Gakkougurashi!

(FIRST REVIEW)
(ALSO SPOILERS)

Gakkou Gurashi (School-Live!) is an interesting anime that blew up in the Summer 2015 season. Many people praised it for being unique, dark, and a fresh new take on the zombie genre. It has moe girls and zombies. 2 things to bait the anime community in. So how does this "masterpiece" hold up?

Story: 4/10

The story in this is so average. The story changes in tone shift from being a cute, moeshit, slice of life show from a dark and depressing Madoka Magica take. However, it does it horribly. There's no weight to either of these sides to the anime and it just ... makes the anime seem lazy and lacking. Also how some episodes would just focus on moeshit rather than the actual story we all came it to see. It acts like it doesn't care at all. However, something I can say about the story is how it takes some risks. I was surprised by how this show deals with some tragedy and the way it does it is quite impressive. Doesn't excuse the story from being lackluster and bi-polar.

Art: 5/10

Lerche was everywhere spewing out shows in the Summer season. Too bad all of them were fucking trash but at least they had some decent art. I like how the characters movements are so fluid in some scenes and how their movements would change with the tone. For example, Kurumi attempting to kill some zombies would have pace that's quicker rather than usual when she's just standing in the slice of life would. I also like how well the color pallet would stick well with the tones as well. Keeping it dark and creepy when it needs to. But sadly, that's basically it. The art does nothing to stick out but instead it just blends in with other anime. Also, most of the animation is SO STILTED. All the characters mostly do is just stand around talking. It seems like they even forgot they were in this terrible show. Not much to say, the art and animation are just average.

Sound: 4/10

The voice actresses showed some emotion in their performances here and there but nothing really seemed to stick out as well. They at least tried I'll give them that. A good thing about the sound however is the music box that would play here and there and would sound like it's dying right at the end when something bad happens. Yes, music boxes have been done to death in anime, but it was still a nice touch. As for everything else? MOESHIT TO THE MAX. Nothing in the soundtrack stands out at all. It's the same shit we've heard over and over and over again in other slice of life, cute girls doing cute things anime. Average.

Character: 3/10

Holy shit, where do I begin? These characters are so 2-dimensional. None of them have a personality nor do any of them develop.

Yuki is just the same old ditzy girl we see in all anime before who acts like everything around her is fine. She has a personality but it's annoying and she does not develop.

Kurumi is the tomboy who had to kill the love of her life (THAT IS NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN) who has no personality. She is a blank slate.

Yuuri, the worst character, also has no personality. She's just there to make food and keep the club under protection. Another blank slate that doesn't develop. The anime tries and make her seem different and attempt to "develop" her by attempting to kill Kurumi when Kurumi is turning into a zombie. It was handled horribly since Kurumi and Yuuri barely shared a bond together so how are we supposed to care? I sure as hell know I didn't.

Miki is an overprotective character who tried and seems like she cares for the club. Another blank slate who kinda develops but is done also horribly.

Everyone else is a waste of your time. The characters are the worst part of the entire show.

Enjoyment: 5/10

Although it was painful to watch sometimes, I still kind of enjoyed this anime. I was still intrigued on everything that was going on and was just begging that this anime would get better, but nope.

Overall:

Gakkou Gurashi is a dumb, moeshit, same old slice of life show we've seen a million of times in other series. The only thing that this show does different is that it has zombies. It has 1-dimensional characters, average art, a weak story that doesn't know what it wants to be, and a soundtrack that makes you want to drill your ears. You want a good slice of life show? Go watch Aria the Animation. At least that one has good characters, better art and a story that's actually well written. Stay away from this anime. It's just another show that goes into the trash just like every other anime from the Summer 2015 season. Lerche has fucked up big time.

4/10

WHYYYYYY? why did you recommand this awful anime to me? i asked for an anime similar to madoka magica but i also wanted it to be good!

this anime is an insult, there are zombies outside of the school and our "heros" are playing in a pool on the roof of the school for 12 episode!!!!! WHAT?

anime like this are the reason people hate anime, this is everything wrong with anime type of an anime!!

no character is develop or is interesting, 12 episodes of fan service isn't called plot!
full of flashbacks of their teachers that now are dead.
characters hugging each other every time they meet ... isn't called development

the most stupidest thing i've ever seen, it turned out there is some sort of an anti-Virus inside the school (ass pull of the century) out of the fucking blue!

characters are delusional (both literally and metaphorically)

this anime is not dark, it is disgusting fan service bullcrap for people with the iq of sea horse

don't watch this, if you respect yourself don't watch this, there is no deeper meaning here, it's just pure garbage

Everyone has different coping mechanisms.
At the same time, putting others at risk for your selfishness is beyond me. It's stupid. You're hurting them.

