How To (Literally) Kill Your Love Life | School Days (Visual Novel/Manga/Anime Story Breakdown)

what does it mean to fall in love with someone how do we know we're falling in love does love just happen or is our more gradual process for a lot of people these feelings of affection are probably a foreign concept someone special enters our life and as a result we might want to start getting closer to them we want to learn about them talk more with them and try to spend as much time together as possible love can be an amazing feeling but there's also another side to consider sometimes the person you're with starts to lose interest in their current situation they might become more distant and start talking less you begin to question yourself and doubts emerge from those inner thoughts you may even notice someone else becoming oddly close to the person you love naturally jealousy would emerge and you'd want to put in more effort to keep the person in question close to you what if things start to spiral downward no matter how hard you try you can't get them to feel the same anymore the other person is winning and desperation begins to surface selfish desires start to take over with the one you love slipping away how far would you go to keep them welcome to school days [Music] [Music] on the surface school days is a pretty average series it's a high school romance tale with a good amount of drama which lands its square in the middle of japan's most popular genre the characters and set pieces are both on the generic side and as you might expect a large majority of the events take place in a regular school with those things seemingly against it you never expect a series like this to really stand out oddly enough though it's just the opposite school days hide some very dark secrets for those willing to dive deep enough in to find them the anime in particular holds a very infamous place within the community being a tragic romance that massively subverted expectations this was the only reference point i had before doing additional research and my last viewing of the series was almost a decade ago not having the best impression i went back with very low expectations what i ended up finding surprised me the content itself was certainly interesting but i actually came away from everything liking the series what i discovered is that the anime is really a piece of something much larger without context it's no wonder white pissed off so many viewers when you have all the pieces the series makes sense this is not a love story this is a psychological story showing what happens when a person with no love experience and no proper advice gets desired and enabled in the wrong way friendships get distorted and twisted backstabbing is supported with selfish intentions the people you thought you knew might just be wolves in sheep's clothing young love is brutal and we're able to witness just what can happen if it gets pushed too far with that said we need to start things at the beginning with the original school days visual novel before we jump in i'd like to briefly explain a few terms that will help with general understanding as we move forward the first term is harem this is used to describe a scenario where a single guy is romantically pursued by a group of girls or in some cases the opposite takes place it's a relatively popular setup for romantic series as the competition adds a lot of drama though here it's used a bit differently the other term is visual novel an easy way to explain this is a video game with only cutscenes and dialogue a more dynamic way of experiencing a book if you will while the story is mostly linear there's another factor that gives it an interesting pull visual novels are known for having roots or additional paths to twist the narrative in different ways harms of some sort are almost always present and every decision leads you down a romantic choose your own adventure story if you line up your choices right you may just end up together with your favorite girl it's also worth noting that these games tend to have sex scenes as well which brings up the topic of aero gay that's a whole different conversation whatever your taste may be there's a lot of content to consume with that out of the way let's get back to the main topic back in 2005 the school day's visual novel was released to the public for the first time unlike a lot of other entries that solely featured character stills and dialogue school days actually played out most scenes with animated characters it really surprised me just how much polish this game had right out the gate some assets do get re-used but it's to be expected with something like this another thing that caught my attention was the addition of hidden choices normally you'd be expected to choose from the only choice or choices the game gives you however if you let the options hang for long enough your inaction will be registered as the main character being silent and that will count as an extra choice i can't say i'm familiar with other visual novels having that dynamic but it makes things a little more interesting some of the dialogue and scenes can be pretty cheesy but for me it just adds to the fun factor school days revolves around three main characters makoto is our leading man with a somewhat friendly personality and not very skilled when it comes to love scion g is the first prominent girl sporting a very friendly and outgoing personality and somewhat well-versed with love katsura is the second main girl being friendly but shy and like makoto also pretty clueless about love the visual novel opens on makoto taking the train to school as he usually does things have been a bit different lately as he's recently noticed a girl that piques his interest we soon see that katsura is the object of attention here a charm going around the school states that if you can manage to take a picture of the person you like and set it as your phone wallpaper you'll get together with them after three weeks of keeping it a secret while at school sayonji sees makoto's wallpaper and offers to help get them together she wastes no time becoming friends with katsura and introducing the two potential lovers to each other after hanging out together for a while and with much guidance from sainji makoto and katsura decide to date each other makoto is very grateful for all the help and offers to pay sayanji back somehow before boarding her train home she steals a kiss from makoto saying that's payment enough and quickly leaves him behind this is where everything officially starts and you can see how things already get complicated from square one from this point it's up to the player to make various decisions and attempt to get a satisfactory ending and let me tell you there's a lot of possible endings if you decide to pursue them all the base route shows you makoto and katsura's attempt at a relationship with the two of them being clueless makoto tries to make advances and this makes katsura nervously back off a bit after