Review of High School of the Dead
Story: The story is simplistic, but that's fine. Not every anime needs to have a deep meaning or complicated plot. High schoolers got to deal with a zombie apocalypse, you know how it is. The only thing that bogs down the story so hard is the excessive fan service. Now I'm a man who enjoys some fan service here and there, I don't think it's always distasteful, but this show tries to be serious while being extremely pervasive almost all of the time. It gets old real quick. The only thing a little interesting is the dynamic between Takashi and Rei, sort of (I'll elaboratefurther in the character section). This series had potential, but it decided to spit that potential in the face and attempted to become a car crash of a series.
Art: The art style of this series is actually not that bad. I enjoy the design of the zombies and the characters, sort of. The zombies do actually look terrifying and legit, so good job dude, but as for the characters, the art style is good, but their design is just whack! Saeko looks fine and so do the male characters and Alice, but all of the other female characters just look ridiculous. I know you're aiming for easy fan service, but it's pretty excessive to have every teenage girl to have triple D's. Just think their designs could have been better and don't get me started on the nurse's design. I wish she hadn't survived whatsoever.
Sound/Music: This is the most positive thing I can say about this series and that is the soundtrack freaking smacks. They are bippidy boppers, my guy. The voice acting is actually pretty solid too, the English dub could be better, but it's not the worst thing ever.
Character: The characters in this show are just plain boo boo butter. There is nothing compelling of them whatsoever, no charm, and I'm not even hoping for their survival. The only character I want to live is Alice because I have a soft spot for children in anime, other than that if any of the characters were to die, I wouldn't feel a thing (And you know how we treat our anime deaths around here). Remember how I mentioned the dynamic between Takashi and Rei? Well this series almost had something there, but it falls completely flat because the "romance" between the two is just forced. Their progression for development within each other just didn't sit right. When it was slow and steady, it made sense, but it tried to rush their feelings to the point of it being unnatural. Saeko's character development doesn't make sense in the slightest either. One day she's a badass killing zombies like she was waiting for this day then all of sudden becomes "weak" and fragile (At the worst time of course) then she goes back to being this badass. Now I'm cool with fragility within a character, but this was once again just way too unnatural with how and when it progressed. It abruptly interrupted the story (or lack thereof) and it had a character act out of character in order to have an obstacle. Kouta is the type of dude that plays Call of Duty and thinks it's the same as actual combat and that he can handle himself just fine; he was my favorite character growing up, but I'm positive that was projection which I am a shame of. Shizuka shouldn't be a character or shouldn't have survived. Saya is a self-proclaimed genius. Rei sucks from episode one and moving forward. Takashi is bearable, but just somewhat lacking. Alice is perfect the way she is.
Enjoyment: I enjoyed this series and all for the wrong reasons. High School of the Dead is like a car accident you see on video and don't understand how it happened, so you keep watching it over and over in order to deconstruct what the hell went wrong. I still remember the iconic scene of the bullet somehow going in between Saeko's breasts and wondering how the hell did anyone animate this seriously and didn't get fired from their job? I could watch this show over and over only because it is hotdog water sprinkled with cocaine. It's awful, but for some reason, you're addicted to it.
Overall: This show is absolutely horrible and if someone asked me for a good show to watch, I couldn't recommend this in the slightest. Now if someone asked me for a show to sit down and have a good laugh at then I will point them into this show's direction. This show was made strictly for boys at the age of 13-15, while puberty is strong. I have yet met anyone who considers this show as good in a serious way. Definitely watchable, but not for any good reason.