It’s easy to say I’ve been a fan of Japanese Animation off and on for about maybe twelve or so years. It’s a hobby that is easy to get burned out on considering the majority of the product has a domestic demographic to meet and knick knacks and do-dads to sell. It’s more than unlikely that some goober Caucasian located in Northern California is on their list of key consumers.
One of these things most definitely not targeted at me, (since I’m not a child molester in the making), is the huge boom in the art style/slang term/lifestyle of all things moe, which is basically a fetish of sorts. It’s a term for cute, large and glassy eyed characters, (mainly girls), in animation and video games.The girls are usually rather timid and subservient. It’s a very convoluted and somewhat ambiguous, (and creepy), phenomenon that I probably did no justice in explaining 100%.
The Japanese animation scene has had the same issues that mainstream Hollywood is coping with. Original material is often less profitable than an adaptation of other mediums which already have established stories such as books, video games or even stories just ripped from the newspaper.
“School Days” comes adapted from a popular dating simulator game of the same name. Dating sims are huge with teenage girls over there as well as awkward shut ins who wouldn’t know what a real girl looked like if she was outside of computer monitor and fully clothed. A dating sim is basically a game where you are placed in a social setting with the opportunity to date members of said setting. It could be a work office, a castle with dragons and elves and shit or, I dunno, maybe say a school. Which is a rather popular setting truth be told. The idea is that in a set amount of time you must complete your goal. Your goal can vary from honorable and chivalrous like marriage or that of a regular Casanova/pimp/sex bomb and try to fuck every girl. There are so many variations the fun is endless and full of replay, if you’re into that sort of thing.
It’s pretty common place for something like “School Days” to be adapted into an anime of short length. In this case, it’s 12 episodes long. And from the research I’ve done, it pretty much includes nearly every outcome in one way or another.
The background covered here is indicative of why in early 2007 when “School Days” made it’s on air debut, I was about as far away from a show like this as can be. The words “dating sim adaption” and “harem/moe show” produces blood curdling screams out of me , not to mention I would’ve needed to purge my eyeballs of what it was contaminated with. Admittedly, one piece of news about “School Days” always piqued my interest. The week it was about to air it’s final episode, the show was pulled in place 28 minutes of nature scenery and tranquil music. This was in lieu of a grizzly murder involving a young girl, an axe and her father. The last episode contained a gruesome murder and as such, would’ve been in been taste had it been aired that week. Yikes! In my mind I wondered how violent something so mundane and harmless seemingly at least from my vantage point in Cali-forn-I-A could be.
Two years without having the answer and one bored night of marathoning “School Days” later, I’ve come away from the experience having felt the electricity of anger, fear and disgust reverberate through my body. I was physically sickened by what I saw, I nearly threw up. Now this may be because pf my belief in personally wiring yourself into the world of whatever work of fiction presented before your eyes. That way you can fully receive whatever message is being conveyed as well as take in a more ornate understandings of the character development.
BAD IDEA.
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“School Days” as I saw it:
The show begins harmlessly with a boy eyeballing a girl from across the train, bound for their high school. Makoto Itou is very sheepish and shy. Your typically dorky dude in this type of series. Not unattractive, but not with any distinguishing features physically or personality wise. Kotonoha Katsura is an avid reader and equally as shy. She’s also very big breasted for being 14. So begins the very first spark of love. Cute, whatever. He snaps a picture of her on his cell phone.
After his time to shine as a budding teenage voyeur, it’s time for class! Makoto oogles at his prize picture which was taken for the sake of what equates to one of those obnoxious chain letters. The idea is that if you take a picture of the one you like, they’ll be into you three weeks after the secret photo shoot.
Have you ever had someone look over your shoulder when you think that whatever you’re doing is a private affair? It can be upsetting. Enter Sekai Sejounji, the spunky, energetic and my personal favorite character of “School Days”. She pesters Makoto about the pic until she gets the dirt out of him in regards to his romantic interest. As she happens to share a class with Kotonoha, she agrees to work the big fix up. Zaniness ensues and in the end Kotonoha and Makoto become a couple.
