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School-Live! (Gakkou Gurashi) OT - A Perfectly Normal and Moe Slice Off Life Anime

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J

JulianImp

Member
Cornbread78 said:
Ok, what's up with all the fanservice in thus episode? With what the girls found with Megenu's key, it explains everything about the school and why it is so equipped. There is a pandemic going on, but not the same thing the school was made to handle. Looks like more fanservice next week... Not sure why they are taking the show in that direction, but it sells to the otaku, so...
Click to expand...

Still, we know the show tends to preview things from something akin to Yuki's prespective, so it's very likely that some weird things might happen during the otherwise stock beach episode. Fanservice will be there, sadly, but we already had it right from the start with the way Rii's breasts bounce during the OP (...yeah).

Exploring characters who are under an awful lot of stress is a good premise, but I feel like the show fails to deliver that in a truly compelling way. We can already see that the girls are slowly being backed into a corner, but they're still managing to keep the status quo of "everything's all right, we'll be safe", which is kind of boring.

Hopefully something happens during the swimsuit episode now that the girls know more about the situation they're in, because I don't think I can stand to watch more generic SoL with just a couple scenes in between to point out how the girls are actually struggling to enjoy themselves amidst the bleak circumstances they're in.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
JulianImp said:
Still, we know the show tends to preview things from something akin to Yuki's prespective, so it's very likely that some weird things might happen during the otherwise stock beach episode. Fanservice will be there, sadly, but we already had it right from the start with the way Rii's breasts bounce during the OP (...yeah).

Exploring characters who are under an awful lot of stress is a good premise, but I feel like the show fails to deliver that in a truly compelling way. We can already see that the girls are slowly being backed into a corner, but they're still managing to keep the status quo of "everything's all right, we'll be safe", which is kind of boring.

Hopefully something happens during the swimsuit episode now that the girls know more about the situation they're in, because I don't think I can stand to watch more generic SoL with just a couple scenes in between to point out how the girls are actually struggling to enjoy themselves amidst the bleak circumstances they're in.
Click to expand...

My question is, how are they going to a beach? They could still have Megune's car to use, but does it still have gas? If they were going to risk going out for the beach, shouldn;t they spend more time trying to get supplies for survival, or trying to find outher survivers? I hope the show goes that route, like with the mall trip, rather than the stereotypical fanservice beach visit...
 
J

JulianImp

Member
Cornbread78 said:
My question is, how are they going to a beach? They could still have Megune's car to use, but does it still have gas? If they were going to risk going out for the beach, shouldn;t they spend more time trying to get supplies for survival, or trying to find outher survivers? I hope the show goes that route, like with the mall trip, rather than the stereotypical fanservice beach visit...
Click to expand...

I was expecting them to do something at the school's rooftop or something, but then again my mind ignored the next episode reel, so maybe it's going to happen at an actual beat (...but how?).
 
E

e_i

Member
I hope you guys are ready for the last arc. It will be unpleasant. I just reread the manga and was reminded how bad the next arc is going to be. The girls will be pushed to their limits.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
e_i said:
I hope you guys are ready for the last arc. It will be unpleasant. I just reread the manga and was reminded how bad the next arc is going to be. The girls will be pushed to their limits.
Click to expand...

Well, that much was a given due to how little tension we've been getting as of late. All they've been doing is explore how Rii, Kurumi and Miki act when they aren't around Yuki, which allows them to drop the act where they pretend that everything's fine, and they just found out the truth about the school (and probably what caused the original ourbreak as well).

After the twist ending of EP1 I can say I wasn't expecting so much SoL as what we ended up getting, so finally presenting some actual tension would be much appreciated.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
e_i said:
I hope you guys are ready for the last arc. It will be unpleasant. I just reread the manga and was reminded how bad the next arc is going to be. The girls will be pushed to their limits.
Click to expand...


Something dramatic was bound to happen sooner or later. Their world is horific to begin with.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
Episode 9

This sums up this episode perfectly. Things are obviously getting ugly next week, but there was no need for all this fanservice and generic SoL stuff after we've already had enough calm episodes already.

