Sankarea

[Spoiler Free]
Pervert pumpered character who likes dead girls and keeps filming his girlfriend with his camera. It's just too annoying to watch.

Plus there's that cliche of a childhood friend (girl) who takes care of him and secretly loves him. I honestly can't remember how many times I've seen it. It's like watching the same anime over and over with different title each time.

If what you actually have no problem what I've said about this anime then you might actually like it. This is just a personal opinion.

It never cross my mind to watch a romance anime that involve dead people(to be precise , zombies) . However , due to some people that suggested Sankarea to me , i just got to give this one a shot and it did a good job capturing my interest . But , some good anime are bound to have a flaw and Sankarea are one of them . There aren't much flaw in it but a flaw is still a flaw .

Story:7
The reason why it have my interest is because of the story plot it self . Its perfect . Not too perfect because some ... episode just make my interest keep getting lost and some just make me want to watch more . I guess it have its on way on getting people interest .

Art:9
The arts are good . Nothing bad and all . Its one of those anime that can capture your attention with its beautiful arts .

Sound:10
Yes for the first time in my life , i gave a rating a 10/10 . The sound are good including the voice actor . I never bother to listen to any anime opening theme song if its not good but Sankarea did make me listen to it and i love it . Don't forget about the ending theme song too . Either way , it deserve 10/10 from me .

Character:8
Not much to say about the character because every character does have its charm(don't know why but Rea father also have its charm in a creepy way i guess) . Put that aside , i just love Rea because she is the type of person that can make you say "Kawaii!!!!" or something like that . I can only give it an 8 rating because it missing something that i don't know how to describe .

Enjoyment:8
Sometimes it make me wanting to watch more and sometimes it just make me think to myself , lets stop for now . Either way , i enjoy the rest of episode just fine but there are some that didn't capture my interest .

Overall:8
Well i can say that Sankarea did a good job on making me wanting more because i still want more than just 12 episode . But , i can only hope that there is gonna be more in the near future .

I give a very positive review of this series even though I have only watched 3 episodes. I want to keep it short. Since I will come back later to write a longer review.

The most unique thing is the story- a relationship/romance between a zombie and human.
Movies that adopted this plot existed before but I don't believe any anime has done this.

Equally splendid plot is that the girl Sanka actually chose to become a zombie to liberate herself from the patriarchal control of her hypocritical father. The idea that being undead as a liberation from the reality is definitely not new as ... you can find examples in many zombie movies.But this vision is still fairly non-mainstream and radical in a sense.

Okay the first thing that grabbed my attention was the Ecchi factor...Duh!! Kidding. Anyway, its the plot that is so unique...remember the movie "Warm Bodies... The appeal is somewhat simillar. I mean everyone love zombies desho? The story is basically about a guy who is a zombie freak and dreams of having a zombie girlfriend...guess what, somehow his dream comes true and a painful journey of avoiding her body from decaying starts. That was really a very very very (please mind the stress i am paying here) breif description of the plot.

The presentation of the anime is good, though the background scores suck. The love ... story is somewhat unique (zombies yeah ZOMBIES).

There isn't much that i would praise about the anime. Lets get it straightforward..if u are interested after reading the plot then i suggest u watch it. Dont worry about the ecchi, its nothing over the top.
So basically thats it. Got time for some zombie love? Go for it.

P.S- The anime is not complete. After u are done with the anime, read the manga, just continue from where the anime left. The manga is complete and the ending is really really sweet. KIIIIIYYYYAAAAAAAAAH!!

Ja mata ne!!

*Spoiler free*

You're welcome!

I really wanted to enjoy this anime to the fullest and even though I don't usually watch ecchi anime, I really thought I would enjoy this more than I did. The ecchi theme was NOT the core problem though! You will get what I mean soon enough. Also, I have not read the manga yet and won't take it into consideration at all in this review.

Okay, sorry but I won't write this traditionally as I think it will only take up space and waste your valuble time. I liked the story, art and sound with no major flaws that would hurt enjoyment or ... the overall score. The thing that DID though, is mainly the character called Ranko Saouji. I don't want to start a flame-war, but this character should have been excluded from the series and I will now tell you why.

