SCHOOL DAYS

While anime was more focused on triangle love between Makoto, Sekai and Kotonoha, manga version did add some variety to it. Manga has decided to do something different that would actually please the audience: Give Makoto an actual character development. Unlike an anime version, we can see that he's not only focused on sexual relationship with every girl he encounters but is aware of his weaknesess. That thing said, I beleve it to be better than any other adaptations of the series. The story hasn't changed that much, but the author had to make it cramped a bit. It'll make you glued to those pages.

The first thing I can say is that the manga did better than the anime...for a few reasons. The manga presented Makoto with trying to do the right thing while the anime made him into a major twat. The girls all remain stupid while Kotonoha was as innocent yet bat crazy as could be. Sekai was still no better.

Story plot/ character development: The story in compare and contrast to its anime counterpart.....still made me want to flip chairs and tables. The fact that only this time it was all Sekai's seducing's fault and the misunderstandings of the side friends. Although Makoto did try to see reason- unlike in the anime version. In fact I'm surprised he even made a cut- clear decision in the end and blames himself. The other major improvement from the anime- the little sister- she was like the small voice of innocent reason to all the characters who came in to bring Makoto back to his promise. Sekai was over all the worse- she is in my opinion a hypocrite that ruined people's lives all because of her own selfishness...but since she decided to play matchmaker- she has no one to blame but herself. There were no direct teacher or parent interactions or interference so it does strike the question of how things could get this far while they are all still under their parents' roofs. The enitre plot of the manga goes in the way of the visual novel- with the ending just one of the many and one that the anime is a reverse to.

Art: It was ok- despite my dislike of the series I have to give points for giving the creepy edge but still remaining again cute and innocent to draw in potential readers.

Overall: This is a psychological and slice of life drama of a manga. It does present the real life aspect of what would happen if someone took the way of the characters, which sadly many people do- the only difference is, the manga shows the reader what can happen in real life even if we don't think it will. The ending does not give or take away- while showing us it is a true tragedy it does not explain how the rest of the characters will go on and over all what will happen to them. While I enjoyed it better than the anime (besides the very end) I would recommend the visual novel first, then this manga. But only recommend it to those who can handle stressed situations, cheaters of the lowest kind, and are willing to stick it out to the very end.

School Days was a story that I was already familiar with from watching the anime series. I was aware of two things: one that the ending was going to be fairly dark and two the main male protagonist was a significantly more redeemable character. With this in mind, I was still pleasantly (or rather disturbingly) surprised.

I don’t normally like being the type to compare the anime to the manga, but in this case I think an exception is necessary. The most importance difference was how much better I felt about Makoto as a main character. While he still manages some fairly unlikeable actions, he finds a way to basically man up to the situation and try and fix things. It becomes a story of a guy who is less sociopathic, destroying the hearts of women left and right to one of a guy who makes a few bad choices that could be brushed off as him simply thinking with his penis more than his brain like most normal teenage men. However, I will leave the comparison here.

While the male protagonist reminds us that guys can be pricks sometimes, it can be easy to overlook how manipulative and conniving young women are as well. Sekai wastes no time in trying to win the affections of Makoto after working so diligently to bring him and Kotonoha together. This is also where my criticisms of both Sekai and Kotonoha come into play. Kotonoha begins off innocently enough, but her personality changes so rapidly that you don’t really feel like she’s made a genuine evolution as a person (even if it was for the worst). Sekai’s transformation was even more radical. Her personality changes are three-step: playful, tomboyish friend (re: Asa Shigure from Shuffle! If you’d like a solid idea of what I mean)  passionate and jealous lover  completely psychotic. While I was willing to accept her transition from tomboyish friend to jealous lover, her change to utter insanity was so abrupt that I was startled it actually ended that way. The only character who seemed to have a solid emotional growth was Makoto, and as we all like to see in our protagonists it was a redeeming, positive one.

