Why did so many people dislike School Days?

[Ohanaya]

I wonder why so many people did not like School Days. I personally found it a nice, interesting visual novel.

I think the biggest problem are the characters - they can act differently depending on the moment and the route.

I did like Makoto, I found him cute, intelligent, and sensible at times. Even though he goes out with everyone, he's a nice guy.

(I prefer being monogamous, both in games and real life, and I tried to be like that in SD too... hehe.)

The game made me feel like I *was* the main character. I found myself to be in the same feet as Makoto; he's very confused and indecisive about his true feelings, just like I was in my playthrough.

I tend to lose interest halfway through, and School Days kept me going until the end.

The same cannot be said for other visual novels (or maybe it's just because I don't like reading very much).

The animation was very well done, music was catchy and the art style pretty.

This is my opinion though - yours may differ. But SD is on my list of best games ever.

 

 

 

P.S. It's unfortunate that Overflow will close

[Clephas]

School Days has a number of problems... but the fact that the bad route is the only one that is in the least bit interesting and the protag is a worthless dirtbag kind of made it inevitable that it would gather hate.

[Crimson]

^ word. I don't know about the VN, but I watched the Anime so I suppose the Anime basically deals with the "bad route". Well, anyways, Makoto was just a huge jackass in the Anime. I don't see where he acted intelligently, to me it simply felt like he was a complete moron who wasn't interested in other People the slightest and just banged his way through School.

 

Seriously, my happiest Moment during the Anime was when Sekai stabbed the damn asshole... Even though she had to die for it, poor Sekai

 

Also, I simply didn't like the Story. It wasn't funny, or exciting, by the 5th Episode or so I was simply waiting for Makoto to be murdered by someone so that this anime would finally come to an end... The only reason I watched the Anime to the very end was because I never stop watching an Anime half-way through. The only Anime I did that with was Accel World since the main character was so ridiculously pathetic and annoying I simply couldn't stand watching any further.

[Bolverk]

I watched the anime and I tried the game. The game was quite boring imo and Makoto in the anime is one big ass sleazebag. The game felt somewhat low quality...

[DoodlyNyan]

Why? Because Makoto is an asshole, indecisive playboy bastard, and I think the anime is quite sick and bad.

[Freestyle80]

the main thing i dont like is he was such a nice guy when he was a virgin ;d how dafaq can someone change so much afterward

[monkeysrumble]

Most of my dislike is for the anime but overall I just didn't find School Days to be that enjoyable of a read. I do find the whole harem thing to be interesting because a lot of people talk about wanting to have a lot of girls liking them but if that would happen in real life it would probably end up like School Days. I guess Sekai, Kotohana and Makoto's love triangle to be some what interesting but the actual events themselves are boring to watch.

 

I guess if I could sum up my dislike for it in one sentence it would that School Days remind me of an American high school drama.

[hilbi]

I did like the story of school days, but I didn't really like the characters.

The only ones I liked were Sekai and Setsuna.

Plus the game had a lot of bugs

[Nosebleed]

When  a story depicts reality so perfectly, people tend to get mad at it because usually the 2D world is for escapism not realism.

Though despite that I do still think School Days wasn't really good, I thought the characters were crap and the story wasn't interesting in the slighest since it's literally just about a boy letting his penis wreak havoc until he gets what he deserves. Sorry but I find this pointless. You can say it's about the human psyche and whatnot and how he's a stereotypical depiction of males in real life and why cheating is horrible but that doesn't take away the fact it's still incredibly uninteresting for a vn in my opinion. And we all already know these things that's why people don't actually have harems in real life (at least not in most countries, but let's not go there). 

[Monmon]

You know my fav scene???? 
Ed song in the end of last episode.I couldnt believe myself for finishing the anime.

The reason i hate SD yeah beacuse i hate the protag, cuz he hurts my Kotonoha. If it were me i wont kill him , i'll make him suffer cuz killing him were mercy for him.

even tough sekai killed him not Kotonoha

And didnt bother with the vn.

[Flutterz]

IMO it'd be a much better VN if in addition to the many options of being an asshole there was an option to not be an asshole. You pretty much have to force him not to cheat on his girlfriend every time.

[Wahfuu]

School days tries to be a realistic depiction of the harem genre but manages to be just as trashy like any other of its kind, and often times more so. You cant sink lower than what you are trying to point the finger at.

Makoto has absolutely no consistency to him and has almost no personality to speak of, but somehow manages to be the most unlikeable dipshit ever conceived. It's pretty amazing how much awful shit you can have him do yet he seems to be the completely personalityless empty shell he was beforehand. He's not really a protag or a character at all, he's just a segway into witnessing a giant clusterfuck of a melodrama where empty characters screw eachother (emotionally and physically!) to the point of homicide.

Anyways, thats my main gripe with it. I liked the idea but the execution is trashy and it's rather shallow in it's delivery.

