Review of High School of the Dead
Everytime I think of this title it conjures up an awful feeling in my gut. That uneasy queasiness that you get from a laughably shitty experience, which is only made worse when you realize what it contributed to the medium as a whole. Too fully grasp this feeling of comical disgust and disappointment I'll like to ask for your attention as I construct a made up story scenario. Picture this, you're in class with your fellow students but you're the only one who watches anime as a storytelling medium. Your teacher then announces that we'll have show and tell and the subject will be different formsof media. This immediately caught your attention as you thought this would be a perfect time to share what anime has to offer with your fellow peers. Your teacher says to everyone "gather up stories from different genres of the medium of your choosing and you'll present a selected story of my choosing to the class".. With that said you immediately rushed home and gather your collection. For a war epic you have your Legend of the Galactic Heroes. For thrillers you have your Death Note. For mystery you have your Monster. For action your Black Lagoon.. and the list goes on and on.
So after gathering your collection, you sit bottled up with excitement as everyone presents the genre their teacher asks for. Finally it's your turn and she turns to you and say "give us a zombie story from your selected medium".. So you frantically dig through your collection looking for the criteria..Then when you realize you ONLY have 1 title that fit that requirement your heart sinks.. And with that ladies and gentlemen I hope you can begin to understand how this dreadful title makes me feel, as we shamefully present to the World anime's only contribution to the zombie genre.
Today we're going to take a look at Highschool of the Boobs, an anime about our MC and a group of titts trying to survive a zombie apocalypse.... and also his struggle to keep his dick in his pants.
Story/All that "plot": 2/10
This is your standard fare zombie story that you've seen countless of times before. The only difference being the abundance of titts and panty shots thrown at you every 5 seconds. With that said it is the most immersion breaking show I've had the displeasure of watching. You're not sure if the show is trying to give you an adrenaline rush or a fucking boner. After a point you forget you were watching a zombie flick as it steadily becomes a harem. It's hard to build tension when hoards of zombies are eating someone while the camera focuses on a crotch shot. Don't get me wrong, fanservice is nice if it serves a purpose or don't take away from the show's overall experience. But when it's constantly bombarding you with it it's hard to care about anything when they focus more on the "plot" instead of the plot. Speaking of "plot" this story ends up going nowhere with a very anticlimactic finale that leaves many question left unanswered, it was too ambiguous for its own good. This further puts a damper on a show that's already borderline garbage.
milk jugs/Animation: 9/10
2 words: MATRIX BOOBS
I don't know if this counts as an accomplishment but the art and animation for HOTD is shamefully amazing. The cinematography is top notch and feels like you're watching a blockbuster action flick. This coupled with unique camera angles and panning shots shows that the people behind the project are well versed in their field of work. Also worth noting that Tetsuro Araki, the lead director, would later take this experience to later create the jaw dropping choreographed "spiderman" scenes in shows like Attack On Giant Naked People. Needless to say the man knows how to take regular shows and turn them into a orgy of A-grade directing. Too bad this effort is downgraded seeing that it's still all about MATRIX BOOBS.
Sound(of boobs): 5/10
Outside of the catchy opening song not much praise can be given to the soundtrack. It's simply muddled in the background and none of them really grabs your attention, they're typical tracks found accompanying thriller/action flicks . They serve their purpose but not something deserving of a stand alone listen.
The voice actors were all fine, they all fit their characters given straight fairly well. This is also a rare case where watching it dub is better since it doesn't take itself as seriously. Standouts being Mark Laskowski as Hirano for being able to switch from wimpy to sociopath at the drop of a hat and Maggie Flecknoe as Takagi for capturing the right amount of tsundere.
Characters: BOOBS(1)/10
2 guys accompanied by walking titts is basically the cast in a nutshell.
We have:
A bitch with titts
A ditz with titts
A throw-a-fit with titts
A psycho skits with titts
A loli with little bits
and of course Takashi Komuro & Kouta Hirano as the guys to lead the harem cast to safety.
I would of gone into ore detail but they're simply archetypes you've seen countless of times before and don't really count as "characters" in my humble opinion. More like fanservice with legs.
Enjoyment: 2 faps /10
I wanted to enjoy this show but everytime it proceeded to get decent it opt out to throwing titts and panty shots in my face. The contradictory tone felt too lopsided to really give a fuck and I found myself watching it only to complete it after a few episodes in. If you watch it with friends you might get a few awkward laughs but as a means of entertainment you might as well watch a Michael Bay film since that's essentially what it is.
Overall: 3/10
If you want an A-grade blockbuster budget anime with B-movie level entertainment look no further as this anime seem to have found a odd but effective balance of pulling it off. If you can get pass the insane amount of fanservice and mediocre script who knows, you might actually find something to like here. For everyone else wanting a decent zombie show don't even bother as it really boils down to a harem with zombie for flavoring.