So far, I felt like the show had some tension in EP1, then a bit during the mall visit, the Megu-nee diary scene and now in EP10. The rest of the episodes just had too much SoL stuff while we were only fed crumbs of what I thought was the main theme of this show, which was seeing girls struggle in a world that had turned against them.

Characters are getting developed too slowly for my taste, and the piecemeal character developments that we get are drowned amidst a sea of generic anime scenes. I can see why you'd want moe SoL scenes to generate a stark contrast with the zombie apocalypse setting, but I think the SoL-to-drama ratio is way too skewed towards the former.
 
S

Stuart444

Member
Ep 9 was a rather calm episode where nothing much happened
"for now that is"

I also knew when
Miki and Tarou made up that Tarou's death flag had been raised. We knew it'd happen eventually but that bit of the episode made it obvious it was happening very soon.

It looks like the status quo is going to be nice and dead next episode based on the end of this ep.
After all, Tarou has been in the anime since the very beginning.

Also I think the ending changed a bit as well.

Preview makes it pretty much impossible to tell what the next ep will be about other than
them noticing Tarou is gone.

edit: looks like B1 is available on the Gakkou Gurashi website now. Nothings there though atm.
 
UberTag

UberTag

Member
JulianImp said:
Episode 9

This sums up this episode perfectly. Things are obviously getting ugly next week, but there was no need for all this fanservice and generic SoL stuff after we've already had enough calm episodes already.

So far, I felt like the show had some tension in EP1, then a bit during the mall visit, the Megu-nee diary scene and now in EP10. The rest of the episodes just had too much SoL stuff while we were only fed crumbs of what I thought was the main theme of this show, which was seeing girls struggle in a world that had turned against them.

Characters are getting developed too slowly for my taste, and the piecemeal character developments that we get are drowned amidst a sea of generic anime scenes. I can see why you'd want moe SoL scenes to generate a stark contrast with the zombie apocalypse setting, but I think the SoL-to-drama ratio is way too skewed towards the former.
Click to expand...
The manga is great and addresses literally every flaw you've raised about the anime. The pacing of the anime has been an absolute mess. At this point, if I wanted to recommend Gakkou Gurashi to anyone, I would show them the first episode of the anime, let the twist work its magic and then direct them to go read Chapters 1-39 of the manga.

We'll see if these last three episodes can salvage things to any extent. I'm not especially optimistic.
 
P

poipoipoi9

Member
Gakkou Gurashi 9

Well that was a disappointing episode. Nothing but filler and fanservice. Particularly because my initial expectations of this show was a
twisted survival tale of 4 high school girls in a zombie apocalypse, not a 4-girl Slice of Life with Zombies.

Basement floor on website opened and at midnight the garage door is opened slightly. Looking forward to Megu-Nee's appearance

The show just keeps getting weaker. Should have noticed the warning signs when they were selling Yuki Dakimakuras (!) on C88.

Ubertag said:
Speculation on Kei possibly surviving, deviations from manga etc
Click to expand...

I really hope that doesn't happen. It would really cheapen all the drama from the Mall episode.
 
UberTag

UberTag

Member
Justified criticisms of this most recent episode notwithstanding, I do have to dole out some praise for what was quite possibly the best implementation of misdirection and distraction in this week's ending teaser. I have only seen one person point it out thus far. Really smart use of focusing the viewer's attention elsewhere, IMO.
 
C

chrono01

Member
I've only learned of this series recently, so I'm only up to episode 6. That being said...

[spoilers up to episode 6]

Damn, episode 6 destroyed me. I already had a feeling Megu-nee was dead, with a lot of the subtle hints as well as Yuki's delusions and only her directly interacting with Megu-nee. Also, anytime Yuki would ask Megu-nee to do something, Megu-nee would push it back onto Yuki. It was still depressing seeing it all be officially revealed though, and was especially heart-breaking during the credits/next episode promo where Megu-nee was being erased, not even being shown responding back to Yuki. I really hope we don't see a zombie Megu-nee. I'm not sure I'd be able to take that. ;_;

As for the series as a whole, I'm really enjoying it. I'll likely catch up in the next day or two.
 