The artwork in School Days was also reasonably well drawn and shaded from what I saw. I had only some minor complaints where they try and accentuate light reflection from sources such as the sun on the hair. It changed the color of the hair so much that you felt as if the character went from having black hair to blonde hair. Panel flow also felt wonky in a few places as well, but it was minor and did not detract from the flow of the story in any discernible way. One particular high point in the series was how emotional half sized and full sized panels felt. They were drawn in such a way that really spoke volumes about the emotional state of the character at that given moment.

In all, I enjoy School Days as a standalone story that sets itself apart from the anime series. I faulted it on the basis on how radically Sekai and Kotonoha change as characters and felt that with perhaps an additional two or three chapters, they both could have been fleshed out a bit better in their development.

This was one of the worst things I've read in awhile. Aside from the overall boorishness of the manga, the ending to it just sums up my feelings.... But in the wrong way.

Story: 2
It stars Makoto, a high school student who has a crush on a girl, Katsura. A classmate, Saionji, finds out about his crush and decides to help him out. This evolves into Makoto and Katsura dating. So far, cliche but something to waste an afternoon on, so ok.

For the first 6 or so chapters it's just a typical "shy factor" revolving around our 2 lovebirds liking each other, but not knowing how to express it when they're together. Still cliche, and starting to actually get boring. This changes for the worst from boring to annoying when Saionji starts to fall in love with Makoto, and even kisses him. Makoto, being a jackass, doesn't stop being around Saionji or tell Katsura or even tell Saionji to suck the proverbial knob because they're not together. Instead, he keeps it a secret and continues to date Katsura. Ladies and gentlemen, our protagonist.

By chapter 10, Katsura finds out and is heartbroken by this. Her feeling of being betrayed is understandable, and we're suppose to feel bad for her and see the other two as jackasses. Well that feeling worked... A lot. When Katsura confronts the two, she says that everything is okay that she's glad to have them as friends. This cat-strangling bipolarity lasts about a page before she starts to call out Saionji for the bitch that she is. She then pulls out a knife and tries to kill her. (awesome)

She is saved, for Makoto steps in to save her. We're then greeted to a scene in the hospital a week later when Saionji comes to comfort her. Feeling bad , he says he's dumping her and wants to live with Katsura (who is not in jail for whatever reason). We're then greeted by wonderful phone message of Katsura's little sister crying and shocked by Katsura lying motionless on the floor bleeding to death. The chapter/series ends with Saionji giving exposition that she killed Katsura so that she could forever be with Makoto..... Words cannot describe how bad of an ending that is, let alone how much a waste of the manga is.

Art: 7
The art is alright. I'm not the type of person who really cares much for how good the art is (unless it looks like Steven Hawking drew it) so it passes

Characters:
-Makoto - Okay at first, but turns into an asshole who ruins the life of a girl who did nothing wrong except love him
-Katsura- The only likeable character unfortunately, considering how she has little personality except being shy, quiet, and uncontrollable in love. I honestly wanted Katsura to kill Saionji because she deserves some payback
-Saionji - The worst character. The preppy type who can't get out of anyone's' business, sets up 2 people only to "force" one to cheat on the other with her, and kills Katsura with nothing resembling karma. She is the definition of a bitch

Overall - It's horrid. The ending just takes everything for me. The love triangle was bad enough, but then we're greated by two characters who later turn psychotic for little reason, though Katsura has more of a reason (shy, no friends, just found out she was being cheated on). But what's even greater is how the ending lets the worst character not only live, but get the protagonist while the only likeable character dies.

Where do I begin? This title is very famous for its erotic visual novel version as well as its anime one, due to the fact they have great artwork. The manga follows suit, as the characters and scenes are superbly drawn. Since you have probably seen, or at least heard of, the anime version, I will be mentioning some comparison points later in this review, but I will still treat this as a stand-alone one.

The story follows Itou Makoto, a boy who started noticing a beautiful girl commuting with him to and from school. Her name is Katsura Kotonoha, she likes reading books, and she goes to a different class. After hearing about a charm, that if one takes a picture of the person he/she likes, put it as wallpaper on one's cellphone, and keeps it hidden for three weeks, his/her love will come true, Makoto does the first steps, but is discovered too soon. Enter Saionji Sekai, Itou's energetic classmate. She finds out about the photo, and while initially threatening to give Makoto away, she decides to help him get together with Kotonoha. However, why is Sekai helping Makoto? Is there something she hides?

