Why would anyone form a School Living Club? Could four girls, their advisor, and a puppy really love
their school so much that they’d want to live in it? Or is there another reason, something that lurks
behind the façade of their comfortable existence? Something that waits outside their school’s doors.
Something that has already robbed one girl of her sanity? While the others try to come to grips with a
dark new reality, the rest of the world falls to ruin at the hands of a ravenous force, and insanity
may be the last hope for survival. Shocks, heartbreak and stunning revelations await as the twisted
tale unfolds.
(Source: Sentai Filmworks)
Gakkou Gurashi is very interesting to say the least. Over the years, there have been countless slice of life anime, and countless horror/thriller anime, but rarely do we get something that tries to combine the two in an attempt to amplify each other. The last time I watched something that relied this heavily on tonal shifts, was with Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, an anime that utilised thriller in-between the slice of life and the horror, as a means of creating suspense. Higurashi, although it visually wasn’t impressive to say the least, delivered in my opinion rather well. Question is, did Gakkou Gurashi the same? The story is fairly plain and simple. Post apocalypse, merely weeks after a zombie outbreak, a collective of 4 students and a teacher, has created a shelter at a high school where they go about their daily activities, occasionally heading outside to search for food or survivors. What Gakkou Gurashi does to spice up the setting, is that the main character, Yuki Takeyaka, has entered a sense of delusional denial, in which se perceives the world around her in the way she want to; The show seems to take place during spring break whiles’t our main cast has decided to spend the vacation at school. The rest of the cast has agreed to keep Yuki in the gray, largely because she acts as moral support for the rest in this rather dark and grim setting. The story, although fairly simple, is quite effective at what it tries to do, although it sticks to a rather formulaic apocalypse storyline: The main cast begins as refugees, find a safe shelter that by the end of the story will turn out to be not as safe as we thought it to be. What most people are going to notice at first, is how episodes 1-10 are spendt on the shelter phase, in which the story is reduced to slice of life fluff, like it or hate it... What drew me to the story was the concept of tonal shifts. To easier explain, I'm going to reference Higurashi, which I consider a masterpiece within the thriller genre. Higurashi takes it's time, starting each story arc with slice of life comedy which slowly but assuredly turns into a nightmare'esque setting. The sense of thrill one would get from Higurashi comes from the fact that you know shit's about to hit the fan, you just don't know when. Gakkou Gurashi does a far too god job at displaying what the core differences between the thriller and the horror genre is. Gakkou Gurashi, instead of carefully poking at the viewer before striking, decides to strike at random. Unfortunately this backfires sligtly. Horror and Moe are two far too different genres to be able to pull of horror. With two genres this different, the medium has to ease the viewers transition from on genre to the other, instead of rushing it like Gakkou Gurashi does. And yes, I said rushing, because you don't have the time to adjust your brain to the tonal shifts, so you as the viewer are left partially laughing whiles't people are dying. It's more of a schizophrenic experience than anything. My major complaint about the story however, is how a lot of the key elements make little to no sense at all. The most obvious one, which the show actually pokes fun at (which does repair a tiny tid bit of the damage done), is how the rooftop of the school in which our main cast lives at, is built with a massive garden, solar cell panels, water heating tanks, a pool and a fucking water collecting system, all enough to sustain a dozen people or so with food, water and electricity. It’s as if the school was built with a zombie outbreak in mind. At least, the school I go to doesn’t have that level of security equipment. The way the show goes about characterising it’s characters is quite interesting! The 5 main characters all seem to be moduled after the 5 stages of death or grief, as described by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross; Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance, similar to how the Espada from Bleach symbolised an aspect of death. 1. Denial : "In the state of denial, the subject convinces h*mself that the reality he is facing is a mistake, and clings to the false preferable fictiation". As mentioned before, main character Yuki is in a delusional state, denying that the zombie outbreak ever happened. She is the bright and cheerful of the bunch, but also the naive and childish. 2. Anger : "After having realised that the reality you’re in isn’t a mistake, most people in pain feel angered. That their reality is somewhat unfair. Manny seek to lash out on others, often as a means of protecting themselves" Kurumi is literally walking around with a sharpened shovel on her back, ready to whack whomever comes too close, and you could say this is her way to vent frustration out on others. She is the more aggresive and protective of the bunch, never afraid to be in the frontline of a confrontation. 3. Bargaining : "After having the reality pushed onto you, many seeks to cheat their way out of it. They look everywhere for an easier way out of the crisis". Miki’s story arc revolves around how she and her friend had sought shelter at a mall, and how the dull waiting drove her friend to leave safety to search for somewhere else to stay. The story constantly jumps back and forth with Miki thinking to herself what she could have done different, and what she can do now, to ease the situation for herself and the others. 4. Depression : "Many experience depression as a result of not being able to bargain their way out of a crisis". A common outcome of depression is the mental disease melancholy, characterised by apathy and sombreness. Yuuri seems to be the impersonation of melancholy. She is constantly giving of a faint smile as to cheer the others up, but deep inside, she’s truly depressed, on the brink of insanity. Although she tries to act as the metal support for the rest of the group, she is in many ways the weakest and the one in the most dire need. 5. Acceptance : "After having come to terms with the reality, most experience acceptance, often as a result of not seing any better way out. It is simply the best out of many bad". Megumi, without delving too far into spoilers, seems to be the only character with her head straight. She’s calm and collected (compared to the others), and serves the rolle as the emotionally stable of the bunch, being the one that managed to secure the school building for the others to live in. That coupled with some carefully displayed imagery, namely the cross she wears in a necklace around her neck, symbolising death, and the fact that she is a teacher. Someone more emotionally stable than the students. Unfortunately, a good concept does not make for good characters. Similar to how the Espada from Bleach act as mere obstacles (although based on an interesting concept), outside of the Kübler-Ross’ model, the cast from Gakkou Gurashi don’t have too much going for them either. The show does acknowledge the tropes by the usage of imagery, but tends to "forget" this in favour for moe fluff, which I've seen before and done better at that. They lack the charm, flavour and diversity that the cast of say, K-On has. Yes, most of the girls have had to go through tragic events in which they were borderline mentally torn apart, but with the exception of events, there is little to none character-development, characterisation nor fluctuation. Bland characters isn’t necessarily a problem, say the adventure genre, but this show relies heavily on it, because it is a slice of life. Having 5 copy paste characters, although based on interesting tropes/concepts, just simply isn’t good enough, for me at least. I need more depth or substance. A good concept does not make for a good character. The art is… Ok… There honestly isn’t much to talk about. Although fairly well done, it doesn’t have any characteristics to separate it from any other anime within it’s genre. Although studio Lerche to me seem to be fairly competent at what they do, creating 3 shows for one season is a little over the top. There are shortcuts quite often, although fairly well disguised by, for example, having characters face away from the camera while talking, etc. Credits given where credits due, the CGI used in the anime, in particular for the hordes of zombies was actually very good! There was actual effort put into having the CGI fit in with the 2D animation, and I think it added to the unsettling nature of the zombies. The soundtrack is the shows strongest side. Although most of the music is very bland, with an opening in typical catchy j-pop style and with most of the tracks being run of the mill background tracks, the best parts was during the although short horror pieces. From the sombre melodies, to the erie piano tracks, it was all great means of amplifying the thrill. Another thing I have to compliment it for, is it’s use of complete and utter silence, or in some cases, the usage of as simple sounds as the rain pouring down. Although it is a shame that 95% of the anime is spent at the school in a bright and cheerful soundtrack, one which you could find in any other slice of life moe out there. Bland, uninspired and painfully mediocre are the first words I can come up with to describe it. I’m not going to comment on the voice acting, as I don’t speak japanese, and I won’t be watching the dub (if one’s ever made) because none-asian women are biologically incapable of doing moe. Going back to the foreword, Gakkou Gurashi was interesting. Opening the anime up with a main character whose quite obviously delusional. The sense of thill I got from the anime, was waiting to see her world crumble, as she was being forced to accept the way her current reality actually is. Which coincidentally, never happened… The whole cool factor, came from the fact that this was seemingly just a run of the mill slice of life for the first few episodes, until episode 5 or so when the viewer received the whole “oh my…” experience, realising that this anime is actually really fucked up. But after that point, it felt like the show did all it could to avoid what little made it stand out from the oversaturated moe market. I honestly got bored quite often. Although the few horror scenes we got were quite good, with a masterfully erie soundtrack to boot, they were too few, short and far between. To conclude, I was quite saddened by the delivery of Gakkou Gurashi. There was so much potential, but most of it got lost in the overuse of moe. Gakkou Gurashi’s major downfall is, and will always be, the fact that it sets itself up as an anime that relies on shifting between two completely different tones, horror and slice of life moe, but after having introduced the horror, avoids it as if it was the plague. As the show goes on, I just get more and more convinced that the story/horror was an afterthought, and that the initial intention was a moe school comedy. It is almost as if they try to overshadow a mediocre slice of life, by using horror. I honestly cannot give you a good reason to watch this over K-On! (as a better moe) or Higurashi (as a better horror experience). Taking the Madoka Magica approach with calling this a Moe deconstruction would be giving it too much credit. I'd say it is a sub-par delivery of an interesting concept. It's not bad, it's just an over-glorified moe. Being a moe isn't in itself bad, but trying to disguise yourself as something else, is bad. There is in MY OPINION little to no reason to watch this. It's individual settings and genres has been done elsewhere, and better at that, and the only reason this is worth checking out, is to see the blend of the different elements. There are unfortunately rather few anime that blends horror genre with moe setting, thus this at least has a way to stick out from the crowd. It still has enough unique elements to have a reason to exist. I'd say check out the first episode, as you should be able to figure out the general gist of the show by the end of it. For all I know, you may enjoy it a lot more than I did, hopefully at that.