I understand what the story is trying to do. I know the point they're trying to make but I can't agree with what this is trying to force. It's cliche but bad. Yes the animation and songs are catchy but to me, no. It's not a "definite" watch of this season. It's overhyped only because of the moe characters.

Found myself just skipping through parts (Yuki's annoyingness) and yup, sure enough, it just became ok.

And for everyone else saying this is a ... classic perfect example of PTSD. No. Go watch some Psychopass or God Eater. That is PTSD. Way better than this failed unrealistic depiction.

*spoiler*

I found myself cheering at the zombies to eat Yuki but I was disappointed when it was someone else .

Note: Light spoilers but spoilers are written vaguely as to not fully spoil the reader.

Gakkou Gurashi started out with potential. The manga it was adapted from juggled harrowing tension along with moe slice of life moments pretty well and the anime started out quite strongly. However, as the series dragged on it also began to fall apart, both as an adaptation of the manga and in terms of plot structure.

I will first highlight how the anime compares with the manga as an adaptation before moving onto reviewing it as its own entity.

The series had a very strong bait-and-switch episode 1, it lures you into ... a sense of security before pulling back and revealing its dark nature all too well and I highly recommend watching the first episode- and maybe episode 3- if you have even the slightest interest in the series before reading the manga instead. The manga provides better characterization and pacing especially if compared with the anime whose pacing slowed to a complete crawl by episode 5 before suddenly accelerating at around episode 10.

Character development for Miki and Yuuri has suffered considerably. Key moments to their arcs such as Miki warming up to Yuki and Yuuri's descent into madness aren't portrayed at all in the anime, unless if you consider Yuuri very briefly loosing it in episode 11 but even then she still picked herself up by episode 12 without any repercussions.

This dog is given more screentime than it should have gotten and is arguably a bigger focus to the anime than some of the girls. The focus on Taroumaru is one change from the manga I'd rather the creators not have taken. Especially in the later episodes, the focus is shifted to Taroumaru's end of the spectrum, with the girls seemingly caring more for the stupid dog rather than themselves and their friends. At one point, an episode's plot hinges on Taroumaru's importance so much that the gravity of the girls' plight is weakened as a result.

While its all too easy to blame the anime's fault entirely on Taroumaru, the fact is, even when judged on its own merit, the anime still falls flat on several occasions. Even with the focus on Taroumaru, the anime still had plenty of episodes to provide the girls with more characterization and to further contextualize theie situation. Instead, most of the episodes in the middle of the series, beginning with episode 4, focused more on the Slice of Life elements rather than the Survival elements.

In the first few episodes, the Slice of Life moments were there to highlight the danger the girls are in, subverting standard cliches by juxtaposing them with the very real danger the girls face on a normal basis. However later episodes almost always completely focus on the Slice of Life elements, making the show less a twisted Survival Horror with Slice of Life elements to a Slice of Life show guest starring some zombies.

And don't get me started on the gratuitous fanservice for this. Episode 4 and 5 had several disturbing shots of Miki in her lingerie, some low angle shots, and this really damaged any credibility to the emotional scene the show was trying to convey. Later episodes aren't much better, with shower scenes and beach episodes being the tip of the iceberg. Hell, there's a 20 second scene where the girls have a conversation with the camera focusing on their breasts the whole time. Classy.

Not to say the anime is completely flawed though. There are a few good moments spread here and there. Episode 3 is a good example of what the show does best, creating a no-nonsense horror atmosphere is one of the show's biggest strengths and it serves to highlight how much of an improvement the anime would have been under better direction.

As it stands, Gakkou Gurashi the anime is a poor adaptation and a weak anime on its own right. Reading the manga just reminds the viewer of how much of a wasted potential the anime is.

4/10 Disappointing.

Every time a new Nitro + anime comes about, people **** themselves over how crazy they are and over hype them to a disgusting level. You see this kind of thing happen with every anime Gen Urobuchi had part in despite his visual novels being of far better quality in all aspects.