a few more instances and lots of apologies makoto makes a rational decision that they should take a break and give each other some space so he doesn't do something that hurts her he starts to realize that he has feelings for scionji and she secretly feels the same despite an attempt to make up with katsura makoto apologizes and runs to confess to sayonji another love rival comes in causing paranoia and miscommunication and makoto steps back from everything to properly think about who he wants to be with in the end each girl says they'll be waiting at a specific spot and depending on the player choice makoto will meet with the one he's officially decided on so yeah nothing too crazy right that one's all well and good but i think the story really shines when you take alternate paths a few paths let you stray completely and let you explore situations involving different side characters one of my favorite routes involves katsura being saved from bullying by makoto one of syanji's friends gets a large number of girls to harass katsura on her behalf but makoto catches wind of this he confronts sainji about it and she has no idea but because the friend was caught all of his trust goes out the window he dedicates himself to katsura and they're very happy together at the end i like seeing makoto take charge like this because a lot of the time he's pretty indifferent so after all the regular routes are said and done what exactly is left to find well of all the routes there are what if i told you that a select few lead down an exceptionally darker path the first of these routes takes place around christmas makoto is paired with katsura and sayanji is paired with makoto's friend taisuke makoto and sayonji have been going behind their partner's backs having sex for practice among other things they finally decide to mutually break up with their current partners so they can be together immediately after katsura is still very much in love with makoto and is willing to bend over backwards for him but he continues to refuse her and finally breaks things off katsura isn't satisfied and wants to talk things over more so she heads to his place his mother is on the way out and knows that they're dating so she lets her come in to wait for him while she leaves for work she sits slightly away from the door and witnesses makoto enter with scionji they begin to passionately kiss then proceed to have sex in another room katsura is there for all of it and it breaks her she ends up taking a house key and proceeds to secretly be present for every instance of the two new lovers sleeping together day after day after day she just stands there silently crying emotionally gone after a certain point she snaps laughing maniacally about a new plan she has later the new couple is getting ready to catch a train and they bump into katsura before boarding sayanji attempts to make small talk but before she can get all the words out katsura grabs a saw from her bag and with one final word quite a bit more chilling huh well we're just getting started the next bad ending opens with scionji talking with her mom in the middle of this she suddenly gets sick and is questioned if she's potentially pregnant sanji thinks she might be but as she was dating tysuke after makoto for a period she isn't sure who the father is the next scenes mirror the last endings with the two characters breaking up with their current partners sayonji gets sick again while talking with makoto and he discovers that she's pregnant with his child very much to his surprise later at school katsura confronts sainji about seducing makoto and wants him back sayanji collapses in the middle of this discussion and katsura brings her back home katara takes the opportunity to have a private talk with makoto about a discrepancy she noticed with the pregnancy the doctor recently checked and sayaji had been pregnant for less than two months this time frame doesn't line up with their previous get-togethers and she makes the point that taisuke being the last boyfriend is most likely the real father makoto doesn't quite buy it and tries to bring up the topic to sayonji the next day but ultimately can't do it makoto can't bring himself to raise someone else's baby and ends up declaring his love for katsura sayanji calls makoto later to arrange a medical meeting but makoto tells her that he isn't the father she assumes that katsura fed him a story to ruin things and hangs up shortly after the next day at the train station katsura and makoto discussed the situation and kasara wants to make amends somehow because she still considers sayanji to be a dear friend of hers despite all the betrayal while this dialogue is going on a lone figure can be seen approaching from behind the train finally arrives but before it can come to a stop [Music] sayonara [Applause] [Music] there are other variations of this scene but i feel like this one stands out the most the last ending i want to mention involves both girls getting involved in a harem route while this ending isn't necessarily violent it has some interesting character moments and unintentionally serves as foreshadowing for future series entries so remember the first bad ending i mentioned with katsura being present during the escapades of the other two well this ending starts from there but before they begin katsura actually walks in on them sayanji is obviously surprised but makoto wasn't phased at all in fact it turns out that he was interested in a threesome the whole time katsura is willing but sayonji can't bring herself to get involved afterwards the two girls have a discussion about the current situation katsura makes some very direct stabs at sainji regarding how she gave makoto that first initial push into a relationship but then decided to selfishly take him back for herself katsura then tells her that she isn't bothered by makoto being involved with other girls because he promised that he'll love her most of all the next day makoto and syonji talk about the issue themselves makoto states how katsura has forgiven her for everything prior and acknowledges how their own actions were much worse than what she's done makoto likes the idea of the three of them being together from this point but sayonji isn't on board telling him how a relationship like that isn't normal he tells her that she's welcome to leave if she doesn't like it and things get dropped for the time being during lunch a conflicted psyology walks to the roof where she encounters the other two engaging in certain other activities she again tries to reason with katsura but she fires back with more cutting facts putting the hypocrisy on display so from this point in the route a very important choice will impact whether the ending is bloody or not how do you prevent this drastic fate from happening okay you ready for this by choosing the correct girl to bone on the roof of the school not even joking if you choose best girl katsura sayanji leaves feeling dejected at home she mentions how sex isn't everything