School Days is a Japanese slice-of-life eroge visual novel game developed by 0verflow, released in April 2005, for Windows. It was later remade as a DVD game and ported to PlayStation 2 (PS2) and PlayStation Portable (PSP). The story follows Makoto Ito, a high school student who becomes the love interest of several girls during his second term. School Days has multiple endings depending on the player's choices. Some of these endings later became notorious for their graphic violence.
0verflow announced work on School Days in October 2004 and marketed it by showing off the game's innovative use of animated cutscenes and voice-acting. Following its success, 0verflow produced multiple sequels, including a spin-off of the original story called Summer Days, a parallel story called Cross Days. Klon developed the spin-off Island Days for the Nintendo 3DS. A School Days remaster, School Days HQ, was released in October 2010, and localized in North America in June 2012. The original game became unavailable for purchase after April 2011.
Following the game's release, School Days was adapted into different media. A manga adaptation was serialized in the Kadokawa Shoten magazine Comp Ace and it was later published into two volumes. Comic anthologies, light novels and art books were also published, as were audio dramas and several albums of music. An animated television series, two direct-to-video (OVA) single releases and a concert film were also produced, the first of which became a precursor for an internet meme when its finale was pulled from broadcast.
Gameplay
School Days follows the typical visual novel gameplay format of scenes interspersed with player choice. These choices determine plot and romantic outcomes, as the game keeps track of the protagonist's relationships with his love interests. The game has pornographic elements. Although the characters' H-scenes are pixelated in the original Japanese releases, the Western release of School Days HQ is not censored. The Playstation 2 and PSP ports do not contain these scenes.
Player choices can result in either 'good' or 'bad' endings. The bad endings of School Days, in which characters die, have become the most notable part of the game. Many of these endings feature the character Kotonoha Katsura either dying or killing other characters. The good endings, by contrast, show the characters having normal relationships, and frequently have erotic elements. Different endings portray the protagonist in relationships with different combinations of his love interests.
Unlike traditional visual novels that consist of static characters with subtitled dialogue, School Days was unusual for its time in that it incorporated animation and voice acting. Cinematics naturally play on their own, and players are afforded the ability to pause, fast-forward, and even skip those they've seen before. Male and female voices can be muted, subtitles can be turned on or off and the game can be played from a window or full-screen ratio. Progress can be saved at any time in up to 100 slots and loaded from either the main menu or during play.
Plot School Days focuses on the life of Makoto Itō, a first-year high school student living with his divorced mother in the fictional city of Haramihama. During his second term, he becomes infatuated with Kotonoha Katsura, a shy schoolgirl who commutes to and from school by train. When the classroom seating plan of his class is rearranged, Makoto meets with Sekai Saionji, an upbeat girl who becomes invested in his relationship with Kotonoha. However, Sekai becomes jealous of the new couple, having developed feelings for Makoto herself.
Characters Main characters
(Remastered) Makoto is the protagonist of the School Days visual novel and its adaptations, a generally mild-mannered, composed student in year one (10th grade), class three, whose life becomes complicated when Sekai Saionji sets him up with Kotonoha Katsura and he gets into a love triangle.
(Remastered) Shy and reserved, Kotonoha is a student in year one, class four who is on the student council and serves as one of the most pivotal characters in the story. A sweet girly-girl and noticeably well-endowed bookworm, she becomes the initial love interest of Makoto early into their second term.
(Remastered) Sekai Saionji is a student in year one, class three who is the antithesis and foil of Kotonoha. She is interested in Makoto during their first encounter. Despite being an energetic girl, Sekai occasionally shows a more serious side, and when sufficiently frustrated can be loud and selfish.
Secondary characters
(Remastered) One of the more inscrutable characters, Setsuna Kiyoura is a keen, focused and habitually tacit girl who tends to have and keep the most level head of her peers when situations go awry, a childhood friend of Sekai and has a crush on Makoto. In Summer Days, where she is the protagonist, Setsuna is shy and timid, in contrast to her more serious portrayal in School Days.
(Remastered) High maintenance and fastidious, Hikari Kuroda is a student in year one, class three, recognizable by her signature squid rings hairstyle, her friendship with Sekai, Setsuna and Nanami and crush on Taisuke. She initially believes that Makoto and Sekai are dating from the very start, and tends to negatively generalize him; later growing closer to him herself.
(Remastered) Nanami Kanroji is a student in year one, class three who is a member of the girls' basketball team, attending the school on an athletic scholarship. A mostly interpersonal character, Nanami is a mature and silent tomboy who generally does not involve herself in the affairs of others and as such remains for the most part unanalyzed as someone who already has a boyfriend and is a good friend of Sekai, Setsuna and Hikari.
(Remastered) Direct and headstrong, Otome Katou is a student in year one, class four, who like Nanami, is a member of the girls' basketball team. She is usually very intimidating, authoritative to her peers, tolerates nothing but her way and opinion, and does not generally associate with anyone but her trio of friends Minami Obuchi, Natsumi Koizumi and Kumi Mori; who together frequently harass and coerce Kotonoha.