I was much more impressed by this anime than I expected it to be, it was something I picked up on Crunchyroll and didn’t expect much out of. Granted, I had been spoilered for the basic premise so knew what I was getting into on that front, but regardless, thought it would be handled sloppily and immaturely (like some others I could mention). I’m glad I was wrong. It’s really hard to say without spoiling, but I’m going to try on the off chance that you’ve read this without actually reading the synopsis on here first. The characters were developed well, some more than others. The flashbacks in this case were very well done, they were brought in at exactly at the right time and even though the characters didn’t exactly ‘grow’ through the backstory, it certainly gave them far more depth. I will say I really didn’t like Yuki, the MC, but I could understand her. (It really didn’t feel like she was a high school student though.) The other 3 main characters gained more depth simply as more of the surroundings were explored, and you could get a better glimpse of what they were dealing with on a daily basis. It made me appreciate and empathize with them more, and I felt it was actually handled quite realistically (not that I’ve ever experienced anything remotely like what happened in this anime, but it was consistent with other decent literature I’ve read on the subject). ~!Your perspective really changes once you realise that everything they do, all their cute antics, are just to maintain a semblance of normality that will allow them to retain their sanity. (Oops, that was kind of a spoiler, but an unavoidable one.)!~ Sound was good and art was good. No complaints on either of those two. Normally I’m not one for the ‘cutsey’ art style, but I can understand why it was needed here. All in all, a pretty good attempt at its genre. Why didn’t I rate it higher? Because I didn’t think it was THAT good. It didn’t feel like a masterpiece or anything. The series was enjoyable, but it did get repetitive about halfway through. There wasn’t much to the show apart from the premise (though, in its defence, I don’t think there was meant to be). And whilst I liked the characters and thought their stories were done well, the show didn’t make me that emotionally invested in them. Yes, I could appreciate them, and empathize with them to an extent, but nothing similar to what I felt in Shinsekai Yori or Zankyou no Terror. Still, let me reiterate, it did impress me for what it was, and I’d recommend you give it a go. XD
In almost any form of art, the use of contrast can be a very powerful tool to enhance the appeal of your work. By taking two different items and setting them against each other, it can multiply the overall value and effect of the product versus those two items being standalone. It can make paintings have a captivating appearance, give food a memorable flavor, and, in the case of movies and television, give a unique experience that makes it stick to the minds of the audiences watching. There is, however, a catch to this: the right amount of each item must be balanced against each other lest one overpower the other or it turn away potential customers/viewers/etc. So how does the use of contrast affect the anime School-Live? The answer is important - after all, it's what the entire show hinges on. School-Live is an anime that wishes to contrast two different atmospheres, cute and creepy, in its 12 episode runtime. It combines a cute high-school slice of life show with that of a zombie apocalypse. The reveal that there's horror in something charming is sometimes hidden from the viewer to make the turn of events more shocking, but in the case of School-Live, it's its worst kept secret. The show's synopsis, poster, and tags all give away what's happening. Even before the big reveal, it's pretty clear that something's wrong inside the show's world. That said, the show's use of zombies isn't really where the main focus lies. Instead, it uses this as a tool to test the survival, and psychological skills, of our main protagonists. Each character is given a slight role to the group. Kurumi is the twin-tailed fighter of the group and uses her trusty shovel to fight off the occasional zombie rush. Yuuri serves as an organization leader of the group and is shown keeping down a list of supplies as well as "approve" of certain events. Miki is the newcomer and though she is the youngest of the group of girls, she is the smartest and most practical of the group. Finally, there's Yuki, the chipper voice of morale and mascot of the show. A black hat with cat ears is worn over her head filled with ideas of what to do during the group's downtime. Together they make the "School-Life" club, a club dedicated to doing what they can to "help" other groups and make school the best place to be. The price for this dedication is to stay on school grounds at all times, but considering what's going on outside, it can hardly be considered a downside. Of course, the club the 4 girls form isn't really an official club - rather, it's the way that they help keep their sanity in check. The supernatural fear outside combined with the claustrophobic environment inside can get to a person, so pretending to have ever-popular school events such as a sports day and field trips can break the monotony of survival. This is where the show wishes to use its contrast. It shows a typical school life setting against the fear of a horrific death. Every event is limited not by a school budget or time, but rather what the girls have on hand. Throw in the chance of something horrific happening during each day in their fortress and you've got a show that certainly finds a place for itself. Those looking for a chance to see some intense girl-on-zombie fighting will be sorely disappointed. Sure, Kurumi swings a shovel a few times but it never focuses on the action. Instead, it offers two alternatives: goofing off and twisted tales. The former is to deliver the "cute" half of the show's contrast (as well as attract the audience who enjoy idle, silly fun). The latter is the core strength of the show, as we get to see how these girls truly feel about the events that have occurred and the fears of what the future may bring. Yuki is the obvious choice for this category, as she simply pretends nothing went wrong and thinks every day is another fun and fantastic day at school. I do find her to be a bit immature, though. She's a senior in high school, and yet I feel like I'm watching a kids show when she performs her antics. Miki is for my money the best of the cast. Her story is a personal one, much like the others, but the emotions feel amplified as a result of the lack of interactions she gets as well as the isolation she has from the rest of the world. The main cast get a school and make up fun activities - during Miki's origins, we get none of that and instead get a greater fear of the unknown. It's arguably the greatest moment of the show. With these details in mind, does School-Live find a balance between its two genres? For some viewers it does, but I can't say it did for me. The show has a habit of pointing out a few flaws in their own show but ultimately struggle to answer them. The biggest example of this include part of the field trip episode. There's danger looming all around and, especially later in the show, a fear of supply management as resources start to dwindle down. Yet there's enough time for swimsuits to be tried on. The excuse "We are girls, after all" doesn't really work here and suggests that the show is also trying to attract an audience via alternative means. A better strategy would be to stock up on more of the zombie's weaknesses (sound and light based items, such as glowsticks and child alarms). Another example stems from how coincidental everything is. With the school's vast amount of natural resources, it definitely feels apt for survival. This seems to be hinted at something greater, but not enough detail is given. A good question to answer would be how long do the zombies live for? Right now, I am to believe they are immortal unless they are explicitly killed. In the end, it's a supernatural story so anything the author wants can be put into place. This latter point is only minor, since this is the first part of the story. However, a little enticement for the future can go a long way with keeping people interested - it comes off as more credible than trying on swimsuits. The ultimate issue will lie with the audience. I enjoy some slice-of-life but it's not a genre I can say is my favorite. Sure, it's cute watching the girls run around and make stupid jokes, but I really don't gain too much from it. I'd much rather see a form of progress across the city or more of what's happened with the world rather than be confined in the halls of the school. Considering that's half of the show's appeal, it's quite clear that I'm not meant for the show's audience. That said, it'd be foolish for me not to admit it's a necessary evil. Had the show entirely be focused on the mystery and horror, it probably would've received more criticisms of shock value and wouldn't