Uncertainty and Ever Present Sadness in “School Live!”
I guess my recent topics are about shows I haven’t finished yet. But today, I’m going to write about “School Live!,” a show I am eight episodes in (out of twelve). However, I feel this initial reaction kind of response to a show is generally what it wishes to accomplish, foster talk about it will encourage others to try it out.
The first thing to address, when talking about “School Live!” is the first episode. With little hints throughout and a number of visual encouragements, the first episode turns the expectations of the viewer upside down--kind of. So far, the first episode has proved to be the highlight of the series and an absolutely phenomenal opening to an overall slightly above mediocre show. The first episode attempts to change the atmosphere of the show in one swift motion, but to do this a few things are sacrificed.
Now, the big twist at the end of the first episode tells us that not everything is as it seems. This places inside of the viewer the attitude of a skeptic so that it is quite easy to tell that Megu-nee is not real, despite the fact everyone seems to talk to her. This uncertainty makes every visual skeptical to the question, “is this real or is it Yuki’s imagination?” We are given a cute moe show taking place in a depressing world.
To have such a stellar first episode, two things had to be sacrificed. The first of these is how the art style does not always match many of the more potent scenes which become a hindrance to the emotional levity thereof. The second of these is that time becomes distorted. After the first episode, we are drawn into a number of flashbacks concerning characters that are both living or dead so that when the story resumes its pace it is hard to tell at what point in time these events in the present are happening. Do they happen right before or are they after the events in the first episode? Does it matter? We are left with questions that the creators may have wished to cause uncertainty but fail in that regard and leave the viewer simply with confusion.
As stated above the art style has evident drawbacks, but there are some things that make this artistic style perfect for the show. Let’s talk about moe art styles. The typical moe show is plastered with the generalization of “cute girls doing cute things” and, although rarely true, holds up in a loose interpretation. The character designs accentuate those expectations; cute girl with the funny hat, cute girl who reads, cute girl who is actually scary, cute girl who carries a shovel around and cute teacher who look like she’s twelve. In fact, Megu-nee, the teacher, resembles one of the “Lucky Star” adults to a T (for the life of me I can’t remember who in that show she reminds me of). This moe style is always attributed to a happy go lucky atmosphere and a general relaxation.
What is interesting to me is that this constant happy feel contrasts the general atmosphere of the show so completely that I can’t get invested with individual events, a good example would be the flashback to Megu-nee’s death. However, what is quite intriguing to me is that throughout the show I find myself smiling less and less. The show is adorable and that is absolutely sad. Yuki’s hallucination become more and more potent the longer the show continues and her cute moe tendencies become irrepressibly sad. It’s not fun to smile at someone who doesn’t realize that she could die if she makes one wrong step, especially, not a character this cute. So the cuter she and her friend's act, the sadder the viewing experience becomes.
Saying all this, I have tried not to give anything too big away and encourage any and all to give the first episode of this show a try it’s a really interesting concept and the show in and of itself so far has been enjoyable.
