Review of High School of the Dead

For all the haters out there, look at this in terms of a man's point of view. What two things do men love the most? Sex and violence. Lo and behold, we have Highschool of the Dead, plenty of almost-Hentai quality girls mixed with shotgun-toting main characters, blasting away while the camera pans crazily between cleavage and the dying undead. What MORE could a man or a teenager want? A hero and heroines (all attractive), all armed to the teeth, all fighting for their lives, and for sex. Ahh, what I see isn't a total fan-service failure, but instead a masterpiece for the testosterone-prone. Story: 8/10 Thebasic premise is this: a plague has infected Earth, one that if you happened to be bit by an infected person, you died, then reanimated into a zombie. Easy enough, right? And of course, this being "Highschool" of the dead, there are high school kids with high school level minds - at first. The story, though one may think otherwise, is pretty darn interesting. Looking past the overly distractive boobs and butt, you can actually glimpse a seriousness that isn't half bad.

Interestingly enough, there was a plot, and yes I thoroughly enjoyed it. This wasn't a typical shoot-em-up sort of anime, nor was it a "shoot one zombie then have sex for an hour." No, this actually delved much deeper into the human condition and even morality, integrity, honesty, and other lessons of life. Instead of shallowly portraying the characters as stupid, gung-ho sort of idiots that kill just for the sake of killing, the story develops in a way that each character deals with latent problems he or she doesn't realize until the zombies destroy everything they knew and cherished in their old lives.

Art: 8/10

Since I'm a guy, this may biased, but hey - who doesn't love a skinny girl with boobs bigger than her head and a waist that would make an anorexic person gag with jealously? I mean, this was obviously going for a parts of a male brain we cannot consciously control. Other than that, everything was so fluid and dynamic. The zombies were drawn so accurately it scared me - vestiges of clothing of former students and the average citizen and such. Most movies I see, zombies are clothed in raggedy old clothing, or they simply do not wear clothes. Here, it shows the gravity of the situation - your friends and relatives are zombies. Do you have the courage to pull the trigger? Not only that, but there wasn't just "night scenes" or "day scenes" - the anime covered everything in between, like early morning, late night, and early dusk - beautifully drawn colors with the sun behind and everything. It was gorgeous.

Sound: 8/10

Now, trying to ignore the moaning and groaning of that one scene (you'll know what I mean if you watch it), the sound was fantastic. The OP was so darn catchy - an instant download and hit in my book any day. The voice acting was meh, except at certain, key moments, which is why I think I rated the sound high. I didn't care too much for some of the EDs, though they changed every time, which was refreshing. The sound effects of the fighting is why the score is so high - oh my, the zombies exploding in thick ichor, the sound of the weapons, the cars and - ahh, too much gushing. Tl;dr: meh voice acting, amazing sound effects, ok OP and ED.

Character: 8/10

Ok, if it wasn't for some of the minor characters (and even some major ones!), I would've rated this top notch. The character arcs were absolutely phenomenal - I don't want to spoil too much, but of the main characters, several reveal their darkest secrets which makes the characters dynamic, and in a way, refreshing. I hate when characters remain unchanged in a series - it really irks me. Most of the characters did become dynamic - but a handful remained static. Still, overall, it was beautiful work, and the character interactions were stellar. Sigh. Ok, I know I have to mention it: Boobs and butt. There I said it. That seems to be THE way to characterize the characters: this girl has purple hair but these slender ones....

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this anime. If you do not like ecchi or fan-service, DO NOT PICK THIS UP AND PLAY. You will not just be thoroughly disappointed, but probably disgusted. This also isn't for the light-hearted; the blood and gore is excessive, and there are some innuendos in here....But generally, this was entertaining, fast-paced and engrossing all the same. The violence and cleavage (though somewhat excessive) melded pretty well, and the characters did progress somewhat, so I'm happy. But that depends. Because sometimes, you just need a good ol' baseball bat....