have found as large a fanbase. That's really the takeaway of using the contrast strategy - the balance in the creator's eye may be imbalanced in the eye's of the viewer. That's why we all have different likes and dislikes, after all. The animation studio behind School-Live is Lerche. There are a few shortcuts here and there (the CG zombies in one scene being the #1 shortcut) but they do a fairly good job. Bright, cutesy colors for when everything's fine and shades of purple, black and dull gray for when zombies are involved. Arguably the scariest thing about this show may be the character's eyes - their irises are a bright ring that contains a dark colored pupil. They're sort of unsettling to look at. The music for the show consists of goofy, lighthearted pieces and some dramatic tones - mood music, mainly. It sports a catchy OP "Friend Shitai" and a relaxed ED "Harmonize Clover" to end episodes on a lighter note (with the tongue-in-cheek "Good Night" displayed after the end of early episodes). The real grab would be the moody piano piece "We took each other's hand", used perfectly for Miki's scenes and again amplifying her backstory. The voice acting is also good. The seiyuus know how to deliver a dramatic scene or a scream when needed. Yuki's is a bit too "bubbly" for me, but it's appropriate for her character. Overall, I give School-Live a 6/10. It's a show that's not for everyone - again, this is a show for people who want a slice-of-life AND a bit of psychological horror. If you're more in the former camp and don't mind a darker show, this will probably be the anime for you. If you're more in the latter camp, I'd advise to pass on this one unless you need something a bit lighter, as strange as that sounds. School-Live is a short and interesting watch that shows that even a strange contrast can give a show staying power. Do you like or dislike this anime? If you haven't watched it, are you encouraged to watch it or not? Leave a comment on my profile telling me what you think of the anime and/or my review. Thanks for reading and have a blessed day!
__School-Live!__ Mélange entre les genres tranche de vie, kawaii moe, drame physiologique et de l'horreur effrayante, grotesque, typique du genre zombie, est un anime de [Masaomi Ando](https://anilist.co/staff/112913/Masaomi-Ando) _([Scum's Wish](https://anilist.co/anime/21701/Scums-Wish/))_ basé sur le manga de [Norimitsu Kaihou](https://anilist.co/staff/101333/Norimitsu-Kaihou) et [Sadoru Chiba](https://anilist.co/staff/114447/Sadoru-Chiba), qui souhaite mettre en contraste deux ambiances différentes, mignonne et effrayante, c'est une fascinante adaptation animée d'une apocalypse de zombies. La finesse de cet anime est surprenante, un script bien écrit, rempli de rebondissements, d'émotions et une excellente direction cinématographique blindé de bonnes idées. Tout comme dans les grands classiques du genre, le rythme est plutôt lent. L'action n'est que très dispersé et l’accent est davantage mis sur la psychologie des personnages dans une situation cauchemardesque, prenant conscience lentement de ce qu’ils ont perdu de l’humanité. School-Live! donne l’impression de faire un tour de montagnes russes des émotions, entre heureux, beaux, tristes, tragiques... Les transitions entre mignon et effrayant se déroulent à merveille, les personnages sont bien développés _(pour du 12 épisodes)_, de nombreux flashbacks, comme des coups de fouet entre l'heure actuelle et l'historique des personnages, parsèment l'histoire pour expliquer comment ils se sont retrouvés dans telle ou telle situation. Les zombies quand à eux ne sont généralement vus que brièvement, masqués à la fois par une utilisation intelligente de la caméra et de la lumière, et parfois par une sorte d'aura noir qui donne un charme cauchemardesque unique à ces zombies. De plus, les fonds sonores habilement utilisés, sont appropriés et accompagnent les différentes scènes sans cassé l'ambiance. Et avec les SFX, les bruissements des zombies, la pluie, les gémissements, etc, qui sont vraiment bons aussi, l'atmosphère générale est belle est bien celle d'une apocalypse de zombies. Bref, honnêtement, School-Live! est surement une des meilleurs adaptations anime du genre zombie ! _Quand à vous dire lequel des cotés est mignon ou effrayant, c'est suivant vos goûts. ^^ J'ai __évidemment__ préféré le coté sombre de cette oeuvre ! Mais si il ressort si bien, c'est évidement grâce au coté kawaii !!_
So admittedly, I primarily want to focus on one common criticism of the show rather than offer a normal review. I recommend Gakkou Gurashi to anyone, it's very well directed, has a generally strong cast, offers a satisfying emotional payoff, and is very bingeable. It's well made art and I think it has one of the most interesting premises and first episodes in the medium of anime. If you want to know more of my specific feelings on the show, be warned that everything below contains spoilers and is much easier to understand with the full context of the show. - -SPOILERS- - There is a common critique of this show, that its blend of moe and horror create too much of a contrast and leave the viewer distracted from what they perceive to be more pressing matters. Now, I cannot convince one to begin liking something that didn't necessarily resonate with them. But I do want to play critical defense for this show, particularly on this point. I believe that Gakkou Gurashi, a show about four moe characters creating a school club to distract themselves from a bitter reality, entirely relies on its cast attempting to emulate what would be an otherwise harmless slice of life venture. Gakkou Gurashi is about escapism and not forgetting what's really important. But because the main protagonist, Yuki Takeya, falls into a state of PTSD induced psychosis, she creates a delusion that rejects their reality of a zombie apocalypse. As a result, these two themes are at odds with one another throughout the show. Because escapism inherently rejects reality, falling too deep into escapism will ultimately result in losing a grip on what's important. However, escapism is also how the group maintain their sanity. Yuki's mind reacting to her trauma is a defense mechanism and the group use Yuki as a lens so that, they too, don't have to face a constant state of depression, anxiety, etc. So while escapism eventually leads to losing one's self, it's also somewhat of a necessity to get through life on a day to day basis. The show's themes are directly tied to the show's genre and atmosphere. The horror, this being the zombies and apocalypse, are a representation of reality. The slice of life, this being club activities and light hearted comedy, are a representation of escapism. The reason this is the case, is that Gakkou Gurashi recognizes a need for both. Without escapism or dreaming of a better life, one may easily slip into nihilism as they find the world to be unfairly cruel. Without accepting reality, one may find themselves eventually forgetting what's truly important. So then, what does Gakkou Gurashi have to say, ultimately? By the end, it becomes much more clear. Reality will always exist around you, no matter how far you fall into escapism, reality will eventually come crashing down around you and when it does, it's up to you to face it. Throughout the entirety of the show, zombies are constantly visable in the background or reflected off glass. By episode 10, the zombies pour into the school. By episode 11, zombies destroy what was their home the entire show, and divide everyone. But because Yuki is able to realize that her friends are what matter most, she's able to open the literal/metaphorical door and cross over into reality in order to save the club. Yuki realizes the club, her vehicle for escapism, cannot exist without its members. By the final episode, Yuki is not only able to remember important things she'd forgotten, but she's also able to relay what she had learned from her revelation. Putting on a smile when one doesn't need to, betrays one's true feelings. By bottling up these feelings, one loses touch with what matters to them. Essentially, putting on a facade to act as if everything is ok, is not only a rejection of one's literal reality, but also the reality of one's honest feelings. To embrace reality is to reach emotional maturity. That is the lesson I saw in Gakkou Gurashi. But the delivery of such a message works because it's done through an empathetic approach. The show illustrates that moments of escape are necessary and showcases why someone would fall into escapism. It's not met with harsh criticism, but its main character, Yuki, reaching a logical conclusion and growing as a person from her experience. Gakkou Gurashi conveys its message naturally with a strong emotional payoff, a delivery and payoff that could not exist without the genre dichotomy. So while I can understand if someone did not enjoy the show juxtaposing these flavors, I think it's important to realize that the show could not exist or reach its conclusion without doing so. There's also plenty more to recognize, in terms of the direction, when the message of the