S

Stuart444

Member
chrono01 said:
I've only learned of this series recently, so I'm only up to episode 6. That being said...

[spoilers up to episode 6]

Damn, episode 6 destroyed me. I already had a feeling Megu-nee was dead, with a lot of the subtle hints as well as Yuki's delusions and only her directly interacting with Megu-nee. Also, anytime Yuki would ask Megu-nee to do something, Megu-nee would push it back onto Yuki. It was still depressing seeing it all be officially revealed though, and was especially heart-breaking during the credits/next episode promo where Megu-nee was being erased, not even being shown responding back to Yuki. I really hope we don't see a zombie Megu-nee. I'm not sure I'd be able to take that. ;_;

As for the series as a whole, I'm really enjoying it. I'll likely catch up in the next day or two.
Click to expand...

Please report back when you do. Especially about the start of 8/end of ep 9 :)
 
R

R_thanatos

Member
Saw the latest episode.

I don't like what they did , especially with the previous episode ending , but maybe this one could be the start of something ?
 
J

JulianImp

Member
Taroumaru's
out of the OP. RIP.

Edit:
Episode 10
This was what I signed up for when I began watching this show, so it's sad to see it took them eight episodes of pure nothing to get here. I would've preferred to see them struggle a bit more along the way rather than having 90% happy times until every concievable thing went wrong at once.


The power of love and friendship will surely make the barricade last. Right, Megu-nee?


She'll take good care of Taroumaru, alright.

Now Kurumi's going mad after being bitten by the one zombie she couldn't bring herself to harm, Yuuri has snapped and is an absolute mess that can't do anything, Miki said she chould handle Megu-nee, but then realized that she couldn't do the same with Taroumaru (yeah, congrats on finally becoming friends with it on the previous episode), the zombie students finally broke through the barricade and began walking into the school, and Yuki finally "woke up" and began realizing what was actually going on.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
e_i said:
Yeah...

And goddamn at
Megu-nee's face before she bites Kurumi.
I wonder if seeing her at the end at the desk dripping blood
is before or after she attacks Kurumi.
Click to expand...


After. The symbolism confirms it since
the blood droplet falls right on the part where くるみ (Kurumi) is written.
 
S

Stuart444

Member
So two changes in the op and one change at the end:

Tarou not being in the Op and Zombie-nee being shown. And at the end, Tarou is with Megu-nee when they disappear together

;_; sums up my feelings completely.
 
UberTag

UberTag

Member
JulianImp said:
This was what I signed up for when I began watching this show, so it's sad to see it took them eight episodes of pure nothing to get here. I would've preferred to see them struggle a bit more along the way rather than having 90% happy times until every concievable thing went wrong at once.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the pacing has been... frustrating... to say the least. I admittedly had to chuckle at the beginning of this ep when Miki provided some meta commentary having been familiar with the source material behind her book and still somehow finding herself disappointed when it didn't turn out differently. (Incidentally, while Stephen King's The Stand DOES have a dog - Kojak - the rest of her description more or less describes their current situation and not that book. Although that may be due to having been written by Steppen King instead.)

The manga does not have these pacing issues electing not to have sugarcoated most of the material prior to Chapters 17-19 (which form the basis for this episode) but I suppose they elected to go this route to really hammer home the impact of
Taromaru being zombified and Kurumi being infected by Megu-nee
.

And, in that respect, I felt this episode was adapted especially well... apart from literally ALL of the shit hitting the fan at the same time. Of course, being largely faithful to arguably the strongest arc in its source material goes a long way towards that.

UberTag said:
Justified criticisms of this most recent episode notwithstanding, I do have to dole out some praise for what was quite possibly the best implementation of misdirection and distraction in this week's ending teaser. I have only seen one person point it out thus far. Really smart use of focusing the viewer's attention elsewhere, IMO.
Click to expand...
Incidentally, remember that little tease from last week's much-derided beach episode that I mentioned earlier? Look who's missing from the parting shot from a week ago...

