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School Days (visual novel)
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese
adult
visual novel
developed by 0verflow
and published by Stack, and was originally released for the PC
on April 28, 2005. It was subsequently released as a DVD TV game
by Stack, followed by an all-ages port titled School Days L×H published by Interchannel
for the PlayStation 2
, in both limited and regular editions, on January 17, 2008. It was later re-released as School Days HQ on October 8, 2010, with improved graphics, additional story and new endings. JAST USA
announced that, in co-operation with 0verflow and localization group Sekai Project, School Days HQ will be translated and released for English-language distribution in spring 2012. School Days has received two spin-off
titles, Summer Days
and Cross Days
, and has made several transitions to other media, including a 12-episode television and two OVA
anime
by TNK, a two-volume manga
by Homare Sakazuki, six novels and a radio drama
series.
d so that each selection made will branch to a different story arc, all of which lead to erotic scenes and ultimately one of twenty possible conclusions. In order to view all of the endings, the player will effectively have to replay through the game several times and make different choices to direct the story in an alternate direction. School Days is different from other games of the genre in that it is presented with scenes of animated footage, instead of common static images, and how collections of scenes are divided into episodes complete with their very own opening and closing sequence. The game is audibly stereophonic with a music album of thirty-three individual tracks, sound effects and voices. Progress can be recorded and loaded separately into ten quick save files.
Additional options include a variety of options to alter how the game is played. These include a video playback option in 1×, 1.5×, 2×, 4×, or paused; automatically playing scenes without having to click until decisions arise; altering the game's audio volume, or being able to enable or mute the voices; the showing or hiding of dialog captioning as of patch
1.11; and being able to have a full or window frame game screen.
endings where the main character ends up with multiple girls. In one of these two, Sekai and Kotonoha both get together with Makoto, and in the other, Makoto has sex with various girls almost every day. There is one ending in the game which is only made available when certain conditions are met for one of Kotonoha's or Sekai's good endings entitled "Carnal Desire" (Kotonoha) and "Bavarois" (Sekai) where Makoto ends up getting Setsuna pregnant.
The final three endings featured in the game are the three bad endings which involve the death of one of the three main characters (either Makoto, Sekai, or Kotonoha) in violent circumstances. In one of these endings, Kotonoha kills Sekai in broad daylight with a saw to the neck; in another, Sekai stabs Makoto for leaving her for Kotonoha; and in the last bad end, Kotonoha kills herself by jumping off Makoto's apartment building after he chooses Sekai.
The PlayStation 2 version of School Days features five new bad endings, all of which involve the death of one of the main characters, along with some of the original endings extended. All five new endings involve one or more of the main characters getting ran over and killed by an oncoming train. Four of these endings involve a single death each where Makoto dies in one, Kotonoha dies in one, and Sekai dies in two of the four. The fifth ending involves the deaths of both Kotonoha and Sekai. There are changes made to the original endings, notably in the ending where Kotonoha kills Sekai in broad daylight. The blood was removed and the scene was made more realistic by showing Makoto being shocked at Kotonoha, as well as her regret when she begins to cry. The HQ version adds new branches of the main story and endings, including a bad one which involves Sekai pushing Kotonoha onto the train tracks, leading to her death, despite Makoto's attempt to save her from the train.
In the manga adaptation of School Days, Makoto confesses about his relationship with Sekai, but this leads to Kotonoha attempting to cut Sekai with a saw, believing she tricked Makoto into a relationship. Makoto intervenes at the last second, but is injured by Kotonoha's attack. As he recovers at a hospital, he discovers during a visit from Sekai that she had gone to Kotonoha's house and killed her in order to clean the slate and start over again with just herself and Makoto before he had met Kotonoha.
In the anime version, Sekai believes she is pregnant with Makoto's child, but is asked to get an abortion by Makoto. Under the emotional stress induced by Makoto's request, she stabs him in the stomach to death with a kitchen knife. Soon after, Kotonoha discovers Makoto's dead body and calls Sekai to the roof of the school using Makoto's cellphone. After a brief exchange, where Kotonoha shows Sekai the school bag with Makoto's severed head inside, Kotonoha attacks and kills Sekai with the backsaw that she cut off Makoto's head with, then cuts her womb open in search of the fetus. Finding nothing, she concludes that Sekai lied about her pregnancy. The ending scene shows Kotonoha on her family yacht clinging to Makoto's severed head.
The following afternoon on her way home at the nearby train station in front of the school, Sekai finds Makoto waiting for Kotonoha to rendezvous for a date. He sits with her and reiterates his appreciation for her help, and feeling heavily indebted, offers repayment anyway he can. Though she believes he is overreacting, Sekai decides to redeem her obligation by placing a kiss on his lips as her train pulls in; quickly rushing into an open passenger car and happily bidding a dumbstruck Makoto luck on his date.
. It was followed by an version released for the PlayStation 2
, on January 17, 2008 as both a limited edition and a regular edition. To address several errors reported to have kept the game from functioning correctly, 0verflow has released several updates to the game. On July 21, 2005 0verflow released a 274MB patch for original print customers to update the game to a stable version of 1.11. The patch addressed several programming bugs, such as being unable to access certain endings, while additionally installing a subtitles and backlogging feature. A day later a patched commercial release was published.