show is understood. Upon reflection/rewatches, I began to notice consistent visual motifs such as light being enveloped by darkness, shots from outside of windows looking in, flowers slowly dying as the show progresses, as well as hard cuts from tender moments to somber/shocking imagery. There are many moments where the reality of their situation tries to rear its decomposing head, either being in distant background shots or on the opposite side of a window, to as subtle as the number of footsteps being heard in particular moments. Realizing the purpose of the slice of life scenes also allow for moments like the dress up montage to make perfect sense. It's the show, itself, distracting viewers from the reality of the situation to indulge in a bit of escapism along with the girls. Assuming the viewer allows themself to experience these moments from the perspective of its cast, then the moments where Yuki breaks out of delusion become more concerning and leave the viewer questioning whether or not they should want Yuki to stay in a delusional state. This puts the viewer in the same moral quandry as the rest of the group, debating whether or not they should aid Yuki in indulgence and how its selfish to do so but, at the same time, difficult to decide how it should be addressed. Again, these elements of the story exist as a result of Gakkou Gurashi's blending of genre. I could add more to these details, believe me. I never even touched on how zombies function, Kurumi dehumanizing the zombies, Yuuri's facade paralleling Yuki's, and how all of that relates the show's thematic core. There is more to unpack. However, I think I've made my case. - There is no such thing as a perfect show, what matters to me, is how much a show can accomplish. Gakkou Gurashi provides an experience that's equally endearing and funny as well as, grim and depressive. I've never had a show slam me with an emotional reaction so strongly, consistently, and repeatedly. I've never been so thoroughly impressed by a show's attention to detail and how that detail tied itself to the themes and emotional core of the show. I will fully admit, Gakkou Gurashi is a show made for me, it's not going to resonate with everyone, but I'll be damned if I leave this show unfairly criticized for accomplishing what it set out to do. Whether or not you end up enjoying the ride, I hope you can at least recongnize the strength of its craftsmanship.
So here's my general thoughts on it (Stuff in brackets like this is stuff i added on to my discord review) JUST SAYING DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN EPISODE 1 YET, GO SEE IT FIRST THEN COME BACK TRUST ME I won't lie the plot twist in episode 1 showing what the actual premise is was brilliantly done, honestly all of the psychological horror done in this show is fantastic, especially the stuff regarding yuki's delirium, some of my favorite scenes involved that stuff, also this anime literally almost brought me to tears at the end which isn't something that happens very often. The anime itself is actually a hybrid psychological/zombie horror and slice of life which is pretty cool imo, the characters were all likable and i managed to care about all of them (Yuuri doesn't really get much development actually but I've heard she gets some in the manga which goes past this anime) but regardless the sound design is super good for the most part, especially in the horror situations and it really helped cement the mood (School-Live is also fucking insane when it comes to attention to detail, like looking back at episode 1 for example you'll notice so many signs that you may have missed before that something was really wrong, it's genuinely super cool) Some negatives Sadly there is a shower scene or two and also a random pool themed kind of episode, granted the pool one at least kind of makes sense in the plot but still, they are really tame by anime standards however and they've overall pretty small parts of the series so i can look over them and also imo the ending was a bit stupid (i can talk about this in the actual major spoilers section) but it works i guess, I've seen far worse when it comes to endings, also school live can get really weird with how it handles things chronologically, like in the earlier episodes it kinda jumps back and forth is unclear about if what's going on is in the present or the past and as a result can be pretty damn annoying to try and keep up with and finally the two types of anime that it's a hybrid of also kind of clash, like imo a good horror knows when to tone down the horror part a bit, just school live kind of goes back and forth giving some major tonal whiplash (which could suck for some viewers, this could also be seen as a positive as it makes the viewer drop their guard down during the happy fun time scenes but yeah i may of found it a little bit annoying but regardless i very much see the value in the two genres clashing so hard with each other) Actual spoilers ~!I really liked the twist that megu-nee was actually dead the entire time in episode 6, like it actually makes sense and after you realize it you'll look back and see all the subtle hints towards it which is just quite nice, also they never explain why megu-nee knew the zombie outbreak was gonna happen or even why the school was built to be a survival shelter for this type of event, I've heard it's explained in the manga but still it's really fucking annoying that they don't explain in the show. Also the whole "bio weapon" thing was never explained either which is still annoying. Btw this is another show where the dog dies, and finally the ending is yuki going to the school's broadcasting room and telling the zombies to go home and they actually listen like imo that was really fucking dumb and like i thought she was gonna have the intercom make loud noise to draw the zombies away but sure whatever i guess that works (considering the fact that it was stated that the zombies at least retain some of their memories even if they're nothing more that instinct driven beasts now. honestly idk why i forgot to put this in my first draft of this on discord lol) !~ Overall i'd recommend this show, just it hits best going in 100% blind so if you want the full experience just dive right in, i guess i should just say this show probably isn't for the faint of heart, looks can be deceiving
Remember Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which looked cute on the outside but had a dark twist on the inside? Well, Gakkou Gurashi is like that. One character completely denies that the dark twist is even happening, though, making this series even more of a mix of moe and horror. I first heard of Gakkou Gurashi from a fellow MAL user whose review of the manga I have read, and when I found out there was an upcoming anime adaptation, I was pretty excited. Needless to say, this anime has not let me down. Let's talk about what Gakkou Gurashi is about; Yuki Takeya is a 3rd-year high school student who really loves her school. She hates studying, but she still has fun at school, with her friends and teachers. The best part, for her, is her club, the School Living Club, where the club literally lives at school. The other members are Kurumi Ebisuzawa, Yuuri Wakasa (a.k.a. Rii-san), Miki Naoki (a.k.a. Mii-kun), and Megumi Sakura (a.k.a., Megu-nee, she's the club's adviser). Oh, and don't forget the dog, Taroumaru. Okay, here comes the dark twist; truth is, the entire School Living Club are survivors of the zombie apocalypse. Yuki is completely oblivious to this fact, though, and she continues to live her school life as if there's nothing wrong in the world. Yeah, I warned you. Let me ask you this, though; how the heck am I supposed to explain what this anime is about without spoiling it?! Anyway, let's admit it, people. The zombie apocalypse theme has been used over and over again in many different formats, and with this anime and High School of the Dead, anime is no exception. Of course, there are plenty of moe anime, too. Combine those two, and it's actually a better mix than you may expect. There are plenty of horrific moments, but the moe elements that this anime has give us a bit of a break from those horrific moments. The characters are very fun to follow, too, and they gain a decent amount of development. The animation is very good. It's not the best animation, but it definitely knows when to use bright colors and dark colors; it really sets the tone of the anime. The music is also good. The OP, "Friend Shitai", remains the same throughout the entire anime, but what we see as it plays gradually changes as the series goes on. While this is good, whenever the opening plays, I just can't help but think, "Okay, we know that this is not just some moe anime, so KILL THE HAPPY MUSIC ALREADY." Both of the EDs are quite nice, too, especially "Afterglow" by Maon Kurosaki. I just loved that song! Overall, Gakkou Gurashi was an enjoyable anime. If you like both moe and zombies, watching this will give you a satisfaction to see both at once. Just don't think it's just one of them, though, because it's actually a mix of each other.
