High School of the Dead
Alternate Titles: Gakuen Mokushiroku – Highschool of the Dead
Original Japanese Release Date: July 5th, 2010
Episode Length/Run-time: 12 Episodes
Summary:
The zombie apocalypse has broken out in Tokyo and the city has been overrun. After the infection spreads to a local high school, a handful of students escape and together and fight for survival.
Review:
This is the kind of show that is going to exist forever as a classic. As maybe the first zombie anime (believe it or not) to ever come out, it presents a fairly unique concept to the viewer. Unique at least in terms of anime. So how does a zombie anime handle itself? With tons of blood, violence and holy shit, a lot of fan service. I mean this anime could have been the best hentai ever. Killing tons of zombies, then at night, huge naughty parties. You could even have zombie ra– well, never mind that. Needless to say, it’s ecchi, just look at the pic above for more on that.
Once you get past the violence, the show is character driven. The main characters are of very cliche types. There is the nerdy, fat, military junky, then theres not only the captain of the kendo club but also the spear wielding club. Then there is the bimbo nurse type. Very cliche but each and every one of the girls is oh so very hot. Let’s just say any Google search for this anime will not be safe for work.
Of course this anime is filled with black marks. First of all, I know that the fan service is just part of the show but from a critical eye, it really drags down any show and turns off a lot of people. Second, just about every aspect of it is cliche, particularily the characters and there is very little thought put into the actual storyline. Third, the ending is very inconclusive and therefore the show feels incomplete but I have a feeling a sequel is in the works.
All in all, this is a show that people aren’t going to forget and I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future, it becomes responsible for a whole line of zombie anime series. It’s full of blood, violence and perversion, so if you like that kind of thing, this is the perfect anime for you.
[starrater]