Review of High School of the Dead

7.7/10 The story was excellent. The main characters were quickly introduced, and the action, a.k.a the problem, was shown very early in the anime. The plot was very gripping, with lots of fan service. But I personally think it was too much because they tried to add it in any way possible, especially during the action sequences. The horror part of the anime might be quite scary to a young viewer, but it adds in to the story. You see some characters die off quickly (FYI not a spoiler because I don't say who, and it happens right in the beginning) and it was very goodto watch as the group of high school kids had to fight right at the beginning. It was a very action oriented anime, so there was rarely a dull moment.

The art was great. I really liked how they drew each individual character, as well as the zombies. Each character had their art style, making it more easy to remember their faces, as well as their own "trademark" such as a sword, a gun, a spear, glasses, and so on. The artists also drew guns very well. The guns were drawn well in SAO, but HOTD drew them more realistically and it felt more real because there was a huge recoil when the characters shot them, unlike when guns were shot in GGO. Anything found in real life was drawn exceptionally well, such as helicopters, motorcycles, and bridges. In the action scenes, the artwork was clear and sharp. It is high quality animation.

The opening is quite good, and they change the ending song very often. The opening is filled with vivid colors and the synchronization of the pictures/frames were timed really well. It starts off slow, but then increases its speed, while giving plenty of fan service. For the ending, it was just a bulletin board filled with pictures of the characters enjoying themselves. It was a good moment to unwind with because the songs were usually more mellow. It can be a bad thing, though, because after an action filled episode, when it suddenly goes to a mellow song, it can kind of ruin the mood. However, the graphics were great, with the creators changing the first photo depending on where the characters were, or where the story has ended.

The character development starts immediately, with them changing from average high school kids to zombie killers in a matter of episodes. They also reveal parts of their past as well as their parents' occupations and in Hirano's case, his grandparents as well (which incorporated some good comedy). I enjoyed watching the characters split up every once in a while, as well, because it reveals more and more about them. My only complaint about them was that 4 out of the 6 were really annoying. Hirano and Saeko were really good characters, but Takashi was, in my opinion, useless and was just there to give a decent pep talk. The nurse, just, *sighs and face palms* she doesn't heal anyone from what I've seen, so she's pretty damn useless. There's Takagi, who has such a bad personality that I want her to be eaten by "them" And Rei...she just needs a man but she's really needy. I'm not a fan of those.

I quite enjoyed it. I was reluctant at first because I'm not a big fan of female fan service (I'm a girl) but I really enjoyed watching it. The action scenes were fast paced, some lives were lost, noble moments, and vulgar moments, it all came together into a great action and horror anime.