[Zakamutt]

First question: that avatar... are you RPing Kotonoha?

 

Alright, with that out of the way...

I'll preface this by saying that if you base your opinion on the vn on the anime or vice versa, it is invaleds. Pls don't.

 

Makoto... cute? I'm not gay so I can't really into this. Intelligent? Not more than any other average human being. Makoto is practically defined by his spinelessness in pretty much everything but full-faithfulness Kotonoha (which I did first.) I'm not sure if he's any more sensible than the average person either.

 

To be honest, Makoto feels more like a caricature than an actual human being. If you're in the "School Days is a deconstruction of the hetare protagonist" camp, this is quite interesting (someone did argue for that regarding the anime, at least.) That said, picking absolutely no options throughout the game results in a good Sekai ending. Wat.

 

I personally have watched near zero high school drama of the kind School Days offered. If I was inured to the genre, I might have thought it to be worse. I'm also emotionally manipulated quite easily, so I did get the feels at some endings.

 

I also only did the Sekai side endings after that because oh god Kotonoha is such a bitch on an immense amount of levels. Sekai is p. moe though. I guess the difference for me is that Sekai took her pain out on herself rather than lashing out, which is more Kotonoha style (beside her obvious mental disorder.) You can argue that she's incredibly unassertive or whatever, but so are some real people. I swear, some people expect characters to be some kind of perfect automaton always picking the right choice. As I said before though, I'm not certain Makoto works as a real person.

 

There are numerous system issues, like a lack of a proper skip system (no, fast-forward doesn't count in something this long. Way too slow,) random crashing (not very frequent for me though) to some people being unable to run it at all (krill is pretty sad about this, for one.)

 

Other issues are consistency problems between spliced-together scenes like background colors for the sky, high re-use of clips etc.

 

School days isn't bad, but it's in no way a masterpiece. I kinda want to see the ending where Sekai stabs you, but I was too lazy and my Kotonoha-hate too great. I also need to watch the anime to see if I agree with the deconstruction theorist.

 

...one day. #backlogs #priorities

[sanahtlig]

   

I actually really liked School Days the VN.  Like Zakamutt, I should point out that you can't judge the VN based on the anime--the anime is a fixed route, while the game has a great deal of choice.  The experience of the VN is defined by the choices you make, and without those choices to pull you into Makoto's shoes the scenario ends up falling flat.  It's the difference between watching a train wreck and actually being inside trying to survive.  A lot of people criticize Makoto, but I think the game does a rather masterful job of crafting difficult situations where there's no easy way out--and where being indecisive can seem like the best course of action, just like in real life.

 

I'll repost my quickie review of School Days from VNDB:

 

I gave School Days an 8. This game is really polarizing, as it's both innovative (and one-of-a-kind) yet highly flawed

 

Pros:
1) Animated VN: These are really rare.

2) Interactivity / choices: The plot is highly branching and the the game is very responsive to your choices, providing a level of dialogue "gameplay" that's rare in VNs. The branching also makes the game highly replayable.

3) Semi-realistic drama: The love triangle is somewhat contrived but usually entertaining. It's fascinating how the game nudges you towards indecisiveness by reminding you that every choice has both positive and negative consequences. The way the game satirizes the typical bland and indecisive VN protagonist while drawing you into his shoes is somewhat ingenious.

 

Cons:
1) Some paths through the game are nonsensical (the game's scenario is broken into segments that are supposed to fit together like pieces in a puzzle, but sometimes the pieces don't quite fit)

2) The bugs: The game is unstable and crashes about once every few hours.

3) Low quality graphics: The animation quality is poor and cuts corners everywhere, significantly impacting the experience.

 

Overall, School Days is a diamond in the rough: a highly ambitious game that tries to do many things and doesn't do any of them very well. If you're looking for a highly polished, thoughtful, and traditional VN, School Days will not satisfy. If you're looking for something completely different, you like highly branching plots, you like the love triangle theme, at least one of the heroines appeals to you, and you're willing to put up with the crashes, then School Days may very well impress you.

 

In the end, School Days HQ is the best fully animated love triangle eroge in English. It's also the only one.

 

I should also mention that this is the only VN I could ever get my brothers to play.  It has the sort of "mainstream appeal", especially to fans of anime, that most VNs lack.

[Clephas]

I got my younger brother to play and love Cross Channel, but nothing else, lol.

[cryofrzd]

I think School Days was quite interesting the first time I read it (the lack of good skip-system makes it bothersome afterwards).

 

It's not that uncommon in literature to have protagonists that are unlikable, but I guess many people have a hard time getting anything out of the story when it's overshadowed by blinding hate towards the protagonist.

 

It's clearly a VN for us/those that have some tolerance with drama/jealousy and with corruption of characters.

