Highschool of the Dead

High School of the Dead is about a group of breasts trying to avoid getting eaten by zombies in whatever way possible. Tagging along with these breasts are 2 of our heroes, Kouta and Takashi. A couple pairs of breasts are even in on the action part when they're not bouncing across the screen like jello filled balloons hiding behind incomplete articles of clothing.

But in all seriousness, High School of the Dead has actually been very enjoyable overall. And I'm not a fan of fan service.

Story: Here are some breasts, here are some zombies, and here are 2 guys to enjoy and protect the breasts ... pretty much sums it up. With a show like this, do you really need a complex plot? Do you watch The Simpsons in the hopes that the characters will change and mature as time goes by? God no. Homer's still an ignoramous (all be it tainted by the Family Guy brand of humour) and Bart's still causing trouble. High School of the Dead operates in a similar fashion. You don't really expect much in terms of character development or plot. You expect a lot of fan service, and some action whilst fighting zombies. HOTD delivers on both. It's the "how" that sets it apart though.

Art: So HOTD is well animated. Just putting that out there. The animation is clear, it's well done, and it's eye-catching. The way they animate action scenes is high quality stuff. And they made sure that boobs would jiggle at every opportunity. So there's a good framerate going, and crisp clean artwork.

Sound: I like to think of the sound section as more than just opening and ending tracks. When we're talking about sound, we're talking about background music, sound bytes and effects, voice casting etc... HOTD has no characters whose voices don't suit them, and the voice acting is well performed. The drone of zombies does it's job. To be honest, I haven't really noticed background music in the episodes during action scenes. I can't tell you if the background music fits well or not, cause there may not be much. But what I can tell you is that what they're doing sound-wise in the show works. Where they choose to put music blends so well you won't be able to distinguish it from the animation. Where there is no music, it adds a suspenseful effect to help bring you the realization that we're in a zombie-infested wasteland of a city. So the sound department is definitely solid.

Character: Here are some boobs, sometimes they show butts too. Honestly, character is underdeveloped in HOTD. We've got a ditzy nurse, an egotistical girl, a somewhat selfish and reliant girl, a strong girl displaying leadership qualities, a macgyver who can work with any scenario, and the male leader. But most of that can be summed up as such. " We have 4 pairs of breasts, one is useful, a Macgyver and a typical male lead. I don't mean to demean it or anything, but the other characters get so bogged down in fan service that you could seriously give them any archetype and the show wouldn't be much different. HOTD revolves around only 3 of the 6 main characters, and the only thing bringing it up from mediocre to fair (5 to 6) is our Macgyver. Kouta is not only epic and awesome in his practical knowledge, he's wonderfully written, funny, and someone our inner otaku can relate to.

Enjoyment: I really, really dislike fan service anime. You have to give me more than some panties and bras to make me want to watch a show. Thankfully, HOTD realized this. There is enough action to make it enjoyable on that aspect alone, but I really feel like Kouta saves the show from being a big flop. He's not the main character, nor is he the most important, but he's there as some comic relief, as well as an integral part of the main cast. You'll find yourself enjoying this show overall, and when you look back, you'll find most of the best parts involved Kouta getting a nosebleed, getting all excited over a weapon, or shooting zombies in the head with a nail gun. That's not to say you can't enjoy anyone else, Kouta just elevates it to be really enjoyable.

Overall: Amidst the incredibly overwhelming fan service, there's a lot of great stuff going on in HOTD. There's good action, there's some small romance, there's comedy, there's suspense and there's the reality of the situation in that the characters portrayed aren't really all that special outside their role in the group. We've got an assembly of people who rely on each other for survival, in a world crawling with danger. And overall, it's a pretty good show.

And a final note: Really, I don't mean to try and simplify a show beyond what it is, but HOTD is already pretty simple. Here are some Zombies, here are some boobs, enjoy.

--The review contains spoilers--


One could review this in a single sentence: "Why is no one having sex in this hentai anime?"

Here's the plot: In an alternate universe where the average female has breasts the size of grapefruits and all bras are made of wet paper towels, a zombie apocalypse happens. And as far as the plot goes, that about covers it. You could probably replicate it by watching The Walking Dead on mute next to a porn hub playlist.

In all seriousness, this is one of the worst anime I've ever seen. Here is one of those anime that really struggles to understand what its trying ... to be.The mindless sex and violence, which is what it is, is constantly being undercut by one of the worst harem anime plots I've ever seen. Character development is minimalist to say the least, and every time it tries to make a character even remotely interesting, it's undercut by how silly the whole thing is. One minute a girl is talking about how she's afraid of her inner, violent, dark side, and the next she's riding on the roof of a van wearing nothing but underwear and an apron while holding a katana.

This anime accomplishes virtually nothing. It fails at being hentai, it fails at being harem, and it doesn't add anything to either genre or any other. Would not watch again.

High School Of The Dead is a good anime. The tragedy is that it could have been a *great* anime if not for some horrible mistakes.


Let me explain. The setup is awesome. Zombie apocalypse+ a renegade group of kids + anime? It's pretty much every nerd's wet dream. Unfortunately, the writers decided to focus on the "wet" part much more than the dream.

A lot of people have been debating over HotD's overuse of fan service. Is it justified? I personally don't think so. Here you have a perfectly awesome setup for the apocalypse. People grabbing their guns, moral ... dilemmas, false messiahs, etc. HotD sets this up in a fairly realistic way and creates an immersive world that terrifies and fascinates the viewer. Then they give you episodes where 90% of the screen time is decided to naked women touching each other. Other episodes are more toned down, but the fan service isn't very subtle and it is very distracting and at times annoying. Shizuka, One of the main characters (who really isn't a character as much as she is a walking-talking fetish provider) has boobs that are literally larger than her head and does absolutely nothing besides acting stupid. She provides absolutely no other value to the show, and one has to wonder how she even gets out of bed in the morning.

Some of the other characters also have the same kind of one demential personality. Then you have characters like Saeko, and Takashi, who end up being dynamic and very interesting to watch. These two characters provide the show character development, constantly walking the line between hero and killer. They are fairly fascinating to watch, especially given that the series never promoted itself as being thought provoking.

The artwork is tough to describe, because while it is a visually impressive show, some of the character designs are incredibly awkward. As I mentioned before, the breast proportions on the female characters are insane. Rei and Saya have very edgy and unattractive hair that makes their characters look a bit cheaper than the rest of the cast. Despite this, most of the illustrations are very beautiful and it's generally top notch animation.

The best way to enjoy HotD is to expect very little from it and just go along for the ride. It has some terrible faults that might really ruin it for a lot of people, but watching the group survive the apocalypse is incredibly entertaining. It's a great mindless anime that is far better than any ecchi I have ever seen. If you are looking for a show with well developed characters and tasteful character interactions, find a different show. I would say that its worth making the exception for HotD though.

After seeing the long line of reviews on HotD, I thought I'd say my piece on here to what I think is a "good" show. Not a "very good" show, not even a "great" show, but a "good" show as it is. Of course this may change should the anime continue to be as entertaining as its been so far.

Having come with no expectations, seeing as that ecchi seemed to ooze the moment you watch opening credits(something people should have noticed when they started this series), I was pleased and amused to what it had delivered.

Story - 6
Before I start I believe it my duty ... to just add this trivial information for those asking about the plot since some say its lacking or that there are none. So what is plot?