With the exception of a few minor changes, the original School Days visual novel has been ported to two other platforms. On September 28, 2007, based on version 1.11, Stack Software released a four disc adult
DVD TV game
edition with changes such as the inclusion of a recollection mode to the removal of male voice mutability and progress saving; replaced by password access chapters. Months later on January 17, 2008, Interchannel
released School Days L×H for the PlayStation 2
in both limited and regular editions, the latter coming bundled with the exclusive Valentine Days OVA DVD. Both versions were rated C by Computer Entertainment Rating Organization
for profanity, the limited edition for sexual intimacy, and contain four additional plot conclusions.
An updated version of the game, School Days HQ, was released on October 8, 2010. It features the improvements made on the latest spin-off of the series, Cross Days, including better graphics, is presented in higher resolution, and has better animation. An official English translation is scheduled for release in early 2012 by Jast USA
.
title of School Days titled Summer Days
was developed by 0verflow and published on June 23, 2006. Like its predecessor, the game is an erotic single-player visual novel for the PC, the only exception being that it has no ports. The game was released in a highly unstable condition littered with bugs, due to a production error, and the sheer quantity of patches that followed in response. Presently, the game is at a stable version of 2.01. While all the original characters appear in Summer Days, the plot is moderately rewritten to assume that everyone meets during summer vacation, instead of the first two semesters of high school. Setsuna Kiyoura also stars as the main heroine and central protagonist of the game. Another spin-off title, titled Cross Days
, was developed by 0verflow and released on March 19, 2010. The story in Cross Days takes place in the same universe as School Days, but does not revolve around the same characters aside from their appearances in the game.
novels. Two novels written by Tome Okada and published by Harvest entitled School Days: Sekai Chapter and School Days: Kotonoha Chapter were released in November and December 2005, respectively. Another novel written by Takuya Baba and published by Jive
entitled was released on December 16, 2005. A novel written by Hiro Akizuki and published by Jive for the TV anime series entitled was released in April 2008.
entitled School Days: Little Promise on February 24, 2006. An Internet radio
show to promote the TV anime series entitled Radio School Days ran between June 26, 2007 and March 28, 2008, published by Lantis Web Radio
and Onsen. Three CDs were released between November 21, 2007 and May 21, 2008 containing all forty radio broadcasts. The show was hosted by Shiho Kawaragi
(voice of Sekai) and Soyogi Tōno
(voice of Kotonoha). Two drama CDs were released by Lantis for the anime series on August 8, 2007 and October 24, 2007.
adaptation illustrated by Homare Sakegatsu was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten
's manga magazine Comp Ace
between May 26, 2006 and September 26, 2007. It was also collected into two bound volumes
published by Kadokawa Shoten under their Kadokawa Comics A label. The first volume containing the first six chapters was released on July 26, 2007, and was followed a second bound volume on November 26, 2007, containing the remaining six chapters.
There has also been two manga anthologies
produced by different companies and drawn by a multitude of different artists. The first manga anthology, an adult
manga entitled School Days Kotonoha chapter Anthology Comic EX was released by Oaks under their XO Game Comics label, on September 25, 2007. A second manga anthology, released by Ichijinsha
under the title School Days Kotonoha Comic Anthology, was released on February 25, 2008 under their DNA Media Comics label.
series was developed by TNK with joint production by Avex Entertainment, Lantis
, Marvelous Entertainment, Pony Canyon
and Jinnan Studio. The anime aired in Japan between July 3, 2007 and September 27, 2007 on TV Kanagawa. On July 4, 2007 Chiba TV
and TV Aichi also began to air the show with TV Saitama, TV Osaka
and AT-X
respectively picking it up a day after each other. The series has since been released in six limited and regular edition DVD volumes. Each volume contains one disc with two episodes NTSC
formatted in full-color with Digital Theater System
audio with each limited edition volume coming bundled with a numeric respective six track radio disc titled Radio School Days Shucchōban, Hoshū. The School Days anime adaptations contain fifty-six music tracks, fourteen of which are vocal themes by various artists. The remaining forty-two are background music
tracks arranged by Kaoru Okubo
.
Two OVA episodes were also produced and released. On March 28, 2008, a month after the final TV series DVD had been released, TNK released , a magical girl
parody spin-off, in both limited and regular editions; the former bundled with a six track radio disc. The other title was a DVD exclusively bundled with the limited edition School Days L×H PlayStation 2 port, released with the game on January 17, 2008.
. In response, TV Kanagawa replaced the episode
, which was known to contain similarly violent material, with half an hour of scenery and classical music to avoid association with the murder. Other stations airing the anime followed suit, except for AT-X
, who remained indecisive at the time. In the following week, 0verflow announced that a screening of the episode would take place in the Tokyo area as part of the release of the series first DVD volume, and would require a copy of either the PC game or Summer Days
PC game for admission. However, AT-X announced that they would air the last episode on September 27, 2007, with minor alterations in airing times. The screening of the episode that 0verflow announced showed the uncut version of episode twelve, including the blood color change from black back to red, adding back all sound effects that were removed from the broadcast version, and fewer flashbacks. The uncut version of the episode was included in the DVD release on February 27, 2008.
