School Days (video game)
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 and PlayStation Portable. 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 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' genitalia are pixelated in the original Japanese releases, the Western release of School Days HQ does not contain censored scenes. 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
;Makoto Itō;Kotonoha Katsura
;Sekai Saionji
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 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, 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. 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.
On March 3, 2011, 0verflow acknowledged Sekai Project, an unofficial fan translation group, who had reportedly begun localizing School Days in April 2006. Partnering with American distributor JAST USA, School Days HQ, uncensored in English, was announced for a North American release on March 11, 2011. Development instead continued into 2012, and on May 18, JAST announced that the company had begun taking pre-orders for the Collector's Edition, a bundled release of the game packaged with a keychain and mousepad. The company announced weeks later on June 1 that School Days HQ had gone gold. Following news on June 26 that the company would exhibit the game at Anime Expo 2012, JAST made an update to the June 1 announcement that School Days HQ had begun shipping. The downloadable version of the game was later released on August 6.
On May 31, 2025, 0verflow announced School Days Remaster is in development to commemorate the original game's 20th anniversary. On July 4, 2025, JAST USA announced that it will release the English and Mandarin Chinese versions of School Days Remaster.
Sales
In a national sales ranking of bishōjo games in PC News – a now-defunct Japanese online magazine – School Days premiered as the number one game sold for the second half of April 2005, the second and 17th for the first and second halves of May, the fifth and 26th for the first and second halves of June, and 27th for the first half of July. The School Days renewal edition, released a week after the previous ranking, continued to chart on behalf of the game; it ranked as the thirty-third most sold game for the second half of July, before ending as the thirty-fifth and forty-ninth for the first and second halves of August.Getchu.com, a major distributor of visual novels and domestic anime products, recorded similar sales. School Days for Windows premiered as the number one game sold for the month of its release, and seventh most for May, ranking as the number one game sold for the first half of 2005 and ninth for the year. The following year, the School Days renewal edition charted as the 20th most sold game for July 2007, dropping to thirtieth from August to October. School Days HQ ranked as the sixth most sold game for October 2010 but failed to chart thereafter.
According to Gamasutra, a video gaming news site, School Days L×H ranked first for a PlayStation 2 game sold in January 2008.