That is the premise, which is also undertaken by the anime version of School Days, and this is where I will get into my comparison points. First of all, this, the manga version, is definitely not ecchi, where there is no fan-service, unlike the anime one. It concentrates more on the love triangle, not the anime's love polygon. Itou Makoto, the protagonist, genuinely cares for the heroines in the manga, making him a more likeable person, whereas in the anime he, well, cares for other things. Also, his friend from middle school, Katou Otome, is noticeably not even mentioned in the manga (she just has a cameo), while in the anime she plays a major role (she breaks the three-way relationship), and could be considered to be on equal footing with the other two heroines (refer to Valentine Days). Finally, the question often asked by those who have finished the anime is, "does the manga end the same way?" The anime has a dark ending that is shocking for those who have not played or heard of the game version, which contains quite a few similar endings. To answer that question in a non-spoiler manner, yes, the manga's ending does technically differ from its anime counterpart (if you are a Sekai fan, you may want to see this one), but it still contains a similar atmosphere, albeit less gory.

To sum up, as I mentioned, the artwork is amazing; the story flows smoothly with wonderful romantic/dramatic scenes; and if it were not for the final two chapters, I would have given School Days a perfect score. This beautiful story is right for you if you like comedy, drama, romance, love triangles, and a short-lived (literally) high-school life with an unexpected twist. Oh, and hot girls. ;)

If you are a big horror manga fan like me, prepare to be highly disappointed. The story isn't very smart nor is it interesting. The art is okay, it's your average anime style. The characters are so stereotypical it makes me want to cry. There's the boy that has no personality, his wacky best friend, and the shy moe-ish girl that the boy likes. Of course since it's a horror manga you know what's going to happen at the end. But was it violent, frightening, or disturbing? Maybe to some people who thought it was a shojo manga, but to the people who read the genre saying "horror"? Not at all. This person just tried to make something like Higurashi (a true horror manga, with violent, bloody, and disturbing images) and epicly failed.

The School Days manga begins the same way as the anime and who reads is led to believe that the end will be equal. But the story unfolds in a different way.

Some scenes are true to the anime, some even appeared on TV.

The base is the same: a love triangle that has everything to be just an innocent story turns into a cruel and controversial end. Anyway, the manga is "lighter" with both the adult scenes, both with violence, leaving it understood.

While I was reading the final chapters, hoped that the end was not as inhumane, since the story, as I said before, it presents an evolution without malice.

School Days is a great manga and represents an alternative to the end of the animated version, getting hold attention without using so compelling scenes, as in other versions.

* CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS*

Okay, I'll try to be very straightforward. I went to this manga with zero expectations. And for the first ten chapters, I read a simple but likable romantic triangle. Not great in any aspect, but at least, enjoyable. But, in the last two chapters, what I read was a pathetic, and I really mean PATHETIC, try of the author to give readers a big mindfuck, by suddendly changing the thematic of the manga. And that was atrocious, ridiculous. Well, let's go to the main points:

Story: 2

As I said up there, that was a big fail of the manga. And no, I'm no fan of japanese romantic cuddle-duddle comedies. But there is something called SENSE. An author cannot simply turn around to readers and say "You see this romantic comedy I'm drawing right there? Well, guess what boys and girls! I'm gonna f*ck around the shit of it! Prepare for a creepy horror!". The author must at least give hints of a transformation, and must do so in order to maintain the horror aspect of the story, in a way that engages the readers.

And I won't lie, to a certain aspect, he did it well. But, when you do it in two miserable chapters, you get a story that was going average, completely turn it around, and just finish it. No more no less. Do that, and the reader ends the story with a bitter taste in the mouth (as it was in my case), not excited or joyed. AND WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ENDING? It made no sense, kept you wondering, SPOILERS ON did she killed her by jealousy, or pure pleasure? Did the thing with the cellphone meant she was never in love with him? In other words, it ended my read with "DAFUQ is this crappy ending?"