The sudden swap of the last episode to scenery footage led to shock and confusion among the fans. A contributor of the English-speaking 4chan
image board posted screenshots of the episode, dryly commenting that the "last episode of School Days is live action" and writing "Nice boat" next to an image of M/S Skagastøl, a Norwegian Fjord1
ferry. The phrase "Nice boat" immediately became an Internet meme
and reached massive proportions in Japan, spreading via screenshots of the 4chan thread and a flood of "nice boat" comments on Nico Nico Douga
videos of the scenery footage. It ranked tenth in Yahoo! Japan
's keyword search ranking for the week of September 17 to September 23, 2007, and appeared as a hidden message in the first episode of the anime Ef: A Tale of Memories
. Kadokawa Shoten
also parodied 'Nice Boat' with a short video posted on YouTube
on February 13, 2009, when the first episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya was originally planned to premiere. The phrase was so well-known among fans that 0verflow decided to name its booth "Nice boat" for the Comiket 73
in December 2007, selling "Nice boat" merchandise along with its normal line of specialty items. In the later released "Magical Heart Kokoro-chan" OVA, Magical Kokoro-chan is seen riding in a raft with the name "Nice Boat" written on the side.
track arranged by Kiriko / Hiko Sound. The game's opening theme is sung by Kiriko, and the main ending theme is by Minami Kuribayashi
. In the PC version, Sekai's ending theme is "Bye-Bye Tears" by Yozuca*, and Kotonoha's ending theme is "Hello My Happiness" by Miyuki Hashimoto
. The sub-heroines share an ending theme in both the PC and PS2 versions: by Yuria
. The ending theme during Christmas Eve in the game is by Rino
. The ending theme played during the game's bad ends is by Kanako Itō
. An insert song used during the folk dance is "Let me Love you" by Haruko Momoi
. An album entitled School Days Vocal Album featuring the vocal themes was released on April 28, 2005. The game's original soundtrack was released on July 21, 2005.
s in Japan, the PC release of School Days premiered at number one in the rankings. It was then dropped to the second place the following two weeks, and the seventeenth on the next ranking, but was raised back to the fifth in the following chart. It then remained at the twenty-seventh for the next month, and was then removed from the chart. School Days was the most widely sold game on Getchu.com for the first and second quarter of 2005, and is the ninth most widely sold game for the overall year.
The anime received good reviews from Anime on DVD. With reviewer Mark Thomas stating, "I am so far utterly enthralled by the story. It is incredibly well put together, and frankly, I am not sure how well it would be working up to this point without such a detestable cast. The story is solid, and they are doing a good job of building some great tension between the characters." Thomas also commends the anime for its strong story, great initial foundation, and its seriousness. In his review of the final four episodes he concluded, "I really enjoyed School Days, but it is not an anime that is for the faint of heart. The opening episodes do not really hint at being a particularly dark anime, but it ultimately gets there, particularly with the ending. It is uncomfortable and disturbing from at least the midpoint, but it was so well done, that I appreciated it for going where it went."
Japanese popular culture
Japanese popular culture not only reflects the attitudes and concerns of the present but also provides a link to the past. Japanese cinema, cuisine, television programs, manga, and music all developed from older artistic and literary traditions, and many of their themes and styles of presentation...
adult
Eroge
An or Ero-ga is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork. Eroge originated from galge, but unlike galge, they feature erotic/pornographic content.-History:...
visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
developed by 0verflow
0verflow
, erroneously Overflow, is a Japanese video game division of Stack Ltd. specializing in the production of mature interactive fiction. The company is best known for its popular game franchise School Days, which has spawned numerous multimedia adaptions and two sequels...
and published by Stack, and was originally released for the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
on April 28, 2005. It was subsequently released as a DVD TV game
DVD TV game
A DVD TV game is a standalone game that can be played on a set-top DVD player. The game takes advantage of technology built into the DVD format to create an interactive gaming environment compatible with most DVD players without requiring additional hardware...
by Stack, followed by an all-ages port titled School Days L×H published by Interchannel
Interchannel
Interchannel is a Japanese game developer and publisher. Previously known as NEC Interchannel and before that NEC Avenue, it was originally a subsidiary of NEC before 70 percent of the company was sold to Index Corporation for approximately 3 billion yen in 2004...
for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, in both limited and regular editions, on January 17, 2008. It was later re-released as School Days HQ on October 8, 2010, with improved graphics, additional story and new endings. JAST USA
JAST USA
JAST USA is a licensor and distributor of English-language bishōjo games, some of which are as dating sims or eroge. It was founded in 1997 with Sakura Soft's Season of the Sakura and JAST's Three Sisters' Story as its first eroge titles...
announced that, in co-operation with 0verflow and localization group Sekai Project, School Days HQ will be translated and released for English-language distribution in spring 2012. School Days has received two spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
titles, Summer Days
Summer Days
is a Japanese erotic visual novel developed by 0verflow and published by Stack, released on June 23, 2006 for Windows. It was later adapted into a DVDi by AiCherry, released on April 11, 2008. The original computer game is notorious for being released in a highly unstable condition littered with...
and Cross Days
Cross Days
is a Japanese erotic visual novel developed by 0verflow and published by Stack, released on March 19, 2010 for Windows. It was subsequently redeveloped as a DVD game by AiCherry and for the PlayStation Portable by PalaceGame...
, and has made several transitions to other media, including a 12-episode television and two OVA
Original video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
by TNK, a two-volume manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
by Homare Sakazuki, six novels and a radio drama
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
series.