She has no depth and is only seen as an obstacle more than anything else. She takes up all too much space that would have made room for the actual story to progress. And can you guess what... she is the embodiment of fan-service in this anime and shows no purpose besides flashing her tits in your (and the MP's) face. The ecchi scenes were fine. Her? No. This may sound offensive, but she wasn't even visually appealing... at all (Sorry, personal preference).

So you have all these other lovable characters that you want to explore and learn more about (maybe even have fan-service of). Then there's Ranko, who has no character development, isn't funny or attractive and has an annoying (and highly clichéd) personality. THIS character gets a whole episode dedicated to show off her past! I literally moaned when I realised this and struggled to get through that particular episode (not as easy as it sounds). It was so stupid, so badly written I wanted to... nevermind.

All the interesting and hilarious characters are instead put far back in the background with just very short conversations to keep them alive. Such a waste.

Okay, I think I'm done bashing.

Besides this, the anime was beautiful, funny and utmost enjoyable to watch. This is by far the best ecchi anime I have ever seen. I recommend it deeply. It had the potential to become much better though.

Just skip the 7th episode and you might make it through. It has no relevance to the rest of the series and you will get right back on track by going from 6 to 8. I just saved some of your valuble time, you should thank me.

I'm going home. I'm so tired of being disappointed.

Pros
+Good Art Style
+Well Told Story
+Well Developed characters
+Funny

Cons
-Wasn't terribly exciting
-Could get boring at times

... My opinion
Apologies for the short pro's and con's list but i watch this show a long time ago and i was pretty impressed. At the time i hadn't seen that sort of twist on the whole zombie idea and it was sort of unique to me which made it all the better. The show itself tells a real nice story about a boy and girl with the whole twist of dead coming into play and they do a good job explaining everything to you so you don't feel like there are any plot holes, though it worked against in some cases where the show sorta got a little boring.
Should you watch this show? Yes i think you should, i feel like the well developed story and fun characters is well enough to watch this show and enjoy it
Hope the review helps
Murphy

Ok, so I decided that from now on, I'm gonna write my reviews a bit differently. So, I won't give scores for each category, but instead, I'm just gonna talk about my experience with the anime. I find that giving scores does not help people understand as to why I gave it that score as it's a personal thing. Not only that, but I feel like if I focus more on talking about my experience, then you guys will know if the anime is for you or not. So, let me what you guys think: do you like my reviews more in this format or ... did you prefer the old format? Also, I apologize if I haven't posted a review in a while, college can get busy at times. So, now without further ado, let's get into it.

The story Sankarea follows Chihiro Furuya, who is obsessed with zombies; so obsessed with zombies he even wants one as his girlfriend! This hobby becomes somewhat of an obsession as he tries to revive his pet cat Babu. He meets Rea, a girl who is popular and seems to have it all, is not as happy with her life as it would seem. Her wish is to be reborn another person and she might just get her wish after crossing paths with Furuya. Chihiro then has to deal with taking care of her as a zombie.

The story also explores what life is like for Rea who has been resurrected as a zombie such as what she eats, what is it like for her to go outside...The story also goes in-depth as to how all of this changes her.

Going into Sankarea, I found the first episode intriguing. However, I didn't think the first two episodes really got into the core of the story. I honestly found the story to be all over the place throughout the anime. The story hooked me because it was silly, a bit scary at times, fun, and romantic. I also think it managed to juggle all of those elements well. All of those combined together made it fun to watch. There were times where the actual story, and there were times when I felt like there were filler episodes that didn’t add anything to the main story. The anime does not seem to have a clear ending, but the ending is still enjoyable overall but if you're one of those people where you want the anime to have a clear ending and you don't want to interpret the ending for yourself, then the ending may really frustrate you. Despite these issues, I found the story quite enjoyable due to the characters.

What made Sankarea enjoyable is its cast of characters. When I went into the first episode, you didn't really see many characters so I thought the anime was only going to feature Chihiro, Rea (the girl), and Babu (the cat), but as you get further into the series you start to see more, and more characters appear. The other characters you see; however, (except for the villain) are side characters. At first, you see Rea's father, who is really creepy, and is obsessed with his daughter. At first, I really hated him! I thought he really was a creep! And you might get that feeling too when you watch the anime. But, that being said, when you see the last few episodes, you kind of feel sorry for him. I'm not gonna say why as I don't want to spoil too much. You had a character named Ranko that was funny and who would come and beat up Chihiro in a friendly way at times because they're pretty much childhood friends and cousins. Then, you had Chihiro's sister, Mero, who is the quiet type. Pretty much all the side characters (except one side character which I'm not gonna spoil who or why) contribute funny moments to the anime You also get some cute moments between Chihiro and Rea.

