Yes, they stayed true to the source material (that I can’t judge, as I obviously haven’t played the original game); although in the game itself, I have heard reports that Makoto doesn’t exactly follow whatever action you want him to accomplish.

As for Kanokon/QB: I watched ep.1 of the former. Deleted it within seconds of skimming it through.

I agree with everything you said, Makoto’s character was extremely hateable. I read other reviews where they said you would ‘love to hate him’ and that he was ‘realistic’, however I personally found any scene involving him agonizing…which was pretty much the entire series. Yes, reverse sympathy for most characters except kotonoha…although even she should have been able to see how terrible makoto was being to her.

I think, though, this is the result of staying extremely true to the original game, where these are probably the actions that a person playing it would take (ie try to get ALL the women regardless of the circumstances. Although this game would be pretty easy as all the women would instantly want to have sex with you :s)

Toradora was good. Anyone reading the comments who is looking for a highschool romance which deviates from the mean slightly can watch that instead.

I have not seen Knokon or Queen’s Blade, however from screenshots etc of queens blade it looks…ridiculously fanservicey.

Creepy music was good.

The well publicised, infamous ending saved it from impending mediocrity, but on the whole, School Days needs major polishing.

Makoto is simply one of the *worst* male characters in anime history – yet Sekai, being the desparate idiot as she is, can equally take some of the hate. Plot was okay (thanks to ep.12), but I felt was rather average most of the way. Really, when nearly every character just wants to have sex (with Makoto, or each other), it’s hard to take any character development/plot progression seriously. I just had no sympathy for the outcomes of all the characters involved (well, maybe Kotonoha…).

I expected some fanservice, considering its eroge origins, but really, if you’re looking for fanservice, Queen’s Blade or Kanokon would serve you much better. As far as drama goes, sure, it has its moments, but I have seen far better executed relationship dramas (Toradora, to name one…).

As for the other factors, the BGM was fairly decent and somewhat adds to the atmosphere noticeably (nothing noteworthy though, although that eerily creepy piano/violin track does stand out during the right moments, and there’s some pretty okay piano tracks). Makoto comes off as whiny, though, and Sekai sounds rather annoyingly b****hy. Animation production and art was average (as expected), with a few errors and inconsistencies here and there

Overall I gave this a 6/10. Passable, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Maybe only for episode 12 though…

anonymous

If I ever need credentials, I’m going to have to post that…