Gratitude is expressed from Makoto naturally. Sekai helps him achieve his goal afterall. He lets her know that he owes a huge debt. Sekai leans in kisses him unexpectedly and lets him know he doesn’t owe her. Uh oh.
The show just takes off from there and addresses many different topics ranging from Kotonoha’s conservative views towards sexuality to Makoto’s wondering eyes and lack of monogamy. The love triangle that’s commonly the disease in this productions begins to show it’s symptoms when Sekai helps “train” Makoto to be intimimate with his girlfriend.
Eventually, they become a secret item and eventually everyone from Sekai’s best friend Setsuna to Kotonoha’s rival, Otome to even secondary characters are boning Makoto. Even the girls who have small bit parts as the bitchy friends of Otome have a menage a trois with Makoto. The whole cast becomes corrupted as the result of either unrequited feelings, selfish lust and just plain lunacy.
The anger inducing yet fascinating character study that comes from watching Makoto morph from this sweet and confused guy, which is what attracted everyone to him in the first place, to this misogynistic, emotionally vapid sexual deviant who’ll lie and cheat and hurt all at the cost of a special kiss and a heartfelt fuck is truly a well written role. He did this 180 from forgettable character to top 15 worst villains I’ve ever watched on a cartoon… or in real life.
The chaotic and amorously anarchist world that inhabit hits an emotional high when it’s revealed that Sekai is pregnant with Makoto’s child. Kotonoha was dumped at the the schools dumpster area no less and she loses it and is seen walking around covered in snow and calling Makoto and constantly conversing to him about plans. The only problem is that he blocked her number and she in reality talking to a pre-recorded message.
When eventually noone else will have him, and holding a grudge with Sekai for ruining his life, he comes across Kotonoha in her full state of psychotic behavior. They’re reunited and now I’m screaming at my monitor and punching the counch with vitriol.
Makoto suggests an abortion to Sekai as she is useless to him now, even though this is the same girl he once mused “I’d rather have you.” over Kotonoha. A meeting of minds takes place at his apartment over the subject. The chain of events to come will forever be bound my cerebrum. In my life I’ll never be able to lose this visual. Perhaps it wasn’t as brutal as I make it out to be, but the realism of the situation enhanced the way I took in the visuals laid before me.
She makes tea as he steps out to grab his cell phone to answer a text from the the other room. The sender to his receiver was Sekai. The text message’s hymn sang, “sorry…………………………………………..goodbye.”
The shocking and violent nature with which Sekai stabs Makoto repeatedly really set me off in a way watching violent television never has before. To watch Sekai’s catharsis through murder was an artistic expression I never had expected to come across in what I perceived as some dumb trendy, money pandering project.
If that were it, that would have been enough, but later after Kotonoha discovers Makoto’s life less cadaver there is a confrontation with Sekai on the roof of the school where all three of them share memories of each other.
Allegations of not being pregnant are thrown around before Kotonoha shows Sekai the decapitated head of Mokoto in a duffel bag…. and then uses a saw to mortally wound Sekai. She proceeds to saw open Sekai’s stomach and uterus to prove that there was no child. The show ends with Kotohna on a yacht holding Mokoto’s head saying that they’re finally together at last.
One must really applaud the animation staff and writers. The took a show with most likely cheap production values and really worthless dialogue in a what was mundane and turned it into something that though most likely unintentional, makes a statement about what’s wrong with these kinds a saccharine sweet shows. I felt the characters came across as extremely human and interesting in their separate ways. Most of them came off as flowers blooming out a one dimension flower into 3D. What I got out of this was threefold.
1.) The actions shown are the ones we restrain ourselves from taking at all costs.
2.) These children were acting out in a way I wouldn’t be surprised to see happen in the future considering how hypersexual domestic & global media has become. Children today carry an apathy for consequence and the prospect of the sexual nature and the adolescent feelings that love will conquer all or love will tear us apart can have a psychological toll.
3.) Sometimes a broken heart is all you need to make something riveting.
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This has been a fun and sloppy write up about a subject I’m sure not too many really care about. I’d like feedback if possible to better work out the many kinks I’m seeing in my craft thus far. Thank you for the read.