Gonna admit the first episode had a twist so outrageous it made me yell at the monitor but everything from that point just suffers from these HORRIBLE tonal shifts that make the series seem divided between 2 things, it fails so bad when it does this it's like having a meal solely of ... cotton candy, jalapenos, and black coffee, its THAT bad.
The cg zombies are just bad, i'm lenient on cg but come on guys.
Characters are ehh, something ambitious like a Nitro+ story needs more than 12 episodes to work, or the writing needs to be spot on, which it isn't here.
I can't remember the music to save my life, probably because it couldn't keep up with the tonal shifts.

The first episode is the only one you should see, but you should see it because it hits like a canon, but the follow up is the worst thing ive ever seen. " but bro its got cute girls and (spoilers), its so awesome!!"
Maybe, it could have been, but as a nitro+ anime it failed awfully.
A solid 3 outta 10, thats being generous

If you want something else like this by Nitro+ you can read Saya no Uta or Chaos;head with have unstable protagonists like this but a much better execution. They have z(spoiler) in tokyo necro as well if you can read it, peace!

---- POSSIBLY VERY MINOR SPOILERS ---

I don't know. I have no idea what others are gushing about giving all those 9s and 10s (because of manga? Then give the manga a 9 on 10, don't give anime a high grade on merits of the manga when it obviously doesn't deserve so!). This feels pretty damn mediocre to me, and DEFINITELY not as an anime of the season. There are far better contenders for that title IMO.

Story - goes pretty much nowhere most of the time, there's way too much comedic relief and moeblob moments for a supposedly dark theme behind the story. If this is ... subverting the zombie horror trope, it's not doing it right. I am constantly waiting for the moment when shit hits the fan and everybody needs to (wo)man the fuck up, but it doesn't happen at all until far too late into the season, at which point I completely lost any interest in the whole thing. I guess points of "excitement" are when Yuki's illusion breaks down, but it breaks down very rarely.

At first, after episode 2, I though this had the potential of being something really good, going deep into psyche of Yuki (doesn't happen) and perhaps others (I guess that happens to an extent, but not enough). But nope. Moeblob slice-of-life. Not sure if that's your thing, but if it is, knock yourself out.

As mentioned, I'm constantly waiting for something CONCRETE to happen, some contact with outside world, some proper zombie shoveling (sic), but it just doesn't happen, which makes me wonder WTF is the script writer on about?!

Art - pretty damn good all around. Wasted talent on a story badly handled.

Sound - pretty good overall, but nothing special or something to remember. In the very rare thrilling moments of tension, sound does beef up the atmosphere nicely.

Character - characters are pretty typical all around. Little to no development in any of them. We get some backstories, but that doesn't count as character development. Color me unimpressed here. Worst thing of all was the damn dog eating way too much screen time, artificially creating compassion - I didn't buy it. In fact it made me not care about the cast at all, so anything that could possibly happen to them, I wouldn't even blink. Just badly handled character writing.

Enjoyment - I guess the only thing with which this anime managed to shock me is its complete lack of direction. It's quite hermetic, much like the main cast being trapped in that school. Shit, they had the "outing" episode, couldn't they drive that car farther away, try to go to another town, try to get some PROPER help? Nooooope, let's go back to school. Woo fucking hoo.

I guess the only thing this anime somehow manages to make me is keep watching to see if something is finally going to fucking happen. And by the looks of it, next episode (ep 9) is going to somehow be a bikini episode. Wow. If I wanted that kind of fanservice, I'd go watch Highschool Of The Dead. Even that has a better zombie story in its background!

After watching the anime through, I've left with a fairly sour taste in my mouth. Out of 12 episodes seen, I could count 4 or perhaps 5 that are absolutely worth watching, everything else is condensed filler the story would work completely well without.


Overall - I am pretty underwhelmed. Don't waste your time like I did.