Plot: In fiction, the story of a play, novel, romance, or poem, comprising a complication of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means. - ardictionary.com

Whilst a 'subtle' plot does play in the background of a world on the brink of a zombie outbreak, one must understand that it will never be its main focus as we're lead by a group of high school kids and their ditzy school nurse. This series is about survival in its most basic whilst the 'subtle' plot unfolds. If they were to ever find a cure in this show, I don't think it'd be by any of the casting members as they're too bothered with who likes who, and who has bigger breasts then the other. They may not be 'teh best' cast to date(mostly mediocre), but what's wrong with that? There once was a reality TV show who had crammed a group of nobodies into a house full of cameras just to see how they'd react and called it Big Brother. Look how big that became as an entertainment medium. HotD is in the same class, but better as it sticks your clichéd anime archetypes into a world infested with zombies.

Now for those not into reality shows are probably asking; why watch something if it doesn't even have a plot? We watch HotD for the 'over the top' reactions the cast get into when pitted with something that's out of the ordinary. I don't know about you, but that in itself is plot. The emotions and reactions executed are both hilarious and captivating at the same time, and to me is just pure entertainment!

And are we entertained? Definitely. HotD is so entertaining, it's fanbase now consist of zombie-lovers(who tally the frags), ecchi fanboys(who howl at every moment of cleavage), action enthusiasts(who now has Kouta & Saeko in their favorites) and even whiners(who pretend to dislike the show and yet has kept up to the current episode).

Art - 8
The art in HotD is crisp. From the well drawn scenery of a sunset backdrop that provides you that feeling of an impending doom, to the hack-and-slash execution of each action scene(which the zombie-lovers anticipate), one has to appreciate that HotD maybe a cut above the rest in terms of animation for this season. Coming from artists well known for their over-the-top ecchi(Daisuke & Shōji Satō), I hadn't expected anything less when I first seen their character design, and when I heard from HotD's anime director Tetsuro Araki(well known for DeathNote) stating in an interview :

Tell us what motivated you to make Highschool of the Dead?

"I’m aiming for something I would have bought myself in middle school. At present, this would definitely have been a “buy” for me. I can feel my schoolboy heart rejoicing even now."

...I knew this was going to be a series dedicated to a lot of fan-service for a particular audience.

Whilst some proportions may have been overdone, well hey...its anime. If you were expecting realism from a zombie-and-panty flick aimed at hormonal adolescents, then you're watching the wrong show .

Sound - 8
Sound is great with Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets "HotD" opening and the BGM sets the tone for every interaction within each episode, using rock as a theme. What's made me appreciate it even more is the director's choice of using Maon Kurosaki vocalize different lyrics for each episode which suits each ending very well. By the time the OST is out, I can guarantee it'd be number 1 for awhile in regards to downloads and music bought if your a fan of anime soundtracks.

Characters - 5
Unfortunately what sets my rating back as a whole is the casting for HotD as they are mediocre at best. Due to the pacing of the show, any form of development that they try to achieve are ruined and only comes off as cheesy, making you realize that this really is just a zombie-and-ecchi show. For those expecting romance to blossom, may be waiting a while as even I don't know where these characters are headed. One stage it may look like your average romance but by next episode it builds to a triangle and then a harem! Seeing this in the span of six episodes is just bad writing and I believe they should just stick to what they were already doing best: the zombie killing and ecchi!

To describe each member's characteristics as best as I could, would be to say that they are on a thin line between 2D/3D due to following their stereotypical archetype which I had mentioned earlier, whilst trying to adapt to the rules of the zombie genre. This can prove frustrating at times as each cast can act a little too superficial when facing a dilemma. Whether the creator had seen to these flaws as intentional is open for debate, but I guess overall it's growing on me and is leading me to continue just to see what they'd do next.

Enjoyment - 8
Well I won't lie to you, I have enjoyed the wild and bumpy ride that is High School of the Dead thus far(even with the ecchi) and now that we're over the half-way line(seeing as MAL & ANN has listed the series at 12), I can only hope that we aren't given a forced ending or have to wait too long for a second season so that the adaptation can provide more source.

Overall - 7
So as I had mentioned, HotD is a good show. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise that it's overrated especially if they've rated a 9 or 10 for shows like Sailor Moon or any other moé blob. Whilst it's not a Death Note or TTGL or whatever others are comparing it to at the moment, what it is is pure entertainment...and isn't that the sole reason we watch anime?

So my only advice to those new to this series is: if you view the show with no expectation then you'll definitely not be disappointed...and if you can't handle the ecchi then get out of the kitchen, that's reserved for Saeko in her 'Hadaka' apron..

Highschool of the Dead is a show that knows a very, very base demographic and knows exactly how to pander to it. It aims to please simple-minded, uniformly male teenagers with base level action and lots and lots of large, jiggling breasts. Highschool of the Dead has quickly entered into the ranks of shows extremely popular, not for being well-written or emotive, but simply for being a barrel of big, dumb fun.

The problem is... it's not very good at it.

As the name would suggest, Highschool of the Dead involves a highschool and dead things. More specifically, the series begins in a highschool and revolves around ... a bunch of highschool students, who happen to have walked into a George A. Romero film. In other words, they're surrounded by undead, bloodthirsty corpses... zombies. From here, the plot is about as simple as can be. The cast has to try and not die.

So all in all, it really speaks volumes that Highschool of the Dead manages to fuck up such a simple task, for a wide variety of reasons. But let's start with the most glaringly obvious one... the fanservice. OK, so considering the demographic the show is aiming for, it's hardly surprising that HotD uses a lot of fanservice. But Highschool of the Dead crosses the line of what an acceptable amount of fanservice would be repeatedly. Any scene that was otherwise good had an irritating tendency to shove some schoolgirl's underwear into the camera. And don't even get me started on the infamous "Boob Matrix" scene.

Of course, no matter how much fanservice is in a show, it would not destroy an otherwise good show. So let's get to the next reason HotD is an incredibly poor anime - the characters.

Let's summarize the cast very quickly. The everyman, the ditz, the needy girl, the bitch, the action chick, and the nerd. Not one of these characters has any more depth than that. I have literally told you everything you need to know about the characters in the space of one sentence. Takashi is completely unremarkable, Shizuka is dopey and annoying, Rei is irritatingly helpless and inconsistent in her character, and Saya (probably the worst member of the cast) is a self-righteous bitch who has no consideration for anybody else and considers the rest of the cast below her. The only passable members of the cast are Kouta Hirano (named and designed after the creator of Hellsing, a MUCH better take on the same style), who manages to make his military obsessions at least entertaining, and Saeko, who manages to not be annoying.

The worst thing about Highschool of the Dead, though, is that for a show that tries to be simple and fun... it's very boring.

All in all, a survival horror really needs you to care about whether the characters live or die to work. At first, after a seemingly significant character is killed off, it seems quite possible that major characters will be killed off, and that the series will be a struggle to survive. And yet, after that, not one character we care about dies. It becomes quite clear that the entire cast is in no real danger, due to having that strange immunity from danger that being a main character grants you. This means that we are simply stuck watching these unlikeable characters do things we don't care about. It would have at least been passable if the action had been well-directed, but it really isn't. There are no fight scenes that really stick out (barring the aforementioned Boob Matrix, which sticks out for all the wrong reasons). The action is mediocre at best. All of this leaves it up to a plot that really doesn't exist.

So what does this leave us with? A show that really doesn't have any positive points at all, really. It's watchable, I'll give it that much, and the first episode was quite good. But it really doesn't follow through on any of the potential it has. The themes in this show have been done before many times, and almost always better.

