Review of High School of the Dead

For the sake of this review, let's ask ourselves: does HOTD succeed in what it sets out to do? The answer is right in your face the whole time. That answer being YES! Highschool of the dead (or HOTD for short) is a 12 episode anime zombie romp with massive amounts of "plot" and unrealistic balls to-the-wall action. Pretty simple and straightforward. (Let it be known that I have a few things to say about the fanservice, so keep reading, cuz I saved it that topic for last) You'd expect a zombie-centric to be pretty done-to-death at this point. Under any circumstance, it would be. There's very little leftthat can be done with zombie media, and HOTD proved to me that there is at least a little bit left to do.

I'd never seen a zombie-centric anime before, and HOTD was a huge breath of fresh air after seeing so many series that take themselves very seriously. The story itself is your average zombie fare. A colorful cast of survivors band together to survive the zombie onslaught. There is no way someone would write a show to be taken seriously with that lazy of a premise. It is as clear as the sky is blue that the story is not meant to be taken seriously and is actually quite self aware in some places.

There really isn't much to say about the story honestly. It's a generic zombie romp whose only saving grace is that fact that it's animated, and also not to be taken seriously. Regardless of how lazy the premise is, the premise WORKS; which is why you see it so often in zombie media.

Though the HOTD cast is a rather cookie-cutter one, it manages to build character much in the same way as Akame ga Kill did. In other words, we have a cast of characters who do not become richly developed or possess complex personalities, but what they lack in depth, they make up for in charisma.

You can easily remember the names and faces of the HOTD cast, not because they are richly developed or some shit like something out of evangelion, but because they are simple and fun characters who dress to impress and spout out cool one-liners in the midst of Zombie Killing. Sounds pretty standard, but it's HOTD, so wtf do you want? Shakespeare?

In other words, the writers did a good job with these characters. Except for Blondey Tits McGee, they could have made her a bit more useful.

Takagi, the smart-ass girl with the pink twin tails, and the calm and collected Saeko are easily the most fun characters in HOTD, and I personally think that HOTD would've been slightly better in the character department if they focused on these two a bit more.

What i find to be the best thing about this series is the artwork and animation. They are both equally great. Seeing as HOTD is style over substance, this is to be expected. The action is addictive and executed with a level of "HELL YEAH!" that can be rather impressive to be honest. The animation everywhere else is as smooth as you'd expect from this studio. There are quite a few scenes of dialogue that would have more movement in them then what I am used to (still frames with moving mouths).

The slow-mo and CGI is actually not that bad. Normally CG in anime really screws up the immersion and can ultimately look jarring But in the case of HOTD, it is only used when needed, which is pretty rarely. It is used to augment the action scenes and a bit of the cinematography in some places. It's pretty sparingly used when taking into account how gratuitous CG that is in most anime these days.

Dub or Sub? Considering the nature of HOTD, the dub is the right way to go. The Japanese version just doesn't have the same level of dialogue that the dubbing has. While it's been argued that the Japanese acting is better than the dub acting, you have to remember thst acting isn't everything. The dub simply has more charm and appeal because the dialogue is littered with profanity and references to western pop culture; and I think that trumps acting.

The OST for HOTD is not as stand out as other anime. But the Ost does a serviceable job at what it is meant to do, which is augment the action and dramatic scenes. It has interesting blend of Techno that works surprisingly well all things considered.
Can you listen to it on its own? Uh sure, if you want, you can. But it doesn't have a distinct style to it that is easily identifable.

The opening theme and ending themes to HOTD are varied and fun to listen to on their own, depending on your taste in music. The opening especially stand out because of its distinct sound and visuals.

NOW ITS TIME TO TALK ABOUT THE "PLOT"
Since HOTD is considered an Ecchi, I do factor fanservice quality into my score.

It is finally time to address the elephant in the room: the fanservice. Many a reviewer on the internet has cried afoul at the pervasive fanservice that permeates the entire 12 episode run. Honestly, I don't get what is sooooooooooooo horrendous about HOTD's sexual content. Anyone who has read the manga HOTD was adapted from would know how much of it there is. HOTD is an anime with little personality besides being a zombie anime with a B-movie slantern of self awareness. This is where I think the fanservice fulfills a certain purpose.

This series would likely not leave as large of an impression on the average audience member if it was just zombie action and nothing else. But because of its often in-your-face and out-of-place fanservice, I probably would never even have heard of this series. The fanservice is a part of HOTD's charm in my opinion. And it only serves to further cement my opinion when I found out how much fanservice is in the source material.

Let's just say it's a pretty faithful adaption.

I think people tend to give HOTD too much of a hard time about its fanservice. I respect that HOTD has no shame, and is not afraid to back away from putting fanservice right next to blood and gore. It's the kind of "absurd" that I respect. All in all, I could not imagine HOTD without the fanservice.

Highschool of the Dead knows exactly what it is, and knowingly stands loud and proud, more than willing to proclaim its nature to the world with no shame. In other words, HOTD has balls of steel. It's not spontaneous either. The show is like this by design. And I don't think it's very grown up of people to complain about sexual content in a sexual show from an inherently sexual genre.

I give HOTD an 8/10