Do you love school? Do you wish your happy, carefree days among your friends and teachers could go on forever? What if I told you there was a club where a small group of students have set up permanent residence on campus, making use of the schools many state-of-the-art amenities to support themselves 24/7 so they never have to deal with their nagging parents again? Welcome to the School Life Club, where the joy of youth never ends! With our sweet and caring faculty adviser Miss Sakura, and our strong willed but kind hearted club president Yuri, it’s our solemn vow to keep the horrors of the outside world far away, so our every day lives can be a never-ending dream! Okay, we’re going to be doing something a little different with this review. For the first time since I started writing reviews, I am going to put a loud, clear and explicit spoiler warning right at the top. Do not read farther than this paragraph if you haven’t gotten to at least the end of episode 1. I play fast and loose with spoilers at the best of times, but the twists in this show happen early enough, and are substantial enough, that if I were to reveal how the first episode ends, it would drastically alter your viewing experience. If you have any interest in this series, whatsoever, go watch episode 1, or hell, just to be safe, maybe the second episode as well. Pirate it, if you have to, but just those episodes, you can pay for the full series later. We good? Then let’s continue. Moe and horror are two very distinct anime genres, and they mix about as well as hip-hop and country... It’s not impossible, but they’re definitely not meant to share the same space. A good example of this is Higurashi no Naku Koroni, a series that delighted in twisting the cutesy color-coded characters into both the sadistic villains and tortured victims of the story, more often than not both in the same character. The inherent clash of style created a tonal dissonance that enhanced the shock factor, but School Live isn’t really going for shock value. It’s also not going for the shameless exploitation that made Highschool of the Dead so impossible to ignore. Rather, School Live seems to be taking the high road, aiming for a seamless blend of two genres that do not blend easily. I don’t have a whole lot of experience with Studio Lerche, but from what little I’ve seen of them, their work tends to be very visually creative, especially when it involves dealing with production issues like budget shortcuts and content restrictions... The stylized pink blood in Dangan Ranpa, for example. School Live doesn’t use pink blood, thank God, but it’s also a relatively PG-13 zombie story with what appears to be a modest-at-best budget, and it handles these issues with tact and grace. Director Masaomi Ando did a stellar job of covering up the financial shortcomings of his project through clever framing and cinematography, using key frames only where he knew they wouldn’t be noticed and shooting characters from behind and in close-up whenever the artwork needed to be simple. Part of his budget saving effort also went into his presentation of the ever-present zombies. In close-up, the undead are often shrouded in a black mist effect, which not only looks effectively creepy and ties into Yuki’s delusions in the way they’re obscuring the horrors in front of us, but it also gave Ando a convenient out to not have to design unique forms and stages of decay for each individual zombie. In far off shots, zombies are represented by a few stock CG models, which makes them not only easy to quickly apply to any scene on the cheap, but creates a very powerful uncanny valley effect. Of course, the use of all this CGI meant he’d have to cut corners elsewhere to make it up, but like I said, he’s shown himself to be pretty good at that kind of thing. The characters are distinctive and highly expressive, easy on the eyes and with color palettes that enforce their personalities. The only part of the direction that felt odd to me was the occasional fanservice, which felt oddly out of place. That’s not to say it ever felt gratuitous or inappropriate, far from it, it all made perfect sense plot-wise, but it felt kind of awkward in terms of presentation. It feels like Ando included it as an afterthought, a reluctant concession under the belief that the show wouldn’t be successful, and wouldn’t sell a good amount of merchandise, if the audience didn’t see each character in the three stages of anime undress... Underwear, bikini and bathing. His framing for these scenes is kind of clumsy, like he didn’t know whether to be conservative or exploitative in the amount of jiggling and cleavage he was showcasing. Like I said though, it never felt forced or gratuitous, which is kind of a first for fanservice in a zombie anime. As for the OST, this is one of those times where I wish I had a better musical education, because while the soundtrack does pretty much what you’d expect it to... Plinky plink happy school life music leading into far more tense and suspenseful tracks whenever the scary shit’s going down, as well as the occasional sad track, there’s something different about this OST. MOSAIC.WAV, a Japanese musical duo that I would hesitantly call the eastern answer to Daft Punk, have a very eclectic style and they’re known for being really extra with their music, so when I’m listening to the soundtrack that came with my limited edition Blu-Ray set and the stereotypical school background music just sounds a lot more complex than what I’m used to, it’s a hard thing to describe, but it all does it’s job brilliantly in the show. As much as they fade into the background when you’re watching the series, and then out of memory when you get to the next scene, these tracks are not simple or repetitive like they would be in most other anime. I can listen to them on their own without skipping halfway through, and you have no idea how big a praise that is. What’s a lot easier to talk about, however, is the OP, Friend Shitai, sung by the main cast. This song actually is your stereotypical sugary moe-club song, but the visuals are something else entirely. My favorite OP of all time is the first opening for Higurashi, and one of the things I like about it is all the symbolism it uses to convey information about the story and characters, but in that respect, Friend Shitai has blown it out of the water with the amount of easter eggs and visual clues it contains. It’s probably more famous for the way it changes throughout the course of the series, getting progressively darker and more honest about it’s content, and it does so alongside three separate ending themes that do somewhat the same thing. The English dub was a Sentai effort, meaning it’s a mix of southern and west-coast US talent. Some of these casting choices might feel a bit weird in the first episode, with only Juliet Simmons as Kurumi and Stephanie Wittels as Megune sounding like natural choices, but you find out pretty quickly how perfect all these assignments were. Brittany Karbowski has a reputation for having an almost supernatural level of control over her voice, so it sounds odd to hear her playing the sweet and innocent genki girl in a light-hearted moe show, but it all comes together when you realize the depth of delusion and sadness hiding behind Yuki’s cheerful demeanor. Karbowski’s not the only actor who could have pulled this off, but she is the most obvious choice. Cynthia Martinez has a very unique voice, and she’s also really easy to miscast, but she excels at conveying vulnerability, making her perfect for the Miki. Luci Christian is probably one of the most prolific voice actors in the field, so you might rolls your eyes at the idea that she’s just playing another character in her normal register, but she proves herself hard when Rii-san’s strong, maternal exterior shatters later in the series. You