Original School Live! ending frame...

Original%20ED_zpslajcqryh.png


And, how last week's was depicted...

Whats%20Missing_zpsaahaoy0y.png


The misdirection that I lauded was the fact that we were all so preoccupied with Taromaru going on his trek beside the shore without all of the girls that Kurumi being absent along with him in the ED was quite easily glossed over by almost everyone. Hell, I even missed it the first time.
 
H

HyperCubed4

Member
UberTag said:
Incidentally, remember that little tease from last week's much-derided beach episode that I mentioned earlier? Look who's missing from the parting shot from a week ago...
Click to expand...

Had you not pointed that out, I would have completely missed it. On the topic of subtle differences, I just noticed this difference today. First episode intro. Tenth episode intro. Not exactly mind-blowing, but still interesting.

I'm not a huge anime/manga guy, but the first episode got me hooked and had the most recent episode not gone the way it did, I probably would have dropped it entirely. I'm not familiar with the source material. I can only assume
their situation gets worse from here
?
 
UberTag

UberTag

Member
HyperCubed4 said:
I'm not a huge anime/manga guy, but the first episode got me hooked and had the most recent episode not gone the way it did, I probably would have dropped it entirely. I'm not familiar with the source material. I can only assume
their situation gets worse from here
?
Click to expand...
That would be entirely too spoilerific to divulge straight up but I will say it goes in a number of interesting directions and will put a fresh coat of perspective on the material that's been adapted thus far. I highly recommend it... although if you've gone this far without scoping it out I would advise that you wait until AFTER the anime ends in a couple weeks to dive in.

And if you were hooked by the premise but not a fan of the execution within the anime up until this week, I can easily say that the manga will not leave you feeling flat.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
I was fully expecting Kurumi to wake up from her nightmare just as
Yuuri was done sawing off her arm to stave off the infection
, but sadly none of that happened because that would've allowed her to do a thing or two rather than being restrained as she slowly
begins to turn while screaming like a lunatic and pushing Yuuri further and further past her despair event horizon
. Mind rape that works by the character being told that they're loved like that really creeped me out, just like what happened to Anri in Durarara.

Here's what I think's going to happen in the coming episodes:
Miki and Yuuri will break down and become unable to do anything, and the show will flip the groups' roles as Yuki's the one who has to face the zombies (including Taroumaru and Megu-nee) to save her helpless friends... and she'll do a remarkably good job at it. While she's gone, Kurumi might get put down by Yuuri, but regardless of that she and Miki will get killed by either Kurumi and/or the zombie students. Then when Yuki returns with the medicine, she finds that it's too late for her friends and gets bitten herself. Finally, they all graduate from life, and get to stay in their beloved school forever.
 
D

Dram

Member
So why exactly did
Taromaru go into the basement in ep 9? Was he hearing noises from the basement throughout the episode or was it only during the last part? I just skipped to the ending of
9 because it seemed like it was going to be a fan service episode from the previews.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
Dram said:
So why exactly did
Taromaru go into the basement in ep 9? Was he hearing noises from the basement throughout the episode or was it only during the last part? I just skipped to the ending of
9 because it seemed like it was going to be a fan service episode from the previews.
Click to expand...

I don't even remember why Taroumaru decided to go there. At first I thought it had heard another dog's howl, but I dunno... All that mattered in that episode other than the final scene was that Miki tripped a death flag by finally becoming friends with it.
 
I

Ivan A Nguyen

Member
JulianImp said:
I don't even remember why Taroumaru decided to go there. At first I thought it had heard another dog's howl, but I dunno... All that mattered in that episode other than the final scene was that Miki tripped a death flag by finally becoming friends with it.
Click to expand...

I love how tripping a death flag has become so meta in recent anime to the point where characters call it out.
 