and wishes that she alone was enough for makoto katsura texts her about a meet-up on another day and sainji reluctantly decides to go this time she's the late one and before opening the bedroom door she hears makoto say some of the most outlandish dialogue he could possibly say the tables have turned and now sayonji is the one that becomes emotionally broken later everyone hears that syanji quit school and disappeared six months go by and we get a shot of makoto and katsura standing out by the beach near sayanji's old workplace they talk about regular life stuff including their soon to be born child as a couple it seems like they couldn't be doing any better makoto knows he's the cause of the disappearance and silently hopes that sainji is alright wherever she is as he starts to head back to his car he notices a figure nearby coming closer he sees that it's the missing siongi but the reunion barely lasts as he looks down so with that being the bad ending what exactly happens in the good version going back to the ever important choice this time scionji gets chosen for happy fun times on the roof after the deed is done she decides that she's fine with the three of them being together as a group she also mentions how she would mind more sex like this too remember how previously she was questioning if sex was really that important well apparently it is because that's all it took to convince her going forward from here a bit the two girls are having a friendly conversation about the holidays they start discussing presents and it's revealed that both girls are pregnant they happily head inside ready to continue this poly lifestyle they've created for themselves so uh yeah that's a thing i gotta say this visual novel was quite a ride it involves some real soap opera level developments accompanied with a decent amount of cheese that said i can't say i was ever really bored as stupid as some of their actions can be the character performances got me invested and i wanted to see what happened next sanji's voice actor in particular does a pretty good job with their character and the emotional range is impressive the main trio lived out multiple different lives and met with a series of fateful conclusions but they can finally be put to rest unfortunately for them however this series was far from over and the next story beats only continue to get darker about a year later school days got a manga adaptation with another new route to experience the art this time around is really well done and the characters are full of emotion things start the same here with makoto seeing katsura on the train and sainji helping the two of them get together the same kiss is stolen but things progress pretty heavily towards katsura during the opening chapters they have a few setbacks and misunderstandings but it all gets talked through and worked out smoothly the first scene that begins to pull things in the opposite direction happens a few chapters in i briefly mentioned the phone charm at the start of the visual novel how having a picture of your crush would eventually lead to becoming a couple this gets revisited here but this time around we see someone else trying it out one of sayanji's friends wants to sneak a peek at her phone and she violently objects it causes a small scene and she quickly apologizes and leaves we then see a few panels of her thinking of the charm and becoming more sullen as a result she's noticeably off for the rest of the day to the point of almost being hit by a passing vehicle as she spaces out her friend tsuna sees her dropped phone and understands what's going on despite it not being said outright it's obvious that scionji likes makoto and is sad about the current situation during a beach outing soon after makoto saves sainji from some guys aggressively hitting on her and also treats a wound she got earlier they talk a bit while he helps her get back to everyone else and sainji takes this opportunity to kiss makoto again unlike the first time this happened he actually gets upset with her while telling her off properly she interrupts him and after a brief pause confesses her love before they finally head back from this point makoto becomes more and more conflicted questioning himself and what her intentions are in an attempt to reassure himself he kisses katsura but goes a bit too far causing her to get startled and push him away as she gathers herself after what happened makoto gets annoyed with himself he apologizes to her but immediately after sayanji places herself next to him the final shot of this scene perfectly captures makoto's complicated feelings one side of himself that wants to be faithful to what he has and the other side that wants to reject what he can't bring himself to let go regardless of what he wants at this point the seeds have been planted katsura even says an interesting unrelated line that gives him strong foreshadowing makoto tries one last time to properly cement his feelings for katsura by talking to sainji alone on the roof before he gets the chance to get any words out sayanji again says that she loves him after some flowery words makoto's conviction starts to waver she makes one final push wanting to be close to him even if they can't be in a proper relationship makoto gets shaken by her desperate feelings and when sanji goes for the kiss this time he lets it happen the route has changed and makoto has chosen his path sayonji officially has her in and even during regular dates with katsura she still manages to sneak in some risky business she even has the audacity to say how great makoto is and how glad she is that she introduced the two of them she starts lying to get them alone they head back to her place and things continue to get pulled in her favor katsura starts feeling a bit uneasy about how close they seem lately and when she can't find makoto during the festival she heads to the roof on a hunch right before she opens the door she arrives just in time to see a new couple katsura fully understands the situation now and is understandably shaken she becomes absent from school soon after and the couple decides to check on her katsura's little sister answers the door but becomes very upset after seeing scionji unbeknownst to them she witnessed the couple sneaking off together previously after this happens makoto starts to get his conscience back he properly rejects sayonji who despite being sad accepts the news fairly well katsura arrives soon after and makoto quickly apologizes he lays himself bare about what's been going on waiting for a harsh reprimand oddly katsura isn't upset at all she's glad to have makoto back and also forgive sainji for the recent events everything finally goes back to normal and the trio rekindles their friendship that is until katsura corrects herself she slowly walks forward throwing out some very accurate and cutting remarks the laid-back katsura goes on the offensive with the familiar look in her eyes for the first time she directly chastises sayanji for