Gameplay
Like traditional visual novels, School Days is played by advancing through scenes of audible or textual character dialog and making action decisions when they are asked of the player. Choices are internally tree structureTree structure
A tree structure is a way of representing the hierarchical nature of a structure in a graphical form. It is named a "tree structure" because the classic representation resembles a tree, even though the chart is generally upside down compared to an actual tree, with the "root" at the top and the...
d so that each selection made will branch to a different story arc, all of which lead to erotic scenes and ultimately one of twenty possible conclusions. In order to view all of the endings, the player will effectively have to replay through the game several times and make different choices to direct the story in an alternate direction. School Days is different from other games of the genre in that it is presented with scenes of animated footage, instead of common static images, and how collections of scenes are divided into episodes complete with their very own opening and closing sequence. The game is audibly stereophonic with a music album of thirty-three individual tracks, sound effects and voices. Progress can be recorded and loaded separately into ten quick save files.
Additional options include a variety of options to alter how the game is played. These include a video playback option in 1×, 1.5×, 2×, 4×, or paused; automatically playing scenes without having to click until decisions arise; altering the game's audio volume, or being able to enable or mute the voices; the showing or hiding of dialog captioning as of patch
Patch (computing)
A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...
1.11; and being able to have a full or window frame game screen.
Endings
In School Days, there are twenty-one possible endings for the player to experience. There are fifteen good endings where the main character, Makoto, ends up with one of the obtainable heroines in the game. Of these endings, seven good endings are devoted to Kotonoha, five are given to Sekai, two are for Hikari, and one is with Otome. Of the other six endings, two are haremHarem
Harem refers to the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men...
endings where the main character ends up with multiple girls. In one of these two, Sekai and Kotonoha both get together with Makoto, and in the other, Makoto has sex with various girls almost every day. There is one ending in the game which is only made available when certain conditions are met for one of Kotonoha's or Sekai's good endings entitled "Carnal Desire" (Kotonoha) and "Bavarois" (Sekai) where Makoto ends up getting Setsuna pregnant.
The final three endings featured in the game are the three bad endings which involve the death of one of the three main characters (either Makoto, Sekai, or Kotonoha) in violent circumstances. In one of these endings, Kotonoha kills Sekai in broad daylight with a saw to the neck; in another, Sekai stabs Makoto for leaving her for Kotonoha; and in the last bad end, Kotonoha kills herself by jumping off Makoto's apartment building after he chooses Sekai.
The PlayStation 2 version of School Days features five new bad endings, all of which involve the death of one of the main characters, along with some of the original endings extended. All five new endings involve one or more of the main characters getting ran over and killed by an oncoming train. Four of these endings involve a single death each where Makoto dies in one, Kotonoha dies in one, and Sekai dies in two of the four. The fifth ending involves the deaths of both Kotonoha and Sekai. There are changes made to the original endings, notably in the ending where Kotonoha kills Sekai in broad daylight. The blood was removed and the scene was made more realistic by showing Makoto being shocked at Kotonoha, as well as her regret when she begins to cry. The HQ version adds new branches of the main story and endings, including a bad one which involves Sekai pushing Kotonoha onto the train tracks, leading to her death, despite Makoto's attempt to save her from the train.
In the manga adaptation of School Days, Makoto confesses about his relationship with Sekai, but this leads to Kotonoha attempting to cut Sekai with a saw, believing she tricked Makoto into a relationship. Makoto intervenes at the last second, but is injured by Kotonoha's attack. As he recovers at a hospital, he discovers during a visit from Sekai that she had gone to Kotonoha's house and killed her in order to clean the slate and start over again with just herself and Makoto before he had met Kotonoha.
In the anime version, Sekai believes she is pregnant with Makoto's child, but is asked to get an abortion by Makoto. Under the emotional stress induced by Makoto's request, she stabs him in the stomach to death with a kitchen knife. Soon after, Kotonoha discovers Makoto's dead body and calls Sekai to the roof of the school using Makoto's cellphone. After a brief exchange, where Kotonoha shows Sekai the school bag with Makoto's severed head inside, Kotonoha attacks and kills Sekai with the backsaw that she cut off Makoto's head with, then cuts her womb open in search of the fetus. Finding nothing, she concludes that Sekai lied about her pregnancy. The ending scene shows Kotonoha on her family yacht clinging to Makoto's severed head.
Main characters
- (games), Daisuke HirakawaDaisuke Hirakawais a Japanese voice actor. He is sometimes mistaken for fellow voice actor Daisuke Namikawa, as their names only differ by one character when written in kanji. He is the official Japanese voice actor for Orlando Bloom. For some roles, he is also known as Hirai Tatsuya.- Career :At first, as he...
(anime) - Makoto is the unlucky protagonist of the series. A generally mannered and composed student in year one of class three, his life becomes complicated when he begins to unfaithfully initiate polyamorousPolyamoryPolyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved....
relationships with girls that he is unable or unwilling to singly commit to. Although he is originally casual, gregarious and understanding, after becoming a sex addict, it completely corrupts his personality and he instead became apathetic, rash, and egotistical towards others, regardless of the harm or later consequences. However, once he realizes what he has done wrong, he is quick in his attempts to fix the situation. Makoto lives with his divorced mother and has a younger sister named Itaru who lives with their father. He is good friends with Taisuke Sawanaga and Otome Katou.