The animation is very nicely done. However, an issue I had is there was an episode that had a editing issue or so, it looked like in my opinion. Episode 11, I think, where they show Rea father in the plane. I thought the editing was rushed, and the dialogue seemed to have cut off badly by it. Also in episode 3, they censored a woman’s guts, and I've always believed if you're gonna do gore, then go all out! It frustrated me to see a censor. That being said, I understand why they did it as they're trying to appeal to all viewers.

I thought the voice acting and music was good.

Sankarea isn't for everyone. If you're into zombies, romance, and comedy, then you'll love Sankarea. If you're looking for a spectacular anime that blows you away, Sankarea is not it. I recommend Sankarea if you're just looking for an anime to relax to and enjoy.

Anyways, I want to know what you guys think. If you've watched Sankarea, did you guys enjoy it? If not, would this be a anime you'd watch? Let me know your thoughts!

Fun and quirky. A surprisingly original spin on a zombie movie. It's deep, it's dark, it's sexy, it's cute. Nothing comes to mind that I don't like about this anime. The characters are very likeable, the story is fantastic, it's genuinely funny, the opening is catchy, and it's a zombie show. There are very few zombie animes out there, High School of the Dead and Is This A Zombie? being the most notable. It's got a tiny bit of action but for the most part this is a romance and comedy mixed with a tiny bit of slice-of-life and psychological. Definitely one of my top ... favorites and extremely underrated if you ask me.

Alright, I want you to imagine a zombie....

Raise your hand if you thought of an undead creature with practically no intelligence seeking the flesh, blood, and brains of humans and only being motivated to eat.

Well this show does have a zombie....who is an undead creature....thats it.

As usual I'll try to keep my reviews brief.

~STORY~

Set in present day japan we are introduced with our zombie loving Protagonist, Chihiro. After an incident where the families pet cat dies in an accident, Chihiro tries to resurrect it...and succeeds. However, After a fated meeting with rea during his experiments she steals some of the potion to use as a ... poison on herself. After her failed attempt at suicide she runs from home only to be killed when confronted by her father who accidentally pushes her off a cliff to her death. From there....You have to watch.

The story in a nutshell isn't to bad. odd, but good.

~CHARACTERS~

The characters in this show were impressive. With the show having a fairly small cast of characters we got to know everyone. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you see it) the characters seem to follow a very generic route that we have all seen before. The only difference though is the way there presented.

For example - Chihiro is the obsessed otaku for zombie/horror movies.

~ART~

Studio deen...enough said

Actually the art wasn't terrible in this show. It was bland, had very little color at times, and looked boring. But the show did shine when it wanted too, but not to the degree of complete eye candy. Honestly, don't watch this show for the art.

~SOUND~

The music was fine. I usually skipped the OP and ED because they were boring and too energetic for me. Honestly, I was expecting this show to be darker than it was. The music is fine, but nothing stands out.

The dub is amazing.

~FINAL~

This show was good, But not a master piece. With the low quality art, strange story, and less than pleasing ending (BECAUSE IT DOESN'T END!!!), this show doesn't score well with me. The show was enjoyable, and I liked how it tried to explain the complications of try to preserve a zombie while hiding it from the public. It's not that I don't recommend this show, but there are better options out there. If your looking for a short series to enjoy by yourself then watch it.

Rating - Stream it

The story of sankarea really plays out well. ive actually finished this series in a day or so to say right now -_-. but anyways the story is well played out as to a guy who is obsessed with zombies meets a girl who has a family problem which causes here to go suicidal which failed and led to the father accidentally killer her and then she tries to live a normal life still having feelings for the main guy character. the story has its climax points which gives the whole anime series its major affects with executing fine points in reaching ones heart when ... watching it.