~Gakkougurashi!~
- Story - 5 [Something Unique but not that much]
The story is very simple, MOE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, though majority of the story is Slice of life with Philosophical Values. But its combination is rare, a Dark Slice of Life anime.
The story introduced themselves as a Little Light in the Dark, at least it's not the typical Slice of Life Moe, but the psychological trauma, and their emotional support to each other makes this anime better than most of the Slice of Life Moe series.
The story is very predictable, the setting is light, with few action and psychological scene, but the only thing that I can't ... predict is the realization of Delusions
The pacing is really good, they were able adapt it well to fit the anime timeline.
Though I thought it was dark, but it's 70% Light and 30% dark. And the slice of life will make you smile, but that smile will disappear when the trouble comes, with few suspense, action, psychological action(the use of sound to evade zombies)
So far, I've only seen Flashback, Deus ex machina(only once for Miki Naoki), Foreshadowing, Plot twist, First-person Narration and the best Ticking clock scenario, as their literary techniques(from wiki).
The ending is not the Best, but it was able to close the anime(with the Front 13, Back 9[just search it on google]) To be Honest, I watched the last episode on RAW, but that will not hinder the Last episode review. Honestly It ended like Angel Beats, but the most interesting in the last episode, They Have used their Feeling and Emotions to Drive out the Zombies(which is illogical) and there's also an Epic Scene where A Hero will die not as a Zombie, but as a Hero(just decipher it in your own) If you're fond of Philosophical(if you can grasp it, then you're with me.) Slice of Life(moe) with a Zombie(I can't call it horror nor dark, it's really light) then you will love this.

- Art - 5 [they hold back on its gore and dark aspects]
The art is Moe, a child like anime characters despite of their age.
But I think the Mangaka tried to express Cute little characters in dangerous situation with horrified faces, but was able to Smile and to be Happy even in the amidst of the Effects and dangers the Chaos
At least the art was able to make it GORE, but it's still lacking, and the Anime focused on the Cute side of it.
There's a mixed CGI on it, the cars, but nothing more.
The anime was able to adapt better in terms of Art Quality, but in terms of Dark Originality of it, they were able to produce the 70% in the anime.
Throughout the episode 1-11, they were able to maintain smooth art.
The background is really GOOD, that's one of the best art in this series, it's really bloody, they didn't hold back in the background.
The character design is MOE, They were able to meet the standard of it, but the irony of this production, they are the ones who makes
Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace and made Danganronpa which is the same as Horror but the opposite of MOE.
The Character Design is not unique, they are MOE, or child like character but the age is different, though it's common in our country(it's full of lolis here)

- Sound - 3 [there's nothing Horror at All, it's just for MOE]
The Voice Actress were able to make the Cutest voice in this anime.
And they don't need to adapt for the role they were given.
But I think the Voice Actress have Improved, but a little in this anime.
But it would be fun, if the non-japanese VA can play this with a cute voice.
But the background music is not the best in this anime, it was good in Slice of Life scenes, but not on Horror or Thrilling scenes, they've used Diminished chords or the Devil Chords but the Infra Sound, or the Feel sound is not used, and One Punch Man BGM is way better in terms of Horror.
I always try to catch the music and hears its expression, but for this one, it still lacks, it's more like a Deep Thought Provoking Sound rather than Horror.
I think I will used their OST or BGM for Thought Provoking Mangas.
I like the opening, it's light and Fluffy, and The ending is Dramatic which fits the mood after watching a Light mixed Dark element in an episode.
And in terms of OP/ED, Though I can Listen to it, it's not catchy, if you want to repeat the op, but the ed is ok to add in my phone. But as a Musician, the op and the ed are not catchy, or it's not worth for playing it for a Cover. I would love to make an AMV for this using Rock with Dark and Metal Elements on it.

- Characters - 5 [MOE girls are Developed, but only on the last 2 EP]
The Characters are very well done, they have strengths and Resolves to live, their only weakness is Flashbacks of Tragedy and Psychological Disorder or Delusional disorder. But the normal weakness for the people, Zombie Trauma, is not present here.
The characters were able to portray realistic actions in the zombie apocalypse situation, but at the same time, they were able to Smile and Laugh, which is not Present for the many people who lives in this world.
I can relate to the characters, Unlike Games and Manga that Uses Guns, Bats, and other tools to kill zombies, They have used the Sound to evade Zombies, which is the best when it comes to Survival Tactic. They were able to Support their Emotional Needs, which is one of the Best message in this series, which lacks in many people that lives in reality. And the best so far: Be Happy in times of Chaos, which is illogical. But also my personality in real life.
The characters did improved, but it's just a small factor in terms of Character Development, but they can adapt in the situation very fast.
Only Four people are currently present in this Anime.
And their enemies, of coarse the Zombies, which made the Clock Ticking Scenario.
There's no supporting character that lives, but for a single Girl.
They've only used First Person Narration, or the characters shown in the screen in the scene that are present are the ones who narrate themselves.
I disliked the taste of the majority of japanese boys, which is MOE[cute girls], But for the Characters in this anime, I liked them so much, that they were able to show the Philosophical Value of Happiness in times of Trouble, which is the situation they lived in.
Though I think I will forget about them, because I'm not into MOE

