the hospital.
Sekai says that she would never go to any hospital that she would recommend. Kotonoha then accuses Sekai of lying about her pregnancy.
Kotonoha then tells Sekai that is it is about Makoto, then she should ask him herself, gesturing to a duffel bag lying on the bench.
Sekai looks in the bag, only to discover Makoto's severed head.
Kotonoha then unveils a bloody Dozuki, and slices Sekai's throat. She then cuts her stomach open to confirm her pregnancy, and, upon finding nothing, concludes that she was lying.-"Theres no one inside you."
Holy shit...thats a fucking Nice Boat!
The final scene consists on Kotonoha fondling Makoto's head in the middle of the ocean, on her father's yacht; i.e, a Nice Boat.
Well...weren't expecting that, were you?
I have mixed feeling about the wrap-up of this anime.
Realistic, yes. I mean, things like this happen WAAAAAY more often than the turn-outs of your typical harem anime. (By my count, nothing like typical harem anime has ever happened in real life.) Oh sure, he could've done something cheesy, like, oh, spell out "I'm Sorry" in flowers, and all the girls would forgive him.
But no. He was a jackass right 'till the bloody end.
My biggest gripe is the lack of parental interaction. I mean come on! Granted, we never see Makoto or Sekai's parents, (although it is said that they LIVE WITH THEM,) but we actually come in contact (albeit brief,) with Kotonoha's. Also, where are the teachers? I mean, they were fucking in school.
Kids have been caught having sex at my school, but that's the thing-they were caught. These kids fuck in the damn gym room, and no one catches on.
And this has got to be one of the only anime in which I cannot find a favorite character. It's pretty much impossible to like any of them, except for the minor, minor ones, (like, say, for example, Kotonoha's sister, Kokoro.)
Makoto, well, I guess nothing needs to be said. He was a complete and total jackass. (On an unrelated note, he is WAY more likable in the manga-no man whoring.) For the love of god, I could not understand why EVERYONE was attracted to this guy! He's an idiot, he has no regard for anyone's feelings but his own...he's not even that good looking either! *sigh*
Kotonoha is just so WEAK. I mean, if she seriously liked Makoto, freaking tell him, and tell Sekai to just fuck off! And not, "um...could you please back off of Makoto? I mean, I'm dating him and all..." No, just have a straight-up Jerry Springer moment, and tell her to back the fuck off of your man.
Sekai...don't even get me started. If she had just told Makoto how she felt, or just stayed out of the whole thing in the first place, chances are none of this would've happened.
The rest of the girls in class with them, with the exception of Nanami, are just a bunch of easy sluts. I mean, really? You wanted to see what it was like to "have Makoto"? WTF?
Overall, this anime pissed me off. But this is a good pissed off. I can't explain it...it just made me so angry, yet I friggin' love it at the same time. I guess that's what a good anime will do to you...
And to all of you who disagree with me, and say that this a crappy series, well...I don't really care. So flaming me will do you no good.
Well, that wraps up my first post.
Jaa mata!
Also, before I go, I feel obligated to leave the AWESOME SAUCE video of the ending. >:D
ENJOY THE STAB-ALICIOUS FUN.