 

Put yourself in an VN. You're the captain of Titanic and the plot is you save the heroine. In the beginning there's a choice:

 

   Save the passengers

   Escape in the one and only life-boat

 

If you'd read the story after the second choice with some interest, I guess School Days has a better success rate for you.

[AceAttorney]

I'm quite confused, many people seem to identify the "scumbagginess" of the protagonist as their main issue with School Days. However, isn't that the point? A good character =/= a likable character. A good character is one that has depth and evokes emotions from the reader. Although I personally have not read/watched School Days, I know the basis of the plot and I am fairly confident that making you hate the main character is what the writers were going for.

[Funnerific]

I'm quite confused, many people seem to identify the "scumbagginess" of the protagonist as their main issue with School Days. However, isn't that the point? A good character =/= a likable character. A good character is one that has depth and evokes emotions from the reader. Although I personally have not read/watched School Days, I know the basis of the plot and I am fairly confident that making you hate the main character is what the writers were going for.

When it's the protagonist and he does the kinds of things you would never let yourself do (and most of the time there's no choice to stop), it's only natural to despise him.

[Clephas]

To be blunt, one of the functions of VNs as a medium is that in most cases, the reader is intended to get behind the eyes of the protagonist, to one extent or another.  With this protagonist, that is an incredibly unpleasant experience.  It really is as simple as that.

[Wahfuu]

I'm quite confused, many people seem to identify the "scumbagginess" of the protagonist as their main issue with School Days. However, isn't that the point? A good character =/= a likable character. A good character is one that has depth and evokes emotions from the reader. Although I personally have not read/watched School Days, I know the basis of the plot and I am fairly confident that making you hate the main character is what the writers were going for.

The thing is, he's not really a character. He's just a car. He's an empty shell. He has no likeable and relatable aspects and does nothing but commit atrocity after terrible decisions without showing any sort of real decision behind it. He's simple.. there, because someone has to the protag. Someone has to be the center of the giant shitfest that happens. If Makoto were to actually show any sort of personality or any sort of reasoning behind anything he does besides give into lust then I'd be okay with it, but.. I don't think he does. He's just an existence.

Makoto really just felt like a husk of a human.

[shcboomer]

Pretty sure people have gone over this time and time again in this thread and elsewhere, but yes it is basically because Makoto has no redeeming features and just makes terrible decisions. He's the picturesque terrible boyfriend if you can even call him that.

[InvertMouse]

Aside from the bad endings, as mentioned, there's nothing outstanding about the work, I guess. I've never played the game. Are there routes where you can get Makoto to not be a jerk?

[yashasupercow]

The main reason ppl hate schoolday 100% because of Makoto

[Crimson]

@AceAttorney, I do see your Point. Liking a VN does not solely depend on a likeable Protagonist. For example, take Yuuji from Grisaia no Kajitsu. He's awfully ignorant in 2 out of 3 routes I played so far, and sometimes I was just sitting in front of my Computer, just thinking "oh god, how can you be so mean and not even realize it? Asshole...", however, that didn't Change the fact that character development and Story made the game a masterpiece.

 

When you view Schooldays like this, the outcome is entirely different - Makoto does not Change at all during the Story. Well, except for becoming a completely despicable asshole the Moment he lost his virginity, but we'll get to that later. He doesn't have any remarkable traits except for being a jerk, and there is absolutely zero character development during the course of the Story. He never reflects on his Actions, nor does he provide any clue on why he's acting like such an incredible asshole. Well, I know that the answer to this is simple, Makoto is a jerk and the VN's writers probably intended him to leave that Impression on the Reader.

 

It's not like I cannot enjoy such a Story because it "depicts reality perfectly", but because watching a despicable moron like Makoto for hours, banging every Girl he meets without even considering the consequences is just a huge pain in the ass. I can live with a MC who behaves like a jerk, but then I want to at least see some character development, find out about the reasons for his behaviour, or to be compensated with an awesome Story, but School days delivers None of those to the Reader.

 

@Cryofrzd Well, I would still read that VN. Saving yourself is simply rational and perfectly normal for every human being that considers their own life's worth once in a while. Well, you might say "taking the only rescue boat for yourself is ridiculously egoistic" but at least there would be a credible reason for doing so, while Makoto's behaviour simply Shows what Kind of incredible jerk he is.

 

P.S. Sorry bout the messed-up orthography, stupid IE keeps changing the first letter of random words to capital letters... IE no baka -.-

[cryofrzd]

 

@Cryofrzd Well, I would still read that VN. Saving yourself is simply rational and perfectly normal for every human being that considers their own life's worth once in a while. Well, you might say "taking the only rescue boat for yourself is ridiculously egoistic" but at least there would be a credible reason for doing so, while Makoto's behaviour simply Shows what Kind of incredible jerk he is.

 

True, but you were the captain, it's a crime and your duty to save the passengers. How many people would fly/go by boat etc. if the crew just would save their own asses?