her actions with one final motion everything comes to a close a week later makoto is still recovering from his injuries he took the nearly fatal blow for sainji and was rushed to the hospital soon after he asks about katsura and she's been gone since the incident he wants to make amends reflecting on everything that had been done up to this point he's made his decision to help her in any way he can from now on soon after he gets a call from katsura's little sister who reports something very strange katsura has become a victim herself at first he thinks it's a joke but her sincerity soon becomes apparent he yells out to scionji who quickly finishes his sentence with scary precision she continues on dumbfounding makoto with what he's hearing looking over a foreign object is slightly sticking out of her purse as sayaji slowly turns around her intentions become clear she's going to take care of makoto and nothing is going to stop her i really enjoyed this version of the story the extra emotion this particular entry has really does a good job giving the scenes that extra impact the pacing lets the conflict build up nicely and while it's much shorter than the previous entries it's a solid compact side piece makoto also feels the most grounded to me here given how much he thinks about his actions throughout the story keep that in the back of your head because there's actually one more manga series that was written around these characters the next series in question is known as cross days and was published roughly three years later it gives the reader an interesting outside look at the main characters from some other unrelated character's point of view a few new individuals with an innocent crush get dragged into a complex relationship and this version of makoto is arguably the darkest the narrative of cross days is presented from the perspective of two main characters their events happen simultaneously until they eventually converge near the end the first person we'll focus on is yuki he's a member of the library committee and has more of an attitude than any of the characters we've seen up to this point as he goes about his business he has his first encounter with katsura he doesn't know anything about her at first but eventually takes the time to talk with her more unlike other people that have aggravated him with certain insensitive comments katsura is the first person that acknowledges a different side of him positively he slowly becomes more and more interested in her but starts to see and hear a series of conflicting reports by chance he witnesses a girl he knows getting close to makoto and assumes they're dating yuki runs into him and katsura later where she states that she's the one dating makoto he doesn't want katsura to end up getting hurt so he talks more with her about her situation despite how he feels about prying into relationships he presses on though because in the back of his mind anees continues to build he goes straight to makoto's class for direct info but hits a third wall here it seems that he's dating saianji and the class acknowledges them as a couple at this point he's understandably confused and much like the reader makes the sound conclusion that people will end up hurt if this isn't changed after a miscommunication from the first girl confirms his own theory he boldly heads to the roof and confronts makoto and sayonji he flat out speaks his mind on the issue and attempts to be a voice of reason makoto is sheepish about the issue and sayonji blows up a yuki for butting into their issues katsura shows up immediately after and with one phrase derails the whole confrontation yuki is more baffled than ever now being the only person out of this strange loop he decides to bow out leaving the trio to be together for lunch he wasn't able to properly tell katsura about the supposed side relationships and now it feels harder than ever to approach the topic still he gives it one more go and calls makoto out to talk privately he correctly guesses that yuki is getting into his business due to katsura and after being presented with a single question a very noticeable change takes place makoto begins his answer with an innocent face but the words are tinged with indifference he begins to brag a bit about his situation then does something strange makoto presents yuki with an offer to join him in being with the girls it's clear now that makoto is taking advantage of his position and yuki is taken aback by this this only grants more entry because makoto starts to tease the possibility of breaking off the relationships the ultimatum for this is receiving new girls as replacements despite how secure he currently is with the others he smugly takes his leave but reminds yuki that he can jump into his harem at any time yuki takes us about as well as you might expect outraged that his words have no effect he's at a loss for a new approach and the situation seems out of his grasp until a small spark of inspiration happens you see yuki has a certain insecurity that we see through the chapters in short he doesn't like how feminine his appearance is he has a complex about people calling him unmanly in certain situations he finds himself in only continue to perpetuate this it's the one thing that really gets under his skin but it may end up being able to flip things in his favor the next day makoto is on his way home but gets stopped by someone this someone is our newly transformed main character trying to hide his voice yuki presents makoto with a letter the brief note claims that this is supposedly the replacement girl to get katsura away from him he introduces himself politely but wastes no time in secretly plotting his next move after closing in with incredible speed yuki breaks away before anything can happen as makoto continues to scheme outside yuki ducks into a neighboring classroom the first piece of his plan has been executed and the rest is in motion while it's definitely his last resort this seems to be the only way to expose everything from the inside it's risky business but his conviction remains strong the next day makoto is deep in thought this time he's the one with his own questions so he goes off on a search unfortunately for yuki the search ends up being for him rather than instigate anything makoto is instead surprisingly grateful he's become infatuated with this new girl and yuki wants to use this opportunity to try and separate him from the other girls this becomes a dangerous gamble as makoto gets more and more forceful with every encounter leading to some unpleasant events not only that but as he gets refused more his desire continues to escalate being left unchecked has started to unlock a dark craving that can't be held back yuki is beginning to waver a bit but his efforts are starting to show some results a few days pass and it seems that makoto hasn't been paying as much attention to katsura lately she remains positive but yuki is reaffirmed in his conviction regardless of what he'll have to go through