To add on the characters are well drawn and displayed I must give my compliments to the artist that this style of drawing is most recommended into becoming a popular anime and to combine it with a story.... well that's a good story.

people who have seen this anime I would want to know what you thought about it on my page or profile in the comments section.

there are some of us who expected this to be one of those weird romantic love school comedies and sorta annoying. such as "Love to Ru." which is an anime about an alien girl who meets a normal highschool boy and does a lot of weird crap...... NO! this is nothing like that its a bit more on the serious obsession side. bottom line this would be recommended to those who have a love for crazy risks and hardcore love an gore people such as me. this anime is a really serious one so I would rate it on the same level as angel beats. its serious guys give it a try if you have time -_- ^_^

otegato gozaimas

Main Male Lead, Furuya Chihiro,a man who has watched horror movies since young and has grown attached to them, has an ideal girl who.... is a zombie. One fine afternoon, with the sun shining, he gets to live with a girl, the woman of his dreams.

Story 8/10

Zombies? There's hardly any anime which includes love with a zombie! Blood, death, censoring, zombies, love, comedy? All here. This anime should be one of the favorites of those who like blood and romantic comedy animes. Sometimes, I honestly found it a bit too simple. About the ecchi genre listed? No. I don't think it even deserves the ... ecchi genre. Reason being that there is barely any fan service except for 98% skin reveal by a man, which is not really appealing or attractive, at all. I guess the ending was alright although


Spoiler - Both Main Male and Female Leads turn into zombies. Except one turned into a zombie faster than the other and it was the female lead's fault that the male lead turned into a zombie.

Not saying I hate the female lead.

Not that bad compared to some other types of anime. Although I would really want the ending to change, it was better than some other types of anime which kill all their characters. E.g. School Days

Art 7/10


The art was relatively good. It showed how the characters was feeling spectacularly. The art will probably be stuck in your head for a bit. The way the injuries were drawn was very typical. Although there actually was a censor at one of the points which refused to let viewers see the injury, it was okay. Female lead, Sanka Rea, was drawn well, top to bottom. (Not literally) Character's personality matched the character itself quite a bit. Not top notch but a level below that.

Sound 8/10

I just found the VA's voice suitable for the character itself. Besides that, maybe the way the movies in the anime were played. I could not really hear what they were saying. But the sound effects are relatively good. Especially Babu. I love Babu.

Character 8/10

Character's personality is appealing. ' Best friend jealous of other best friend who attracts chicks ' cliché. Well, if I must say, the person I would dislike the most is Sanka Rea's father. He, oh god, he is a father who is a pervert.

Spoiler -
I mean, who takes nude photographs of his own daughter?

Related to spoiler but not spoiler. But, I guess it's a spoiler so you can just skip it -
Just to remember his late wife? Why don't he just take a photograph of her and treasure it?

Best supporting character I like? I already mentioned it but Babu. I absolutely love Babu. His purr, his tail, his body. It's cute. Can't stand it really.


Enjoyment 8/10

This anime makes you want to watch it till the end. The episodes stop at just the right time to make the suspense wide. Thus, making you want to continue to watch. I'll probably remember this anime as the first anime which includes love with zombies. Got to treasure that, you know. For a first timer (watching anime), this would be a rather good anime to start off with. Provided that you're not afraid of zombies and all. A great way to start off with romantic comedy anime genres.

Overall 8/10

I just gave it because I gave it.


(Mind my English.)

This is my first review in MAL so it might not be that good

I recommend this show to people who wants a weird romance type of anime, but the manga was much more enjoyable since it was thorough and it just goes deeper in the story.

The art was nice and you could say it was great if you want.

The soundtracks were GREAT! and I should emphasize that as it really fits the anime.
The characters were nice as they had weird but unique personalities.

The story was nice and would've been better if they pursued more into the manga and made a new season and as ... such it had a great potential but it was already great for me.


Overall it was a great anime and I hope more people would support this anime.

Please don't believe in the genre that is put in here because:

It's not that scary

It's not that funny

And there isn't much ecchi scenes in it but,

But one thing that interest me most is the story, it's different on what i have expected. it revolves around family problems like parents being so strick, and other problems.

... If you like a different kind of story i recommend this anime to you who's reading this.

Please make this a helpful review i'm begging you!

