[Sarah's Knight]

(Spoiler alert of epic proportions ahead, but if you are smarter than I was, you won't want to see this anime, anyway ....)

... Forgive me, everyone, but, if after reading this sentence you are still feeling inclined to read on, then you are about to witness something that SK is usually quite reluctant to do - and that's go off on an angry rant. I like to be a more gentle-natured person in real life as well as on the forums, but I cannot deny that certain facts about how the real world may or may not work just really tick me off, and while I will do my best not to incessantly curse or anything, please listen for the moment (and all DA ladies present please also forgive me in advance ^_- ). In spite of the nature of this thread, I certainly do not harbor a purpose of encouraging a lot of inane debate back and forth between everyone to follow this post, but nevertheless please allow me to get this righteous indignant anger off of my chest that I have been accumulating against my will throughout my viewing of School Days. (That last statement was a bit exaggerated on purpose to lighten the mood I was put in upon watching this anime, naturally. ^_^ )

Now, all of the words to follow this paragraph are from a post I had made on this very same subject on another forums site I am a part of a few nights ago when I had actually been in the middle of watching the last hour or so of School Days, and since my thoughts or opinions have not changed since then, I will just copy and paste the original posting here to avoid a wasted hour of typing.

All right, so ... here goes.


*draws a deep breath*


... I never let myself get so much into movies or books or any other form of media to the point of being moved to real tears or anger or anything, but an anime I am finishing up at this very moment even as I type just reached the end of my fuse. If anyone has seen the anime series "School Days", then you should understand when I say without question that every last character in this anime is A TRULY AWFUL HUMAN BEING.


Basically, I became interested in checking it out because of images of the series' female characters that I have seen around the 'Net over the years, and, no, I am not embarrassed in the least to say the image of cute anime girls convinces me to use up four or five hours of my life in viewing the anime that they came from. ... I do, however, thoroughly regret doing so, this time. All of the perfectly innocent images of its two lead female characters led me to think that "School Days" was somewhere in the same realm as "Kanon" and "Air", which were both two of the best series out there, but there's nothing cute and innocent about it at all; in fact it's about as psychologically messed up as anything that, sadly, probably truly does happen out there in the real world. Geez, even the kids in "The Breakfast Club" did not have problems this outlandish.

So, my fragile little SK mind was completely deceived by the gravity of the first episode alone. The first twenty minutes or so all happened this way:
1. A high-schooler named Makoto began noticing this very cute girl named Katsura whom would always stand just a few yards away from him on the train ride they took to school together every morning.
2. Makoto develops sort of a crush, but always looks away just when Katsura would appear to catch him looking at her.
3. A girl that Makoto just recently begun hanging around at school, named Sekai, noticed that he took a picture of Katsura on his cell phone one morning, and began teasing him about his crush. Finally, Sekai offers to help Makoto win Katsura's heart, so basically I figure Sekai's role in the series is that of the lovable goon who just likes to see others' romantic dreams come true and all that mess. Everything's good so far, right?
4. ... Sure. Sekai secretly encourages both Makoto and Katsura in private to confess his or her feelings towards the other.
5. Makoto confesses to liking Katsura at last, and she accepts. So, now they begin the awkward steps towards developing a - what that one girl from To Heart would call it - "love-love" relationship.
6. The next day, when Makoto is about to leave on his train for home after school, he first thanks Sekai for helping him to win Katsura's heart. She says it is no problem, and that she will be happy to help him whenever he is in need of it, again.
So, that's the end of the first episode of twelve. Everything's all sweet and innocent and right with the world, right? .... RIGHT?

... WRONG. Over the course of the next few episodes, Makoto starts becoming more and more aggressive in his relationship with Katsura, and he's suddenly no longer that nice guy you thought he was (he should take a lesson from SK on being a gentleman, sometime .... *pretend smug emoticon*).

... That last part in parenthesis was just a joke, everyone, so chill.

... But I am saying that I would not dare do the same things that Makoto began trying to do at this point. Before even a month and two or three dates had gone by since his confession to Katsura, the man began trying to touch her in delicate places - that no man should ever in my opinion dare try to do without absolute consent - against Katsura's will. Katsura is the shy and slow type when it comes to these things, as she hasn't had experience with love in the past at all, and a lot of guys and girls alike would tease her for it. And you'd think that Makoto would be a lot more patient and understanding, but he isn't. Just because poor Katsura won't give it up to him after one lousy month, now he's all thinking about breaking up with her.

On top of all this, Sekai tries to help, but ends up going a bit too far by allowing Makoto to "practice doing perverted things" with Sekai herself. ... Okaaaaaaaaay, ... yuck. So, Makoto starts wanting Sekai now just because she'll let him touch her, which admittedly is kind of messed up in and of itself, but I really do think that at first Sekai just meant to let Makoto have a brief outlet from which she believed he would grow out of it quickly and start treating Katsura with more gentleness, because she honestly wanted to see their relationship continue on happily. 'Problem is, unwittingly Sekai has caught Makoto's full attention, and after just one "practice session" he starts trying to grope her against her will, too. Finally, by the end of episode five or six, Makoto says he now wants Sekai, even at the cost of betraying Katsura in such a terrible way. I even think that he took Sekai straight to bed ('guess Sekai's not so against the idea of betraying one of her friends - Katsura - with another one of her friends, now), judging from a few awkwardly-placed off-camera moments that occurred at the end of one of those episodes.

... Okay, now this series is just really starting to irritate me.