it's all in order to save katsura his next encounter is much more relaxed with makoto giving him a handmade dress and apologizing about before due to the time that was wasted to make the clothing the plan appears to be succeeding more and more yuki meets makoto again during a pool outing and continues to drive a wedge between them and katsura he gets ever closer to his end goal but gets interrupted at the last second he later gets another phone call from makoto about meeting up again and from here the end is in sight before we get to the finale we need to pause real quick and shift focus to our second main character roka she's a member of the same club yuki's sister belongs to and as a result of sibling meddling she's recommended to yuki for dating at the series start neither one is keen on the idea as they had about the worst introduction you could have and another lovely episode soon after after later apologizing to each other and meeting up some more roku slowly starts to develop feelings for yuki unfortunately for her this is when he becomes interested in learning about katsura so for the time being she gets sidelined it also doesn't help that she's a bit prideful which results in plenty of misunderstandings this includes giving the illusion that she's dating and being deceived by makoto despite wanting to clear the air she continues to have a hard time properly expressing herself after getting some advice to try and make yuki jealous she picks the worst person to act with on the fly and it backfires hard it seems that no matter what she tries it all ends up working against her later she runs into makoto again and wants to apologize for the stunts she pulled he isn't bothered by it but being the opportunist that he is hatches another plan with a little deduction he determines that roca is having a hard time with her confession to yuki he offers his help as a friend while putting on a warm smile she decides to accept the offer giving makoto his chance immediately after she meets yuki in disguise but doesn't recognize him despite having later opportunities to talk she has no idea about the plot that he's gotten himself tangled in and his absence isn't making things easy she does at least manage to clear up the misunderstanding about dating makoto although it's indirectly she continues to get encouraged by makoto's kind words and when she mentions wanting to properly confess he leaves to come up with a new strategy for her we're back at the present now after makoto called yuki to meet up with them roka is ready to talk about things now but it seems that yuki's running late it could be that he doesn't want to meet with roka though a certain someone's eyes tell a different story it turns out that makoto sabotaged the meeting by messing up the times he's waiting for her to finally give up on her crush so that he can swoop in and steal her for himself with some more sweet words he's ready to move in but something unexpected happens much like yuki roka has her own strong convictions she's willing to work hard for change and she doesn't want to back down anymore she's willing to wait urging makoto to head home on his own this doesn't sit well with him ego starts to push forward his self-importance driving a darker urge makoto is tired of waiting yuki arrived soon after coming a bit earlier than he was told as he worries about the time he hears an odd sound and heads over to investigate peeking around the corner he finally discovers the monster that he was waiting for roca is saved from her assault but in the process yuki's disguise slips off everything is now fully out in the open makoto becomes furious lashing out at this new discovery his lust was played against him blinding him to this strange plan this lust seems to be stronger than ever though because soon his rage dissipates and he approaches this new info from a completely different angle he interprets this ruse as a fetishistic ploy to get close to him very much willing to play along with either role yuki quickly leaves with roka and leaves himself once they're a safe distance away at home yuki is furious all his work went down the drain and he's out of options roka knows about his alter ego as does makoto the news will most likely be spread around branding him someone he doesn't want to be reluctantly he decides to go to school the next day and while at the library encounters both katsura and makoto she continues to talk to yuki like normal making him question whether he was exposed or not but a quick glance over to makoto answers that question in an instant he starts to provoke him teasing the possibility that katsura might find out about his other side this triggers a new plan in yuki's head he might not be able to convince katsura with his disguise but as himself he can still expose the truth with the right situation he asks makoto what he wants to keep him quiet and being the horn dog he is wants to see more of yuki's other outfit yuki proposes a location in the library for him makoto and sayonji to get busy in and the bait gets taken without hesitation the couple gets started as yuki goes to get changed but he has something different in mind he quickly grabs katsura to show her that she's clearly being cheated on and they rush back to the library finally everything can come to a close the door opens exposing the two wrapped up together yuki's goal has been achieved and katsura will finally see the ugly truth except that for some reason katsura is still smiling makoto isn't the least bit phased by this development katsura is confused but not by what yuki is expecting she's now wondering if he's going to join the rest of them this leads to an excellent duo of panels shifting from mild confusion to a more fearful anxiety yuki desperately tries to reason with katsura but he just walked into something that he can't handle much like one of the previous arcs this is a harem route except this time someone else is around to witness it he can't process this and despite his protest he's met with an infatuated brick wall all of yuki's plans have come crashing down he backs out realizing there's nothing more he can do and runs while he gets lost in thought back at home the scene shifts to roka who hasn't left home in a while for obvious reasons yuki's sister calls her asking if anything is wrong and she decides to talk about the last couple days yuki once again reluctantly comes to school and at the end of the day gets a surprise text from katsura they meet on the roof to talk and things start relatively normal but this doesn't last long [Music] she found out about his attempts to seduce makoto with his disguise resulting in a wave of absolute contempt the person he tried to save now views him with nothing but scorn after she leaves for the final time yuki silently heads home himself not a single word leaves his mouth or thoughts he continues on to the station just like always as he waits the announcer calls out the approach of the next train he slowly turns and we see a