Final Words: Just watch a George A. Romero film instead. Seriously.

Animation/Graphics: 4/10
Story/Plot: 3/10
Music/Background: 6/10
Characters: 2/10

Overall: 3/10

For Fans Of: Hellsing, Elfen Lied.

Warning: the following review contains spoilers and gratuitous amounts of pure, seething rage. Please don't be offended or take this review too seriously. I don't actually want to kill zombie fans. I just REALLY hate zombie media.

Overview:

Highschool of the Dead represents the latest in an endless string of attempts to cash in on Zombiemania. If there is one thing that makes me go blind with rage it is zombie media and the brainless IDIOTS that keep this cash train rolling. Shows, games, and movies that are decent or mediocre become "OMG da best thing EVAR!" thanks to moron zombie fans. Walking Dead is a mediocre ... show, but zombie fans think it is Godlike. The Last of Us was a decent 3rd person shooter that stole some puzzle elements and escort missions from the vastly superior game Ico. Zombietards voted it game of the year and say it is the best game on the PS3! I own The Last of Us and enjoyed it somewhat, but I could name 20 better games for the PS3 off the top of my head without even breaking a sweat. These rabid, conformist fans are the only real zombies and I feel like one of the few lone survivors to not get infected by the zombietard virus!

Story and characters: 1/10

Zombies randomly start attacking and some bland Gary Stu and his harem of poorly drawn, badly proportioned, G cup babes must fight the zombies. Japan is quickly overrun and the world's governments decide to nuke each other with ICBMs. The US is able to shoot down all but one ICBM from China and Russia while completely destroying both countries with thousands of ICBMs. Yet, the blanket of radiation from the hundreds of missiles used to wipe out China has no effect on Japan, less than 100 miles away! Only the 1 missile that hit Japan has the minor effect of taking out the electric grid. The radiation is simply ignored. I am not even going to bother explaining why the US isn't capable of shooting down thousands of incoming hypersonic missiles with our current technology. I am thinking WAY too hard considering the average IQ of this fandom. Sadly, the only reason this series isn't rated an 8.5 out of 10 is that the fanservice angered Western female viewers. If this series had ditched its piss poor attempts at humor, toned down the fanservice, and taken itself seriously it would be called...Attack on Titan. Which Zombietards also think is "da best show Evar". They are so conditioned like Pavlov's dogs to have a kneejerk positive response to zombie BULLSHIT, that you can replace the zombies with drooling, stumbling giants and the positive response is the same. As long as everything else in the formula is left unchanged.

Art: 2/10

You fail human anatomy FOR EVER!

Soundtrack 3/10

The soundtrack is very lacking. At least a horror series should have a creepty OST, but this one sucks shit through a straw.

Entertainment 1/10

I want to use a baseball bat and brain the production staff and everyone who worked on this lazy, mockbuster!

Overall: 2/10

The massive production budget barely saves this one from the lowest rating, despite my overwhelming hatred of this series! Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to go read something good like The Brothers Karamazov. Then I will use the book's tremendous size to beat some zombie fans to death with it!

If you're looking for a complex detailed anime, you're looking in the wrong direction.

I know this is based on only two episodes. However, reading all of the 9s and 10s on this show made me furious. This show is not that great. Period.

What is this show about? It's another cliched apocalyptic world, but here's the twist! It's Ecchi! Wooo. Not.

If reviewers are allow to review and praise this series after one or two episodes, I'm allowed to criticize it. Am I not? So here it goes:

The first episode opens up with an outbreak of the zombie infestation in school and the school is quickly ... turned into chaos. They tell--not show--the viewers how the zombies are killed and what obscure powers the zombies have which, in my opinion, is very condescending. None of the introduced characters in the first episode are very likable. We have a whorish girl who spits out insults at the guy who saved her and We have the guy who saved her: the wannabe baddass.

If the purpose of the anime is to deal with the chaos and primordial catharsis, it seriously hinders the experience by adding all of the ecchi upskirt panty shots and jiggling breasts. If it's to appease the Ecchi fans, why not just go all out and make a hentai?

High School of the Dead tries to shoot the wire between two very different and difficult topic and does not succeed. It is not a horrendous P.O.S. but if you're looking for a High Quality Anime, you're looking in the wrong direction. If you just want to watch half-naked girls beat the crap out of zombies, this is your show.

Wow. As I'm watching the new anime shows of Summer 2010 season one by one, it seems like each one is better than the last. Well, it looks like this one is going to be my favorite show of this summer. Basically, H.O.T.D takes place in a post-apocalyptic world filled with countless zombies. What makes this show special is that it combines just the right amount of fan-service, horror, and goriness without being too excessive to spice up the show. In fact, all the panchira-like fanservice seems very superficial and you'll be surprised at how the atmosphere is very sad, serious, and even quite touching. ... Not only that, it features beautifully hand-drawn color background arts filled with great amount of details and it creates a bizarre effect when they are placed right alongside the hordes of gray zombies.

Just to note, H.O.T.D is directed by Araki Tetsuo, who is also known for Madhouse's masterpiece "Death Note," and both works seem to share a lot of similarities such as the opening theme and the very particular style of color selection (a lot of oranges and blues were used to create a feeling of insecurity). Also, you may notice that Madhouse has put a lot of effort on the music and sound effects in order to maximize the uncomfortable feeling that goes very well with the genre of this show. Anyway, H.O.T.D. did not fall short of my initial expectations and I hope Madhouse and director Araki Testsuo is going to continue the show just as it is.

Zombies...

Not a genre I've seen in anime very often, when they do appear its always in some upbeat anime, Like hey heres a zombie, and a vampire, and a succubus, and they all love this kid who happened to go to a school full of monsters... not really my ideal zombie.

This anime does a great job of displaying what a zombie apocalypse should be like. In recent years zombies have been transformed into allot of things, there bugs, there virus', there aliens. I say NO, zombies are the mindless undead, HOTD accomplishes that.

Its hard to tell where this anime will go off of only 3 ... episodes, I am excited for the ? total episodes, a zombie anime lasting for 200-300 episodes or more? i wouldn't mind.

So for my actual scoring (so far)

Story: This feels like a human reaction to a horrible situation, none of the characters are super elite soldiers, they are average people who took up arms in a time of crisis. I like where the story is going so far, with the addition of new characters along the way this could have some great development.

Art: The art style is modern, its clean, its sharp, the animation is done well, and the linear 300 style fight scenes are fun to watch. I DON'T like how the goriest or ecchiest scenes are blocked by a fat black bar that takes up half the screen, but hey, thats why we by the dvd's isn't it.

Sound: The music and sound quality is pretty good, they did kinda steal the beat for some of there songs from other zombie things like 28 weeks later. I did enjoy the homage felling tho, like they were giving praise to zombies of the past.

Character: The characters are pretty diverse in personality. I like some, I dislike others. One thing i don't understand is why it took so long for people to group up and work together. I know, the writers wanted to weed out the weaklings so they didn't have a army of armed, half naked high school kids marching down main street.

Enjoyment: BAM! 10, thats biased tho because I fucking love zombies. 'nuf said.

Overall: I believe this anime has potential, unfortunatly it has potential to be horribly bad too. They need to focus on a few things here.

1: FUCKIN ZOMBIES - The zombies need to be around, if theres like 4 episodes in a row of random character development without the appearance of a few hordes of undead, why the hell am i watching this.