Art: 7

Yeah, it was your standard semi-ecchi romantic comedy. It's nice and well-drawn, and that's all there is to it.

Character: 3

Another point ravaged by the abrupt ending. I'm saying this because mainly Kotonoha, who never developed any signs of psychopathy, suddenly feels betrayed by a boy that she was starting to love, and turns into a killer. But beware, Sekai, out of nothing, transforms her own jealousy (that at that point, never took her to the point of stabbing anyone) into psycho-mode, and goes to the real kill. In the end, it's Makoto who stays as the stupid boy who can never decide which one he wants, and ends dead (?) because of it, that is the less-worst character of everyone.

Conclusion:

A pathetic try to shift the genre of a manga costed it's story, and made it into a lame and absurd experience. And I personally don't believe that a manga that ends making you pissed, mad and angry about it's finale can possibly be good. Of course, if you enjoy this kind of bullshit (IMO, of course, I totally respect the ones that enjoyed it), with sudden shift of genre and characterization in it's last breath, you will probably like it. But I highly doubt that anyone (likers and haters) won't end this manga, at least, frustrated.

I really liked this manga because I really loved the art style. It started out very sweet, then got alittle deeper into the plot and became even more interesting. Then, it got quite creepy. I LOVE creepy mangas :D
My favorite character was Sekai. Makoto was interesting, but not quite an enjoyable character, while Kotonoha was kind of boring. The ending slightly confused me. I still think this manga was quite enjoyable, and you should read it when you have the time.
Thanks for reading this little review :3

The story was cliche. I almost fell asleep. Until the end.

The art was nothing out of the ordinary. Until the end.

The characters were predictable and not very dynamic. Until the end.

I did not enjoy this manga at all. Until the end.

You should read School Days if you have lots of free time and nothing better to do. I'd imagine that most people don't think it's worth it, and that's okay. I personally loved the ending. What this says about me as a person...? I'd rather not dwell on it.

Mediocre everything wrapped up by its ending leaves this with a score of 6.

hhmm how to put it this story semes to be a fairly normal romance shoujo manga at first though it is defently a cut above the avreage manga in this gener chercter devolpment and back ground are a bit limited but for a 12 chapter manga it's more then ample the art is decent enoffe though it is nothing special what trully makes this story shine though is the ending for those who love a twist in the story this manga will be apreciated

*Pre-Note: Any Ano Hana hurt fanboys are probably not too happy to see this review. It's alright. Rate it down even before reading this if it satisfies your anger. I personally feel a bit sorry for the cute and awesome characters from School Days since they'd suffer for a completely unrelated review, but other than that, I couldn't care less if you did.
To the people who were actually looking for the review, I apologize for this.

School Days, within the recent years, has become a symbol series for the sheer pleasure and entertainment of watching/reading violent love, described by a divine term called "YANDERE". To people unfamiliar with this term, Yanderes are people, usually girls, that become so psychotically in love with another person to the point where they'd become violent and kill others for that person to be in their arms (sometimes dead in their arms lol). I personally have a great love for Yanderes because I respect their devotion to the person they love, so for people who aren't too fond of violent love, you may want to stop reading here. For those who continue to bear through, you can expect yourself in for a ride, starting with shoujo romance for most chapters and ending with a twisted, creepy and yet, compelling ending.

Story (10/10)
Seeing as this is the review for the School Days manga, content may differ from the actual anime. This is the story of Mikoto Itou and his school days (pun intended) with his childhood friend Sekai and his girlfriend Kotonoha. Sekai initially introduces and aids Mikoto to get close to and eventually date Kotonoha. However, she soon realizes that she's doing the things exactly contrary to her true feelings. As Sekai finally begins to act, the atmosphere compresses with suspense. Above all, this was a shoujo manga and thus the plot was mainly purposed with conveying the feelings and tensions of this love triangle. By that regard, I believe that this manga achieved astronomical success within only twelve chapters of print. Contrary to most slice-of-life and shoujo mangas, things DO happen in School Days, and they happen rather fast. Perhaps the tipping point for this perfect score on story is how School Days actually conveys the drama and anxiety to the reader. I absolutely despise cheesy mushycrap character conversations, and School Days avoided that. I carefully read every single word and truly felt like I was there in the manga. To send such a powerful conveyance of image, with absolutely no cheesy-dialogue or irritating facepalmable moments, and focused solely on that purpose is truly an astonishing feat.