- Genteel and reserved, Kotonoha is a student in year one of class four who is on the Student councilStudent councilStudent council is a curricular or extra-curricular activity for students within elementary and secondary schools around the world. Present in most public and private K-12 school systems across the United States, Canada and Australia these bodies are alternatively entitled student council, student...
and serves as one of the most pivotal characters in the story. A cute and noticeably well-endowed bookwormBibliophiliaBibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Accordingly a bibliophile is an individual who loves books. A bookworm is someone who loves books for their content, or who otherwise loves reading. The -ia-suffixed form "bibliophilia" is sometimes considered to be an incorrect usage; the older...
, she becomes the initial love interest of Makoto early into their second term, and with some effort from Sekai, Kotonoha becomes his girlfriend after she confesses her affection for him. While Kotonoha for the most part is calm and gentle, she has a very delicate constitution, which under stress leads to irrational culpability, delusions and even malice caused by the abuse she endures from other girls. She has a younger sister name Kokoro and lives with their wealthy mother Manami and father in the fictional area of Haramihama. She is disliked by Otome (or any other girl, for that matter) and is subject to her bullying and duress.
- Sekai is a student in year one of class three who is the antithesis and foilFoil (literature)In fiction, a foil is a character who contrasts with another character in order to highlight particular qualities of another character....
of Kotonoha. A playful and outgoing classmate seated directly next to Makoto, she takes a curious interest in him during their first acquaintance, and in every medium of the series, helps to establish his bond with Kotonoha. Though genuinely upbeat, Sekai does occasionally show a more serious side, and when sufficiently frustrated can be loud, selfish, overemotional and even manipulative. She lives with her mother Yōko in the fictional area of Motehara-Sakashita, is part-time employed as a waitress at the family restaurant Radish and is also the best friend and unknowing half-sister of Setsuna Kiyoura.
Story
Makoto Ito is a young Japanese high school student beginning his second term at the fictional Sakakino Academy. During his daily train rides to and from school, he becomes infatuated with fellow student Kotonoha Katsura; a girl that also commutes. When a new classmate acquaintance of his, Sekai Saionji, discovers his secret crush on Kotonoha, she helps introduce both of them to each other and over time they grow closer and agree to date. However in spite of her proud and triumphant matchmaking efforts, Sekai inadvertently becomes jealous of the new couple, having also developed feelings toward Makoto.The following afternoon on her way home at the nearby train station in front of the school, Sekai finds Makoto waiting for Kotonoha to rendezvous for a date. He sits with her and reiterates his appreciation for her help, and feeling heavily indebted, offers repayment anyway he can. Though she believes he is overreacting, Sekai decides to redeem her obligation by placing a kiss on his lips as her train pulls in; quickly rushing into an open passenger car and happily bidding a dumbstruck Makoto luck on his date.
Release history
School Days was first available to the public on April 28, 2005, released for the PCPersonal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
. It was followed by an version released for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, on January 17, 2008 as both a limited edition and a regular edition. To address several errors reported to have kept the game from functioning correctly, 0verflow has released several updates to the game. On July 21, 2005 0verflow released a 274MB patch for original print customers to update the game to a stable version of 1.11. The patch addressed several programming bugs, such as being unable to access certain endings, while additionally installing a subtitles and backlogging feature. A day later a patched commercial release was published.
With the exception of a few minor changes, the original School Days visual novel has been ported to two other platforms. On September 28, 2007, based on version 1.11, Stack Software released a four disc adult
Eroge
An or Ero-ga is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork. Eroge originated from galge, but unlike galge, they feature erotic/pornographic content.-History:...
DVD TV game
DVD TV game
A DVD TV game is a standalone game that can be played on a set-top DVD player. The game takes advantage of technology built into the DVD format to create an interactive gaming environment compatible with most DVD players without requiring additional hardware...
edition with changes such as the inclusion of a recollection mode to the removal of male voice mutability and progress saving; replaced by password access chapters. Months later on January 17, 2008, Interchannel
Interchannel
Interchannel is a Japanese game developer and publisher. Previously known as NEC Interchannel and before that NEC Avenue, it was originally a subsidiary of NEC before 70 percent of the company was sold to Index Corporation for approximately 3 billion yen in 2004...
released School Days L×H for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
in both limited and regular editions, the latter coming bundled with the exclusive Valentine Days OVA DVD. Both versions were rated C by Computer Entertainment Rating Organization
Computer Entertainment Rating Organization
The is a Japanese entertainment rating organization based in Tokyo. rating video game content in console games with levels of rating that informs the customer of the nature of the product and for what age group it is suitable...
for profanity, the limited edition for sexual intimacy, and contain four additional plot conclusions.
An updated version of the game, School Days HQ, was released on October 8, 2010. It features the improvements made on the latest spin-off of the series, Cross Days, including better graphics, is presented in higher resolution, and has better animation. An official English translation is scheduled for release in early 2012 by Jast USA
JAST USA
JAST USA is a licensor and distributor of English-language bishōjo games, some of which are as dating sims or eroge. It was founded in 1997 with Sakura Soft's Season of the Sakura and JAST's Three Sisters' Story as its first eroge titles...
.