2. Characters, and SHIT HAPPENS - People have to die, if the same starting cast lives more than a whole season without being scared by some zombie related event, I'm done watching.

3. Action - This is the hardest part, the action has to be different from time to time, you can only smash a zombie head so many times before you get sick of doing it that way, Dead Rising is proof of that.

Anyway thats my review, I'll revise after about 25 or so episodes, if it lasts that long, and hey if it doesn't I may change it up sooner.

Highschool of the Dead is one of those shows that I find myself having to show all of my friends, but not for the reasons the creators would probably like. Simply put, this show is bad. It is bad on a rather insulting level too. What could have been an enjoyable zombie romp had to be castrated with annoying characters, stupid plot moments, inconsistent logic (even within the realm of it's own universe), unbelievable amounts of fan service, and moments that just make you scratch your head and wonder how this ever made it into production. Because it didn't just make ... it into a TV series, it somehow got some of the best animation you'll find in an anime.

The series focuses on lead shounen teen Takashi, who contains every example of a Mary-Sue character. For those who don't know, a Mary-Sue is a character who is perfect at just about everything of value, is loved by everybody unconditionally, and is always right. Out of all the characters in this show he can be the most annoying because he turns out to always be right, even when his decisions are clearly bad. He is perfect at everything we see him do, going so far as to render the only positive input the only other male in his group provides (shooting guns) simply by receiving the instruction to 'shoot slightly above what you want to hit'. He immediately becomes a marksman. The only thing he's bad at is school, but guess what gets destroyed in the first episode?

Other characters consist of Rei, one of the whiniest characters I've ever seen, who starts off the series telling Takashi he'll never be as good as her boyfriend, telling him her boyfriend is always right, and as soon as the boyfriend dies (fist-fighting a zombie is a bad idea? SHOCK!) she begins to immediately alternate between 'you wanted him to die, how could you?' and 'please make love to me, I've always wanted you'. There's also a kendo girl who starts off being the only cool one in the series until a completely arbitrary revelation into her backstory turns her more into a dangerous psychopath (or it would, if they ever bothered dealing with it again). They have the 'smart' girl, who in this case simply quotes common sense and the occasional piece of relevant information she read in a textbook somewhere (which on at least one occasion I double checked and found it was wrong). There's a gun nut who I actually kind of like, in that unlike Mr. Perfect Takashi this guy only has one GOOD quality, and that is his skill with guns. Until, again, Takashi gets one piece of advice from him and immediately becomes a sniper. Finally, we have Boobs Mcenzy, a nurse who doesn't know medicine, can't seem to understand anything that's happening around her, and whose very existence seems to be justified entirely by 'well, she has even BIGGER boobs than the rest of the cast'. Later on there is a kid and a dog, but I honestly can't remember anything she does other than go to the bathroom on Takashi's shoulders (yes, this happens).

Oh, and there's the completely insane, psychotic teacher who nobody in their right mind would trust, yet somehow everybody looks up to him simply because he's a teacher. He oggles the girls while licking his lips, contorts his body into insane poses while detailing why they should relent to his authority (for their own good, of course!) and has some inexplicable desire to... keep the main girls as his slaves? I'm not really sure. It's never really explained, or at least not in any satisfactory way.

One element that confuses me about this series is how it jumps about seemingly at random between 'let's analyze this situation using logic and real world physics' and 'batshit insane anime logic'. For example, at one point Boobs McKenzy tells them that she cannot drive the bus over a small group of zombies because it would flip the bus. Then, as soon as the plot calls for it, she hits the gas, runs over about 30 zombies, then plows through a METAL GATE and drives down the road like nothing is wrong.

This might be salvageable if the zombies were remotely scary, but in this case they go out of their way to make them seem as non-threatening as possible. "How do they do this?" you ask, unaware that not only am I clearly about to tell you anyways, but that I can't hear you and you are just wasting your time. It's simple: in this world, zombies...sorry, NOT zombies... according to this show's logic, 'they cannot be zombies, because zombies only exist in movies, therefore despite sharing almost all the characteristics with movie zombies we cannot use that name as an easy reference point because LOOK HOW ORIGINAL WE'RE BEING YOU GUYS'. Anyways, zombies in this show apparently CANNOT SEE OR FEEL THINGS. I don't mean 'cannot feel' as in 'cannot feel pain'. No, they cannot feel things like a wet cloth hitting the back of their head. Logically one could assume that if they cannot see or feel anything, they would have no way of knowing when they had someone in their grasp, yet that never stops them from doing so. Maybe this is because everybody ignores the fact that they can only hear, and starts screaming as soon as they see even a single zombie come down the road. I believe the author came up with this idea for one scene and one scene only: Takashi walking slowly and silently through a herd of zombies. It's actually a really good scene, and one that gave me hope for the future of the series.

It's immediately ruined because someone hits a pipe against a railing and, instead of saying 'make a noise somewhere else to distract them' or 'just keep moving silently so they don't know where you are' Takashi just begins screaming bloody murder and alerting all zombies everywhere to their presence. The smart girl (whose name I cannot remember) points out that, yeah, that was a stupid f**king move, but we are lead to believe that Takashi is right somehow because then a zombie tries to attack her, which somehow invalidates her point... I think? I mean, she's right, and the zombie only attacked her because she was talking which ACTUALLY PROVES HER POINT YOU GUYS but anyways they just keep screaming and running which gets a lot of people killed. Our heroes!

Probably the funniest use of this new 'zombie logic' comes 3/4 of the way through the series. Some of the characters leave a building to find the yard empty. Then suddenly, Zombies come pouring up the stairs after them! Takashi, in a moment of brilliance that I could not make up if I tried, exclaims 'But how did they find us? DID THEY HEAR THE LEAVES RUSTLING IN THE TREES?'

I'm not making that up. Zombies are attracted to leaves now. Apparently, ANY sound is enough to alert them to your presence, unless the plot demands otherwise (like the previous episode where no amount of sound from another direction would deter them from attacking them). Then, the Kendo girl goes into a killing frenzy against the zombies and declares that the combat has 'made her wet'. Ick.

Oh, and there's a subplot about America wanting to nuke everybody because come on, what else are you going to do? We spent good money on these bombs and they aren't just gonna launch THEMSELVES!

I very nearly stopped watching this show at episode 6, where the fan service was turned up to 11. They found a safehouse and, while the guys were doing things like plan their next move, maintain their weapons, keep an eye out for zombies, etc., the girls got drunk, took a group bath and fondled each other before attempting to get it on with Takashi (and only Takashi, for he is the ONLY man they could go for.. other than the other guy in the group, but he's fat and nerdy so it's completely understandable since looks DO apparently matter).

There is clearly so much wrong with this series that it almost hurts just how good it looks. That is the only saving grace to this show: it is GORGEOUS to behold, and the theme song can get stuck in your head quite easily. In fact, the opening theme made me think this show would be great simply because of the tone and atmosphere it set up. It's a shame the show itself couldn't live up to it's own opening.

I once sat some friends of mine down and we had a drinking game to this show. The rules were simple: Any time we saw fan service we'd take a shot. We quickly ruled out the opening theme because there's about 4 or 5 different shots in too rapid succession to drink and pour a new glass. After that, we had to limit it to 'just scenes of up-close boob and ass jiggles' because we were on a dangerous road to alcohol poisoning already. We quit after 4 or 5 episodes, because I knew the safe-house episode would kill them.

