Review of High School of the Dead

"This is the way the world ends- not with a bang, but a whimper." - TS Eliot Preface: Oh, Tetsuro Araki, how you've divided anime audiences since you introduced yourself to the world with Death Note, and look where we are now! I'm going to make this plain and simple: Highschool of the Dead is boob, butt, and fanservice city. You want bouncing breasts? Check. You want upskirt shots? Check. Do The Matrix inspired scenes of fatty mammary issue jiggling and waving in slow motion like grass in the wind excite you? My friend, you have come to the right place. (Note: I'm going to rate thison both the fanservice and my regular scale)

Artwork and Animation: 9 {Fanservice: 10 Bouncing Boobs out of 10}

Some might be surprised to learn that MADhouse animated HOTD, and with it comes the excellent quality that MADhouse brings to the table. It looks great, and with Araki's eye for direction, it's a stellar show to gaze upon, in between boob shots, that is. The 3D animation is really quite good, and the standard animation is very fluid and fast. Highschool of the Dead is very cinematic, lots of sweeping camera angles, strategically (in more than one way) placed views, and lots of establishing shots. The camerawork and character details are undeniably Araki. (The creepy teacher even does the Light Yagami pen-arm swing!)

Sound and Voice Acting: 8 {Fanservice: 9 Sexy Moans out of 10}

Highschool of the Dead, much in the same vein as Panty and Stocking and Mad Bull 34 is just one of those that must be seen in English. The extra bits thrown in, the pop culture references, the strong-er language- they all really spice up the cliche ridden script. All is not lost though, Highschool of the Dead is genuinely funny- and the script is actually quite nuanced at times, at odds with the very brick-dumb zombie survival plot.

Aside from Monica Rial, the entire voice cast was new to me, which was refreshing to hear some different voices.

The music. The music in HOTD is really fantastic. The eponymous OP is one of the best I've heard in terms of fitting well with the visuals and setting the tone for the show. The various EDs are also quite great. BGM fits well with low haunting tones and riffage when appropriate.

Characters: 6 {Fanservice: 8, two boobs for each main female}

Takashi is our MC- he's accompanied by his girlfriend and spearmaster Rae, his childhood friend, genius, and whiny loudmouth Takagi, the silent strong type Saeko, fat gun-nut otaku Hirano, and ditzy fanservice machine Miss Boobs. The 5 students and Miss Boobs are fairly typical characters from a high school type show, but with a few exceptions. 1) They aren't stupid, and 2) they understand (4th WALL ALERT) how the zombie apocalypse works.

Story: 5 {Fanservice: 8, the amount of butt and boob shots in every scene}

Let's face it, in every single zombie apocalypse show you've got two routes:

Route 1 is the bullshit, pseudo-scientific garbage about some infectious disease that turns the living in to the living dead, replete with dubious explanations and factually incorrect medical jargon some writer stole from WedMD.

Route 2 is where the zombie outbreak happens for no explained reason, and needs none. Everyone knows it's fiction, who the hell cares? It's just a plot device to get some action going. (Until you get into the Walking Dead territory of lame-ass soap opera. Yeah, I went there.)

Highschool of the Dead takes Door #2, and to good effect. It let there be more fanservice and more characterization. Surprisingly, each character does get a fair amount of backstory about their past, their relationships with each other, and how that affects where they are now, and how they got there.

I'll say it begrudgingly, but HOTD does actually stray away from some of the conveniences of the ubiquitous zombie genre, and plays off some horror tropes at the same time. It didn't take the characters a whole season to figure out how to kill the walking corpses, and just as soon as it happens, they've got a plan and act on it.
Takagi is also always around to give us explanations of biology, mechanics, and answers to general knowledge/common sense questions that pop up, such as, but not limited to: "Why is the power still on?" "Why is the water still working?" "Why do our phones not work anymore?" "What is it that the zombies are actually capable of?" "What is the government doing about this, how is there still rule of law?". Small details like that show that at least some thought was put into the writing that wasn't female body measurements. Thought was also given to the world at large, outside of the tiny scope of our 6 characters. The world governments falling, imminent global thermonuclear war breakout, and even SPAAAAAAAACE!

Enjoyment: 10 {Fanservice: 10 Oversexualized Female Leads out of 10}

I'm not an ecchi man by any stretch of the imagination, I think it's typically a least common denominator way to garner views, but HOTD took it a step up. When it's not flashing its disproportionately sized anatomies at you, Highschool of the Dead is honestly just pure, dumb fun. I grinned practically the whole time, I laughed at the dialogue, (there's even a 4th wall smasher! "Why are you such a ditz?" "Oh, it's just my character!") the visuals were appropriately dark and violent, and the dang thing is just plain entertaining. I was impressed with the strong language and not pulling punches when it came to the violence, as well.

Overall: 8 {Fanservice: 9 Ultraviolent Bloody Zombie Dismemberments by Beautiful Girls}

There's not much else to say here; if you're looking for a humorous, boob filled romp through an overused horror plot trope, this one is for you my friend. Just turn your brain off for 23 minutes at a time, stuff some popcorn in your grubby face and chuckle along with it. Ignorance is bliss, right?

Recommend?

Sure, why not. Fanservice galore, mediocre plot and characters wrapped up in a snappily animated bloody action fest.

"My boobs are killing me because you used them to balance an AK-47!" -Rae
-Basically sums up the whole show.