can’t go wrong with either sub or dub in this case, so it’s up to you. I mentioned earlier that School Live was attempting to pull off a seamless blend of moe and horror, but how does one exactly go about doing that? How do you bypass the tonal dissonance that should by all means create a series that’s jarring at best? Well, thankfully we have plenty of examples to draw from, and while the obvious examples are all the various zombie anime that have come before, I’m actually going to be taking a look at one of the most famous anime of the last decade, Madoka Magika. Madoka was a show that sought to create a dark subversive tragedy centered around the seminal magical girl genre, and it pulled it off so well that it was immensely successful, a cultural phenomenon that spawned countless rip-offs... None of which were able to recreate the magic of the original. Is this just a case of the first being the best, or was there something special Madoka did that none of it’s successors have tried? First off, obviously, spoilers for Madoka Magika. Madoka built the horror aspect of it’s plot around a questionable aspect of the genre that already existed... As a staple of the genre, the force that gives a magical girl her power is entirely supernatural, and the heroine has to trust in it entirely to draw from it. Okay, so, what if that force had sinister intentions? Madoka asked this simple question, and in doing so, it turned the entire genre upside down, but it had a few additional tricks up it's sleeves that it’s numerous rip-offs have failed to replicate. First, it gave you scarce information about the entity. I haven’t gotten into all the Madoka spin-offs and sequels, but in the series itself, you never really find out the true mature of Kyuubey or whatever purpose he represents. This makes the threat of the series all the more intriguing, and leads to endless speculation and theorizing, along with the realization that these poor magical girls are suffering and dying for a cause neither they now you understand. More importantly, though, Madoka goes out of it’s way to make you care about it’s cast so that when tragic events unfold, it doesn’t matter what the cause is, you’re that much more invested in them, and you’re firmly on their side. Put simply, School Live took a massive page out of Madoka’s book. Throughout the series, the focus is almost entirely on the cast and their day to day lives trying to live on campus as a massive threat to their well-being lurks outside. They’re all highly complex and believable characters, even though we only get hints of their backstories, which I believe were a lot more fleshed out in the manga. They all have unique dynamics between them, and they have their own inner turmoil to deal with. In contrast, the zombies themselves are shrouded in mystery. You get very scant details about they operate, vague hints at a lingering consciousness that(if true) makes their situation all the more tragic. This not only leaves the show a golden opportunity to develop them however it wants to in relation to the plot, but by not over-explaining them, there’s little to no risk of contradiction or plot holes. You want to know how easy it is to create a plot hole when dealing with supernatural monsters? In Highschool of the Dead, they over-explained the zombies. They’re completely blind, they can’t detect changes in temperature even when they’re on fire, and they hunt purely by sound. Taking all this into account, all it takes is one scene of them not attacking humans who are being quiet right in front of them to realize they also don’t have a reliable sense of smell, meaning there’s no logical reason why one clumsy zombie knocking over a stack of plates wouldn’t cause them to gang up into a zombie rat-king situation and start eating each other to death. And no, they didn’t have echolocation powers, ya weirdos. There’s very little gore in this show. You never see anyone disemboweled, you barely ever see someone get bitten, and while you see old blood stains on the clothes of zombies or splattered across the decimated locations that the cast visits, you honestly don’t see that much bloodshed either. The horror of School Live isn’t what you’re seeing, but what might happen at an given time. I’m not saying shock value and gooey gorey bloody anime can’t be good, but in my opinion, suspense will always be the higher ground of the medium. But more importantly, much like Madoka did with the supernatural nature of a magical girl’s powers, School Live plays up the underlying threat of any school club anime... Or, really any highschool anime in general. Time. The reason this series was able to blend these two genre so well is because it recognizes just how much the passage of time impacts both situations. In zombie stories, you can only hole up for so long before your resources begin to run out, the threat outside either subsides or exacerbates, and you have to face the inevitability of the situation, and that ven if you do manage to survive for the long haul, the world will never be the same as the one you knew. In a high school anime, you can only enjoy your happy life with your classmates until graduation, when reality sets in, you’re ejected into the cold, dog-eat-dog adult world, and nothing is ever the same. The zombies are the encroaching inevitability of time, dominating the world outside their club, serving as a constant reminder of the reality these girls will one day have to face. I know I haven’t been talking much about the actual substance of the story, but that’s because School Live is really dense with plot and character development, and it’s not told in a strictly linear fashion. It goes the Tarantino route of starting in the middle of the story, introducing the characters and situation p front before delving into episode-long flashbacks to reveal the intricacies of how we got to this particular point before bringing everything together in the final act, where unexpected twists that occurred earlier in the timeline are still being revealed. There’s a lot to spoil in this show, some of which is brutally blunt, but just as much of which is subtle enough that you might not notice it the first time around. Even the reveals that are predictable... And yes, there are a few... Are executed well enough that they can still leave an impact when they’re finally paid off. With the exception of the fanservice, which I still believe was included with a degree of reluctance, this is a series that had a lot of love and passion poured into it, and it’s a show I’d heartily recommend for the Halloween season. School Live is available from Sentai Filmworks. There was initial speculation about a second season being produced, but it hasn’t happened yet. With the Blu-Ray’s poor sales and the manga being concluded, it’s not likely to happen in the near future. The manga is available stateside from Yen Press. A live action movie and a four episode mini-series meant to serve as a companion to it are both available from Section 23 Films, and I'd eagerly recommend both. They're pretty solid. School Live is a series that attempted to merge two very distinct and almost mutually exclusive genres of anime together, and while I don’t think it pulled it off quite as seemlessly as a lot of other people do, it still did a far better job than anyone could have reasonably thought possible. The best zombie movies are the ones that focus more of their attention on creating a likeable and well-developed cast of humans to root for rather than just writing everything as an excuse for excessive gore and carnage, and that’s this series to a T. It’s cleverly directed, well executed and dripping with an honest sense of inspiration, featuring enough mind-blowing twists to keep you compelled and a bittersweet ending that is 100% earned, I can’t recommend this show enough. I give School Live a 9/10.