familiar pair of eyes intently watching the new arrival we then see an earlier scene of roca looking for yuki at school she wants to properly talk with him about everything that's gone on during the last week to bring about the change she's been wanting fast forward to her at the station where she's just in time to see the person she's been looking for right as she's finally going to get her chance to catch up with them yuki leans forward [Applause] the final chapter opens on the newly prepared school festival roca is waiting for someone alone when makoto makes an appearance regardless of the company he's currently with trying to persuade him he still attempts to pick up someone entirely different before anything can happen a surprise appearance from yuki cuts him off makoto then tries to take things in a bad direction by presenting other friends with defamatory statements thankfully they fall on deaf ears and aren't taken seriously helped in part by the new relationship that's begun between the two as another friend steps in to help the two she offers a bit of advice they should keep their distance because whatever goes on with the trio is their business yuki and roko start discussing previous events starting with how she saved him from his near death they head back to his house where he explains his intentions and his plan he's still furious about his lack of results but roka sees things in a much different light regardless of all the failed plans and dead ends she emphasizes how she was still saved by his efforts both of them had a hard time battling their own personalities and pursuing moral decisions the results may appear to be shallow but they're actually much deeper the change roca wanted was finally able to happen and it was because of yuki they finished the night with a dance and for once things are looking up for the new couple for me cross days is one of the best parts of the school days universe yuki is definitely a stand-in for the reader here directly confronting people and asking the right questions ordinarily this might go decently and having a voice of reason around could result in characters reflecting and checking themselves the problem however lies in the root because in this arc the main characters are already too far gone makoto in particular is much more corrupt using his keen observation to manipulate things in his favor that's the main reason this story has so much tension in the visual novel makoto has the potential to be hurtful and ignorant but on a base level he's just a dumb teenager experiencing love for the first time the school day's manga shows a more honest and grounded version of makoto with his actions eventually weighing down on him to the point of wanting to change but this incarnation of makoto is a borderline sociopath perhaps due to him being pursued by various girls his ego gets inflated to an exceptional degree he takes advantage of their infatuation to emotionally manipulate them and even go so far as to hit on more girls openly his popularity grants him plenty of lewd encounters feeling his pride and twisting him into a sexual deviant he knows the rules and knows how to get what he wants regardless of who he hurts by the time yuki found katsura she was already in a place that he couldn't reach things definitely get dark but it's a pretty interesting twist on the events we're familiar with although it does get a bit roundabout with the trickery in disguises this becomes a necessity even though the situation could be perceived as being really bad outsiders not having a say is ironclad therefore the choices were limited and each plan helped pave the way for the next also i'm not a police officer or a lawyer but pretty sure they could report makoto's assault and get him in some sort of serious trouble [Music] now that everything else has been discussed it's time for the final piece to make an appearance airing in 2007 just after the first manga's release the controversial anime came onto the scene this final arc revolves around another tangled character web another series of poor choices and another iteration of makoto the anime opens just about the same as all the other entries with makoto becoming interested in katsura and scionji getting them together soon after it seems that a good chunk of the voice cast reprised their roles from the visual novel but our main guy here gets a much more energetic personality behind him the new set of emotions is a welcome addition to both the upbeat and gruesome story beats the narrative this time follows the first parts of the visual novel's base route where makoto takes katsura out to the movies and fails at properly interacting he's a little more forceful and definitely more of a spaz he begins to get tired of dealing with katsura's rejections having assumed that a relationship would be more fun this is where a very key difference comes into play while makoto makes the decision to break up with katsura at this point in the visual novel here he doesn't instead he takes sayanji up on the offer to practice certain romantic things in order to do them correctly leading to a provocative roof encounter after this makoto starts to desire sainji more strongly but she denies him he doesn't give up and keeps trying but she continues to be against it katsura is now trying harder to be more open in general only to be met with disinterest it's too late as makoto can't get sainji out of his head instead of heading home he texts her about his intentions and quickly runs to her place during the night he confesses his feelings to her in person finally breaking her down they embrace and makoto tells her that katsura doesn't mean anything to him anymore he comes across as being somewhat genuine but certain shots give away his ulterior motives at this point makoto is now actively avoiding interactions with katsura including being very indifferent while talking to her sayonji feels guilty about the situation wanting to tell katsura on multiple occasions but makoto constantly talks her out of it regardless of the resistance she continues to put up she finally confesses her own love to makoto on the roof which he answers in kind katsura witnesses this taking place but remains mostly ignorant and positively pushes on to try harder this is where another important character gets introduced her name is setsuna and as syanji's best friend she wants to help her relationship be a success she declares the relationship between sayanji and makoto official as well as verifying the supposed breakup with katsura setsuna starts to forcefully make fake plans to keep katsura away even going as far as blocking her number on makoto's phone katsura discovers this oddity as well as the rumor of the breakup and decides to go to her boyfriend's place for an explanation makoto sheepishly talks with her about things while a very guilty sainji hears every word while lurking in the background after the encounter she immediately leaves leading her right to katsura who is waiting nearby