Interesting concept, cliche execution. Waste of time.
The concept of banning romance at school is a long-overused trope for the sake of 'forbidden romance', but Chastity High twists it by mirroring authoritarian mechanics and surveillance control. We have seen this before in the Nuremberg Trials and in Orwell's 1984, yet CH's ten-episode story fails to develop any meaningful conclusion. Frankly, this could have been a movie and would have been the same because it is boring to see the plot go in the same direction it usually does. The trailer for the show pointed to the horror of a surveillance state in education, but in reality, multiple weeks go by in the school where no one is truly punished for their actions. The rabbit-hunters are a joke as it is only their existence which exerts fear not their actions.
Ichika is described in Netflix's synopsis as uninterested in relationships, or something along those lines, as I can't quite find the wording for it, yet she quickly falls for the school's misunderstood heartthrob. Their team-up is obvious, but also painfully done in the sense that we could have had much more depth to Ichika's character, and much more of a slow-burn! 10 episodes is far too short to develop these characters, hence why the plot panned out the way it did. The show could have gone deeper to address issues such as grooming, sexual assault, and a lack of sex education + peer pressure amongst students, but in reality, it all leads back to the headteacher's unresolved trauma stemming from her best friend's death. Ayami as a character could have been used to detail this, instead a lack of insight into her character makes her seem like the girl who falls in love easily with whoever is nearest. She doesn't even report the inappropriate relationship with Haruto and isn't encouraged to either. Moreover, the stakes didn't quite resonate with the actions. Ryogo gets off scot-free thanks to nepotism, even if he resents it, but the show doesn't do the impact of expulsion/loss of virginity justice. Moving onto to Atsushi, his entire character is an archetype, and just so flat. His initial portrayal comes off yandere-ish and yet he doesn't really do anything? The show just wanted to put in different examples of how love can ruin families without actually formalising the implications.
Finally, the fact that they spent a whole episode doing a trial? The trial itself was improper and more of a stage act, a final hurrah/battle to overcome. Ichika never blackmailed anyone and they had obvious receipts to prove it. The trial was just a way to make it all feel more "real" and terrify a teenager. At the very end of the show, the school holds a vote about whether to abolish the no-romance rule, and surprise, surprise, people still want it in action. The show is skewed towards the bias of people who believe in love, and preach about freedom and privacy and all that, but doesn't adequately explore the other side of the argument, the students who probably wanted to keep their heads down and focus on studying.
Overall, the show had decent acting, and a somewhat coherent plot to follow, but the ending does not pair well with the initial concept whatsoever. Even though this show is based on a true story, the dramatisation took away the enjoyment for me. Also, the music completely took me out. Why choose so many flamboyant Western songs that don't really pair well with the theme of the show? To appeal to a Western audience?
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