Off course not spoiler free review as it's too hard to talk about this anime without spoiling it. Going into this anime it's not as though I went in blind, I was aware of the premise and what to expected. So I was like I won't be tricked by the first episode. Though I was aware of such things, I did not expect it to be so well executed as it was. Even though I knew what to expect, it was still done in a way that surprised me. It was a great review and I can't imagine how those who first watched it when it was airing felt. There are a few things I hate because they scare me. Zombies is among those things, along with other more common things like height and etc... so why I kind of put this anime aside for the longest time. But since it's almost Halloween I decided to watch it for my Spooktoberfest (not even sure if that's the right word lol). And I was amazed by how well done this show was. img(https://i.imgur.com/WktB7Mu.gif) A perfect blend of Moe/CGDCT+Horror. I wonder how this idea was pitch, let's set it in school and have a bunch of cute girls with a club and they have to be fighting off a horde of zombies? You would think you'll end up getting something like "High School of the Dead." Or at the least you would get a parody of a anime that doesn't really use it's horror element but more of it's moe affect to draw in viewers. But it does capture both in a sense really well. Giving us a bit of horror along with a lot of just wholesome moments. And just to top it off, some tears to go along with that. img(https://i.imgur.com/53qhsIg.gif) There's a lot to talk about this show as each character is unique and as one is a strength to the others weakness. As we see how they are very dependent of one another in a way that help them survive. And off course best girl is Sakura-Sensei or Kurumi. I could talk about each one of them but to put it simply we'll just say this... Yuuri is basically like the "older sister" / "mom" of the group. Since she's always the one taking care of them. img(https://i.imgur.com/mkbBz5M.gif) Kurumi is just that cool character you have. Like Daryl from the walking dead. img(https://i.imgur.com/NXeEomh.gif) Yuki is that ray of sunshine in the darkest time. img(https://i.imgur.com/VtcL9VG.gif) Miki is that person you can depend on. img(https://i.imgur.com/ZZ4jDcW.gif) Sakura-Sensei is just awesome. (And I thought the whole idea of making us think she was alive was done alright. I mean it was pretty obvious that she wasn't alive - mainly because I blame Miki lol) img(https://i.imgur.com/zs8YKIZ.gif) Taroumaru is like Sam from I AM LEGEND. But before I end this short review - I want to say, that OP IS AMAZING! As the story progresses so does the opening itself. Going from cute to dark and darker... it captures the show perfectly. Also it just so catchy too. Thanks for reading it, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did watching the show. Yes even if you know the spoilers, it's still worth watching. As I stated at the start, I did not go into this show spoiler free. I already knew the plot and everything that was setup but it didn't ruined my watching experience at all. I honestly thought it was gonna ruin it but I thought it was done in a way that was really good that it didn't bother me knowing. Also maybe I need new friends who stop spoiling everything for me lol jk... (Yes a shovel is a deadly weapon as stated at the start) ~~~"The dew may fall and the flower remain, or the flower may wither before the dew is gone. Whatever path I walk, I pray that someday, I'll meet you again along the way." Miki~~~
Out of most of the anime of summer 2015, the one that keeps popping up from time to time is the one and only "Gakkou Gurashi". However, one of my friends recommended me this anime "without any research" (which I usually do) and after watching the first episode, I was completely glued to the series. So I'll mention my personal opinions about it, what the company "Lerche" did great on and also mention what they need to work on, without further ado, let's review _"Gakkou Gurashi"._ __STORY :__ The series talks about a club called "The School Living Club", a group of four girls and their young dog living in the school, however there's a reason why they are living in the school, which is explained in the anime (I'll give hints but no major spoilers ;)) I have to admit that I was one of those people that liked the storyline ever since the first episode, there were some great things but at the same time there's flaws. So I'll mention them here. Pros: • Mainly focuses on the main characters, you get to know more about their backstory, how the club was developed and how the characters get along. • Each episode had a cliffhanger and makes the viewers want to know more about what will happen next in the series. • From the beginning to the end, it made you question about what will happen to the characters and so on until you watch the end and find out that most of the questions have been answered. Cons: • The Moe / comedy and dark themes do NOT mix. This is the one of those problems that people had when they were watching the series. It makes the viewers think if they're supposed to consider the series as a serious one or a comedy especially due to the situation. • There is a lot of filler moments in this series, moments that were very unnecessary, such as the comedy moments. They're supposed to deal with a serious situation, not moments where they're supposed to have fun and forget about what's happening around them, which happens often in the series. • Not going to say everything wasn't predictable, but there's certain things that were predictable, one of them being the school environment later on in the series. They did an excellent job making things unpredictable in the first episode but as the series goes on, you realize certain things that have been pointed out in the series. __ART :__ Pros: • The series is unique and has its own art style. • The characters were well designed, the expressions for each of the characters shows the emotions for any situation and the creators developed great outfits for each character making them unique in certain ways. • The environments were done well as each environment expresses a certain mood, depending on the situation, if it's happy and cheerful, they make it like nothing happened, if its dark, they make it dark and gloomy. • If you compare the art between the manga and the anime, it is quite similar so they did manage to get the same type of art style as the manga. Con: • Like the story, Moe and dark themes don't work too well together. It would have been better if they stuck to one of them instead of both. __Sound:__ Pro: • Each OST was done well, it expresses the moods of the situation, if the situation is a Moe moment, they have cheerful music playing, if it's a sad moment, they make the music sound very sad and so on and so forth. • The ending themes were okay too but the one theme that I've enjoyed the most out of this series was the Opening. If all you heard was the Opening without seeing the intro, you would imagine this as a cheerful and catchy opening theme, you would never expect it to be dark anime series. If you watch the intro from the first episode, it looks like another "slice of life" anime, but as the series goes on, the intro changes but the song stays the same, I know there may be other anime that did the same thing but this is an amazing idea that I don't often see which makes the Opening even more enjoyable to watch. I always get excited whenever the intro came on because I always wanted to know what they're going to change next and what they'll change it into. It's a very enjoyable intro to watch and a very catchy song to listen to. Cons: I seriously have no cons for this anime when it comes to sound as personally the music was fine the way it was. __Characters:__ Pros: • Each character has her own unique personality which makes each of the characters stand out from one another. (Examples: Yuki being the energetic and positive one, Miki being the serious one, Yuuri being the leader type and Kurumi being the cheerful type and the one with the shovel). • The minor characters are mentioned time to time, we get an understanding of what the minor characters were like, both appearance and personality. Cons: • Like the soundtrack, I can't really complain about the characters. __Enjoyment:__ Personally, I thought the show was pretty entertaining, sure it had some slow and mostly comedic moments but it had moments were it actually made you wonder about what will happen in the next episode. You hope for the best for each character as well as have concerns about the things around them. Characters and the soundtrack were awesome, the art is enjoyable to see however, the story should have been worked on a bit more. Overall, a very enjoyable series and I highly recommend people to watch Gakkou Gurashi. The series is only 12 episodes so you can completely watch it within a couple of days. It was enjoyable to watch and a possibly a great anime to watch over again. Overall: 8 / 10