So yeah, that's Highschool of the Dead. If you have friends over and want to watch something mind-bogglingly bad, then grab some bottles of alcohol and watch away. If you are looking for something DECENT, however, then try watching something better. It wouldn't be hard to find.

Everytime I think of this title it conjures up an awful feeling in my gut. That uneasy queasiness that you get from a laughably shitty experience, which is only made worse when you realize what it contributed to the medium as a whole. Too fully grasp this feeling of comical disgust and disappointment I'll like to ask for your attention as I construct a made up story scenario.

Picture this, you're in class with your fellow students but you're the only one who watches anime as a storytelling medium. Your teacher then announces that we'll have show and tell and the subject will be different forms ... of media. This immediately caught your attention as you thought this would be a perfect time to share what anime has to offer with your fellow peers. Your teacher says to everyone "gather up stories from different genres of the medium of your choosing and you'll present a selected story of my choosing to the class".. With that said you immediately rushed home and gather your collection. For a war epic you have your Legend of the Galactic Heroes. For thrillers you have your Death Note. For mystery you have your Monster. For action your Black Lagoon.. and the list goes on and on.
So after gathering your collection, you sit bottled up with excitement as everyone presents the genre their teacher asks for. Finally it's your turn and she turns to you and say "give us a zombie story from your selected medium".. So you frantically dig through your collection looking for the criteria..Then when you realize you ONLY have 1 title that fit that requirement your heart sinks.. And with that ladies and gentlemen I hope you can begin to understand how this dreadful title makes me feel, as we shamefully present to the World anime's only contribution to the zombie genre.

Today we're going to take a look at Highschool of the Boobs, an anime about our MC and a group of titts trying to survive a zombie apocalypse.... and also his struggle to keep his dick in his pants.


Story/All that "plot": 2/10

This is your standard fare zombie story that you've seen countless of times before. The only difference being the abundance of titts and panty shots thrown at you every 5 seconds. With that said it is the most immersion breaking show I've had the displeasure of watching. You're not sure if the show is trying to give you an adrenaline rush or a fucking boner. After a point you forget you were watching a zombie flick as it steadily becomes a harem. It's hard to build tension when hoards of zombies are eating someone while the camera focuses on a crotch shot. Don't get me wrong, fanservice is nice if it serves a purpose or don't take away from the show's overall experience. But when it's constantly bombarding you with it it's hard to care about anything when they focus more on the "plot" instead of the plot. Speaking of "plot" this story ends up going nowhere with a very anticlimactic finale that leaves many question left unanswered, it was too ambiguous for its own good. This further puts a damper on a show that's already borderline garbage.

milk jugs/Animation: 9/10

2 words: MATRIX BOOBS

I don't know if this counts as an accomplishment but the art and animation for HOTD is shamefully amazing. The cinematography is top notch and feels like you're watching a blockbuster action flick. This coupled with unique camera angles and panning shots shows that the people behind the project are well versed in their field of work. Also worth noting that Tetsuro Araki, the lead director, would later take this experience to later create the jaw dropping choreographed "spiderman" scenes in shows like Attack On Giant Naked People. Needless to say the man knows how to take regular shows and turn them into a orgy of A-grade directing. Too bad this effort is downgraded seeing that it's still all about MATRIX BOOBS.

Sound(of boobs): 5/10

Outside of the catchy opening song not much praise can be given to the soundtrack. It's simply muddled in the background and none of them really grabs your attention, they're typical tracks found accompanying thriller/action flicks . They serve their purpose but not something deserving of a stand alone listen.
The voice actors were all fine, they all fit their characters given straight fairly well. This is also a rare case where watching it dub is better since it doesn't take itself as seriously. Standouts being Mark Laskowski as Hirano for being able to switch from wimpy to sociopath at the drop of a hat and Maggie Flecknoe as Takagi for capturing the right amount of tsundere.


Characters: BOOBS(1)/10

2 guys accompanied by walking titts is basically the cast in a nutshell.

We have:

A bitch with titts
A ditz with titts
A throw-a-fit with titts
A psycho skits with titts
A loli with little bits

and of course Takashi Komuro & Kouta Hirano as the guys to lead the harem cast to safety.

I would of gone into ore detail but they're simply archetypes you've seen countless of times before and don't really count as "characters" in my humble opinion. More like fanservice with legs.

Enjoyment: 2 faps /10

I wanted to enjoy this show but everytime it proceeded to get decent it opt out to throwing titts and panty shots in my face. The contradictory tone felt too lopsided to really give a fuck and I found myself watching it only to complete it after a few episodes in. If you watch it with friends you might get a few awkward laughs but as a means of entertainment you might as well watch a Michael Bay film since that's essentially what it is.

Overall: 3/10

If you want an A-grade blockbuster budget anime with B-movie level entertainment look no further as this anime seem to have found a odd but effective balance of pulling it off. If you can get pass the insane amount of fanservice and mediocre script who knows, you might actually find something to like here. For everyone else wanting a decent zombie show don't even bother as it really boils down to a harem with zombie for flavoring.

There's enough reviews out there and enough information to debate over as to if Highschool of the Dead is a masterpiece or an abomination. This review is not about trying to convince you that one side is right, I'm just laying down the facts as I saw them.

Story: 7/10
To put things into perspective, I want you to review in your mind, all the zombie media you have ever seen - maybe it's none (maybe you're a veteran). That being said, as far as zombie media goes, the story behind HOTD is not awful. A virus hits the world, an infectious one, that spreads on contact ... from host to host. Introduce a cast of whimsical characters whose problems are limited to being outcasts in the lunchroom, here we have the typical zombie-pocalypse plot meets anime. Could the premise of running around Japan beating the already dead once over with baseballs bats and katanas be better? Sure, but if you want to watch Highschool of the Dead, that's what it's about.

Takashi is a depressed high school student when a random zombie walks onto his school campus and everything starts from there. He and his classmates end up trying to escape said 'Highschool of the Dead' and end up running around Japan trying to survive the zombie infested nightmare by any means. That about sums up the overall plot of HOTD.

It's excessively violent, it's excessively suggestive, it's excessively dramatic, and for the most part the anime exists to fulfill it's fans with guns, sex, and everything else your inner-preteen-male desires. It does not deserve to be held high as a triumph of the industry nor does it sink low as being the worst invention of mankind. If you enjoy top quality action scenes then hey, you've stumbled upon a great anime!

Some disappointments in the storyboard would be in the episode four "half episode" recap of the first three episodes. Another big problem would most likely be the ending, which although fulfilling, it is indeed a non-end. Seeing as the manga is still publishing and a HOTD OVA has recently been announced I'm sure a follow up to the story will come soon enough.

Art: 9/10
Me oh my, the backgrounds are delectable, the costuming is mouth-watering, the CGI is marvelous, and the action scenes are intense! Madhouse delivers.

Character designs are debatable (some people love them, some people hate them), but I didn't have a real problem with any of them - even the nurse whose character design is /her whole character/, I'll touch on that in a moment.

