Kore wa Zombie desu ka? of the Dead

Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? Of the Dead!

The 2nd season of Kore wa Zombie Desu ka, starts off where they left off from the previous season. Introducing a new character, the mysterious pink, curly-haired Kris. And still following the misunderstood life of Aikawa Ayumu.

Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead, or Is this a Zombie? of the Dead, starts with no plot whatsoever. Rather it just does some character build up for each character. So the supporting cast from last season, are now sharing the spotlight with the main crew. In just ten episodes, Studio Deen fails to deliver a "full season," so ... it leaves you wanting a 3rd season. But it does have its redeeming qualities too. It has it's nice comedy that always has you laughing, and the moe. Oh my gosh, THE MOE is just too epic to describe.

If you liked Kore wa Zombie Desu ka, the first season, then I urge you to watch this.

"Till death do us apart"

Oh really? There are a lot of series these days about zombies, the walking dead, and ghosts. Just looking at this Spring Season, we have Sankarea and Dusk Maiden of Amnesia. Then, there's Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead. Death certainly doesn't do them apart. In fact, those characters are among the world of the living and they breath the same air we do.

Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? of the Dead also known as "Is This a Zombie? Of the Dead" is the sequel of the original series adapted from the manga. For those who have watched season 1, ... there was an actual storyline involving zombies, vampire ninjas, and necromancer. But in this sequel, where's the story? Of course, that's a problem especially in comedies like this these days. Whether you're an avid anime elitist or a casual fan, storyline is usually imperative to craft a series we can enjoy. If you're looking for a powerful storyline, then you're in the wrong place because in this sequel, the storyline is dead as a zombie.

Having that being said, there is quite a lot of humor every episode. Some of the common cliche are also present in the typical ecchi and harem themes ranges from the all cute adorable delusions that Ayumu have towards Eu to the brutal tsundere known as Seraphim. It's not surprise either considering there's no storyline and this is almost like a parody. It tries to make us laugh but thankfully, it succeeded somewhat; at least in most cases. Well, I wouldn't call it hilarious to the point of being labeled as blockbuster but it definitely has guts, the guts to pull off some stunts with Ayumu's "harem". Between some scenes though, there are some surprisingly heartwarming moments (especially involving our beloved necromancer) but most of these times, it's twisted into a more brutal way with bloody gags.

The plot for this sequel is technically nonexistent. Even if it had one, it would probably go straight to hell like our main character. Further more to Ayumu's screwed up life is his ways of dealing with the situations in his undead life. It seems that however it goes, it always ends up being embarrassing him to the extreme. (at least in his view anyways) Despite introducing some new characters like the butt-loving Sarasvati, the return of Kyoko, and the loli nurse Chris, the series fails to execute their part in the storyline. Did we see a true character development? Did we see them actually getting into the story? By "into", I mean storyline-wise where they play their parts besides the typical harem cliche and fan-service.

Hence, let the randomness flourish.

KoreZom of the Dead does attempt these randomness in a way that brings out the laughter from our faces and I have to admit it again, it succeeded in some ways. Whether it's the perverted actions of Ayumu during his harem scenes or the parody references, it does achieve the entertainment value. Those Eu delusions that our weak protagonist Ayumu plays and replays in his mind are entertaining and who doesn't like our beloved vampire ninja Seraphim talk trash 24/7?

Then, there's the fanservice.

For the fans, the service is delivered more than just the maid cosplay episode. Even for some of the typical "fights", there is fanservice. A clear example is the in final episode of the typical "perverted slime". For those who has tuned in High School DxD last season, you'd get a good idea. Is this really necessary? Well, for entertainment and eye candies, yes. For storyline, I'll give you a hell no.

Now, the OP song for the series is surprisingly addictive and passionate. In fact, "Passionate" by Iori Nomizi is sung in a way that delivers dialogues that is different every episode at the end. It does keep the viewers watch those delicious girls all over the screen and as well as their cute/seductive poses. Or maybe, it might spawn some envy and jealousy toward our zombie. As for the background music, it's all just so-so, not something too note worthy.

As for art, is it artistic and valuable? Considering the fact that Studio Deen is involved in this might make some fans turn their heads away. But surprisingly, it doesn't ruin the series at all. In fact, the art is artistic this time around and some of the intermissions are quite catchy. When viewed in HQ, it almost looks like a cover of a book.

KoreZom of the Dead in the end is for people who values more on entertainment than a real series. What this means is that you should probably focus on the humor that the show desperately tries to pull out of their hats rather than a decent storyline. Yes, it's true, it's damn true. If you're expecting a storyline like season 1, then you can kiss it goodbye faster than the ED song. All that is nonexistent. If perhaps that doesn't get your attention, then perhaps some cross-dressing and Eu delusions might open your eyes a bit. With a strong arsenal of humor, parody, and dynamics, this series is one of those shows that perhaps you might decide to watch after a long week of work or school. But if you're looking for some sort of intriguing story, then turn your heads away now. You came to the wrong place. All in all, KoreZom of the Dead is one of those humor series that tries to be funny and succeeded in doing so. If not anything, it's entertainment in its most cliched form and usage.

