Should I Watch Gakkougurashi!?
Story & Writing:
The author of Gakkou Gurashi probably hit upon one extremely interesting idea and decided to write an entire series based on that one brainwave. However, he probably didn't realize that an interesting idea ain't worth jack shit if you don't develop and expand upon it. As a result, we get Gakkou Gurashi.
While interesting at first, this show ended up feeling half-assed and lazy. Its more unique aspects are introduced solely as a gimmicky selling point and was never capitalized on as the show waddles awkwardly between cutesy moe and edgy horror. I don't think the show itself even knows what it wants to be. It's neither dark, gritty nor realistic enough to be a compelling horror, but neither is it fun and lighthearted enough to be a slice-of-life either. By the end, this entire show feels like one big sloppy mess of somewhat interesting ideas loosely strung together by blood, spit and moe. Absolutely no cohesion nor depth - just novelty and shock factor.
But the depth and development - or lack thereof - is not the only subpar thing about this show. It genuinely could have thrived off of its barebones premise alone if only the characters weren't so goddamn boring and generic.
Even if a show's writing fails to develop on its own premise, it can still be decent provided that its characters are decently interesting and entertaining to watch.
But in Gakkou Gurashi, I do not give a single fuck for any one of the characters.
Not Yuki. Not Yuuri. Not Miki. Not Kurumi. Not even the fucking dog.
They can all go die for all I care because they do not have a single shred of individuality nor charisma about them. I really think that these characters are the ultimate symbol of Gakkou Gurashi's identity crisis, of its internal conflict and indecisiveness towards whether it wants to be a moe slice of life or a post-apocalyptic horror. Even Yuki, the most promising character, was never really properly explored nor developed. Her unique "trait" ends up being just another one-hit-wonder gimmick swept along in the sea of gimmicks that makes up this show. When you boil these characters down, they're all just generic moe tropes who got shoehorned into an oh-so-dark-and-tragic setting. That's it. They don't really do anything. They don't abandon their humanity to butcher zombies nor develop baser human desires for sex nor do they betray one another nor sacrifice themselves or any of that juicy stuff. Not in Gakkou Gurashi. These boring-ass characters are only there just to bitch, cry and whine. It never feels like they're making any kind of radical or substantial decisions, nor are they plunged into any extreme scenarios that would force them to step outside their comfort zones and make decisions they would usually not make. Instead, they just act really laid-back, fucking around on top of the school rooftop like nothing's happening. At the end of the day, no matter how this show tries to fucking hide it, these characters are ultimately just cute girls doing cute things, with maybe a bit of edginess, angst, and melodrama sprinkled on top. This is not really innovative or anything. Angst and melodrama are already ubiquitous enough among slice-of-life shows. What's your excuse, Gakkou Gurashi?
Oh and btw, a certain character acted like a complete retard towards the end, causing contrived angst and melodrama to ensue.
What's worse is that all of this tension and conflict are resolved in one fell swoop through one convenient plot device. This solution wasn't really mind-blowing or anything, and the show could have done it way earlier and save the audience the anguish of sitting through 12 episodes of trashy moe and pseudo-horror clusterfuck. Up to that point, the show has been barely passable with its writing - neither too dumb nor too smart. I was willing to give the show a 6 but because of this dipshit plot development, down to a 5 you go you piece of shit.
TLDR: This show's lazy writing plays it too safe and never wants to push anything, to make anything extreme or interesting. The characters and their emotions; the plot developments; the setting - all of them are ultimately bland and pointless, not worth giving a damn about.
Art:
The art design is slightly above average, boasting a vibrant color palette but bland character design and visual style. Also, it really toned down the more gory aspects of its story, soft-censoring or completely omitting scenes showing blood and violence. In other words, the artstyle is an awkward cross between visceral and cute, neither fully embracing one nor the other. Once again, this just goes to show how half-assed Gakkou Gurashi is, with no real identity or substance to add flavor to its premise.
Sound:
The sound design is surprisingly good. Many of the background tracks are extremely creepy and manages to perfectly set the tone every time. It's a shame, though, that it's wasted on the mediocre writing.
Enjoyment:
5/10
You know what? I just had more fun typing up this review than I ever had in my 4 hours of watching this anime.