B

Barajas_201

Member
Dammit Kurumi! You made the wrong choice 3 times in a row, Why?! The foreshadowing at the begging with the book prepared me for Taro. I admit this is the kind of episode I wanted but... not like this, not like this...
Miki please find a deus ex machina medicine and cure the only useful girl Kurumi :(
 
jediyoshi

jediyoshi

Member
wellthatescalatedquick.jpg

Another neat OP bit,
usually Taroumaru runs quick along with everyone, this week he's slow and alone.
1shJTn2.png

sHOXDox.png
Click to expand...

Always love the scenes with Yuuri and Miku. Wasn't prepared for Kurumi getting bit, didn't see it coming all the way until the moment she flinches.

A thing that's bugging me now was that the school was so prepared to be lived in for the apocalypse with all the equipment, yet basically nothing in the way of barricades/defense. Seems silly that Miku even picked up the rest of her book instead of pouring over that manual they found completely.
 
J

JulianImp

Member
Ivan A Nguyen said:
I love how tripping a death flag has become so meta in recent anime to the point where characters call it out.
Click to expand...

I hate when the comedy relies too much on lampshade hanging, but I also hate obvious death flags, such as all the talk about the barricade being made with Megu-nee's help and Kurumi asking Megu-nee to keep Taroumaru safe in front of her "grave". I could see some irony in that she's actually taking care of both things, only she's now on the zombie's side, so the barricade failing and Taroumaru turning were to be expected.

Concerning Megu-nee's grave, why did they even build a tomb for her if she was still shambling around the school? I mean, it isn't like they'd want to remind Yuki that she's actually [un]dead, and they achieve nothing except remind themselves of Megu-nee's sacrifice every time they visit the rooftop.

Also, I kind of like zombies as blurry abominations since I think that's how Kurumi wants to see them. The reason she failed to kill the turned Megu-nee was because she couldn't bring herself to see her as nothing more than a monster, so she let her guard down and... *chomp* (man, that cut was perfect).

Barajas_201 said:
Dammit Kurumi! You made the wrong choice 3 times in a row, Why?! The foreshadowing at the begging with the book prepared me for Taro. I admit this is the kind of episode I wanted but... not like this, not like this...
Miki please find a deus ex machina medicine and cure the only useful girl Kurumi :(
Click to expand...

Sorry, but Miki's too busy trying to acquire the Morph Ball. She's right in that she's the only one who can actually kill Megu-nee without remorse, but to offset that she can't bring herself to hurt Taroumaru instead. I'm insisting that the one who'll have to rise up to the task will be Yuki, who apparently has finally let go off of her delusions... because a cold raindrop fell on her face. Whatever.

To me, the show has finally begun to shine after eight drudging episodes where I got something I never asked for. Still, I wish things would've escalated over time rather than packing all the dread and tension in the last three episodes.

It'd be really interesting if the evolving OP ended up getting its music replaced for the final episode, along with a large overhaul of everything in it.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
School-Live ep.9
Oh yeah, bathing suits.. now I remember why I skipped this episode. Not as bad as I thought, but still not needed. That ending though...


School-Live ep.10
And shit, there goes the neighborhood. Seriously, shit just got real.

I wasn't expecting one to get infected, why don't they kill her now? There is no way there is anti-zombie medicine in that bunker. Also, the dog got zombied, c'mon.. wtf. That was just way more brutal that'll expected and we knew it was going down hill this week..
 
C

chrono01

Member
I'm almost caught up now, I just watched Episodes 8/9.

[Spoilers for Episode 8/9]

Damn it! The opening part where you saw Megu-nee's diary, saying how much she wanted to see Yuki and the rest, as the writing became more and more unrecognizable. I originally thought she died immediately when she was bit/cornered by the zombies while she protected the girls, so she didn't have to suffer as much. After seeing the diary, though, it seems like she managed to get away after all, but things didn't end well for her.

Then I saw the ending of Episode 9. I need to go lie down. ;_;

This series is so cute on the outside, but the dark stuff in it is really depressing. I hear things get even worse in Episode 10. I must prepare myself...
 