Known for venturing to where many people dare not tread, the world of Japanese anime production has gotten crazier each year. From depictions of a post-apocalyptic world riddled with zombies to creations solely focusing on the idea of "moe", the range and possibilities of anime in Japan are limitless and endless. Given the aforementioned story styles are on opposite ends of the spectrum, you might think that it'd be impossible to see the two being combined into one. Well, think again. With the production of Sankarea, the Japanese have unleashed the questionable idea of "zombie moe" into the anime community. So will this bold and ... innovative combination be a raging success, or will it be yet another experimental failure? Let's take a look.

Art (7/10)
Although there were times where the lack of effort could be seen quite easily, the animation quality of Sankarea was for the most part decent. In terms of background details, they can be considered up to par with current standards. The depictions of hydrangea, which was a prominent symbol in the show, were on the plus side as I found them to really stand out apart from everything else. As for the character designs, I was glad that the characters didn't look totally generic; the designs seemed fresh and made it so it was easy to distinguish the characters from one another.

Characters (8/10)
In general, characters inside a zombies-based story change through struggling and persevering through the most gruelling of situations, while characters that are part of more light-hearted stories focusing on moe develop via interaction with others. In Sankarea, the characters are living a normal, everyday life for the most part, so the latter holds this time around. The development of the main character, Furuya Chihiro, focuses mostly on his gradually maturing personality. At first, Chihiro is depicted as a socially awkward teenager with a weird fetish. But soon enough, after his seemingly impossible dream came true, he began to develop a sense of responsibility, and started to act and think on a more mature level. Along the way, his interactions with various characters aid in these changes, with female protagonist Sanka Rea being an integral part of Chihiro's development. In exchange, Rea also develops as a character thanks to the time she spends with Chihiro.

Sound (8/10)
It's not too often I find a piece of music that sticks with me well after the anime ends, but for Sankarea, "Sukeru Hitomi" does just that. To me, it's one of the most memorable OST tracks of the year so far. The way it intensifies the emotions of the scenes in which it's played in really helped to increase my overall enjoyment of the show. As for the theme songs, the relationship between the OP and the ED is similar to that of the two main genres of the series—pretty much the opposite of each other. While the OP is fast-paced and upbeat, the ED slower and more mellow; both were great tracks though. And although no big-name seiyūs were involved in this project, I felt the characters' emotions were brought out well nonetheless.

Story (8/10)
On the surface, Sankarea is a romantic comedy aimed slightly towards zombie enthusiasts, but more so for those who enjoy stories of romance. The idea of coupling a human and a zombie in itself is bound to create some comedic situations. Throw in a childhood friend of the male protagonist and you've got your typical love triangle too. But in the end, I view Sankarea as somewhat of a tragedy (in the dramatic sense). That's not to say the story's bad; in fact, I actually like how it turned out that way. In an essence, Sankarea is a story about a pair of star-crossed lovers who try their best to avoid the inevitable—that one day, they'll be separated for good.

Overall (8/10)
So while the idea of "zombies" and "moe" sounds crazy, in the end, Sankarea is just another typical romantic comedy, but with a twist. Clearly, the show is best suited for the niche audience of people like Chihiro—those who dream of being in a relationship with a zombie—but even if you're not that type of person (I know I'm not), it's still an enjoyable show. Having a season two would be nice as the ending was open-ended and left viewers wondering what would happen next. Overall, Sankarea is a solid series worth watching.

hmm.. zombies.. To be honest I've never really liked them.. I saw this anime on a whim cause I had nothing else to watch.. The main characters looked cute and well cute zombies?!.. what could be better than that.. :D The first few episodes kinda creeped me out.. well what really scared the shit out of me was not the whole horror/zombie thing but actually the relationship between Rea and her father..that dude is just so fucking insane...soo yeah..overall it's good the storyline is decent and the character were funny at times.. it's good but still there are lots of things they could have done ... to make it better..