Sequels
A spin-offSpin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
title of School Days titled Summer Days
Summer Days
is a Japanese erotic visual novel developed by 0verflow and published by Stack, released on June 23, 2006 for Windows. It was later adapted into a DVDi by AiCherry, released on April 11, 2008. The original computer game is notorious for being released in a highly unstable condition littered with...
was developed by 0verflow and published on June 23, 2006. Like its predecessor, the game is an erotic single-player visual novel for the PC, the only exception being that it has no ports. The game was released in a highly unstable condition littered with bugs, due to a production error, and the sheer quantity of patches that followed in response. Presently, the game is at a stable version of 2.01. While all the original characters appear in Summer Days, the plot is moderately rewritten to assume that everyone meets during summer vacation, instead of the first two semesters of high school. Setsuna Kiyoura also stars as the main heroine and central protagonist of the game. Another spin-off title, titled Cross Days
Cross Days
is a Japanese erotic visual novel developed by 0verflow and published by Stack, released on March 19, 2010 for Windows. It was subsequently redeveloped as a DVD game by AiCherry and for the PlayStation Portable by PalaceGame...
, was developed by 0verflow and released on March 19, 2010. The story in Cross Days takes place in the same universe as School Days, but does not revolve around the same characters aside from their appearances in the game.
Novels
School Days transitioned into several paperbackPaperback
Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...
novels. Two novels written by Tome Okada and published by Harvest entitled School Days: Sekai Chapter and School Days: Kotonoha Chapter were released in November and December 2005, respectively. Another novel written by Takuya Baba and published by Jive
Jive (publisher)
is a Japanese publishing company in Shinjuku, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan and was established on May 12, 2003. In 2004, the company sold its stock to Poplar Publishing and now Jive is an affiliate of that company....
entitled was released on December 16, 2005. A novel written by Hiro Akizuki and published by Jive for the TV anime series entitled was released in April 2008.
Audio dramas
0verflow released a drama CDRadio drama in Japan
Radio drama in Japan has a history as long as that of radio broadcasting in that country, which began in 1925. Some consider the first Japanese radio drama to have been "" which was a radio broadcast of a stage play. Others consider the Japanese translation of Richard Hughes's "Danger" or to be...
entitled School Days: Little Promise on February 24, 2006. An Internet radio
Internet radio
Internet radio is an audio service transmitted via the Internet...
show to promote the TV anime series entitled Radio School Days ran between June 26, 2007 and March 28, 2008, published by Lantis Web Radio
Lantis (company)
is a Japanese company that specializes as a music publisher label for Japanese musicians, anime soundtracks and video game soundtracks. It was established on November 26, 1999, and in May 2006, it was bought by, and became a subsidiary of, Bandai Visual...
and Onsen. Three CDs were released between November 21, 2007 and May 21, 2008 containing all forty radio broadcasts. The show was hosted by Shiho Kawaragi
Shiho Kawaragi
, is a Japanese voice actor who works for Kenyu-Office.-Notable voice roles:Note: Main character role in bold letters.*Aisling in The Secret of Kells*Aki Aoi in Aki Sora*Barou Esharotto in Law of Ueki...
(voice of Sekai) and Soyogi Tōno
Soyogi Tono
is a female Japanese seiyū primarily for visual novels.-Voice roles:*School Days as Kotonoha Katsura*D.C. II: Da Capo II as Anzu Yukimura*Flyable Heart as Minase Sakurako*Stellar Theater as Fujisaki Amane...
(voice of Kotonoha). Two drama CDs were released by Lantis for the anime series on August 8, 2007 and October 24, 2007.
Manga
A mangaManga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
adaptation illustrated by Homare Sakegatsu was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten
Kadokawa Shoten
is a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...
's manga magazine Comp Ace
Comp Ace
is a Japanese computer game and manga magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten. Comp Ace began as a special edition version of another one of Kadokawa Shoten's magazines, Comptiq. The first issue was released on March 26, 2005, and was published quarterly for the first three volumes which had cover...
between May 26, 2006 and September 26, 2007. It was also collected into two bound volumes
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
published by Kadokawa Shoten under their Kadokawa Comics A label. The first volume containing the first six chapters was released on July 26, 2007, and was followed a second bound volume on November 26, 2007, containing the remaining six chapters.
There has also been two manga anthologies
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
produced by different companies and drawn by a multitude of different artists. The first manga anthology, an adult
Hentai
is a Japanese word that, in the West, is used when referring to sexually explicit or pornographic comics and animation, particularly those of Japanese origin such as anime, manga, and computer games. The word hentai is a kanji compound of 変 and 態...
manga entitled School Days Kotonoha chapter Anthology Comic EX was released by Oaks under their XO Game Comics label, on September 25, 2007. A second manga anthology, released by Ichijinsha
Ichijinsha
is a Japanese publishing company focused on manga-related publication, including magazines and books. The company was first established in August 1992 as a limited company under the name Studio DNA which main purpose was to edit shōnen manga. In January 1998, Studio DNA became a public company and...
under the title School Days Kotonoha Comic Anthology, was released on February 25, 2008 under their DNA Media Comics label.
Anime
A twelve-episode animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series was developed by TNK with joint production by Avex Entertainment, Lantis
Lantis (company)
is a Japanese company that specializes as a music publisher label for Japanese musicians, anime soundtracks and video game soundtracks. It was established on November 26, 1999, and in May 2006, it was bought by, and became a subsidiary of, Bandai Visual...
