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ANIME REVIEW: GAKKOU GURASHI

Gakkou Gurashi is a slice of life, horror anime from studio Lerche and is based off of a manga with the same name. It follows four highschool girls Yuki, Miki, Kurumi, and Yuuri who along with their teacher, Sakura, are members of the School Living club which, as the name suggests, is a club whose members live in the school and are not allowed to leave the school grounds. Yuki absolutely loves the school and the club but is unaware of the harsh reality behind its creation.

So, slice of life and horror, these are two genres which are pretty difficult to combine and thus tend to result in disappointments but at the same time, if executed well, can make a show highly entertaining. Thankfully in this case the genres are combined pretty well, the plot is unique and no matter how ridiculous it may seem at first glance, it works. The plot develops into a really enjoyable and immersive story, the slick animations and pleasant background score ensure a good time for the viewers. But the thing that makes the show stand out the most is its characters, all of the main characters have a certain depth to them and are developed to a great extent throughout the 12 episodes, and as you all know, I love to see good character development and fortunately Gakkou Gurashi delivered on that front. There are also some good plot twists and emotionally impactful moments which add a nice suspense factor to the show.

Alright, so those were all the positives of the anime but it also has its fair share of negatives. The major one being its writing, it is not the worst but it is not the best either, there are a good number of scenes which could have been written in a more coherent manner. It was average, and average writing in a  good show does take a lot away from it. 

Now, I mentioned that the show combines the slice of life and horror genre pretty well but still there are times when this combination feels weird and outright stupid. This is because there are moments where the anime shifts between the two genres within seconds. And this constant and sudden switching can end up being a pain for some.

There are times when you are really invested and immersed in the story but then, suddenly, out of nowhere the characters start kidding around for no reason whatsoever. So, for anyone who wants a through and through thriller show or who cannot stand slice of life elements, it might be better for you to skip this one.

As far as the manga is concerned, it is still going on and I have heard that the anime slightly deviates from it. A lot of people have told me that the manga is pretty good as well and I myself really want to know how the story progresses so I will most probably give it a read too. If you wish to do the same, then all volumes of the manga are available on amazon. Here is the link to the first volume -Gakkou Gurashi (School-Live) Volume 1. And yes, this is an amazon affiliate link, so if you do decide to buy the manga through this link then I would receive a cut from its sale, so you will be supporting me in the process of your purchase as well.

So, in conclusion, Gakkou Gurashi is something that I  recommend watching if you don't mind slice of life elements in a horror story; if you feel that they will become a hindrance to the story and might prevent you from enjoying a good show then you might as well skip this one. But still, I recommend everyone to at least watch a couple episodes before deciding whether this is something that you should watch or not.

Thank you everyone for reading , subscribe to the blog or follow me on twitter @allaboutanimee for updates on whatever I publish in the future. Share the blog if possible and have a nice day.

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