Sound: 10/10
The Akeboshi Rockets perform "HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD" and it's one of the best openings I've ever had the fortune of listening to. Even if you don't end up watch HOTD, I recommend giving it a listen - it's really great! It brings all the tension and action right to your eyes, and the visuals that accompany it in the anime really just make you want to watch HOTD. Numerous insert songs throughout (all played at such perfect times) and even a rendition of "Row row row your boat" ("Shoot shoot kill them all") pops up in the anime. The BGM is scary. Hellsa scary - and it just simply works. Of course there are cutesy tracks too (for the fanservice episodes and "laughter moments") but that music is chump change in comparison to the rock tracks used during the battle scenes. The voice acting is also really good - the voice of Archer (from F/SN) is Takashi and Kitmura Eri as the tsun~tsun~ Takagi. Sawashiro Miyuki (the voice of Celty from DRRR!!, Perrine from Strike Witches, and Shinku from Rozen Maiden to name a few) voices Busujima and does an excellent job. We also have some TTGL going on in this anime - Inoue Marina (Yoko) voices Rei, and Hiyama Noyubuki (Viral) voices Hirano. The voice acting rivals the soundtrack and is just as superb.

Character: 6/10
Yeah yeah yeah. Everyone knows. If you're watching HOTD, you're not watching for the character development. Takashi is bland, Rei is bland, the nurse is roleless, and the loli barely has two lines.

But on the opposite end of the spectrum we have the dynamic and exciting Busujima who crosses the line between murderer and defender of justice. Busujima, accompanied by Hirano, the military expertise who creates much humor with his dual personality that changes from meek geek to powerful slayer.

The very worst part about the characters would be the nurse. I often forget about her existence due to the fact that she has no character development at all. She is stupid beyond imagination (even as far as anime stupidity goes in ecchi anime, she may take the cake), and should have been the very first person killed when the zombie breakout occurs. On the other hand, her assets are great, so apparently we can just write that off as a logical reason for her survival.

Enjoyment: 9/10
I truly enjoyed HOTD. I wasn't particularly fond of the over-the-top fanservice sequences, but I definitely had fun watching it. There were indeed moments where I cared about the characters, as flawed and stupid as some of them may be. Highschool of the Dead is a fine show and no it is not intelligent. But I don't want to give the illusion that if HOTD were intelligent or scripted to be so that it would be good. It would be a trainwreck and it was never meant to be anything more than super violent show about bashing zombies and making love to beautiful girls.

Overall: 8/10
There's no serious question posed at the end of this anime. HOTD does not ask you to continue thinking about how we should live our lives or how we take what we have for granted. It's not made to be deep, it's made to be fun. It's very easy to slam HOTD for being all about violence and sex, because it is. There's subjugation of women and the glorification of man too, so if you're offended by such things, I wouldn't get too involved with this series.

All aside, Highschool of the Dead is a success in my opinion. It provides the viewer with enough laughs and adrenaline to keep them watching. Not once did I check the clock for when this anime was over. That's to say that HOTD is not boring. Not boring at all.

HoTD is one of those anime which fanservices are proven far more annoying than any arousing. Naked female zombies, girls' panties being reveal as they are eaten, and female zombies in one of those 'fetish costume'(eg.nurse) did not turn me on in the slightest bit(and I'm a straight guy with average hormone level) and is rather highly disturbing. The mangaka's demand on how to 'put in as many jiggly boobs and panties as much as possible' sounds sick, and yeah he still make lots of money from it.

One thing I dislike of any zombie fiction is how the story is carried out, it simply bring ... out way too much questions, so a group of 5-7 average people with minimum battle expierence can handle infinite zombies coming at them? If that is true then why are the well-trained soldiers get munched on routinely despite having all the advantages in the world(except number) given to them? Why did the zombies that can't even run and would be killed with the slightest tap to the head manage to take over the world in the first place? Let alone doing that in TWO DAYS

The characters:
- Takashi, doesn't really have any reason to be the leader, but as the protagonist he would be assigned so anyway, and again he's one of those protagonist who get all(almost in this case) the girls without any apparent reason.
- Rei, despite how many fans have loathed her for bitching unendingly, I find her decent as how she act is the most natural reaction any real girl would in that situation. Don't deny it even if you're male you would bitch like that too, so unless your boyfriend/girlfriend was munched by zombie before I hope no one bring up an arguement on this. I'm not saying everyone would do it, but as the survival of most of you and your loved ones are never really tested, I prefer you to not skip to conclusions that you won't, believe me, 1 week before this mess happened Rei wouldn't believe she would bitch like that either.
- Saeko, on the other hand, may be liked by many but not by me, as she is one of the most unnatural characters in the series(wearing only apron to fight zombies? what kind of logic was she using? oh of course its fanservice again)
- Saya is simply too self-righteous and annoying, her intellegence demonstrated by observation and planning skills didn't meet up with her self-claimed 'genius' title at all
- Kouta, I don't have anything against him. I agree with everyone that he's the most bearable character in the cast, but as the fat-sidekick guy living with another guy with his harem, its simply sad he's cursed not to get any girl (*SPOILER* the girl who develop romantic feelings for him is soon killed before the party proceed to the following arc)
- Shizuka, despite being a teacher and the oldest member of the party, she demonstrate near to none maturity, leadership, or decision making skill. Her actions are like any other girls in the story, her logic being stripped bare from her for the purpose of fanservice, but with her case she would do it often time just to demonstrate how much her IQ is.
- Alice, her character is the most illogical of all the cast, she became a cheerful girl some few hours after her father's death. As far as I'm concerned no 7 years old girl with a healthy relationship with her family would do that, she would be scarred for life and become a total emo, but yes they have to make her the moe-source of the story so she has to be all happy with sugary rainbows in a zombified planet! yeah right
- Any minor and/or supporting characters joining the party are killed or dismissed(presumably killed) at the end of each arc, just to ensure the party go along by themselves and even with 3 hindrance characters, all will survive the apocalypse. Many minor characters are made to be specificly killed anyway but there are many that deserve to live, they just don't happen to do so.

The art of both the manga and anime is great, only if the author is less absent minded with his fantasies and write the story with a more sane and realistic setting it would have been good, which is unlikely for a man who work his part-time drawing ero-doujins despite having his own animated series. It is best that the author knows their dream anime is good, but suddenly turn bad when the dream became wet, moist is acceptable but the author should have been ashamed of the drenched mess he made, instead of being proud of it.

"This is the way the world ends- not with a bang, but a whimper." - TS Eliot

Preface:

Oh, Tetsuro Araki, how you've divided anime audiences since you introduced yourself to the world with Death Note, and look where we are now!
I'm going to make this plain and simple: Highschool of the Dead is boob, butt, and fanservice city. You want bouncing breasts? Check. You want upskirt shots? Check. Do The Matrix inspired scenes of fatty mammary issue jiggling and waving in slow motion like grass in the wind excite you? My friend, you have come to the right place.

(Note: I'm going to rate this ... on both the fanservice and my regular scale)


Artwork and Animation: 9 {Fanservice: 10 Bouncing Boobs out of 10}

Some might be surprised to learn that MADhouse animated HOTD, and with it comes the excellent quality that MADhouse brings to the table. It looks great, and with Araki's eye for direction, it's a stellar show to gaze upon, in between boob shots, that is. The 3D animation is really quite good, and the standard animation is very fluid and fast. Highschool of the Dead is very cinematic, lots of sweeping camera angles, strategically (in more than one way) placed views, and lots of establishing shots. The camerawork and character details are undeniably Araki. (The creepy teacher even does the Light Yagami pen-arm swing!)


Sound and Voice Acting: 8 {Fanservice: 9 Sexy Moans out of 10}

Highschool of the Dead, much in the same vein as Panty and Stocking and Mad Bull 34 is just one of those that must be seen in English. The extra bits thrown in, the pop culture references, the strong-er language- they all really spice up the cliche ridden script. All is not lost though, Highschool of the Dead is genuinely funny- and the script is actually quite nuanced at times, at odds with the very brick-dumb zombie survival plot.