- Enjoyment - 4 [not into light if it has dark elements on it]
Those people who loves Cute Girls with an Aspect of School, Slice of Life, will love this. But for the people who Loves Horror, Mystery, Psychological, will not love this, They can watch this, but not as a their taste, and most of them Will hate this anime. But for a Person who watches Anime that Loves to apply things from an anime in Real Life situations, then this is a masterpiece, they were able to show LIGHT in the DARK, and there's only one "Deus ex Machina" present here(ex. One Punch Man)
This is anime is good for newbies in both Horror and Anime, but not for Horror lovers.
I think I will not re-watch the whole anime, but for the sake of its Philosophical Values, I will watch some scenes that has epic lines and quotes.
I think it is still enjoyable to re-watch the whole anime, but for me, I have to look for another anime.
It's better to remember it as a LIGHT MOE ANIME. than DARK MOE ANIME, it's good but It's still lacks in many ways to call this a Great Anime.
It's good as a cup of tea for Horror, Mystery, Psychological lovers and it's intense for School, Slice of Life lovers. but As a person who watches anime for Real Life situation, then this is really good in terms Lessons that can be applied in Real Life Situations, like when you have to Adapt quickly in times of trouble, Psychological Recovery, if you're not really happy in your current life, because of many problems, and Lastly, is to SMILE in the times of Disaster and its effect.

- Overall - 4 [decent show with few philosophical values yet...]
This anime was able to its four elements in a Decent Way, but it should have been Better if the ART and the SOUND was able to portray the mood. The Horror aspects is Missing that could Have Been better because of the ART and SOUND that were underestimated. I Judge According to How it was Done, not Story and Characters Only. This is a Decent Anime which I rate 4/10 or not BAD on how it was DONE.

- Worth - 4 [worth for being cute, that's all]
This is an Over Rated Anime, because of its surprise that it brought to us, but I think we have to lessen that Deserving praise. In terms of Logical rating, I would give this 4/10, which was able to bring some thing new yet unsatisfied results for me. But in terms of Real Life Lessons and Application(treat the zombies as your problems) then I would give this a High Rating, I would give it an 6/10 which deserves it. It's up to you if you want to watch it. It's an Anime for those who has soft spots for cute girls.

My Real Thoughts are the ones on the [ words input ] I Don't want to change it any longer, It's gonna take long before I changed It...

With a very strong start, gakkougurashi turns more and more dissapointing at every episode that passes.

!!!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!

The characters really are not much more than moe cute girls, and when the show has any opportunity to explore them more, just wastes it. For example, the decision to make Miki confront zombie Megumi not only is the less interesting option to make; but also goes against the supposed message of "moving on" from the show. has none of the girls have or even seem to acknowledge the need to kill Megumi zombie.

Actually, the show contradicting its own message also happens when Yuuri refuses to kill Kurumi and ... that's completely okay having no consequences at all. This could be an option to be made and even be interpreted as the "right choice", but brushing it off with just some cliff hanger of Yuuri almost killing her and then one or two scenes of her crying does not explore any theme and would be better off NOT PUT on the show at all if you're not going to do anything with it.

The final monologues about "how we need to move on and everything has to come to an end" really misses to hit due to this repeated refusal of the show to show us that.

Yuki refusal to believe on what happened was also a very VERY cool concept, but it was so poorly and I mean REALLY POORLY executed, it never builded the tension that the show so desperatly tired to create.

I also felt that there was a loss of focus on what character should be the main one. While I understand the need to make Miki an outsider so she can confront Yuki and we can get more context without a full info dump; it was too stretched out for us to see, know more and even process Yuki as the actual main character.

Overall, there were really good and cool ideas, but left more to be desired for.

First of all, I'll start by assuming that you've read the synopsis on MAL for it and know what the series is about. However, if you didn't, you might have the opportunity of going into this series without having the first episode's twist revealed. So you might want to head in and check that out first. Like, you might like the whole twist, despite the rate I've given this series and knowing the theme is relevant to what I'll continue with.

If you're reading this paragraph then I'll assume that you did. Do you like the theme that the anime has presented? Yes? Then you should ... give this adaptation's manga instead a try. I'll explain why, as I've done a check up on the differences between the manga series and the anime series.