Do you like zombies? Do you like a bit of romance? Do you like a good story? Yes? This is for you! I'm not joking, this anime was recommended to me by friend, I am happy that the person has recommended it to me (if you've ever seen my list of the reviewed anime, you may notice that so far I have the luck for good anime, yet). Lets talk about the story, shall we? (Although not the most original but that doesn't matter). The story begins quietly, as it may seem but then something happens and it starts getting momentum, that continues through one ... or two episodes , and then somehow goes away slightly, and at the end turn will begin to get more momentum again (bad example, but it will do), it doesn't matter this anime was/is good. As you could read in the label, its about zombies, more like about one zombie. Caution a slight preview of the story - Reader discretion advised. So our main protagonists had met (Chihiro and Rea) Rea suddently dies from accident, but (that the point when I mentioned its getting momentum) resurrects as zombie (I will not talk about how it happended, if you want to know, go watch the entire series) so her father want her back (When you start watching this anime, you will hate him, buuut at the near end you will forgive him) but she refuse, she want to be with Chihiro, to live as normal girl and have freedom that she hasnt when she was with her father. Still father want her back. In that time we will meet Chihiros sister, cousin, father, his perverted friend aaand ridicuosly small and funny grandpa. Only things that are making barier between Chihiros and Reas relationship is: 1 Reas father, 2. Chihiros cousin (that cousin is actually she, and she want him = incest, thats right folks), 3. circumstances. Still reading this? Good. This anime has 12 episodes and 3 OVAs, if you will manage to watch it all you will find out, that this anime ist that bad actually and you will start like it (as for most reviewers that reviewed this anime) OVAs will take you through story of Mero (Chihiros sister) at the time Rea is in their household, Babu (Chihiros cat, he is zombie too), and the first one will take you to the time before the time of main story. Although this anime is from 2012 its good, very good, and am happy i was able to saw it. Go watch it, if you want...

Plot: 7/10

Sankarea carries with it a rather unique plot, tackling the classic zombie genre and turning into a charming yet dramatic romance story. The story does a lot of things right, moving the plot along at an even speed while maintaining tension common for a horror story with various plot developments. The plot deals with very real conflicts, preserving Rea’s body and dealing with her father’s obsession, and do not feel forced at any point. However, the story does take a lot of time to provide backstory for many of the characters, and while this is good for character development, it does steal a ... lot of momentum from the story that is taking place in the present. By spacing out the story via backstories, some of the tension from scenes is lost. The other biggest flaw is the cliffhanger ending, which is only further exasperated by the introduction of another conflict/unexplained phenomena very last minute in the final scenes, leaving the viewer unsatisfied.

Characters: 9/10

The characters for Sankarea are well developed, maybe overdeveloped in some cases (not in a bad way), and have well defined personalities. The main protagonists, Rea and Furuya, are both strong leads with clearly developed personalities. However, some characters feel a bit unoriginal save for a few characteristics. For example, Wanko is the stereotypical childhood, being both a rival and foil for Rea. She is highly aggressive, which helps offset the stereotypical feel she carries. The challenges of the characters, while the details are unique, the general gist of the problem is not surprising. Nonetheless, the character make a strong presence in the anime.

Animation: 10/10

The show has pretty good animation style, that is pretty clean and easy to follow. I find the depictions of the hydrangeas quite beautiful. It offers a lot of surprising visuals that help portray the mood and tension in the series, too.

Soundtrack: 9/10

The soundtrack is not overly impressive, though the closing is among my favorites across all anime. A fair chunk of the soundtrack is acoustic, which is pretty cool. I find the opening kind of annoying, but it is enjoyable to some people.

Themes: 9/10

This series is loaded with themes, both directly addressed and present in symbolic ways. The most prominent symbol is found in the hydrangea, specifically the species Hydrangea macrophylla. This species is native to Japan and is toxic due to a chemical compound in them known as a cyanogenic glycosides. In the language of flowers, this species of flower carries two meanings typically: gratitude and boastfulness. The gratitude relates directly to Rea, who is quick to thank people throughout the series, especially Furuya. The boastfulness relates to Rea’s father, the main antagonist. He is boastful of his daughter and how in the right he is. This boastfulness carries over to another theme: obsession. Both the Furuya and Rea’s father have an obsession that inhibits their character, though to vastly different degrees. Themes relating to life are also present, unsurprisingly, within the series. Sankarea also effectively combines several genres, including romance, horror, and drama to create a unique experience for the viewer. However, saying this genre combination is completely successful would be too far. The anime is plenty appealing on its own, but the inclusion of ecchi elements frequently enough detract from the mood of many scenes, as they feel rather out of place with the rest of the series.

