Review of High School of the Dead

I hope you aren't coming to this show thinking something like "well High School of the Dead, that sounds an intelligent show with a well thought out plot and deep, believable characters that go through interesting development" Still to be honest HOTD doesn't need to be intellectual, it's a zombie flick not Orson Welles. Something like this generally has just one aim. To entertain the viewer. Does it do this? Thankfully yes; now HOTD isn't going to win any prizes (I hope) for it's writing but it is certainly entertaining and that's all I think it needs to be. Characters are for the most part the typicalsort you may expect and there isn't much to say about most of them. They do their jobs well enough but those jobs could have been done just as well by a zombie. A couple do stand out though. The much hated Rei for example actually comes across as more human than most of the cast; her personality feeling more believable due to her failings and weaknesses. Her behavior isn't always commendable but it is quite realistic. For her not to have been adversely affected in the way she acts by what she has been through would have been far less credible. Yes I know Saeko is hotter (the second sexiest in the whole show and believe me that's saying something) but being sexy does not make someone a good character and she is little more than a sword with a pair of breasts. She's simply too good, appearing as less of an actual human and more of something for the audience to desire.

Easily the best character, and the reason I watched it to the end is the gun loving nerd Kouta. He's highly watch-able, funny and is worth a point all by himself. It's good to see a show that actually treats the otaku character well and like Rei he is more human than most of the cast having some actual flaws and weaknesses.

Now for the story. Well it's okay. It performs the function of giving us an excuse to see walking dead getting dismembered in various ways and that's about it. One problem is that the episodes do get rather repetitive, once you have seen one then you've seen pretty much most of what this anime has to offer. There's the obvious zombie killing, the cast trying to survive, usually trying to escape from one place to another and a bit of drama. The latter usually revolving around one of the girls.

Still a show like this doesn't need the worlds best plot and I guess that while it doesn't seem to go anywhere that's fairly realistic for the situation.

Another problem , when compared to the greats of the Zombie genre is that it doesn't really have anything much to say. Night of the Living Dead for example was a commentary of racism and civil rights movement while Day of the Dead spoke about the culture of consumerism. All this appears to have to say is that breasts jiggle. Now that's a valid point I'll admit but it's not on the same level.

Which brings me onto the fan service. For those of you who are concerned about that sort of thing you may want to give this a miss. It can go barely five minutes without flashing panties or breasts right in our faces.

Arts and animation are both of a decent degree and I have nothing to complain about in the sound either.

High School of the Dead is not a clever series or a particularly good one but if you want some brain dead (pun intended)action to pass the time it's not bad either.