Art (9/10)
Nothing I really can say about the art except it was decent and didn't hinder the value of the manga by any means. I really liked Kotonoha's design and one particularly awesome image involving her (perhaps some of you who read this will see it later in the chapters). In certain parts, the art really accentuated the mood of the characters, which had a tremendous impact in the overall essence of the story. Nevertheless, the style was nothing to floorchin drool for. Also, I happened to get Sekai mixed up with another female character a lot because their hair designs were really similar. That sucks since I always think Sekai is bi-polar (biwinning).

Character (10/10)
First of all before I go on any further about characters, I would like to say that Mikoto wasn't a great guy. He was an ambivalent wuss, and he caused a great tragedy because of it. However, since the entire series depended on his personality being indecisive, it would be wrong to judge him based simply on that. Fortunately, his other aspects are pretty amiable and he didn't seem to draw too many noticeably setbacks from his ambivalence. Other than his somewhat timid personality (still much better than 90% of the guys in modern day anime/manga), Mikoto was quite likable. He didn't exhibit the annoying nature of some guys, but simply confused and passionate feelings-- something that almost all guys torn between childhood friend and girlfriend would show. Hence, it was very believable and contributed greatly to the realism in this manga (if only we actually DID live in that world...*sigh *crosses fingers and hopes*.) Sometimes, although still rather rarely, I even sympathized with him and his current situation. Some of you readers might even find yourself doing that more than periodically.
Mikoto, his childhood friend, is a typical happy and cheerful girl. She is nice and helpful, contrasting with the mean and arrogant females in most anime/mangas. Her pure, amicable personality is what made her tolerable and what, ultimately, gives her transformation such an extreme epicness to it. Kotonoha, the girlfriend, is simply too cute. Her moeness really hit me hard and I felt myself secretly rooting for her the entire time. Kotonoha would be what you call a "Deredere". Derederes are really devoted and awesome people who are simply too cute and pure, filled with passionate feelings of love, and usually devoid of the irritating mushycrap talk (*hint: doesn't deredere end similar to another word previously mentioned? *wink). Although neither of the three characters are at the top of the list for unique school life characters in manga, they all had their own purpose to it. These three characters, working together, made School Days the legend it is today.

Enjoyment (10/10)
School Days was seriously fulfilling for a Yandere fan like me. After searching for hours for other Yandere masterpieces, I still haven't found anything that rivaled School Days. I'll concede that I liked this anime probably more than the average person did simply because of my love for Yanderes and select Moe DereDeres, but above all that, School Days still did have some aesthetic value. It got me thinking and dreaming about those events, and to challenge myself to imagine beyond the boundaries of the world. I believe that this is exactly what a good manga should do.

Overall (9/10)
As uniquely the best (yandere) "shoujo" manga I have ever read, School Days really had a deep impact on me despite being rather short. My only disappointment with the actual manga is the fact that it should have been longer and maybe include more details. Above all, I felt like putting the little amount of time into reading this had brought me a plethora of enjoyment and experience. So, for bored, perhaps curious of Yanderes, people who aren't willing to spend countless hours boggled down in the pages of some hundred chapter manga, School Days is an excellent "bang per buck" manga to pick up. For others that truly despises violence or romance, avoid School Days at all costs.

P.S. I didn't think I have to write this, but I’ll say it in case for future references: A review is an opinion. It's ok to disagree with my opinion as long as you're not being an arrogant, illogical ass about it. What's NOT ok is denying people their inherent right to voice that opinion or telling someone their opinion is wrong. Opinions are opinions. There is no right and wrong.