, Marvelous Entertainment, Pony Canyon
Pony Canyon
is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966 , which publishes music, DVD and VHS videos, movies and video games. It is a subsidiary of Japanese Media Group, Fujisankei Communications Group.-History:...
and Jinnan Studio. The anime aired in Japan between July 3, 2007 and September 27, 2007 on TV Kanagawa. On July 4, 2007 Chiba TV
Chiba TV
, doing business as , is a Japanese commercial terrestrial television broadcasting company headquartered at 11-25 Miyako-chō 1-chōme, Chūō-ku, Chiba serving Chiba Prefecture but spill-over is received in the neibouring prefectures. It is a member of the Japanese Association of Independent...
and TV Aichi also began to air the show with TV Saitama, TV Osaka
TV Osaka
is a TV station affiliated with TXN in Osaka, Japan. The mascot character is "Takoru-kun" .-Offices:*The headquarters - 1-2-18, Otemae, Chūō-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan...
and AT-X
AT-X (company)
is a Japanese anime television network owned by . AT-X, Inc. was founded on June 26, 2000 as a subsidiary of TV Tokyo Medianet, which, in turn, is a subsidiary of TV Tokyo. Its headquarters are in Minato, Tokyo. AT-X network broadcasts anime via satellite and cable since December 24, 1997.AT-X is...
respectively picking it up a day after each other. The series has since been released in six limited and regular edition DVD volumes. Each volume contains one disc with two episodes NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
formatted in full-color with Digital Theater System
Digital Theater System
DTS is a series of multichannel audio technologies owned by DTS, Inc. , an American company specializing in digital surround sound formats used for both commercial/theatrical and consumer grade applications...
audio with each limited edition volume coming bundled with a numeric respective six track radio disc titled Radio School Days Shucchōban, Hoshū. The School Days anime adaptations contain fifty-six music tracks, fourteen of which are vocal themes by various artists. The remaining forty-two are background music
Background music
Although background music was by the end of the 20th century generally identified with Muzak or elevator music, there are several stages in the development of this concept.-Antecedents:...
tracks arranged by Kaoru Okubo
Kaoru Okubo
is a male Japanese music arranger who is mostly known for his musical contributions to anime.-Music arranged:*Asatte no Houkou*Bincho-tan*Cosmic Baton Girl Comet-san*D.C.S.S...
.
Two OVA episodes were also produced and released. On March 28, 2008, a month after the final TV series DVD had been released, TNK released , a magical girl
Magical girl
belong to a sub-genre of Japanese fantasy anime and manga. Magical girl stories feature young girls with superhuman abilities, forced to fight evil and to protect the Earth. They often possess a secret identity, although the name can just refer to young girls who follow a plotline involving magic...
parody spin-off, in both limited and regular editions; the former bundled with a six track radio disc. The other title was a DVD exclusively bundled with the limited edition School Days L×H PlayStation 2 port, released with the game on January 17, 2008.
Delay of finale
The day before the final episode was scheduled to air, a sixteen-year-old girl killed her father with an axe in KyotoKyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
. In response, TV Kanagawa replaced the episode
Censorship in Japan
In Japan, Article 21 of the Japanese Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and prohibits formal censorship. What censorship does exist is often carried out through Article 175 of the Criminal Code of Japan...
, which was known to contain similarly violent material, with half an hour of scenery and classical music to avoid association with the murder. Other stations airing the anime followed suit, except for AT-X
AT-X (company)
is a Japanese anime television network owned by . AT-X, Inc. was founded on June 26, 2000 as a subsidiary of TV Tokyo Medianet, which, in turn, is a subsidiary of TV Tokyo. Its headquarters are in Minato, Tokyo. AT-X network broadcasts anime via satellite and cable since December 24, 1997.AT-X is...
, who remained indecisive at the time. In the following week, 0verflow announced that a screening of the episode would take place in the Tokyo area as part of the release of the series first DVD volume, and would require a copy of either the PC game or Summer Days
Summer Days
is a Japanese erotic visual novel developed by 0verflow and published by Stack, released on June 23, 2006 for Windows. It was later adapted into a DVDi by AiCherry, released on April 11, 2008. The original computer game is notorious for being released in a highly unstable condition littered with...
PC game for admission. However, AT-X announced that they would air the last episode on September 27, 2007, with minor alterations in airing times. The screening of the episode that 0verflow announced showed the uncut version of episode twelve, including the blood color change from black back to red, adding back all sound effects that were removed from the broadcast version, and fewer flashbacks. The uncut version of the episode was included in the DVD release on February 27, 2008.
The sudden swap of the last episode to scenery footage led to shock and confusion among the fans. A contributor of the English-speaking 4chan
4chan
4chan is an English-language imageboard website. Launched on October 1, 2003, its boards were originally used for the posting of pictures and discussion of manga and anime...
image board posted screenshots of the episode, dryly commenting that the "last episode of School Days is live action" and writing "Nice boat" next to an image of M/S Skagastøl, a Norwegian Fjord1
Fjord1 Fylkesbaatane
Fjord1 Fylkesbaatane is a Norwegian transport company...
ferry. The phrase "Nice boat" immediately became an Internet meme
Internet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
and reached massive proportions in Japan, spreading via screenshots of the 4chan thread and a flood of "nice boat" comments on Nico Nico Douga
Nico Nico Douga
is a popular video sharing website in Japan managed by Niwango, a subsidiary of Dwango. Its nickname is "Niconico" or "Nico-dō", where "nikoniko" is the Japanese ideophone for smiling. Nico Nico Douga is the thirteenth most visited website in Japan...
videos of the scenery footage. It ranked tenth in Yahoo! Japan
Yahoo! Japan
is a Japanese internet company formed as a joint venture between the American internet company Yahoo! and the Japanese internet company SoftBank. It is headquartered at Midtown Tower in the Tokyo Midtown complex in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo.-History:...
