Shameful Otaku Secret!

There will be blood.

One day, people will be able to write about School Days on the internet or wherever without having to address its infamy. That day won’t be until it reaches these North American shores, gets dubbed, and is viewed by people who have no connection to the Internet anime culture whatsoever (the fansubbers, bloggers, blog readers, and dating-sim players who took it on last fall).

School Days was infamous from the start, thanks to starting as a less than traditional dating-sim. And those non-traditional aspects carried over — it was even more infamous after airing, thanks to the “Nice Boat” incident where the final episode was replaced by 4 out of 5 TV stations with nature scenery. But I’m trying not to spoil too much, in case someone genuinely wants to hear a real review. I did write down my impressions episode by episode, but another recap of this show is not what the internet needs.

Story and Characters

This is first and foremost a love triangle. It’s not a slice of life, it’s definitely a love triangle. Cute Sekai sits next to Makoto in class, and finds a picture of a hot girl on the train on his cellphone. She helps him get the girl, the ditzy Kotonoha, but in the process they actually fall in love. That’s a fairly typical storyline — though it’s well done here — and it’s very warm and fuzzy, rainbow-fart stuff, but what a lot of anime dramas fail to do is show the realistically fucked up things that can happen when you introduce sex into the picture. Sex messes with the minds of kids who are not only new to it, but written as stilted and shy anime characters.

Makoto goes from typical harem-show doormat to a guy who actually seems to realize he’s in a harem show, turning the love triangle into a sex tetrahedron that you absolutely have to see to believe. And of course, all that sex has consequences.

He’s not the only detestable human being, though: “Morally loose” is pretty good for these characters, downright cruel is more the norm. And really, no one at all is innocent. Sort of like real high school students.

Realism, at least in some form, is a great boon to School Days. Sex, peer pressure, Carrie-level humiliation, lack of morals, cheating, (date)rape, abortion, mental instability, the cruelty of teenage girls, even a fucking foursome yes you heard me — they’re all here, side by side with the biggest holy shit of all, the Nice Boat. Only hard drugs and boozing escape this one. The moe problems of Clannad characters suddenly seem even more quaint.

The basic gist of the ending will come to you with no problem, but as its inevitability spirals faster and faster toward you, you will be amazed. And you’re not ready.

Animation and Design

I probably could have enjoyed this thing far more if it hadn’t been drawn by Gelfling fetishists. The profiles especially are just horrible. Animation is typical high-school-show fare, don’t get spoiled by Clannad or anything. School uniforms appear to mandate thigh-highs, and some episodes (the obligatory water park episode comes to mind) are so harsh with the fanservice that even the most balls-out otaku might not really feel “served.” No nudity though, in spite of all the sex. The OP, of all things, does have some nipply shapes. Kinda weird and gross.

There are a few interesting details that I like. Oddly, shoes come to mind. I feel like I have a better idea of Sekai’s character, just because of the sneakers she wears.

Make it a learning experience

School Days, in spite of its poor execution much of the time, raises some great points, like: how far is too far to go for your own happiness? Halfway through the show, you may be thinking “well, they’re going about this all wrong, but they’re following their hearts at least!” But in the end, the story’s whole situation parallels and mirrors that moment, and it’s unambiguously terrible. I’m sure it’s also no accident. There are so many interconnects in the story that I wouldn’t take anything for granted.

Maybe more importantly, School Days takes a common format, the harem genre, and asks its viewers to look at it in a new light. It turns anime love triangles around to their dark side in unabashed horror. It adds incredible complexity to a genre that is basically pretty simplistic though it purports to deal with human emotions. And for that I can’t fault it at all. Just as an example: in a dating-sim or harem I would assume that a four-on-one would constitute a pretty desirable outcome, but when it appears in the show, it’s a jaw-dropping tap-dance of cruelty.

Some people say that, even with all that, the ending was still too disturbing.

I don’t.

But I watch Takashi Miike movies with some regularity, so you’re gonna have to get pretty rough to bother me. Anyway, I think it needed its harshness.

Flaws?

Two things: first and foremost, pretty uninspiring animation.

Secondly, there’s a pretty long setup for a show whose action all happens in the last few episodes. I didn’t want to talk about the end at all, but I am afraid that someone coming blindly to this thing will give up before things really get set into motion, so don’t give up. Some setup is necessary in hindsight.

But — it’s not a huge flaw given that School Days is only 12 episodes. And once it gets going it is one sociopathic cruelty after another, with only small breaks for hysteric despair. I don’t count that in itself as a problem, though I can see why some would. If you don’t do dark, don’t watch. Period.

In the end (Nice Boat)

Few movies or shows will change the way you look at anime. Evangelion (and RahXephon) forever made other giant robots less interesting, and Haruhi makes me laugh every time an animated camera pans to the sky. School Days, if you’re not careful, will cast a pall over the harem genre, from Love Hina to Clannad.

