Anime Recommendation and Suggestion Query

[Ryllharu]

... I think the guys above are going a bit to old school with the recommendations. I'll stick to some more recent stuff and agree with the above were noted.

Series widely available in 2001 (and very much so available in DVD rip batches today) and forward are too old school? We're lucky I didn't go back to the 1990s more extensively.

That aside, while I would go after certain series on your list are I would most definitely consider not "must-see," you caught me on Moyashimon. I can't believe I forgot that one.

However...

P.S. Romance like School Days Kinda.
Well you won't find a exact match but there are a few very twisted Harem/romance anime's that have come out post school days. These are not must watch animies for the most part just on topic for your second question.

H2O Footprints in the Sand: Expect mach truck sized plot holes and WTF moments but its a rather dark natured harem anime. (please note this is down here because its not a great anime like the other its just got some things in common with school days and is watchable if not messed up)

Shuffle: This one is a very light hearted Harem that has dark undertones. Its not like the "nice boat" ending in school days but its a Harem with a conclusion that I really liked.

Myself Yourself: Another twisted Harem anime this one is fairly close to how screwed up school days was so you might find yourself liking it.

Ef a tale of Memories/Melodies: Very twisted and artistic portrayals of screwed up people getting together and working their way through some serious problems.

Kanon(2006)/Clannad: These I'd consider must watch anime. They are a mix of Comedy and Drama and have significant highs and lows of both. They are both from the same studio and have some similarities but are overall very different and both are well worth watching. Note Kanon has 2 versions you want the 24 episode series from 2006 not the 13 or so episode OVA from 2004.

Kanon (2004) was not an OVA, it was broadcast just the same. Toei only started doing movies/OVAs of the KEY-authored series after KyoAni got the rights to produce AIR. A technicality, but I figured I'd point that out.

I have to say your definition of "twisted" is a great deal tamer than my own.

Myself;Yourself doesn't belong on this list for one reason. It was aired the season right after School Days, so all of us watchers of School Days (MFauli included) had great expectations for this series, that promised a similarly dark side to it. HUGE letdown. There was simply no depth to any of the characters the same way that School Days or even Shuffle! had. We had lame character archetypes like cheerful girl becomes quiet possibly traumatized, shallow step mother (who I had hoped had more depth to her, sadly did not). Myself;Yourself seemed like a series that continually hinted there was a lot of backstory or a great deal of depth behind it (it was marketed that way as well), but there was really nothing at all beneath the surface.
(Plus I knew MFauli had watched it, and yes, sometimes I do check for responses in series threads when I recommend them.)

I am also surprised that anyone who made it all the way through H2O would recommend it to anyone, at all, no matter the similarities to the request. You did point out reservations though.

Shuffle! I think is a bit too light hearted to compare to School Days, but it does have an arc or two that fit the bill.

Kanon and Clannad however, lack a lot of the mental and psychological interplay that School Days has.

All good series mind you (except Myself;Yourself and H2O), but MFauli is really picky when it comes to School Days series (as we all are), and I don't think most of them are a decent comparison to the depth of character development in School Days.

[DDBen]

Kanon (2004) was not an OVA, it was broadcast just the same. Toei only started doing movies/OVAs of the KEY-authored series after KyoAni got the rights to produce AIR. A technicality, but I figured I'd point that out.

your right of course the animation in Kanon 04 is way to crappy to be OVA anyway. Doesn't change much though anyone looking to watch Kanon should stick to the 06 version.

I have to say your definition of "twisted" is a great deal tamer than my own.

Myself;Yourself doesn't belong on this list for one reason. It was aired the season right after School Days, so all of us watchers of School Days (MFauli included) had great expectations for this series, that promised a similarly dark side to it. HUGE letdown. There was simply no depth to any of the characters the same way that School Days or even Shuffle! had. We had lame character archetypes like cheerful girl becomes quiet possibly traumatized, shallow step mother (who I had hoped had more depth to her, sadly did not). Myself;Yourself seemed like a series that continually hinted there was a lot of backstory or a great deal of depth behind it (it was marketed that way as well), but there was really nothing at all beneath the surface.
(Plus I knew MFauli had watched it, and yes, sometimes I do check for responses in series threads when I recommend them.)

Thing is Myself Yourself and really anything post and at the end of School days was greatly hindered by certain axe murderers. He asked for recent series somewhat like School days I maintain its along the same vein though clearly not as good. Then again nothing is identical to School days and your arguments seem to be they should be. I can say the same thing about True Tears which is a good series but by no means like school days and something I find about equally as far away as Myself Yourself.

I am also surprised that anyone who made it all the way through H2O would recommend it to anyone, at all, no matter the similarities to the request. You did point out reservations though.

I only pointed it out because it has a "nice boat" like moment. Honestly it was pretty bad as a series the very ending was especially terrible and many of the plot twists were just confusing and not what I'd call good. Still the darker aspects of it were pretty dark and you do have school day like moments of liking and hating characters as they change during the series so I felt it was worth mentioning. Also note that this is one of the few series at least recent ones I can think of where you actually really despise the male lead at times in a degree that I could equate to school days.

Shuffle! I think is a bit too light hearted to compare to School Days, but it does have an arc or two that fit the bill.

Kanon and Clannad however, lack a lot of the mental and psychological interplay that School Days has.[/QUOTE]

I actually think all of these are very similar. All 3 start off fairly light hearted and funny. The thing is as stuff develops there are some very dark points in the series. A big difference though is the main lead as in most series tends to make things better for the various girls while in school days its just taking advantage of them and making everything much worse. Thing is above he said romance anime "like" school days. Short of an exact match, which I can't think of anything that would qualify, I think these have a general mix of light and dark sections that match up pretty well. Kanon in particular has some extremely dark points that will really mess with your emotions.

All good series mind you (except Myself;Yourself and H2O), but MFauli is really picky when it comes to School Days series (as we all are), and I don't think most of them are a decent comparison to the depth of character development in School Days.

Fair enough I don't lurk in this section enough to know anyone's exact taste. I also agree School days had a much deeper and darker level of character development then most series. I was just giving a few options that might work based on some newer stuff. It just seems our way of comparing series as being "like school days" is different. You feel its based purely on a level of character development and I based mine on somewhat dark Romantic series. I would argue your recommendations of True Tears and certainly Chaos head are at least equally as far off as any of mine. Saikano on the other hand I've never seen so I can't comment on it.

[Ryllharu]

Saikano on the other hand I've never seen so I can't comment on it.

Then I highly recommend it!

[shinta|hikari]

That is probably the shortest post you have ever placed on this thread. It actually caught me off guard and made me wonder if someone else used your account and made that post.