School Days
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A high-school harem romance curdles into betrayal and obsession; after a real crime, terrestrial stations dropped its finale, which aired on satellite instead.
Makoto Ito, a first-year at Sakakino Academy, has a crush on Kotonoha Katsura, a quiet girl from another class who rides his train, and, following a school charm, keeps her photograph secretly as his phone's wallpaper. His new desk-mate, Sekai Saionji, spots it and offers to bring them together. It works. Makoto asks Kotonoha out, and on the station platform Sekai kisses him and wishes him luck with his new girlfriend.
The romance goes badly. Kotonoha is shy and shrinks from Makoto when he pushes for more; he tells Sekai she is boring, and Sekai, who has been coaching them both, offers herself as practice. They sleep together, and Makoto slides into an affair he hides from Kotonoha, who clings to the belief that she is still his girlfriend even after she overhears Sekai confess to him. At the school festival Makoto has sex with Otome Kato, a friend from middle school, and that night, while he dances with Sekai around the bonfire, a classmate, Taisuke, rapes Kotonoha. Makoto goes on to sleep with other girls in his class.
Setsuna, Sekai's childhood friend, who has quietly loved Makoto, leaves for France. Sekai learns of Makoto's other girls, then believes she is pregnant and announces it in front of the class. Everyone cuts him off. Wandering alone, he comes upon Kotonoha, whose mind has broken, and in a rush of guilt he holds her until she comes back to life. He tells Sekai she has ruined his life, kisses Kotonoha in front of her, and sends Sekai a message telling her to have an abortion.
When they meet at his flat the next day, Sekai stabs Makoto to death and runs. That night a message from his phone calls her to the school roof, where Kotonoha is waiting with Makoto's head. Kotonoha kills Sekai and afterwards says there was no child. At dawn she drifts out to sea on a yacht, holding his head and telling him that now they can be together. The school, in the closing moments, carries on as if none of the three had existed.
Starring
Daisuke Hirakawaas Makoto Ito
A first-year student who drifts from girl to girl without ever choosing, and whose casual cruelty destroys the two girls who love him.
Makoto Ito’s story
Makoto only watches Kotonoha from across the train until his new desk-mate, Sekai, brings them together. Kotonoha is shy and he wants more than she is ready for; he tells Sekai she is boring, and when Sekai offers herself as practice, he sleeps with her. He keeps the affair from Kotonoha with lies, then moves on to Otome at the school festival and to other girls in his class. When Sekai announces in class that she is pregnant, everyone cuts him off. Wandering alone, he finds Kotonoha broken, holds her in a rush of guilt and turns back to her. He tells Sekai she has ruined his life, kisses Kotonoha in front of her and texts Sekai to have an abortion. The next day, at his flat, Sekai stabs him to death.
Tae Okajimaas Kotonoha Katsura
A shy, sheltered first-year on the student council, Makoto's first girlfriend, broken by his betrayal and by a classmate's assault.
Kotonoha Katsura’s story
Kotonoha rides Makoto's train and is overjoyed to become his girlfriend; she has him meet her sister, but pulls back when he pushes for more. She sees him kiss Sekai and tells herself she was mistaken, overhears Sekai confess to him and still insists she is his girlfriend, and slaps Sekai when they meet outside his door. On the night of the school festival, as she watches Makoto dance with Sekai, a classmate, Taisuke, rapes her. Her mind breaks. When Makoto finds her and holds her, she comes back to life and believes he is hers again. After Sekai kills him, Kotonoha calls her to the school roof with his phone, kills her and says there was no child. At dawn she drifts out to sea holding Makoto's head, telling him that now they can be together.
Shiho Kawaragias Sekai Saionji
Makoto's lively desk-mate, who sets him up with Kotonoha, falls for him herself and becomes his secret lover.
Sekai Saionji’s story
Sekai spots Kotonoha's photograph on her new desk-mate's phone and brings the two together, then kisses Makoto on the platform and wishes him luck with his new girlfriend. She coaches them both, and when Makoto calls Kotonoha boring, she offers herself as practice; they sleep together, and she keeps urging him to tell Kotonoha. She watches him slip away to Otome and others, and her childhood friend Setsuna leaves for France. Believing herself pregnant, she announces it in class and cooks for him, happy about the child, until he tells her she has ruined his life, kisses Kotonoha in front of her and texts her to have an abortion. The next day, at his flat, she stabs him to death and runs. That night a message from his phone calls her to the school roof, where Kotonoha kills her.
Keiko Imotoas Setsuna Kiyoura
Sekai's reserved childhood friend, secretly in love with Makoto, who tries to keep him for Sekai before moving to France.
Haruka Nagamias Otome Kato
A friend of Makoto's from middle school who pursues him at the school festival and becomes one of his lovers.
Ryoko Tanakaas Hikari Kuroda
Sekai's friend and classmate, who goes to scold Makoto and ends up sleeping with him.
Why it matters
Most proposals for adapting School Days, an adult visual novel, tried to steer around its violent endings; the studio that made it wanted to shock, and its director said a happy ending was never on the table. The result takes the harem fantasy, a boy wanted by every girl around him, and follows it to what it looks like in practice: girls treated as interchangeable, a pregnancy he orders ended, a rape that goes unanswered, and two girls destroyed by his indifference and by each other. On the eve of its final broadcast in September 2007, a sixteen-year-old girl in Kyoto Prefecture killed her father, a police officer. The terrestrial stations dropped the episode, and TV Kanagawa filled the slot with scenery footage whose ferry became the internet joke 'Nice boat.' Anime News Network's reviewer called Makoto an object lesson. What the series leaves is the question of harm that everyone watched and nobody stopped.