I don’t want to sound too over-analytical because the main thrill here is visceral, and it rattled me. The reason I put it in such bold company as Haruhi or Eva is because just maybe it belongs there.

A Room Without Anyone, aka Trapped In The Closet part 29

They say these “slice of life” shows aren’t really about anything.

Sweet animated Christ, if only that were true.

In the case of these Key shows, they’re about the inherent pain that is life. And about foisting that pain upon hapless viewers. Sometimes it’s in the form of senseless tragedy. Sometimes it’s a more brain-oriented, dull nagging hurt that comes from being completely unable to pull a shard of sense out of the tangled wreckage of plot developments.

You can has recap?

Just when I thought things were getting tolerable — thanks to some clever humor and actual character development, #16 was really enjoyable — they pull some fucked up shit in the beginning of this one.

I had almost forgotten Nagisa’s health “issue.” That unspecified, horribly tragic and ultra-vague disease that definitely kills you and that at least one character in all of these fucking shows gets. I think it’s called moe-itis.

And it’s bringing me down.

I’m not the least bit sad about the inevitable, although if they step up their game I might be. I’m just frustrated about these old-hat Kanon tricks. So anyway, she collapses and has to be out of school for a while, thus very transparently freeing up the storyline for other girls who, in the end, are less boring but won’t matter as much as her.

You know what? This isn’t working, so I’m going to break it down into the series of completely ludicrous situations that essentially make up this episode. It’s not that I require total believability in a show. After all, the original Fuko story was very supernaturally oriented. But things have to be believable within a given set of circumstances or internal rules — and Clannad keeps asking me to accept round after round of new and hackneyed circumstances.

Preposterousness, Instance 1

Tomoya reveals that he doesn’t date because he is indeed that noble eunuch I once suspected him of being: his dad is messed up, he’s a delinquent, why should he go all the way to “hardened criminal,” which losing his virginity would no doubt drive him to? He’s no good for the ladies. And you know what, ladies? If he keeps telling you that, there’s a good chance you should believe him.

Preposterousness, Instance 2

Tomoyo is an ass-beater, we all knew that. Now she’s coming into T-dog’s house in the morning to wake him up, which is both funny and a little cute. That’s OK, although she is younger — tsk, tsk. But turns out she’s the star of a major Hong Kong action flick that happens to take place in real life. Sunohara fucks everything up by parading her around like his bodyguard, so approximately 8,000 street toughs come to jack her after school. Ghosts, sure. High school “Street Fighter” characters? I just don’t know.

Preposterousness Instance 3

The mother of all inanity. The closet incident. If you could only hear. my. teeth. grinding. as I write.

The reference library girl with the coffee and weird books gets Tomoya to do some sort of magic charm where he balances two 10-yen coins on top of one another and will magically get locked in a gym closet with a girl of his choosing. And just to show you that I’m capable of suspending disbelief, I’ll let you know that this Dictionary Definition of Plot Contrivance doesn’t bother me.

It’s clear he would have chosen Nagisa had she been at school, but I’m thinking it’s probably because she’s all safe and shy and not because he actually likes her. I’m not certain though, since he does spend a lot of time pining for her in the club room. I thought this episode was going to be about the debate in his head of whether he digs her or not. I’m still not sure what it is about, actually.

So anyway, he seems to default to Kyou, and it works. Gross gym uniform shots ensue, she wonders aloud where such a specific charm came from, and there’s lots of beyond-awkward shit I can’t quite bring myself to watch again. She’s flattered that he’d pick her and she’s clearly (creepily) into it, but ashamed because her weaksauce sister is still trying to close the deal. Well, not trying, so much.

Thing is, in the end it boils down to one of those situations that we, as anime viewers, are going to be expected to largely forget because it doesn’t change anything.

The other sad part is that if Tomoya does end up with one of these girls, it really would be great if it was Kyou because she’s the only character with a shred of personality (and hopefully they’re just teasing us with the tsundere bullshit, they seem pretty self-aware of it). But that’s not how these things work. It’s just not pathetic enough.

Best we can hope for is that he realizes some deep love for Nagisa from his darkest past, just before she succumbs to her acute moe-itis in a long and drawn-out series of 87 episodes.

What We’ve Learned

Nothing! I feel dumber having watched this episode! I was right after all that both Tomoyo and Kyou are getting story exposure, but Tomoyo, fun as she is, is a walking cartoon (and yes, I realize the delicious ironing in saying that, seeing as how this is a fucking cartoon show) and Kyou’s “sex-me-ok-seeya!” routine in the closet was frustrating and ridiculous. I guess we did learn that the motivation behind Kyou’s lunchtime recruitment of Tomoya was in fact Ryou, but will she step on her sister’s toes? Do I care? I don’t know anymore.