she slaps her then begs for her to leave makoto alone before leaving sayonji confesses everything that's happened to setsuna who then confronts makoto and re-verifies his love for sayanji later the secret couple talks more about going behind katsura's back and makoto somehow still doesn't see that it's wrong the school festival then starts up and i wish i could appreciate the goofiness of a cafe battle that happens on the sidelines but it feels so off from everything else that's going on we eventually get a flashback of sets in his past showing makoto helping her out and actually being a nice guy she has her own tucked away feelings for him but fully supports sayonji so she decides to sneak a lone kiss for herself while he's sleeping the timing couldn't be worse because katsura happens to come to the classroom right as this is happening after a brief confrontation things are left uncertain and the next day of the festival begins makoto gets pulled in all sorts of directions by characters adding drama until his previous school friend kato manages to grab him she essentially confesses to him but in a much more forward way they head to an infamous school rest area where couples go to have sex during festivals makoto refuses at first but it doesn't take much persuasion to get things moving making things worse they're engaging in these acts right behind the booth that katsura has been forced to man this whole time makoto has now cheated a second time this transgression being behind multiple backs later he dances with sayanji and katsura under the impression she's been betrayed sleeps with makoto's friend taisuke potentially coming back to her senses after she sees the new couple and the wave of emotion hits her all at once the next day taisuke is ecstatic that he's begun a new exciting relationship but after a cold rejection by a broken katsura he quickly loses his earlier vigor elsewhere makoto is still trying to convince setsuna about his breakup but kasura interrupts this conversation katsura alludes that she might reveal the secret kiss from before but setsuna delivers another kiss before the blackmail can happen she claims sainji is fine with it throwing her off and after loads of painful avoidance of the issue makoto finally tells katsura that he doesn't care for her anymore soon after he meets kato again for more sex but setsuna already knows what's going on the main reason she's so involved is because she's been getting ready to leave for another country as sayanji's best friend she wants pakoda to be there for her after she's gone with nothing left to worry about she can leave without regrets she decides to go to his place before heading to the station for one last discussion having gotten involved with various people at this point makoto is now far more forward and confident in a bad way he makes a move on setsuna who reluctantly offers to do anything if he'll break up with kato the next day sayonji gets invited to attend a club party where she meets kato for the first time so remember that secret rest area for couples to get it on apparently the seniors set up a camera and as a cruel joke they show the footage off to everyone present it's through this awful event that sayonji spots a certain someone together with a girl she was just introduced to things are coming to a head right as setsuna is on her train out of town we're in the end game now and things are in a messy state sayanji hasn't come into school for a while now and makoto hasn't bothered to visit her a friend of hers tries to convince him to go and visit but ends up sleeping with him instead the friend then visits scionji and says just about the worst line she could to her rumors start to spread and other girls begin wondering just how good makoto is in bed he starts doing it at school in abandoned rooms he has a foursome on potentially various occasions and with every new sexual encounter his indifference to prior commitments grows stronger sayanji is stuck looking at old text messages from makoto when he declared his initial love for her and katsura is having fake conversations with a repeating phone message makoto is leaving emotional disaster in his wake and it seems he isn't planning on stopping anytime soon that is until sayanji suddenly becomes sick one night she finally comes back to school and tells makoto that she's pregnant freaking him out this new rumor gets around resulting in makoto being treated like a pariah none of the girls want anything to do with them anymore telling him to take responsibility for his actions he desperately calls all the phone numbers he can but no one is picking up anymore he's officially sealed his fate with his reckless axe much to his chagrin through his endless frustration he eventually thinks back to his time with katsura he already had someone that cared for him and he threw it all away by some chance he looks up to find her right in front of him through her own delusional actions she made her way to the same square to indulge in fake plans like a broken record she keeps talking about being a perfect girlfriend for makoto which causes him to break down her current state is a huge slap in the face of the guy that completely deserted her and it actually makes him stop and realize how terrible he's been he apologizes for everything bringing the light back into katsura's eyes he decides to accompany her leading to a dinner date that same night an angry phone call from sayonji interrupts forcing makoto to leave and deal with the situation as she's rightfully chewing him out for various things he blows up at her asking why she had to get pregnant followed by other awful things before hanging up she dejectedly heads home but on the way manages to catch a glimpse of makoto and katsura together on a passing train this reignites her rage driving her to confront the two back at makoto's place she slaps katsura telling her to stay away from him which is ironic given that's exactly what katsura begged of her previously sayonji gets calmly fired back on having her own selfish actions and hypocrisy thrust in her face sets in a secretive time with makoto also gets brought to light shaking her further katsura refuses to hesitate anymore because makoto had apparently always been waiting for her to come back he doesn't say much of anything during this confrontation and when katsura initiates a kiss he follows her lead the two passionately embrace understandably breaking psionji use force to watch she wakes up the next morning to a text from makoto giving her a slight bit of hope this is quickly dashed however as the message bluntly tells her to get an abortion she later meets with makoto to talk about the procedure as she goes to make tea his phone receives a text the message is a bit odd starting with an apology that drags on with multiple spaces the scrolling continues and as the message comes to a close he's only met with a simple farewell the scorned lover appears behind him holding a knife and just like that it's over with