The anime's story tried to strengthen the cutsey/moe-ish factor of the show by a fuckton. To do that the show has done certain changes which left out a bunch of scenes where the conflict between some characters has been underwhelmed or totally removed, some events were changed to be more lighthearted or simply replaced with some more slice of life-ish moments. Some moments that define the mental state of the main character better as well as some mental breakdowns were removed from the show. Some events were rearranged to fit the cutsey aspect of the show better and make it be more lighthearted. And on top of all that since they thought the cutsey factor will sell and because we've got girls in the show, you like girls right???, they also added a beach (a pool episode but not really) to it. And due to all of these factors this, the anime will feel lacking and kinda skewered.

In order to succeed in selling a character that lives in a certain state of mind, you've gotta detail their state of mind as much as possible and the anime's description of the main character's state of mind is simply... accepted by her peers. It is never really explained properly why. The explanation given to us is really, it cheers us up. But in the manga it actually is a little more complex than that. I can't go into more detail because of spoilers here, but note that the manga has given more important details to make her state easier to understand and accept. Her state of mind fuels the tragedy in the series and her struggles. All these things to give depth to her character, and even the characters around her since the effect and the impact her state has on them is also more explored in the manga, all of that, replaced with cutsey moments.

The pacing of the series is all damaged, in order for the anime to get serious due to all the changes they've done to the source material it had for a good while to appeal to flashbacks in order to describe the current state of how things are, making it seem as the worst has passed and they're making the best out of a bad situation and living somewhat casually at the current time. In the manga, the pacing is better. And the worst part is that the pacing makes the final events of the series feel completely convenient, from a casual watcher of zombie series' standpoint. There are some things will feel awfully convenient happening. Like, no, stupidly convenient. Like, shoplifting something, being caught, and you asking "Can I steal this PLEASE?". And they're like, yeah sure. Then you leave, yay, free shit. I again obviously can't give details on this, because spoilers.

So what can you expect from the anime itself? A story that doesn't describe its characters and the struggles they went through properly, banking on the fact it's cute and hoping that it's cuteness will be a catalyst to an impactful ending, banking on a couple things that are very likely to market. Is that the same case from the manga? Well, I can say the story takes itself more seriously, and things won't feel nearly as convenient there. There's some skipped content in the anime. (a bunch of chapters actually, consecutive even for a bunch of them) There's a character in the series (The dog) that is merely an episodic chapter in the manga series which in the anime is pretty much part of the main cast. The dog is anything but an integral part of the group. And something that will happen to the dog is explained way better rather than not at all.

To put it quite frankly, the things the anime has done quite well are its intro that gets progressively more fucked up as the series progressed, which I thought was a nifty touch, but I can't say I am a fan of the moe artstyle, or the slice of life-ish moments that took away development from the characters and the group as a whole the manga had. Anything else? The serious moments were done mostly well, but the series is mostly killed by its pacing. As I've said, when it's not in flashbacks, it seems like they're living somewhat of a peaceful life and the worst has already passed, making it all the more ridiculous how by its end, everything that will happen will simply feel convenient. And while the manga also tries to look cute, it does not do it at the cost of telling a more complete story about the characters.

If you want a more solid story with better characterization and better focus on the characters and of the theme this anime has, just go for the manga. The manga is decent, it explores the impact someone delusional and why they're delusional overall impacts the group, and the view of everyone on it and the impact this has on them. The anime tries to exploit this mental state as a tool towards building slice of life-ish moments that took away from the story. The manga tells a more natural, better paced, not nearly banking as much on the "please notice me I'm cute" factor. The problems of the group and characters are solved with less convenience even though there's some of that inside of the manga too. The world will be described better than in the show and in this particular type of setting, knowing the dangers of the world is very important. Overall I'd say the anime adaptation was an adaptation mostly ruined by marketing tactics. The manga series while not incredible, it still does a decent job with its theme and it uses its strengths mostly right.

However, if you're not interested in the theme or just don't want to bother with the manga, you could just avoid this series entirely. The reason I compared it with the manga so much is to explain why the adaptation was bad and if you are really into the theme, you have a far better alternative. I can't recommend you going into the anime for any reason, in good faith, when you have a better alternative for the same story in a different format.

I give up. I can't do it. When you start to watch a show that's supposed to be about the twists and turns and you're just sitting there predicting what's about to happen and getting it right, the show has failed to entertain me. I'm about to get some messages telling me how I'm wrong and how this show was "ZOMG so dark and deceiving and KEWL and TOO DEEP FOR U TO UNDERSTAND", but I don't care. Sorry not sorry.