The basis for School Days if you haven't read/seen/played it, it's pretty much about the main leads. Makoto, Kotonoha, and Sekai. Makoto likes Kotonoha. the basis of the manga revolves around them. but, Sekai likes Makoto! the basis is really will Makoto end up with Kotonoha, or Sekai? I'm not going to spoil the ending, but the ending is dark. this is not your everyday shoujo.

i saw the anime first, and the art changes between the anime and the manga. the anime has ecchi-type animation to it. the manga however, the characters don't have this ecchiness to them, and i prefer the art over the anime. it makes the anime look like a harem (BUT IT ISN'T!)

the characters in the anime are absolutely terrible. the only character i can actually handle is Kotonoha, but in the manga, the characters are totally different! if you've seen the anime for School Days, you know Makoto is a selfish prick , but in the manga, he has more feeling towards the main girls than in the manga. i like all the characters in the manga except for sekai. why that is, it would spoil the manga for you.

i really enjoyed the manga for School Days. If you haven't seen it and you're into romantic psychological themes, this is totally for you! i would recommend the manga over the anime, but if you don't like reading, the anime is still good.

Sigh...

I was really really pumped up to read this manga, considering I loved the School Days anime. Thus I was expecting an emotional drama filled with several memorable moments. Instead I got two memorable quotes. Which were in the final two chapters. The rest? FLUFF!

School Days the manga is based off of a visual novel that also has a rather infamous anime adaption. For those of you who are unaware, it tells the story of a boy named Makoto. The girl who sits by him in class, Sekai, finds out he likes a girl called Kotonoha and helps Makoto become Kotonoha's boyfriend. But Sekai happens to have a crush on Makoto. Lame premise, I know, but the anime was able to take it and make it work really well.

The anime however, had these three episodes of fluff at the beginning. It was needed to set up the characters and help the emotional impact in the later scenes. Not to mention it was entertaining fluff. School Days the manga has eight, arguably nine chapters of pointless romantic fluff however, that isn't funny or cute. It's just fluff. Romantic, shoujo-like romantic fluff, and there are few things in the world that I find more annoying than shoujo romantic fluff. These chapters are pointless. Anyone familiar with School Days could just skip to chapter eight with little problem. So School Days, for the most part, is a straight up romantic comedy instead of a drama, which makes the ending laughable.

Don't worry, anime fans! School Days also has that kind of ending to it, and it is the best part of the manga by far. However, it feels very tacked on. I mean, you've been reading comedic fluff for however long it takes you to read the early chapters, and then suddenly a knife gets pulled out. It's not scary, it's not dramatic, it is hilarious. You can't just pull out a knife out of fuckin' nowhere, you need build-up, which the anime had. And the manga had zero of.

The characters also took a step down too. Makoto lost most of his lovable idiocy that makes him one of my favorite of the male romance protagonist types (yes, I liked him in the anime a lot, I have strange tastes, okay?) and is now just a, well, just another dull male romance protagonist. Yippee! Sekai also takes a step down in this, pushing herself way too much on Makoto. And Kotonoha is still Kotonoha, whiny and too shy. (I never really liked her...) And both girls suddenly go crazy at the end for little reason. Shock factor barely redeems it, but still. All of the other characters are merely turned into side characters, most of them don't even get their names dropped. Which is good and bad. All of the forgettable ones are gone but the memorable ones are also gone.

The art is very cutesy, but doesn't really work out. It looks very messy and at times it's tough to tell Sekai and Kotonoha apart. While everyone suddenly looking a lot more moe compared to the character designs in the anime (which were as generic as generic can be) threw me off for a bit, in a way it does fit the more light-hearted tone for the manga.

If you like romantic fluff, sudden twist endings, and can't get enough of anime like Myself Yourself and H2O Footprints in the Sand, then this is the perfect manga for you. School Days fans like me will be disappointed. I don't recommend this manga. Watch the anime instead, it's really good.

The normal cliche of Shoujo manga, right? Boy falls in love with a girl, but the boy's childhood friend fell in love with him.
A cute little story of love and friendship, but with a most shocking end.
I recomend this to all manga lovers. Even those who don't usually read Shoujo.