School Days is a Japanese slice-of-life eroge visual novel game developed by 0verflow, released in April 2005, for Windows.

0verflow announced work on School Days in October 2004 and marketed it by showing off the game's innovative use of animated cutscenes and voice-acting.

An animated television series, two direct-to-video (OVA) single releases and a concert film were also produced, the first of which became a precursor for an internet meme when its finale was pulled from broadcast.

School Days follows the typical visual novel gameplay format of scenes interspersed with player choice.

[6] Unlike traditional visual novels that consist of static characters with subtitled dialogue, School Days was unusual for its time in that it incorporated animation and voice-acting.

When the classroom seating plan of his class is rearranged, he meets with Sekai Saionji, an upbeat girl who becomes invested in his relationship with Kotonoha.

Updates on the development of the game were scheduled for Tuesdays and Fridays, and the company encouraged fans to attend Dream Party 2004, an upcoming anime convention at Tokyo Big Sight in Ariake, on October 11, where they made the first public showcase of the game[11] A follow-up of the venue was made on October 15.

On October 26, 0verflow posted that new information about School Days would be in the November issue of Tech Gian,[11] an adult magazine published by Enterbrain.

[12] In a November 6 development post, 0verflow announced that it was planning a public screening of new game material, but was experiencing difficulty acquiring space for it.

The company had initially chosen to have the venue in Akihabara but was unable to find a retailer willing to host it, prompting a visit to Osaka the following week.

[13] News that the game would contain music by artists such as Minami Kuribayashi, Haruko Momoi, Yozuca* and YURIA was posted on November 30, along with a release date change to February 25, 2005.

[23] That same year, on August 31,[24] Interchannel posted a link on their blog to the official website of School Days L×H, a PlayStation 2 (PS2) port in development by Guyzware,[25] that would be edited of explicit sexual content and fanservice.

[30] Customers who had purchased the original School Days would be given the opportunity to upgrade to HQ for a fee until October 11, by either mailing in their game disc or visiting stores in Akihabara, Osaka or Nagoya.

[30] On March 3, 2011, 0verflow acknowledged Sekai Project, an unofficial fan translation group, who had reportedly begun localizing School Days in April 2006.

[34] Development instead continued into 2012, and on May 18, JAST announced that the company had begun taking pre-orders for the Collector's Edition, a bundled release of the game packaged with a keychain and mousepad.

[51] The following year, the School Days renewal edition charted as the twentieth most sold game for July 2007,[52] dropping to thirtieth from August to October.

[59] Unlike its predecessor, however, Summer Days was almost universally panned for its heavily bugged state,[60] loads of patches,[61] and recall.

The game, developed by Klon, focuses on Makoto and the girls becoming trapped on a remote island and includes tower defense elements.

[65] Based on the story of the original game, School Days was reimagined as a manga, illustrated by Homare Sakazuki and serialized in the Kadokawa Shoten magazine Comp Ace from May 26, 2006[66] to September 26, 2007.

[91] Discotek Media acquired both the television series and the "Magical Heart Kokoro-chan" OVA, and released them on DVD on June 24, 2014, with English subtitles.

[92] On September 17, 2007, the day before the twelfth and final episode of the televised anime was to air on TV Kanagawa, a sixteen-year-old girl murdered her forty-five-year-old father in their Kyoto home with an axe.

[97] In the wake of the broadcast change, a screen capture of the Norwegian ferry MS Skagastøl,[98] at the time belonging to Fjord1 Fylkesbaatane, from the slideshow surfaced on 4chan alongside the caption "Nice boat.

The meme appeared as an Easter egg in the first episode of Ef: A Tale of Memories.,[102] and was parodied on February 13, 2009, when the Kadokawa Pictures YouTube channel uploaded a short montage of sailboats instead of the previously scheduled premiere of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

[104] TNK also paid homage to the meme in "Magical Heart Kokoro-chan", a special direct-to-video episode of the animated series.

The remaining twenty-eight background scores, composed by KIRIKO/HIKO Sound, were released on July 21, officially completing the game's soundtrack.

[112] Lantis followed with "School Days: Ending Theme+" on August 22, a sixteen-track disc containing all of the show's closing themes and background scores on September 26.

Featuring music by Kiriko/Hiko Sound and Kanako Ito, Hobirecords published "Little Promise" as a two-disc set, which 0verflow scheduled for release January 27, 2006.

[121] Considerable effort was made to market and promote School Days before and after its release, including the sale of brand merchandise and use of incentives.

Through public venues and through the company's online store, 0verflow sold brand keystraps, mousepads, phonecards, book covers, mugs, t-shirts,[122] dakimakura cases, PVC figures,[123] lanyards, business card holders and cosplay material such as the girls' school uniforms and plastic dōzuki.

"[129] On June 12, 2015, the Chinese Ministry of Culture listed School Days among 38 anime and manga titles banned in China.