Look, I liked the first episode. But I wish I had stopped right after the first episode. That episode on its own would've left me ... satisfied, but it just kept going and getting more and more hard to watch. And not because of blood and guts.

I adore slice of life anime. "Azumanga Daioh", "Nichijou", and "Strawberry Marshmallow" are some of my favorite series. Heck, I even tolerated "Lucky Star" well enough (except Patty. I hate Patty. Fuck Patty), so I'm not here to complain about the slice of life elements. I'm also not here to complain about the dead horse known as "zombie media". If it's well-written and clever, I can watch a zombie show or movie just fine.

I AM here to complain about the show's predictability and the characters. You can immediately guess what was going to happen throughout the show, and that almost ruined it for me. But even worse was how the other characters treated Yuki. They keep saying how she is their ray of hope and how they can't possibly tell her anything that happens, but allowing someone to stay in denial in such a serious situation is NOT GOING TO HELP, IT IS GOING TO HARM.

And you might be thinking of arguing with, "yeah, Gingy, but when serious stuff happens, we can't let kids know. We have to distract them and keep them from knowing the darkness of the world". Yeah, because they're kids. Yuki is the same age as the other girls, so why they keep putting her in denial makes little to no sense. She's not a child.

I really tried to like this show. I really did. There were some moments that were fine, and the first episode did a great job of catching the eyes of a lot of anime fans. However, I wasn't pleased.

I probably made someone mad with this review. Sorry. I'm not going to argue back and forth about why you liked the show and I didn't. I'm just going to sip my Calpico and watch some "Azumanga Daioh" to regenerate myself.

If you were looking for an anime about how a group of people try to survive a Zombie apocalypse... then you should watch / re-watch Highschool of the Dead because Gakkougurashi! is awful.

However if you want to watch ANOTHER typical Anime about dumb lolis featuring some blurry cgi-zombies in the background THIS IS YOUR ANIME.

The main characters were annoying, especially Yuki aka the pink- haired girl.
The story is inexistent. Lolis playing, camping and going on school trips... things you shouldn't do when you are surrounded by zombies.

The art was bad, especially the ''zombies''


... I'm sorry but this anime was a waste of my time. 0/10.

Someone should make a REAL anime about a zombie apocalypse

This anime is a very poorly executed mixture of moe slice of life with sprinkles of school drama mixed up with a zombie apocalypse. The ending spurred me into action, I've never written any reviews before this one but I "needed" to express my total disgust for this series. Not only the amalgamation of such a disparity of genres results as forced, bland and unimaginative, but it truly tops itself when in the last two episodes the most obnoxious developments occur and the only demise in this whole fallacious mess is the one that made less sense and truly took a toll on my sanity. ... Despite an interesting start, you will be quickly disappointed by one-note only characters and problems, absurdly developed solutions to the most critical conditions, "power of friendship and love" put in the most hideous of places, magically appearing, conveniently placed plot devices at the right time, and senseless casualties.

Do youself a favour and bury this utter disappointment in the deepest recesses of Tartarus where this abomination rightfully resides.

boring af and unwatchable barely got to episode 5.
it is like the producers put random good things from other animes in a blender, blended and served it ,without seeing the result or what even was put in there.
every like 5 min i get a random deja vu moment either from some manga or another anime.

Art is average nothing special. 5

music and sound: same as art didn't really notice it existed. 5

characters are not really unique in anyway ,just copy pasta with some random touches on the sauce. 6

this is just highschool of the dead with moe girls plus all the story is based in the ... school because producers wanted to cut down costs ,you even can match almost every character from this to that show.

Didn't enjoy it at all was about to sleep and opened some random mobile game and just let some of last episode i watched run in the background
Average(story+art+sound+characters)= trash anime
3/10

To start with the positives, I think that the production of the anime was fantastic. The art (especially the developing opening sequence) and the ominous, mood-setting sound were captivating and made for some nice scenes in the anime. However, I think the plot and content of the anime were lacking significantly enough for it to be overall not a very good anime.

Personally, Yuki made the anime so much worse. Although her development plays a critical role in the plot of the anime, there were too many times when she was actively a nuisance to the other members of the club, threatening their lives unnecessarily by ... being too oblivious of her surroundings. Maybe it was out of a genuine fanship for the other characters, but I really despised her for being such a large detriment to the group and for being generally annoying.