C

chrono01

Member
I watched Episode 10 just now, so I'm officially caught up. All of these feelings, I'm not sure what to do with them. ;_;

It's quite the contrast, having such an upbeat [and catchy] OP, only to be hit with extremely depressing stuff moments later. I can't help not watching this series, but I always feel depressed afterwards. :/

I can definitely see them doing something to the OP for the last episode, since they've been slowly altering things as they've gone along. Maybe the song is based on
Yuki's delusions, and when she comes to terms with the way things really are it won't be so positive?
 
J

JulianImp

Member
chrono01 said:
I can definitely see them doing something to the OP for the last episode, since they've been slowly altering things as they've gone along. Maybe the song is based on
Yuki's delusions, and when she comes to terms with the way things really are it won't be so positive?
Click to expand...

I'm totally hoping for
a dark reprise of the OP
for the final episode. The way things are going right now, I'm expecting two possible outcomes:
Either Yuki gets back with the medicine only to realize that it's too late to save the rest of the girls, or the balloons they let loose with letters attached to them were found by someone and they get rescued at the last second (the military, maybe?).
 
S

Stuart444

Member
Well this weeks episode was something...

I can't tell if they are going to get out of this now or not. The club floor has zombies around it, Miki is trapped, most of the power is gone. These girls are fucked it looks like.

We'll see...
 
B

Barajas_201

Member
Everything keeps getting worse and zombies destroying everything in one go, food, electricity, barricades and moral. I thought Miki was done when Megu-nee grabbed her, she also found the experimental medicine, I hope Kurumi makes it!
 
UberTag

UberTag

Member
Well, they're not ending the anime with Chapter 30 directly... but they are using Chapter 30's title. So there is that.

My prediction...
chopper crash doesn't happen, both Kurumi AND Taromaru get the medicine and return to normal, kids and dog leave the school in Megu-nee's car to "graduate" and wrap up the series.
Hopefully the manga will give them enough material to revisit School Live with a second cour sometime down the road but it won't be for another couple years, IMO.

I also rather liked the way they had Yuki finally "give up on" Megu-nee in the anime. They really nailed that relationship dynamic all throughout the series.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
wow, that is what I thought this anime was going to be all about. You can feel the tangible despair of the situation that the girls are facing, each with their own personal battles. It's safe to say even if they get out of the current problem, with the electrical system, the crops and the barriers destroyed, they are fucked

Yuki woke up too..
 
R

R_thanatos

Member
OMG WHAT AN EPISODE

Episode 11 went all out on the feels ..flashbacks, tense moments and moments of calm versus moments of extreme tension !

One of the best episode of the year, i'm not even kidding when i say that ...

Episode 11 had it all , not one wasted moment , everything up to that point made sense for maximum effect ..

PERFECTION
 
J

JulianImp

Member
UberTag said:
I also rather liked the way they had Yuki finally "give up on" Megu-nee in the anime. They really nailed that relationship dynamic all throughout the series.
Click to expand...

I also really liked that part. The way Yuki managed to sort things out, as she finally decided that she'd no longer sit back while ignoring all the obvious and horrible things that were going on in front of her, but managed to do so in a way that felt perfect for her character.

Cornbread78 said:
w that is what I thought this anime was going to be all about. You can feel the tangible despair of the situation that the girls are facing, each with their own personal battles.
Click to expand...

This. So much this. I'm really happy that the show finally got its act together and even one-upped my expectations, as we got tension, character development, heartwarming moments and awesome moments for the girls.

Then there was this...

Seriously, it was really nice how we got to see that Megu-nee actually tried her best to protect the girls
from herself
. I'm still thinking that
the bloody handprints on
the medicine box were Megu-nee's after she
desperately tried her best to open it after having bitten Kurumi
, but maybe that's just me.
 
T

TUSR

Banned
JulianImp said:
Then there was this...

Seriously, it was really nice how we got to see that Megu-nee actually tried her best to protect the girls
from herself
. I'm still thinking that
the bloody handprints on
the medicine box were Megu-nee's after she
desperately tried her best to open it after having bitten Kurumi
, but maybe that's just me.
Click to expand...

nah she definitely
went to the basement after being bitten to try and use the antidote on herself
 
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