(Remastered) Taisuke Sawanaga is a student in year one, class three. A spirited, peculiar, perverted and rather hopeless romantic, Taisuke is Makoto's best friend from junior high school who frequently endeavors to forward his otherwise lonely ambitious love life, oblivious to Hikari's feelings for him.
(Remastered) Minami Obuchi is a student in class four who is the most obedient friend of Otome and bullies Kotonoha.
(Remastered) Natsumi Koizumi is a student in class four who is the most informative and interpersonal friend of Otome and bullies Kotonoha.
(Remastered) Kumi Mori is a student in class four who is the most puerile, yet politest friend of Otome
(Remastered) Kokoro Katsura is the sweet-natured younger sister of Kotonoha. Unlike her older sibling, Kokoro is peppy, talkative and full of curiosity, and although she frequently teases Kotonoha, she worries about her greatly.
(Remastered) Wholesome, carefree and overall cheerful, Itaru is the younger sister of Makoto. Separated by the divorce of their parents, she lives under the sole custody of their father, who she does not like, and occasionally sneaks out to come and visit her much-adored older brother.
(Remastered) Youko Saionji, maiden name Inō, is Sekai's mother. Benevolent, knowledgeable, wise and effervescent, Yōko serves to provide advice and guidance to her daughter when necessary, as the restaurateur of Radish with friend, and slight rival, Mai Kiyoura, and helping out her daughter with relationships. She is one of the heroines in Summer Days and Shiny Days.
(Remastered) Manami Katsura is the biological mother of Kotonoha and Kokoro who makes vocal appearances in the game and anime and a brief appearance in one panel of the manga. She is one of the heroines in Summer Days and Shiny Days and also appears in Cross Days.
Development School Days was 0verflow's tenth game. School Days was first announced on October 5, 2004, when 0verflow posted links on their official website to both the game's website and the game's dev log. 0verflow revealed in their blog that School Days had been in pre-production for roughly two years and would be a fully animated game. Updates on the development of the game were scheduled for Tuesdays and Fridays, and the company encouraged fans to attend Dream Party 2004, an upcoming anime convention at Tokyo Big Sight in Ariake, on October 11, where they made the first public showcase of the game A follow-up of the venue was made on October 15. On October 26, 0verflow posted that new information about School Days would be in the November issue of Tech Gian, an adult magazine published by Enterbrain.
In a November 6 development post, 0verflow announced that it was planning a public screening of new game material, but was experiencing difficulty acquiring space for it. The company had initially chosen to have the venue in Akihabara but was unable to find a retailer willing to host it, prompting a visit to Osaka the following week. News that the game would contain music by artists such as Minami Kuribayashi, Haruko Momoi, Yozuca, and Yuria was posted on November 30, along with a release date change to February 25, 2005.
On December 28, 2004, 0verflow released a public trial of School Days. They attended Comiket 67 at Tokyo Big Sight from December 29 to 30, and handed out phonecards to the first 50 visitors to their booth. Two months later, on February 2, 2005, the company announced that the game had been postponed again to April 28. From April 5 to April 8, 0verflow concluded their development log with comments from Soyogi Tōno, Kaname Yuzuki, Tatsuya Hirai, Yuki Matsunaga, Hikaru Isshiki, and Hana Yamamoto, the respective voices of Kotonoha, Sekai, Makoto, Otome, Hikari and Setsuna. To address bugs that were later found in the game, 0verflow released a patch to bring School Days to a stable build of 1.11. From June 26, 2007, to March 28, 2008, 0verflow and Lantis-net radio aired the internet radio drama Radio School Days. On April 21, 2011, 0verflow announced via their blog that support for School Days was being discontinued.
Release School Days was ported to three other platforms. It was first released by interactive movie developer AICherry on September 28, 2007, as a four disc DVD game. That same year, on August 31, Interchannel posted a link on their blog to the official website of School Days L×H, a PlayStation 2 (PS2) port in development by Guyzware, that would be edited of explicit sexual content and fanservice. The game was released on January 17, 2008, and assessed by the Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO), Japan's primary video game content rating system, receiving a 15-years-or-older "C" rating for sexual themes and profanity. The third and final port was developed by PalaceGame for the PlayStation Portable (PSP). After postponing the game on May 11, it was released as four UMDs on June 30, 2010.
0verflow opened what would become the homepage for the remaster School Days HQ on May 21, 2010. The site was finished June 3, and on July 16, the game was postponed to September 24. A trial was publicly released for download on August 7, and from August 20 to September 28, 0verflow promoted the game. Customers who had purchased the original School Days would be given the opportunity to upgrade to HQ for a fee until October 11, by either mailing in their game disc or visiting stores in Akihabara, Osaka or Nagoya. Distributors offered collectable phonecards for reservations, and after a second date change on September 10, the game was released October 8.