the revenge complete syanji flees the scene and katsura discovers the mess shortly after alone in her room sayanji receives a text and it's somehow coming from the late makoto the message states he'll be waiting for her on the roof of the school once she arrives katsura is there to interrogate her she drops a bomb about the pregnancy most likely being fake after more scathing remarks sayonji wonders if everything she endured with makoto was even worth it responding with a cold gaze cuts her emotions to a nearby bag and says she can ask him herself slowly opening it she's met with immediate disgust at seeing the contents nearly throwing up on the spot as she's recovering katsura asks one final question she'd like to verify if what sayonji has said is true quickly rushing at her with the bloodstained saw syanji tries to react in time but she's quickly disarmed with one last thrust everything comes to a close as the lone survivor stands silently she slowly bends down towards the fresh corpse the grisly sound of sawing can be heard off camera she stands back up covered in fresh blood the scene ends with a view from inside sayonji's body katsura has confirmed her theory the scene shifts to an ocean view with a beautiful sunset here we see katsura lying peacefully on a nice boat hugging a special object close to her we hear her last lines of the series this time around both main characters are equally guilty for what happened two people that might be better as a couple come together in a manner that is very wrong and self-centered despite putting on a responsible and caring front syanji planted a lot of seeds early on that brought makoto right to her it's somewhat fitting that the same actions led to a ruin though being killed and chopped up is perhaps just a bit much on the other side of things makoto's main motivator was sex when he couldn't get it from katsura he quickly moved on to the one that was willing to give it to him the early scenes that show this lend an interesting bit of foreshadowing as he uses his plastic feelings to get what he wants the popularity gets to him but unlike cross days where he becomes manipulative here he just turns into a selfish this is arguably almost as bad given all the ramp and cheating but he's not forcing anyone to stay with them the girls continue to enable him making others curious which causes the cycle to go on there's also the fact that no one wants to admit to any wrongdoing some of the girls try to get makoto to do the right thing but he downplays it repeatedly and the girls just go along with it because they're getting what they want the only one that didn't do anything wrong was katsura in almost every instance she gets shafted due to outside interference while she's trying her hardest either that or she gets manipulated she's the tragic heroine stuck in a shitty situation and while i don't advocate the acts of violence she commits as retribution let's just say that karma's a real sometimes before we wrap things up there's actually an interesting bit of trivia regarding the original airing of the anime on your travels through the internet you may have seen the phrase nice boat pop up somewhere the day before the final episode of the series was supposed to air a 16 year old girl murdered her dad with an axe in kyoto because of the aforementioned bloody ending scene that shared similarities a last minute change was made viewers waiting for the finale were instead greeted with 30 minutes of unrelated stock footage the only thing present besides the calm scenery was a norwegian ferry cruising through the water while a lot of fans were understandably pissed about the change in schedule one individual on 4chan simply commented nice boat the phrase quickly became a meme and the rest is history just a little side note but i still remember a certain panel from the series genshiken that made a fun reference to it so yeah if someone brings up this obscure knowledge now you know so there you have it the wild ride known as school days while this is the meat of the series there are a few additional side pieces there are light novels cds games silly ova episodes and additional visual novels that go more in depth with certain characters and scenarios i could have covered these as well but i can't say i'm that big of a fan nevertheless school days is a fascinating series to me it's cliche generic and a bit silly on the whole but for some reason i can't help but get drawn into all the drama watching the web of lies poor decisions and miscommunication is like lighting a firecracker the situation is rigged to blow right from the start and while you don't know what the explosion will look like it'll definitely be quite a sight i mentioned at the start how the anime pissed off a lot of people either due to the ending or because of how it carried itself in general again this is not a love story and i'm perfectly fine with that if the characters got under your skin that's good because it means they made you feel something if the series stuck with you even negatively then it did its job they purposely went for shock factor because that was one of the strengths of the visual novel that's what made it stand out initially besides the drama i used to really dislike the show for all of those prior reasons but now i think it has a lot of merit it's not exactly something i can recommend but it certainly makes for an interesting character study and hey if you never had plans to check it out anyways consider this video your rooftop door to watch things from a safe distance if there's anything to take away from this series as a whole it would probably be to respect the person you're in a relationship with either that or maybe just avoid relationships in general people's emotions can be fragile and handling them incorrectly might just come back to bite you in the worst way be honest be truthful and be a good partner we can all learn a valuable lesson from these tragic school days hey there if you made it to the end thanks a lot for watching it was a lot of fun finally digging into this series and hopefully you enjoyed the ride i know it's not the most positive story but it certainly kept my attention a lot of the series is available to buy if you'd like to show support but i'll leave that up to your discretion anyways hope you have a great day and i'll see you next time peace peace guys [Music] do [Music] you

Channel: Lexa&!

Views: 821,829

Keywords: Lexa&!, School Days, Anime, Manga, Visual Novel, School Days Anime, School Days Anime Discussion, School Days Manga, School Days Manga Discussion, School Days Visual Novel, School Days Visual Novel Discussion, School Days Video Essay, School Days Anime Review, School Days Manga Review, School Days Visual Novel Review, Anime Discussion, School Days Discussion, School Days Review, Cross Days, School Days HQ, School Days Analysis, Overflow, Lexaand, cross days manga

Id: jHWkeDTBiRg

Length: 58min 14sec (3494 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 10 2021