's keyword search ranking for the week of September 17 to September 23, 2007, and appeared as a hidden message in the first episode of the anime Ef: A Tale of Memories
Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two.
Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two is the overall title of a two-part Japanese adult visual novel series by Minori for the PC as a DVD. The first game in the series, Ef: The First Tale, was released on December 22, 2006, and the second game, Ef: The Latter Tale, was released on May 30, 2008...
. Kadokawa Shoten
Kadokawa Shoten
is a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...
also parodied 'Nice Boat' with a short video posted on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
on February 13, 2009, when the first episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya was originally planned to premiere. The phrase was so well-known among fans that 0verflow decided to name its booth "Nice boat" for the Comiket 73
Comiket
, otherwise known as the , is the world's largest self-published comic book fair, held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan. The first Comiket was held on December 21, 1975, with only about 32 participating circles and an estimated 600 attendees. Attendance has since swelled to over a half million people....
in December 2007, selling "Nice boat" merchandise along with its normal line of specialty items. In the later released "Magical Heart Kokoro-chan" OVA, Magical Kokoro-chan is seen riding in a raft with the name "Nice Boat" written on the side.
Music
The School Days visual novel contains a total of thirty-three tracks, eight of which are vocal themes. The other twenty-five are background musicBackground music
Although background music was by the end of the 20th century generally identified with Muzak or elevator music, there are several stages in the development of this concept.-Antecedents:...
track arranged by Kiriko / Hiko Sound. The game's opening theme is sung by Kiriko, and the main ending theme is by Minami Kuribayashi
Minami Kuribayashi
is a Japanese singer-songwriter and voice actress from Shizuoka prefecture.Her involvement in the game and anime Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, where she voiced the role of one of the characters, Haruka Suzumiya and performed and penned the theme songs and other songs relating to the series, has brought her...
. In the PC version, Sekai's ending theme is "Bye-Bye Tears" by Yozuca*, and Kotonoha's ending theme is "Hello My Happiness" by Miyuki Hashimoto
Miyuki Hashimoto
is a Japanese female singer from Saitama Prefecture. She is signed to Lantis, a label which contribute songs to anime and video games.- Singles :* Koko ni Iru kara... # Koko ni Iru kara.....
. The sub-heroines share an ending theme in both the PC and PS2 versions: by Yuria
Yuria
YURIA is a Japanese singer from Osaka Prefecture who sings anime and adult games theme songs. She used to be in a band named Honey Bee, in which she is both the band's vocalist and guitarist...
. The ending theme during Christmas Eve in the game is by Rino
CooRie
CooRie is a self-produced Japanese music unit by singer-songwriter Rino that performs songs for anime and games. CooRie used to be a two-persons unit when it debuted in 2003, with Rino doing the lyrics and vocals and doing the music compositions and arrangements...
. The ending theme played during the game's bad ends is by Kanako Itō
Kanako Ito
is a female Japanese singer from Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan. She has sung many songs that have appeared in video games and anime. One of her notable songs in games is , the "bad end" ending theme to the visual novel School Days. Itō has also sung songs for a drama CD and anime adaptations of School...
. An insert song used during the folk dance is "Let me Love you" by Haruko Momoi
Haruko Momoi
is a Japanese voice actress and singer/songwriter. She was born in Tokyo, Japan and is affectionately referred to as 'Halko' by her fans, a nickname she gave herself which is inspired by HAL 9000, the onboard computer of the Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey....
. An album entitled School Days Vocal Album featuring the vocal themes was released on April 28, 2005. The game's original soundtrack was released on July 21, 2005.
Reception and sales
According to a national ranking of based on the sales of bishōjo gameBishojo game
A , or , is "a type of Japanese video game centered on interactions with attractive anime-style girls". These games are a sub-genre of dating sims targeted towards a male audience....
s in Japan, the PC release of School Days premiered at number one in the rankings. It was then dropped to the second place the following two weeks, and the seventeenth on the next ranking, but was raised back to the fifth in the following chart. It then remained at the twenty-seventh for the next month, and was then removed from the chart. School Days was the most widely sold game on Getchu.com for the first and second quarter of 2005, and is the ninth most widely sold game for the overall year.
The anime received good reviews from Anime on DVD. With reviewer Mark Thomas stating, "I am so far utterly enthralled by the story. It is incredibly well put together, and frankly, I am not sure how well it would be working up to this point without such a detestable cast. The story is solid, and they are doing a good job of building some great tension between the characters." Thomas also commends the anime for its strong story, great initial foundation, and its seriousness. In his review of the final four episodes he concluded, "I really enjoyed School Days, but it is not an anime that is for the faint of heart. The opening episodes do not really hint at being a particularly dark anime, but it ultimately gets there, particularly with the ending. It is uncomfortable and disturbing from at least the midpoint, but it was so well done, that I appreciated it for going where it went."