WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.030 --> 00:00:08.400 The most interesting thing about Gakkougurashi is how it completely undercuts the entire supposed appeal of its genre by being fucking horrifying 00:00:08.410 --> 00:00:12.240 On its surface and for most of the fake-out first episode 00:00:12.340 --> 00:00:18.989 [[Spoiler Alert]] Gakkougurashi is a show about four cute high school girls doing cute things in high school and the most insidious 00:00:19.119 --> 00:00:21.239 aspect of the show is that a lot of it is 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:24.359 exactly that. Much of the runtime pretends to 00:00:24.520 --> 00:00:29.620 innocently follow the everyday mundane school adventures of four cute little girls 00:00:29.620 --> 00:00:32.080 except that the fucking zombie apocalypse is literally happening a few 00:00:32.100 --> 00:00:37.820 meters away, and tragedy is constantly looming in the background of every single scene. Watching Gakkou Gurashi 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:39.760 had me in a constant state of 00:00:39.760 --> 00:00:46.260 unease, which is the exact opposite of how a show like this is usually meant to make me feel. Hidamari Sketch drapes a 00:00:46.360 --> 00:00:50.759 security blanket over me and lulls me into a half-awake bliss state. Gakkou Gurashi 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:56.520 can have a scene that's nearly identical to something which would happen in that show except that at any moment 00:00:56.520 --> 00:00:57.850 there's a possibility that 00:00:57.850 --> 00:01:04.680 zombies will suddenly break down the barricades and storm the clubroom or that the stupid-ass dog will run off and get eaten or everything will 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:08.580 just generally get fucked to hell. Because the series is willing to lay in with 00:01:08.650 --> 00:01:14.879 emotional gut punches sometimes these things can be expected to happen even if most of the time they won't. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:20.339 There's never a scene in Gakkougurashi that can just be taken at face value and enjoyed for what it is. 00:01:20.770 --> 00:01:26.520 Everything is tainted by this looming threat on the psyche of both the characters and the audience and it does 00:01:26.590 --> 00:01:33.630 wonders to immerse the viewer into the scenario because we know that the characters are experiencing that very same cognitive dissonance. 00:01:33.939 --> 00:01:39.899 Even the show's music, which in comedic scenes will sound playful and cheery, has this weird wonky 00:01:40.150 --> 00:01:45.539 undercurrent which almost reminds me of the clock town jingle from Majora's Mask that subtly winds towards 00:01:45.610 --> 00:01:49.200 madness as the moon comes closer and closer to decimating the town. 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:52.289 Gakkou Gurashi blew my mind with the way that it could completely 00:01:52.899 --> 00:01:57.179 Recontextualize what are otherwise some of the most banal and by the books be plots and slice-of-life anime 00:01:57.610 --> 00:02:02.909 just by surrounding them with this completely other horror scenario. No matter how convinced 00:02:02.909 --> 00:02:07.139 I was that a scene was probably going to play out normally and end in a touching moment, 00:02:07.140 --> 00:02:10.640 I still had this niggling feeling that maybe the show was about to 00:02:10.740 --> 00:02:13.540 finally pull the rug out from under me and punish my complacence. 00:02:13.820 --> 00:02:19.600 It made for an emotional roller coaster of a viewing experience and one of the most exciting things to happen to the slice-of-life 00:02:19.900 --> 00:02:21.780 genre in this decade. 00:02:21.780 --> 00:02:28.800 If this video interested you then stick around on my channel as I continue discussing the most interesting aspects of various media which I don't have much else 00:02:28.890 --> 00:02:31.350 to say about. Support me on Patreon to help keep these videos coming 00:02:31.450 --> 00:02:35.700 and to more easily follow the wellspring of content which I release across a million channels. 00:02:35.740 --> 00:02:37.919 Thanks again for watching and I'll see you in the next one.