Aside from Monica Rial, the entire voice cast was new to me, which was refreshing to hear some different voices.

The music. The music in HOTD is really fantastic. The eponymous OP is one of the best I've heard in terms of fitting well with the visuals and setting the tone for the show. The various EDs are also quite great. BGM fits well with low haunting tones and riffage when appropriate.


Characters: 6 {Fanservice: 8, two boobs for each main female}

Takashi is our MC- he's accompanied by his girlfriend and spearmaster Rae, his childhood friend, genius, and whiny loudmouth Takagi, the silent strong type Saeko, fat gun-nut otaku Hirano, and ditzy fanservice machine Miss Boobs. The 5 students and Miss Boobs are fairly typical characters from a high school type show, but with a few exceptions. 1) They aren't stupid, and 2) they understand (4th WALL ALERT) how the zombie apocalypse works.


Story: 5 {Fanservice: 8, the amount of butt and boob shots in every scene}

Let's face it, in every single zombie apocalypse show you've got two routes:

Route 1 is the bullshit, pseudo-scientific garbage about some infectious disease that turns the living in to the living dead, replete with dubious explanations and factually incorrect medical jargon some writer stole from WedMD.

Route 2 is where the zombie outbreak happens for no explained reason, and needs none. Everyone knows it's fiction, who the hell cares? It's just a plot device to get some action going. (Until you get into the Walking Dead territory of lame-ass soap opera. Yeah, I went there.)

Highschool of the Dead takes Door #2, and to good effect. It let there be more fanservice and more characterization. Surprisingly, each character does get a fair amount of backstory about their past, their relationships with each other, and how that affects where they are now, and how they got there.

I'll say it begrudgingly, but HOTD does actually stray away from some of the conveniences of the ubiquitous zombie genre, and plays off some horror tropes at the same time. It didn't take the characters a whole season to figure out how to kill the walking corpses, and just as soon as it happens, they've got a plan and act on it.
Takagi is also always around to give us explanations of biology, mechanics, and answers to general knowledge/common sense questions that pop up, such as, but not limited to: "Why is the power still on?" "Why is the water still working?" "Why do our phones not work anymore?" "What is it that the zombies are actually capable of?" "What is the government doing about this, how is there still rule of law?". Small details like that show that at least some thought was put into the writing that wasn't female body measurements. Thought was also given to the world at large, outside of the tiny scope of our 6 characters. The world governments falling, imminent global thermonuclear war breakout, and even SPAAAAAAAACE!


Enjoyment: 10 {Fanservice: 10 Oversexualized Female Leads out of 10}

I'm not an ecchi man by any stretch of the imagination, I think it's typically a least common denominator way to garner views, but HOTD took it a step up. When it's not flashing its disproportionately sized anatomies at you, Highschool of the Dead is honestly just pure, dumb fun. I grinned practically the whole time, I laughed at the dialogue, (there's even a 4th wall smasher! "Why are you such a ditz?" "Oh, it's just my character!") the visuals were appropriately dark and violent, and the dang thing is just plain entertaining. I was impressed with the strong language and not pulling punches when it came to the violence, as well.


Overall: 8 {Fanservice: 9 Ultraviolent Bloody Zombie Dismemberments by Beautiful Girls}

There's not much else to say here; if you're looking for a humorous, boob filled romp through an overused horror plot trope, this one is for you my friend. Just turn your brain off for 23 minutes at a time, stuff some popcorn in your grubby face and chuckle along with it. Ignorance is bliss, right?


Recommend?

Sure, why not. Fanservice galore, mediocre plot and characters wrapped up in a snappily animated bloody action fest.


"My boobs are killing me because you used them to balance an AK-47!" -Rae
-Basically sums up the whole show.

As everyone else who has reviewed so far, this is based on one episode, which isn't entirely fair. But I will try anyway since I feel the reviews so far are heavily (and unfairly) one sided for what the anime is.


If you havent seen any episodes yet then I suggest watching the opening sequence, it'll give you a pretty accurate view of what to expect the first episode: Violence, zombies, and pantyshots. Not that I didn't guess this from the poster image on this page. So I wasn't exactly surprised.

So far we've been introduced to most of the main characters, though two were ... very brief (the samurai girl and the nurse). The character design is quite cute, even appealing, and the animation is pretty high quality. I was impressed by these two factors. Though the inconsistency of the main character bothered me slightly (massive eyes in one shot, then very thin manly ones the next.). But I'm just being picky there. The only thing I don't enjoy about the visuals are the random close ups of girls underwear, or very smoothly animated boob bouncing. I know it's an anime so it isn't all that strange, but surely that's pushing a lot of potential viewers away?

Regardless, even though the anime seems to be heading for a violent/dramatic harem setup, it was still fairly enjoyable thanks to how well the action was animated. I just doubt I'll be watching it for any story or character development. Worth checking out, but don't get caught up in any of the hype.

Fan Service and zombies. That's all this show is. So I suppose that any review has to cover both of them. Ladies first I guess.

The opening titles alone has a dozen crotch and boob shots. None of them serve any purpose. Throughout the show you are constantly plastered with this given the slightest opportunity. Or even when they have to create an opportunity. The number of dialogue scenes where the camera slowly goes down to focus on their panties averages out to at least two an episode. Probably more. The worst episode by far is episode six. In it the girls all bathe together, with ... predictable fondling and lesbianism, while the two guys sit in the other room and talk about guns. That's the whole episode right there. Oh, except for the fact that all the girls try to sleep with the main guy. I'm assuming that they got drunk somewhere in there because they all act it after the bath. Either it's just assumed or that's just how this guy thinks girls act when they let all their crazy feminine emotions out.

This is symptomatic of the treatment of the girls in general throughout the series. All of the girls (with one exception) offer nothing but an opportunity to show off their bodies. There are four main girls. I can't be bothered to remember their names so I'll just identify them by their hair color. Pink is a total b*tch. She says she's a genius at every possible opportunity although she never demonstrates any proof of it (many of her 'facts' are wrong and the ones that are right she cannot possibly know), and she enjoys belittling people for it. The blonde girl is a complete bimbo. She's the school nurse but she has giant breasts and the IQ of a five year old. The high point of her introduction is the 'comedic' moment where a male student is devoured alive protecting her and she's so indifferent she can't even remember his name. She never speaks except to whine or fawn all over the main character who is I might point out, actually an underage student. I suspect she works at a high school for a very specific reason... Brown hair is also obnoxious and likes to go on about how great the guy's friend was even though he's still traumatized from killing him. At one point she's thrown from a car and she just lies there for at least 3-4 hours (it goes from midday to sunset) while everyone else protects her. She's not hurt or anything, she just gets up and walks it off when the plot feels like advancing. Naturally she's the main love interest. The last girl is purple haired and she's the only semi-good one. She's a master with swords and genuinely loves killing zombies. Her competence and professionalism do not prevent her from being used as yet another sex doll for them to display. It is made quite clear that even the competent girl can do nothing without a guy to lead her. More than that the girls cannot think for themselves and constantly put everyone's lives in danger because of their uncontrolled emotions and lusts. It really is a disgustingly misogynistic and exploitative show.

