Review of High School of the Dead

Highschool of the Dead: An overall entertaining horror anime with a strong emphasis on action and at times, an even stronger emphasis on fanservice. The plot is quite simple and never gets too complicated. Throughout the series, the story follows a group of young students and how they adjust to life when a zombie apocalypse is thrust upon them, in a new world where society begins to crumble. The first episode introduces a zombie outbreak at their Japanese highschool and from then on the plot moves at a steady pace, with the focus on survival and searching for families rather than on discovering the causeof the outbreak. Nearly every episode is heavy with action, gore, and not least fanservice; for every zombie that's shot down, there's likely to be a close-up shot of a girl's breasts, or underwear, or both. The inclusion of several battle scenes against the undead makes this anime exciting to watch for much of the time, featuring a variety of weapons from guns, melee attacks and even boobs which defy the laws of physics. The manga hasn’t finished, so the lack of a proper anime ending could mean a second season is possible.

The animation in Highschool of the Dead is good, which helps to bring out the best in the numerous and over-the-top action sequences (with characters jumping incredible distances and the undead beaten high into the air). There's plenty of blood being sprayed about as large numbers of humans and zombies are killed. The character models are sharp and varied, with each character having their own unique looks and hairstyles. Female clothes are especially given a lot of detail whenever they're soaked wet.

A lot of the background music is generally fast-paced and loud, which fits the anime well. The same can be said of the opening credits, which grows on you after each time it plays. The ending themes, sung by the same person and usually quite melancholic, changes after each episode; this provides variety and some of the songs are great at finishing an episode, but unfortunately this means they are also easily forgettable unless you have the soundtrack. The voice actors are competent and do a good job, and the dialogue is mostly decent.

There are several characters featured in Highschool of the Dead, though the number is significantly reduced if you exclude the ones who are just zombie food. The main character, Takashi, is a determined and clear-headed guy who's able to motivate and lead his fellow students effectively; clichéd, but it can’t be helped as otherwise he'd make a poor leader and they wouldn't survive long against the undead. Four other highschool students, as well as a school nurse with the largest breasts in this anime (quite an accomplishment as the majority of the females are quite busty) make up the rest of the main cast. All of them are likeable enough, with Saeko and Kouta being my personal favourites for their cool personality and comedy respectively. Thankfully there is a bit of character development for the group (except for the nurse who exists purely for fanservice), mostly in the form of how their moral views and attitudes change when survival becomes the main priority. Other characters who have extended roles in the storyline are introduced throughout the anime, including a small girl and a perverted teacher. The undead themselves act as you would expect, though a little inconsistently; at times they are quick and able to descend upon someone in seconds, whereas at other moments they are slow and easy to avoid.

At the end of the day I enjoyed watching Highschool of the Dead, though I was in no rush to make my way through it. I usually don’t mind it, but the fanservice/ecchi moments here are quite excessive, seeming at times as though it's thrown in your face (one episode features naked women and little else); luckily, I learned to appreciate this anime for what it is and not what's missing. The story is quite interesting although there aren't any real major developments, the characters are suitable enough for a show like this (didn‘t expect them to develop much in truth), and the action never slows down too much. Something that I found annoying was half an episode being used as a recap of previous events; it's a waste, seeing as how the series is only 12 episodes long and that there were enough manga chapters to animate.

I won't recommend Highschool of the Dead to all, as it definitely won't be to everyone's tastes. Those who dislike ecchi will probably hate the show, regardless of how good the action or horror elements are. Deep characterization, a multi-layered plot and memorable drama is difficult to find here. MyAnimeList advertises the genre as being action/ecchi/horror/supernatural, and the anime does these things superbly, but nothing more (except for a small amount of romance). This leads me to give credit to this series for putting its full weight behind what it does best, which I believe is better than several other anime which try to be clever but end up doing a half-ass job. Although the anime version is slightly more condensed, it’s still a pretty close adaptation of the manga. In the end, it all boils down to what you’re looking for in this anime, how much the fanservice annoys you, and how realistic your expectations actually were after reading through the synopsis. Fans of action and zombies should definitely give Highschool of the Dead a chance and judge for themselves how enjoyable it is.