[Gakkou Gurashi!](https://anilist.co/anime/20754/Gakkou-Gurashi/) ou School-Live! é um anime de 12 episódios, adaptado de um [mangá](https://anilist.co/manga/85235/Gakkou-Gurashi/) que possui o mesmo nome. ~~~img220(https://i.imgur.com/X9YVo2F.jpg)~~~ ~~~Capa do volume 1 do mangá~~~ Lançado em 2015 durante a temporada de verão pelo estúdio [Lerche](https://anilist.co/studio/456/Lerche), o qual realizou obras como Ansatsu Kyoushitsu (ou Assassination Classroom), Dangaronpa 3 e dirigido por [Masaomi Andou](https://anilist.co/staff/112913/Masaomi-Andou), o qual foi responsável pela direção de alguns outros animes como Jibaku Shounen, WHITE ALBUM 2, Kuzu no Honkai, entre outros. ~~~__Sinopse__~~~ Este anime apresenta o clube de vida escolar, vivendo e realizando atividades com seus 5 membros: Kurumi Ebisuzawa (cima à esquerda), Miki Naoki (cima à direita), Yuuri Wakasa (baixo à esquerda), Yuki Takeya (baixo à direita), Megumi Sakura (atrás), também conhecida como Megu-nee e o cachorro, Taroumaru (no fundo com a Megumi). ~~~img220(https://i.imgur.com/Q5jdUJN.jpg)~~~ Porém existe um problema, elas precisam enfrentar uma infecção zumbi, de origem desconhecida, com escassez de informação, mas nem por isso a tratam dessa situação de forma tão preocupante e obcecada. O trânsito entre descobertas sobre a situação atual do mundo e slice of life (recheado de moe) é a definição do pacing desse anime. __A estrutura da análise consistirá em:__ __- Estrutura e história__ __- Questões técnicas__ __- Crítica__ __- Conclusão__ ~~~__Estrutura e história__~~~ É iniciado a história no futuro, após o surto dos zumbis inicial, passando-se na escola aos olhos da Yuki. Uma garota que não aceita o apocalipse e reescreve a realidade diante de seus olhos, não aceitando o desastre que aconteceu. Trazendo uma otimista (e escapista) vivência as garotas, mesmo que não intencionalmente, diminui a chance delas piorarem mentalmente, momentaneamente, alguém confortável aos demais. Mas esse escapismo diante do apocalipse, a não aceitação da realidade, é colocado em conflito perante dilemas éticos. Se devem ou não alertar a sua amiga. E conforme o slice of life se passa, é revelado o primeiro dos três grandes ápices de Gakkou Gurashi, o apocalipse zumbi e a loucura de Yuki. É interessante as bases que Gakkou construiu em cima dos zumbis, como o seu comportamento refletir seus hábitos da sua vida cotidiana, como ir ao trabalho, escola etc, influenciando os locais que eles se encontravam. Eles também apresentam resquícios de consciência. Nos intervalos entre os ápices do anime, tem-se o foco nas atividades do clube de vida escolar, festas, gincanas, etc… uma vida normal, durante esses momentos singulares. ~~~img220(https://i.imgur.com/G2EMYA7.png)~~~ A continuação da trama se dá no passado, momentos antes do apocalipse, revelando como a Miki sobreviveu junto com uma amiga durante o surto no shopping em que elas se encontravam e como a progressão exponencial do vírus foi insana para a sobrevivência espontânea. Por coincidência ou não (já que não é sabido da existência de mais sobreviventes), as outras garotas foram ao shopping na busca de novos recursos e como forma de alívio para sair do mesmo ambiente monótono e enlouquecedor, resultou no encontro delas com a Miki. O próximo ponto alto da obra é o choque da Miki com Yuki ao descobrir sobre sua maníaca condição, ao ouvir falar da primeira vez de Megu-nee. Para onde Yuki conversava e apontava só poderia ser visto a sala e mais nada, um vazio, com que ela tanto falava, algo não só assustador como preocupante. ~~~img220(https://i.imgur.com/U4Ya7Cv.png)~~~ Os motivos principais para Miki se preocupar é justamente por algumas vezes ver sua amiga em Yuki. Além dela ter salvo sua vida. Então, porquê uma pessoa tão boa sofre de uma doença mental e não é recepcionada pelas amigas? E aos poucos são revelados os motivos, nas entrelinhas, durante conversas e brigas. Takeya influencia as garotas da mesma forma que ela pensa, um otimismo exacerbado, acompanhado de uma falsa peça de teatro. A falsa presença de Megu-nee é reconfortante (para suas alunas), um escapismo (forçado?) delirante, mas entendido como essencial para manterem suas sanidades. Colocando toda responsabilidade de lidar com essa doença nas costas de Yuki, já que esta mudança poderia também mudar sua personalidade reconfortante. Um pouco antes do último pico do anime, é descoberto algo assustador. Um guia que trazia várias comprovações de como a infecção começou, quais eram os recursos que sua escola disponibiliza para sobrevivência, já que era um bunker, e por fim, uma sala secreta com vários medicamentos que ajudariam em situações desesperadoras. E assim, chega-se ao seu último pico, o azarado sequenciamento de problemas que o grupo sofreu. O sumiço de Taroumaru, a infecção de Kurumi, uma invasão dos zumbis na escola. Resultando num conflito o qual Yuki precisava enfrentar sua postura negacionista para salvar suas amigas, a Yuuri presa no quarto completamente sem chão e fraca mentalmente para tomar qualquer atitude e Miki num quarto fechado sem saída, que seria invadido em momentos posteriores, caso ninguém interferisse naquela situação. Mesmo diante dessa situação tão caótica, Yuki consegue atuar de forma responsável e se libertar dessa atitude escapista de forma simbólica, relembrando as últimas palavras de sua professora e amiga tão querida, assim conseguindo ver o mundo de fato como ele é, mas ainda mantendo quem ela sempre foi. Salvando a todos por meio de um aviso dado na sala de comunicação, que ecoava por toda escola, dizendo o término das aulas naquele dia. Como os zumbis ainda que quase inexistentemente possuíam uma consciência, retiraram-se de lá, assim Yuki consegue lidar com quase todos os problemas ao mesmo tempo. Por último, o que restava, era tentar salvar Taroumaru e Kurumi com a vacina do banker, Kurumi foi salva, porém Taroumaru acabou falecendo. Por todos os desastres que ocorreram na escola, elas decidem se deslocar para um outro local seguro, que estava informado no mapa, junto ao guia de sobrevivência. ~~~img220(https://i.imgur.com/NyaQTwj.png)~~~ ~~~__Questões técnicas__~~~ Por ser um estúdio mediano no geral, ele ainda conseguiu apresentar um bom trabalho se mantendo consistente na maior parte do tempo, mesmo que num traço simples, porém atuando incrivelmente, quando a direção pedia. Os três pontos chaves do anime tem uma direção espetacular mesmo com tanta limitação, destacando o esforço por parte da staff, quando necessário. Seus pontos altos são ótimos e não possui baixos tão perceptíveis. ~~~__Crítica__~~~ Como foi dito, a história compartilha um tom de slice of life com tensão. O slice se mantém suportável, não é chato mas também nada divertido. Um dos problemas principais é a utilização de um ecchi forçado por razões de puro fanservice, algo que não tinha espaço na obra, como por exemplo o episódio 9 inteiro. Em questão da estrutura da história, ela é confusa, futuro, passado e retorna ao futuro novamente. Além da apresentação adiantada de Miki, garantindo sua sobrevivência, e quebrando um pouco da tensão durante o shopping, já que é certeza de sua sobrevivência. Seria muito mais interessante mesclar acontecimentos da escola e do shopping a fim de ter uma dinâmica mais interessante de acontecimentos, sem necessariamente ficar decorrendo ao moe a todo momento, que se torna cansativo aos poucos. Então seria possível criar antítese de cenários, triste x feliz, ou ambos compartilharem momentos bons e ruins, enfim uma decisão que creio tornar a obra mais dinâmica. Mas com certeza em roteiro a coisa mais fraca é a revelação do bunker que continha uma __“vacina experimental para novos-infectados”__. ~~~img220(https://i.imgur.com/tYdiZ48.png)~~~ _[“A vacina, por ser utilizada como prevenção, não atua em casos de tratamento rápido. Para esses casos, o soro é o melhor agente a ser aplicado. Isso ocorre devido à rapidez do soro na produção de anticorpos em nosso corpo, combatendo com mais agilidade a doença, não tendo como função a prevenção, mas, sim, a cura.”](https://labsaojose.com/noticias/voce-sabe-quais-sao-as-diferencas-entre-o-soro-e-a-vacina/)_ Primeiro, uma vacina previne, porém ela é lenta, demora-se semanas para ter efeito sobre o organismo, então é necessário o soro para uma cura rápida, a mesma ideia da picada de uma cobra. Segundo, como já era sabido qual seria a doença/vírus a ser espalhado? Terceiro, caso já houvesse informação sobre porque não deram para a população ir tomando, pois aliás, é uma vacina, é necessário criar imunidade, mesmo sendo experimental é algo a adiantar, já que como pode ser visto, destruiu tudo. Essa parte em específico é o pior problema do plot, pois simplesmente não faz sentido algum, não sei se houve alguma mudança no material original, mas de qualquer jeito é um problema grave na tentativa de salvar um personagem na iminência de sua morte. Em compensação as cenas que envolvem a revelação da loucura da Yuki e a inexistência da Megu-nee para a Miki, são simplesmente incríveis. Foi um trabalho fenomenal de direção, animação, OST ao longo daqueles segundos construídos a partir de uma reviravolta de uma cena fofa, tudo para culminar em uma sequência de cenas espetaculares. Vale-se também destacar a despedida de Megu-nee, uma cena simbólica muito bonita e a morte de Taroumaru que foi um drama feito muito bem. ~~~__Conclusão__~~~ No geral é um anime com seus altos e baixos muito claros, tanto em animação, estrutura e história. Com uma proposta inovadora, e bem explorada na tensão, mas entediante no slice of life, uma estrutura de história funcional mas um pouco confusa devido às decisões do diretor de ter mudado o material original e uma história que no geral se mantém bastante consistente e pé no chão. Então, por fim, pode-se dizer que é um anime acima da média. ___“Estou tão feliz por ter sido a professora de vocês”___ ___Sakura, Megumi___