Overall:
5/10
Story & Writing:
The author of Gakkou Gurashi probably hit upon one extremely interesting idea and decided to write an entire series based on that one brainwave. However, he probably didn't realize that an interesting idea ain't worth jack shit if you don't develop and expand upon it. As a result, we get Gakkou Gurashi.
While interesting at first, this show ended up feeling half-assed and lazy. Its more unique aspects are introduced solely as a gimmicky selling point and was never capitalized on as the show waddles awkwardly between cutesy moe and edgy horror. I don't think the show itself even knows what it wants to be. It's neither dark, gritty nor realistic enough to be a compelling horror, but neither is it fun and lighthearted enough to be a slice-of-life either. By the end, this entire show feels like one big sloppy mess of somewhat interesting ideas loosely strung together by blood, spit and moe. Absolutely no cohesion nor depth - just novelty and shock factor.
But the depth and development - or lack thereof - is not the only subpar thing about this show. It genuinely could have thrived off of its barebones premise alone if only the characters weren't so goddamn boring and generic.
Even if a show's writing fails to develop on its own premise, it can still be decent provided that its characters are decently interesting and entertaining to watch.
But in Gakkou Gurashi, I do not give a single fuck for any one of the characters.
Not Yuki. Not Yuuri. Not Miki. Not Kurumi. Not even the fucking dog.
They can all go die for all I care because they do not have a single shred of individuality nor charisma about them. I really think that these characters are the ultimate symbol of Gakkou Gurashi's identity crisis, of its internal conflict and indecisiveness towards whether it wants to be a moe slice of life or a post-apocalyptic horror. Even Yuki, the most promising character, was never really properly explored nor developed. Her unique "trait" ends up being just another one-hit-wonder gimmick swept along in the sea of gimmicks that makes up this show. When you boil these characters down, they're all just generic moe tropes who got shoehorned into an oh-so-dark-and-tragic setting. That's it. They don't really do anything. They don't abandon their humanity to butcher zombies nor develop baser human desires for sex nor do they betray one another nor sacrifice themselves or any of that juicy stuff. Not in Gakkou Gurashi. These boring-ass characters are only there just to bitch, cry and whine. It never feels like they're making any kind of radical or substantial decisions, nor are they plunged into any extreme scenarios that would force them to step outside their comfort zones and make decisions they would usually not make. Instead, they just act really laid-back, fucking around on top of the school rooftop like nothing's happening. At the end of the day, no matter how this show tries to fucking hide it, these characters are ultimately just cute girls doing cute things, with maybe a bit of edginess, angst, and melodrama sprinkled on top. This is not really innovative or anything. Angst and melodrama are already ubiquitous enough among slice-of-life shows. What's your excuse, Gakkou Gurashi?
Oh and btw, a certain character acted like a complete retard towards the end, causing contrived angst and melodrama to ensue.
What's worse is that all of this tension and conflict are resolved in one fell swoop through one convenient plot device. This solution wasn't really mind-blowing or anything, and the show could have done it way earlier and save the audience the anguish of sitting through 12 episodes of trashy moe and pseudo-horror clusterfuck. Up to that point, the show has been barely passable with its writing - neither too dumb nor too smart. I was willing to give the show a 6 but because of this dipshit plot development, down to a 5 you go you piece of shit.
TLDR: This show's lazy writing plays it too safe and never wants to push anything, to make anything extreme or interesting. The characters and their emotions; the plot developments; the setting - all of them are ultimately bland and pointless, not worth giving a damn about.
Art:
The art design is slightly above average, boasting a vibrant color palette but bland character design and visual style. Also, it really toned down the more gory aspects of its story, soft-censoring or completely omitting scenes showing blood and violence. In other words, the artstyle is an awkward cross between visceral and cute, neither fully embracing one nor the other. Once again, this just goes to show how half-assed Gakkou Gurashi is, with no real identity or substance to add flavor to its premise.
Sound:
The sound design is surprisingly good. Many of the background tracks are extremely creepy and manages to perfectly set the tone every time. It's a shame, though, that it's wasted on the mediocre writing.
Enjoyment:
5/10
You know what? I just had more fun typing up this review than I ever had in my 4 hours of watching this anime.
Overall:
5/10
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