Final Score: 44/50

https://rishraffreviews.wordpress.com/

Sankarea
This anime, after watching it made me realize how blessed I am to be in a normal family having a normal life.

Yes, it is true that all of us desire for something we don’t have, we want to experience uncommon things in our life in short it is called --- FREEDOM!

For me, it was an impressive anime, in terms of story and characters. Even though it is a bit half-finished due to little romance and the ending of the last episode, so I hope to have a new season revealing of what will happen to Rea who live through a normal life and the love ... story between her (a zombie) to Chihiro (a normal boy that obsessed in zombie)

I loved Sankarea, but the ending was little disapointing

Story: 9/10

The story wasnt just like other animes. THIS ANIME WAS SPECIAL. About how a human falls in love with a zombie girl and the two kids is hiding from his dad.

Art: 7/10

The art was fine, but again like Mysterious Girlfriend X. I didnt like the anime eye drawing.

... Sound: 7/10

The voice actors voices match completely with the characters.

Character: 9/10

I loved about all the characters. But i hated one of the characters. Her FATHER, i was angered on her father from 1 to 12 episode.
I wanted to punch that father to death. ( NO Kidding)

Enjoyment: 7/10

As a otaku for me. I watched 3 series in one time. But i watched 1 episode per day of Sankarea. And i enjoyed the series and i recommend you to watch it.

Sankarea is weird, very weird indeed. For a sense of its weirdness, this show includes zombie fetishism. Hold on. Before you click the back button, let me preface that this fetishism is reigned in, for not even the great Studio DEEN would be able to get away with planting the idea of having coitus with rotten shambling remains without backlash from the audience. Instead, the writers of Sankarea toyed with the technical definition of the zombie, an undead character, but kept the outward appearance of said zombie in traditional anime character style, with some gore thrown in, making the idea of zombie romance less appalling. ... What results, is an eccentric take on the term 'undying love', one that I cannot seem to get off my mind.

Chihiro Furuya is our ordinary male protagonist who, as it is very happens in these stories, comes to befriend this mysterious, sheltered girl, Sanka Rea. Things happen, and without too many spoilers, we find ourselves in a Romeo and Juliet love story with a George Romero inspired twist to it. I cannot believe I just wrote that sentence.

Having introduced our two main leads, Chihiro and Rea, I must applaud Studio DEEN for fleshing them out early on in the show, for they exhibit strong, distinguishing personalities that put a unique twist on the roles of Romeo and Juliet in the Shakespearean play. Each character starts off with emotional baggage, a hole in their hearts and lives, which some of us can relate to. Chihiro is a horror fan, one that takes this love too far, I feel, while Rea is a Yamato Nadeshiko (Google It), a girl who projects a facade of perfection, with not-so-pretty secrets behind her prestigious upper class upbringing. These two clearly set the show up well for further exploration into their personalities and further misgivings. Their feelings also subsequently mature to help each other seal these holes in their lives, giving the show strong romantic progression, a selling point of Sankarea. Sadly, side characters fall into the usual tropes: helpful, obedient sister Mero, lacking-screen-time plot device parental figure Doon, childhood friend who gets jealous Ranko etc. A slightly disappointing display, but expected at this point. The mediocre side cast aside,our leads more than make up for this shortcoming, since we watch Romeo and Juliet for Romeo and Juliet, not their extended families, so character-wise, Sankarea does alright.

