がっこうぐらし!

SCHOOL-LIVE!

ANIME

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
12
RELEASE
September 24, 2015
LENGTH
24 min

DESCRIPTION

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)

CAST

Kurumi Ebisuzawa
Ari Ozawa
Yuki Takeya
Inori Minase
Miki Naoki
Rie Takahashi
Yuuri Wakasa
Mao Ichimichi
Megumi Sakura
Ai Kayano
Taroumaru
Emiri Katou
Kei Shidou
Juri Kimura
Arnault Hatonishiki
Takae Yuzumura
Yuna Yoshino
Akiko Kamiyama
Ikumi Hayama
Tsumugi Katsuragi
Makoto Furukawa
Touko Deguchi
Obaa-chan
Maki Izawa

Episodes are being prepared. Check back soon.

RELATED TO SCHOOL-LIVE!

MANGA HorrorSchool-Live!

ONA MusicTokyogurashi!

REVIEWS

Gruffle
30/100
Gakkou Gurashi had a lot going for it, and even more hype to back it up, but it's blend of moe and horror is too weak
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.
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AmishaelAL
73/100
Cute girls just trying to survive
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
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Lokyaziis
75/100
Creepy is the new Cute!! ^^ A charming zombies apocalypse.. (French Review)
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 (Scum's Wish) basé sur le manga de Norimitsu Kaihou et 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 !!
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