LogFAQs > #969795133

2. School-Live
https://myanimelist.net/anime/24765/Gakkougurashi
Summer 2015 (12 episodes)
My Score: 10/10, MAL Score: 7.62/10
Best Character: Takeya Yuki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xaa7vSav-E

My Yuki figure: https://imgur.com/k7oaw2y

Premise: Takeya Yuki is part of a club where the students live inside the school! Alongside three other girls, a supervising teacher, and a cute dog named Taromarou, each day is filled with fun... but there might be another reason why they aren't allowed to go outside.

The Good: School-Live is... well, before I talk about it, I want to warn that this has a twist. It starts off looking like a typical cute girls slice-of-life, but theres a great moment at the end of the first episode where they reveal what kind of anime this actually is. It's the first video in my Yuki write-up. I hate to spoil it. I won't be able to talk about anything else otherwise, though, so here we go.

School-Live is a horror anime about zombies. It also manages to still be a cute girls slice-of-life. Yuki, who is easily my favorite anime character ever, was psychologically broken by the zombie apocalypse. The only way she could make it through was by convincing herself that everything was normal. Her fractured mind sees regular classrooms filled with normal students. In reality, she's surrounded by broken furniture covered in bloodstains, and she's talking to herself. The School Living Club rule about staying inside is part of the delusion, so that she doesn't wander out into the zombies scratching at their barricades. Yuki is still a genuinely friendly and energetic girl, but a lot of her actions are really off-putting.

The one who has the biggest problem with it is Miki, a younger student who thinks Yuki should face reality. Kurumi and especially the "club president" Yuuri, however, have come to rely on Yuki to stay sane. As long as she pretends everything is normal, they can too, at least a little bit. There's also their teacher, Megu-nee, who wants to keep everyone safe, and a cute dog they all rescued. Thanks to Yuki's delusions, they live each day as best they can while also trying to survive against the zombies that are slowly forming a horde outside. I loved the blend of cute girl antics contrasted with the seriousness of their situation. The things the girls did to have fun, in addition to being genuinely cute and funny, felt so much more meaningful because of what they were hiding from. Yuki was also a fascinating character.

The Bad: This is another anime that ended after one season. I'd have loved to get more. Still, it ended at what felt like the perfect spot, so I dont mind as much. Otherwise, I thought it was perfect.

Overall: School-Live is my favorite anime in what's easily my favorite mashup of genres, "cute girls with deeper themes". It's a solid cute girls slice-of-life, for one thing. An anime about these same characters in the School Living Club would've still ranked very high even without a twist. Still, the zombies, and Yuki's mind shattering as a result, are what propelled School-Live into my all-time favorites. The dire situation made anything the girls did feel so much more meaningful. Yuki is also my favorite anime character. Basically, everything School-Live did was amazing, and I loved it a lot.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/4/1/AAcDcBAAD711.jpg

CHARACTER: Takeya Yuki (School-Live)
https://myanimelist.net/character/94189/Yuki_Takeya
Voiced by: Minase Inori
TOP 100 RANK: 1st

SPOILERS FOR SCHOOL-LIVE

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSAuF2th7es
ANOTHER ONE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM3t6_9N0cE

I already talked a lot in the anime write-up about Yuki's delusions. The zombie apocalypse broke her mentally, and the only way she could keep moving forward was by genuinely pretending that everything was normal. They lived at the school as part of a club, not because they're trapped by flesh-eating monsters. I mentioned before in earlier character write-ups that I love examining different sides of characters. I love time travel stories or alternate dimensions where we can see different versions of the same character, or amnesia where we can see their core personality. In a way, Yuki has all of those things, and that's why I find her so fascinating.

In one flashback, we get to see normal Yuki. And she's... different. She seems sullen, lonely, almost depressed. Her classmates whisper about her, making fun of her hat. Then zombies attack, and Yuki is one of the few survivors led by Megu-nee in clearing and barricading the school. Yuki holds it together, at least until Megu-nee dies. That is what actually breaks her. The second video I linked is another great moment. It's when we realize that the Megu-nee we've been seeing so far is another aspect of Yuki's delusions. All those jokes about how she has no presence or gets no respect take on a much darker light, knowing that.

That adds a whole other layer to Yuki's character, though, and I love it so much. While Yuki thinks everything is normal, the delusional Megu-nee is the part of her that knows the truth. When they go on a test of courage (actually to loot the school store) and run across a zombie, the fake Megu-nee grabs Yuki and keeps her quiet. There are just so many interesting layers to her psychosis. There are also times where Yuki herself is oddly forward-thinking for someone who isn't supposed to know what's going on. She's the one who suggests and justifies their field trip to the mall when their supplies were running low. Some part of Yuki is watching and paying attention. She just prefers to live in make-believe. And, hey, can you blame her?

Another reason why I love Yuki is the same reason the others love her. She helps keep them sane. A lot of the fun things they did were because of Yuki. In her delusions, she isnt her old depressed self. She's happy and friendly, like an idealized version of herself. If the situation ever became too much, the others could just look to Yuki and see someone who still has hope and is genuinely cheerful. I think that mattered a lot, but Miki was still right when she argued that it wasnt healthy. It's a painful process, but Yuki does eventually emerge from her delusions, and everyone is better for it.

I love the evolving opening credits in School-Live. It starts cute and normal, but it darkens considerably by the end. It adds zombies, gets rid of Miki's friend, switches to Megu-nee's grave, and then to her as a zombie. In the last few, the sky is blood red and they've even lost Taroumaru. Kurumi gets bit, and the school is overrun. They make it through, thankfully, but then there's a final gut-punch when Taroumaru dies. However, unlike before, Yuki doesn't turn away from reality. She moves on into the unknown with her friends. She's still a cheerful, energetic, friendly girl, one who can support them and keep them sane, but she won't live in delusions anymore. She had a wonderful character arc.

I want to talk about one last thing that really got to me. One activity the girls did was sending off messages tied to balloons. At the very end of the show, we see someone find one. Imagine that's you. It's the zombie apocalypse, you're wandering around just trying to survive, and then you find a note. You turn it over, likely expecting a cry for help. Instead, you find a cute drawing of four girls and a dog that says "We are happy", probably the last thing you'd ever expect. But, those girls truly were happy, and it was thanks to Yuki.