One good thing I can say: Covering two, possibly three girls’ stories at once is unpopular with the gamers, but I think it’s a great move that should keep the formula from getting too tired.

Oh yeah!

Fuko appears again. And it’s still not funny. Too bad no one remembers her, someone could go to the hospital where she’s laying comatose and snuff her out. Was that mean? Sorry, she was a good story (when she was called Ayu in Kanon…) but I don’t dig this coming back for (ostensible) comic relief.

In Summation…

When I want to say, “I can’t believe I waited a week for this,” usually Lost is the only show to turn to. Thanks, Clannad! Ultimately, I the problem is that I do like this show, and I think it’s capable of doing great things. Like your mom always told you, I’m not mad, I’m just… disappointed.

Everlasting Love

In spite of SNS’s often predictable storylines, or the way it tends to pile on incomprehensible lingo and convoluted lists of characters to make things artificially less clichéd, I keep giving the show credit — mostly for its believable characters and their realistic choices given the situations in which they’re placed. But the show is starting to burn its karma faster than it ever could with just some panning up to the sky (shades of Haruhi), thanks to the giant crack in its character-driven solidity: Kazumi.

Is love blind, or just retarded?

Don’t get me wrong: there are plenty of shy-human vs. magical-girl love triangles less involving or believable than this. And I (usually) enjoy the weird truce that Shana and Kazumi have going on. But the realism of most of the characters’ actions is exactly what gets the show in trouble here.

While the stilted, awkward anime-style non-romance in most shows like this is motivated strictly by “we’re a Japanese show,” “main character is a little thick,” or “just for the sake of drawing it out to the last episode,” I have zero problems believing Yuji’s lack of romantic awareness here. Let’s take a tally. There’s Pheles (who I really want to be Phyllis when I hear it, but the subbers disagree), the Silver, Hecate’s seal, Johan, Balle Masque, and Margery Daw’s murderous will to vengeance on the Silver, all living inside the Reiji Maigo. Any of those could kill him at any moment if it weren’t for the fact that he’s essentially already dead. I can one hundred percent forgive him for lacking the motivation to hug puppies and make out with Kazumi all day.

So her near-constant whingeing is really starting to chap my ass. Oooh, I’ll never be as close to him as Shana. Ooooh, if I want to participate in this deadly supernatural world and be of any benefit to Yuji I’ll have to kill myself using this Hougu from Pheles. There are things in this world that bigger breasts just cannot compete with, and magical powers or a big sword that help keep your would-be boyfriend alive… I think that’d do it.

The sad part is her transformation from ultra-shy to a little more confident in the first series was really winning. It didn’t seem to win over Yuji, no. But it was exemplary of just how decent these writers are at developing their characters, even through situations that are really silly at times. Sort of like how Margery went from the obligatory American drunkard to a scarred Flame Haze with a buried human soul somewhere underneath. Now is the time that I really hope they’re going to whip out one of their trademark little surprises that make me go “hey, now that’s real nice.” Because the show’s been in a holding pattern for a little while.

Recap?

In other news, Satou and Tanaka never really appeared to get over Margery’s berzerker rage. Tanaka has taken a sieze-the-moment approach by getting together in earnest with Ogata and mostly staying away from Satou’s house. Satou is still running errands for Margery, but he’s real sulky about it. I’d be surprised if something major wasn’t planned for him before too long.

Everyone’s forgotten Konoe, the vessel sent by Hecate to collect human experience. That makes Kazumi sad as well, and while that’s probably supposed to make us like her even more for her naive and unquestioning sense of caring, it just makes me think she grasps the weight of the situation even less than before. The final scene, however, has Hecate seeing a bird and contemplating it. Have her experiences as Konoe softened her? Is she now a wild card?

And Yuji, he’s stepping up to the plate to swing Blutsauger, the massive sword that Tanaka and Satou used to spend their days trying to lift. And watching him practice with it, Kazumi — about to throw the Hougu into the river — almost seems to get the selfish futility of her endless whine. But swordplay takes a backseat to paperwork when Wilhelmina makes him sort through endless useless reports from the Outlaw.

Yuji’s dad leaves again, to go… what the hell does that guy do anyway?

And what’s more…

If the horrendous new opening (they just don’t seem to get any better…) serves no other purpose, it at least seems to show us a lot of action that should be in store very soon. If I recall, the first series absolutely exploded at episode 17, culminating with the Seeking Researcher saying “Wow! This is really starting to get exciting!” or something humorously self-aware like that. Either 17 or 18 saw Kazumi declare her love, and apparently 20-some-odd episodes of non-reciprocation aren’t enough to deter her.

I’m ready for the explosion of rapid plot development, big action, and crazy realizations that marked the last series around now. Are we going to get them? I’m cautiously optimistic, but this show has a way of doing the unexpected just when I’m about to give up on it, so you can bet that I’ll at least be watching.