As per Romeo and Juliet, the idea of forbidden love works on many levels in this narrative, one being that of parental disapproval and the other being necrophilia. But necrophilia jokes aside, Sankarea is a Romeo and Juliet love story in anime, and in that regard, I feel DEEN has succeeded, where the growing love, the maturing affection between the mains is seen when our main characters become better people as their romance progresses, following my point that the two helps to fill holes in each others’ lives. Chihiro helps to fulfil the wishes of sheltered Rea, and he himself grows to be a more caring, less passive and unmotivated individual. Rea becoming less sheltered, feels less repressed, more free and happy when with Chihiro. Having their love bring out the better in them gives the romantic plot sufficient impact and weight, which is good writing on DEEN’s part, and puts Sankarea a cut above your standard anime fare. I also liked the impact in the show. Situations have been given significant gravitas, such as essential zombie maintenance and the inevitable decay of dead flesh, and they help keep the audiences on the edge of their seats. Tension occurs even on rewatching Sankarea, and this tension is also released quite adequately despite awkward pacing, even during rewatches, meaning tension still holds up well. As mentioned, pacing is a weak point in the show’s narrative, where there are slow and fast moments, inexpertly pieced together throughout twelve episodes, demonstrating inconsistency in writing. Pace should be consistent, not uniform, not varied, deviating from an established speed by some degree to emphasize important moments on occasion. However, twelve episodes also means such errors should not be too hard on the viewer on the first watch through, still, it was worth pointing out. The story has flaws, but offers significant merits, such as novelty in its zombie love premise, enjoyable, substantial romance and good, old-fashioned fun that helps it stick out of the crowd a bit more. A harsher critic may pan the problems highlighted to a greater degree, but reviews are opinion and I like to give leeway to novel ideas, especially this one which has stuck with me for too long a time to dismiss casually, so the story is good in my books.

I was about to criticise the visual design of the show, being not as good in my recollection, but upon blu-ray release, everything looks crisp and excellent. Animation is great, colour composition has been balanced out very well, to mix a tone of horror and love. Everything looks nice enough to give first time viewers a treat. The character designs simply look good. Chihiro has tufts of hair on his head, making him look like a dog, with no offense being implied here as there is significance in this observation since it ties in with some Asian cultural beliefs that dogs are able to see the supernatural and share affiliation with these phenomena. This all fits the theme of supernatural horror Sankarea quite nicely. Rea is the main love interest, so obviously, she will look good, with large bright eyes, fair, almost pale skin and physically desirable characteristics in a female, at least in the eyes of this reviewer, full discretion. The leads are easily recognisable, so DEEN has done a good job here. Though the side characters are essentially tropes, they still look presentable and original, and do their job. Special mention to Gramps, he looks shrunken and deformed, making him stand out along with his more bizarre and original personality among the side characters. He eats poisonous leaves for fun. Have I mentioned how this show was weird? Collectively, I have no gripes with the character designs at all, and wish they were give more character definition to complement their unique looks, and DEEN has done well on the blu-ray release.

Sound design is average. Again, I would use the word serviceable to describe it. Not bad, not memorable, where comedic scenes, romantic scenes, action scenes all have tracks played systematically to add slight immersion, but I would not recommend it for another’s consumption. The ending is alright, I did not pay it much heed, but it gave me a feel of melancholy, which does reflect how I felt when I could not watch more Sankarea, so that exists. I would instead like to point your attention to the opening song of Sankarea along with its accompanying visuals. The title of this song is “Esoragoto” or “Pipe Dream” in English. I like it. J-Pop by nano.Ripe. The title of the song, visuals in the opening all tie in back with the entire premise of the show, where giant flying cats, M.C. Escher’s “Endless Stairs” are depicted, all help to demonstrate surrealism at the start of the episode. And this theme of surrealism applies to Sankarea very nicely, by tying back to the context within the show, that of “Zombie Love”, which comes off as far from reality as one can get, to show love toward a being that has risen from the grave, a sort of pipe dream, as the title of the opening song suggests. Also, at the end of the opening, Chihiro and Rea both entering a marked grave symbolises how everything that transpires in the narrative starts with death, as one enters a grave upon death. To analyse more would be to spoil the plot, so I will hold off on that for now, but it comes to stand that the opening of Sankarea shows unexpected depth and I am impressed with DEEN’s detail in the opening design. Nicely done. Both dub and sub are good.

To wrap things up, Sankarea is a series with an eccentric charm to it with competent execution in some aspects of its narrative. It also looks clean and gory in its visuals, which zombie fans may come to appreciate as well. A tale of Romeo and Juliet, layered with palpable zombie love that can melt the coldest of undead hearts. While there are flaws in Sankarea, one could definitely do worse when looking for something to watch, and for what it is worth, it drew me in enough to keep me watching. A recommendation for someone who wants to try something new, and is not afraid to dig through dismembered guts to find it. Wherever I may be, I feel Sankarea will stay in my unconscious forevermore, until someone asks me for something very weird to watch.

Overall score: I don’t give scores/ 10