I also think the pacing of the anime was far too slow. As is true for a lot of anime, the plot of the anime can be condensed pretty well into half the number of episodes. Although there were moments of genuine intrigue that captivated me, there was too much dead time in between, enough so that I could watch while doing other things without missing the plot at all.

Overall, I think this could be a decent anime for people who like kawaii girls and don't mind the mix of stereotypical high school girl fun and zombie apocalypse, but definitely not worth the watch if your sense of survival is stronger than your suspension of disbelief and if you desire a fast-paced, moving plot.

The Gakkougurashi! one of those waste of time anime. It tries to show children and teenagers psychology on stressful situations it even emphasis it over typical apocalyptic survival zombie genre. If you came to watch how zombies take over the world you will be really disappointed.

Also what was really bad, the story line wasn't a linear one, lots of flashbacks, and some episodes should even really be at the beginning of anime. Instead the authors understood that their baby was really bad and tried to hide under the a cover of flashbacks.

Else, lots of wasting time, they could had made it a lot shorter. I ... even had to skip forward some scenes, they were showing nothing of significance.

Surprise surprise, I was betting who would die first and I lost my bet rly rly bad... Asking zombies not to kill and listening to their pledge was so lame... omg... omg ...

Last and not least, the ending was a disaster.... They could had just be "done"! with everyone, instead they did a complete reverse and want to go for season 2. Rly wtf with this ending....

School Live is a good idea, badly executed, and perhaps an exemplification of that idea. The premise is that there’s been a zombie apocalypse, and a group of survivors, inexplicably a group of high school girls, are doing their best to survive, and also trying to protect the sanity of protagonist Yuki, who has failed to acknowledge that there has in fact been a zombie apocalypse and is convinced she’s living a kawaii sugoi anime high school life, largely due to the rest of the cast not wanting to take any measures to try and break these delusions. And all things considered, the opening episode’s ... a strong one, but the problem is that from then on it falls into uninspired mediocrity, it comes across as though the first episode was properly orchestrated and thought out, yet the rest of it was improvised.

My viewer’s guide is that you stop watching after episode 1, because nothing following that is worth your time. Once the big reveal that the setting is actually a sinister zombie apocalypse is over, there’s really nothing captivating that follows, a bit of regular acquiring supplies and the regular surviving the apocalypse shit, a bit of everyone doing their best to try and stop Yuki from going mental, and her mental state in general gets touched on, but none of it’s that compelling, perhaps if they moved it so it was a twist ending, they could’ve made it more effective, but ultimately that’s not what we got, the show is a bait and switch, and nothing more, and is unfortunately a mediocre show that certainly didn’t appeal to me, and I am having difficulty seeing who exactly it could appeal to, it doesn’t even have the cryptic symbolism of “psychological” shows, nor the crude edge factor of other “moe but not really” shows, in a word, it’s a disappointment.

so i just finish this trash , it was big waste of time and i really feel bad because i regret to watch this anime , and tbh there is no sens at all in that show it have 0% logic , and who tf gi ve this anime an horror genre seriously wtf , how tf an horror tv show with cute characters cute op and ed and even the ost its for a cute anime , idk but i felt those characters from a loli hentai ngl , they should give it a dark theme with black and white and red colors ... why this show full colors , and why the characters so stupid why no one of them think about their family or the world or even the town , they live a normal life and that anime show us a silce of life type a daily lives to some teenagers like ep 9 when i saw it , it seems like a filler to me more than an ep that give the story something to grow up , it was some cutie girls swiming in the roof .

second thing that make me sick , why there is nothing sad or bad happened in the anime why they all happy wtf wrong with ost its for a romantic comedy anime , oh i forget about the little dog after he turn into a zombie he attacked one of the girls but after that he saved another one jesus christ what a logic and the most funny thing in this show when that girl with pink hair she is gone the radio room and teel to the zombie to leave and they left lmfaoo and lest be honest for a moment these zombie are so domestic they cant hear or bite or see like other movies or books thet we read they just walk and they have feeling omg im dead , bruh if you show this anime to kids they gonna drope it and i have no idea how i got energy to finish it and ive no idea how it got a high rate , yeah another thing where is the zombie that killed the teacher they were in the rooft and why the girls cried about a little dog and no one cares when their friend got bite .

in the end that anime a waste of time and dont tell me its anime bro what you expect , no mate i expect more than that , there is some anime with dope story there is a lot and im not gonna reccomend some because you have google son