Thankfully, we have Ayumu and his harem to pay gratitude for that.

What happens when you mix a zombie, a necromancer, a vampire ninja, and a magical girl? You get this steaming pile of shit.

This is a sequel to the moderately entertaining, yet painfully average first season of the same title. The problem with the first season was that it had no idea what it was doing- It tried to be some strange mix of serious plot and comedy, yet it failed spectacularly. No, I'm not claiming that because it was a mix that it was bad- It was bad because it was just very poorly done and because it was actually really bad. Not only ... were the relevant plot elements very briefly skimmed over to make room for overdone comedy sequences which were only funny the first time, but the main conflict of the show turned out to be extremely uninteresting and generic. In the end, it delivered neither, and just ended up being a very average and generic harem show. After that mediocrity, one would expect that the sequel would be much more interesting- It could give the audience more background information regarding the world of this series, and not have rehashes of the same jokes, right?

Well, too fucking bad. Have more of the worst parts from Season 1.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS


There is practically no story. Well, there is- But there are even less relevant plot materials to work with, the pacing is even more garbage, and the villain somehow manages to be even less interesting and less relevant than the previous villain. Every episode is given some brief "foreshadowing" segments with a certain character, which seems to be this series' attempt at building up for something. That something turns out to be an unrewarding episode of sudden exposition dump eight episodes into the series, and the villain turning out to be a character the audience has seen for few minutes every other episode or so. The villain spouts out some uninteresting monologue that audience would've cared about if the series did a better job in getting the audience to care about the characters or plot at all. Also, nobody ever really "dies" in this series, so there really isn't anything threatening or 'climactic' about this at all. It's just there for the sake of trying to have a plot, and nothing else. Even the last few episodes didn't do anything- Was there a conflict? Sure. Did that conflict ever become something more relevant than a Saturday morning cartoon villain threat? No. Overall, none of these plot elements that were supposed to be relevant turned out to be relevant at all, leading the audience to question why they were introduced in the first place. At least make the jokes funnier than the typical MC is a pervert gag routine, which isn't even really a joke, but more of an excuse to show more 2D tits under the premise of a joke.

The art style is pretty bland and the animation is nothing spectacular, since it's a DEEN show. Though to be fair, I didn't expect much in the first place- And I don't think anyone would've either. I mean, it's fucking DEEN. I guess the OP sequence is quite misleading as to showing how much effort actually went into the animation, though.

Despite a lot of mediocre shows having average to pretty nice music, this is not the case here- The soundtrack in this show is dreadful. While it would be silly to judge a show based solely on the soundtrack, I think this needs to be pointed out. Most of the tracks sound pretty much exactly the fucking same, and obviously there's no effort put into any of them. Nearly none of them feel appropriate for the scenes they're played in, and since the show shifts the mood way too frequently, even the track is appropriate on one rare occasion, it doesn't stick for very long.

And the characters are definitely the worst part. The characters are barely given any depth outside of the cliches they established themselves into during the first season- Meaning, these characters do not develop in any shape or form. While I'm not really looking for some masterful character development from shows like these, there literally is none. Seraphim keeps saying vulgar words to the MC because that's totally hilarious, and stopped being funny since her introduction episode in the first season. Eucliwood still does her overdone VA gag and Ayumu following it up with fantasizing about it. Haruna is that generic tsundere, Yuki is that character that wants Ayumu's dick, and Sarasvati is that character that wants Ayumu's butt. Hey look, I just dumped every single gag this show utilizes. So brilliant.

This also leads to one of the worst character destruction I've seen in a series- Kyouko, a character that had some semblance of plot relevancy as the direct murderer of Ayumu, which would then lead up to the events that began the entire fucking series, becomes a trashy harem fodder. Despite this character being pretty threatening in the first season, and making people believe she would play a similar role in this season with the opening, she was instantly written n the last five minutes of the episode where she was reintroduced to love Ayumu. She was misunderstood all along! Flawless. Why even try, right? Of course, it turns out to be even more of a baffling writing direction since this character actually stops being relevant canonically since she gets thrown into the prison and is never shown again. Strip the character of all their dignity and quality and kick them out of the series permanently. Nice. Glad you were part of the show. Never show your face again please.

This series is very confused. Clearly the series' biggest problem is that it tries too hard to pander to the terrible part of the audience- And it ultimately turns out to be forgettable, even for those that it's pandering to. From the perspective of fans that only look for fanservice in a show like this, once they're done watching the show and finished caressing themselves gently over it, they're more than likely to just forget about the show completely and move to a different series with the same trashy material. Meanwhile, people who would otherwise like the series because of its unique and catchy premise have been annoyed by all the pandering are going to forget because this show is just bad due to its lack of focus. Why not just stick with one audience? Why introduce serious plot to begin with?

Ok, so let's pretend this show didn't have any serious plot- Would it be good? No. While comedy may be very much subjective, when that something is overdone, then it's objectively stale by definition. And when comedy is stale, then you're doing an awful fucking job. Just because this might be a fanservice focused show doesn't mean it has to be bad. No one should try to justify a show's shortcomings by artificially lowering their standards based on its genre because that's stupid. Just like this show.