So now the zombies. Zombies are cool right? How can they mess them up? Well first off they never call them zombies. They seem to think this makes them realistic somehow. Secondly they bind them with stupid rules and then constantly break them. These zombies are cannot see, smell or touch. The only sense they have is hearing. Sounds interesting right? So naturally they'll be quiet and sneak around to prevent the zombies from hearing them. Except they don't. They run around screaming with zombies all around ignoring them and then one of them will bump into a pole, or drop a bat, or the wind in the trees will make noise and suddenly the zombies are attacking them everywhere. I want you to think hard about that last one. The wind in the trees attracted the zombies. THE WIND IN THE FRIGGIN' TREES!!!!!! So having established by the second episode that zombies need sound to hunt they then proceed to ignore it until it is convenient to the show for them to be in danger. How can there be any actual sense of danger when they ignore their own rules whenever it's convenient?

The two guys are there too. That's really all that can be said of them. The main guy is basically how the author views the perfect guy to be. He has no real flaws and is fawned over to an obscene degree by all the women. The other guy is a fat nerd and a gun buff. He's probably the most interesting character there since he's extremely competent at one thing and enjoys it immensely. Naturally he's treated with contempt by all the girls, who are nothing if not superficial.

So, the good things...
...
...

I'm drawing a blank here. I suppose that technically it's an impressive series. The animation is quite good and the character designs aren't bad at all. The main theme's pretty catchy too. Apart from that zip. Zilch. Nada. This show has no redeeming features whatsoever. I suppose that if you're a 12-year-old boy or can't figure out how to search for hentai on the internet this might be a good show for ya. I have to say that I enjoyed it immensely, though not for the reasons the creators intended. The sheer stupidity and horribleness of the show alone make it worth watching if you like that sort of thing. My brother and I played a drinking game to it based on taking a drink whenever we saw fan service, but we couldn't repour fast enough to get through the opening titles.

Hello there fellow anime lover, and welcome to yet another review of the REALLY hyped anime called Highschool of the dead (or HOTD for short...). In this review I'll be pointing out why you should (or you should not) watch this, but before I start let me say one thing: If you don't like high-end ecchi animes then this series is NOT for you. That said, let's get on with it.

HOTD is yet another one of Japan's attempts to take on the "zombie fighting" scene, this time following six survivors as they try to... well... survive through the apocalypse. Does it remind you of something? ... I don't know about you but it sure does remind me...
It all starts when one day an infected person (which we don't know how it got infected) knocks (literally) the door of a highschool and bites a teacher. Then, guess what... An apocalypse breaks and in about an hour or so half the city has gotten infected!

Story:
In terms of story, the whole series is nothing out of the ordinary. 6 survivors trying to survive as the whole virus spreads and more and more people become zombies. While it is good at the first half (till the sixth episode), it then starts to get more and more (and more) of a high-end ecchi rather than an apocalypse. This killed the mood for me, as the story at that point suddenly got into the ecchi side, without leaving room for the apocalypse to really shine, as a zombie fan would expect.
While the story is good till the first half, then it starts having many plot holes and twists, with many characters breaking out of nowhere and joining (and later leaving) the group of the initial 6 survivors and helping them. All of this happens in only 6 episodes (the second half), which makes the story REALLY undeveloped with no room for any development character wise, but I'll get into that later... If the whole high-end ecchi thing got tossed then it would be a great anime action-wise.
Score: 5/10

Characters:
In terms of main characters, the whole group of the six survivors consists of 2 guys and 4 girls. While the initial cast was interesting in terms of personalities, then (at the second half) becomes what you would expect of a high-end ecchi, where more and more (and more) skin is showed. All of that happens within an episode and thus lacks of proper development. While some characters do develop, it is still not enough.
In all that, let's add the sudden appearence of side-characters who "help" (and some even go against) the group, which again lacks of proper development and leaves way too many holes.
Score: 4/10

Art:
The animation is one of the pros if you want to watch the show. It is smooth and detailed, and covers all the action in a good way. The shading is done well and the whole atmosphere is good enough for the whole apocalypse. Nothing more, nothing less!
Score: 8/10

Soundtrack:
The soundtrack is the second pro of the whole show and it adds perfectly to the action and the atmosphere of the apocalypse. The opening and the many endings are well done and fit perfectly into the show. If I was expecting something whenever an episode would end, that was one of the many ending songs.
Score: 9/10

Recap:
While HOTD has a really strong promise as an anime, it then fails to achieve the title of "Great", simply because of the whole twist into a high end ecchi. It IS good if you want to watch some zombie slaying, all with a great atmosphere and a great soundtrack (and if you want to take a look at some boobs...), but if you expect a story well developed and a good cast, you will be disappointed eventually.
Score: 6/10

Highschool of the Dead is based at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, centered around the lives of five teenagers, a teacher and a small child - accompanied by her dog - in their quest to find their families.
The plot/story-line provided a good basis for the anime itself, giving many different directions to be taken and to keep the anime ongoing for several series. However, it quickly becomes clear that the story-line, while still obvious and in play, appears to fade into the background in a few episodes, the idea of teenage drama taking over. Yet, the plotline is a constant and this is a ... key feature throughout the entire anime.
The art style for this anime could be classed as original but commonly falls into the style of hentai and ecchi styled characters. Every female character, excluding the child, is sexualized to the point where the watcher has to double check they aren't actually watching hentai. The design of the zombies is brilliant however, but still doesn't make up for the poorly-drawn anatomy of the female protagonists.
The sound in this anime is effective, well done and the best thing about the anime. The intro and outro are good choices of music, fitting well with the apocalypse theme of the anime. Not only that, but the sound effects used throughout the anime effectively created the effect of a realistic apocalypse, silence rarely occurring with sirens in the distance, wails of the dead, etc. Even the voice acting was well chosen and fitted well with each of the characters.
However, the character development in this anime was poor for the majority of the characters. Granted, there was a good distribution in the attitudes of the characters, there was little to no character development for the main male-protagonist and many others. The characters only occasionally acted realistically to the stress of the situation; one turning abusive and another having a break down at one point.
Overall, this anime was decent, but is discontinued. And in many ways, this is most definitely a good thing.

I wanted to like this anime, but in the long run, I didn't and here's why.

The Good;

This anime was not boring. Its hard to be bored in this fast paced anime where something is always happening. The story basic but one that can be good as long as done right. There's plenty of action to be found and this anime and its not half bad. The zombies weren't PERFECT in my opinion, they were slow and apparently deaf and blind, but they weren't terrible. There were times were I did laugh occasionally, and I think if you just want a zombie horror anime with blood ... and violence, and not a whole lot more to it, you may enjoy it.

The Bad [And there's a lot];

First off, the fanservice. Now, I don't hate fanservice, especially if there's more then just guy fanservice [most animes like this are to cater to guys, but a girl can dream D:] but this anime takes it to a whole new [very annoying] level. Even if you like fanservice, I'm sure you don't want it to be taking the spotlight during the actual action, but there were times were something intense was supposed to be happening, but all you could see was unrealistically huge boobs jiggling and panty shots dominating the scenes.In a comedy anime/scene, sure, let them jiggle! But it happened so much in times that were supposed to be dark/serious and it just made it irritating. I mean, if all I wanted to see was boobs, there's lots of hentai out there. I came for high school kids being chased by face eating undead monsters! [And no matter how much you may like fanservice, I don't think ANYONE needs to see a zombie's panties. Hm!]

And all the characters are pretty unlikable and cliche on top of that. There was one chubby nerd character[his name slips me for some reason] who was slightly amusing, but still not as likable as he could be. Everyone else was either stupid/bland or wanted very badly to be a badass, but they just come across as kind of forced, and not in a humorous way. o.o

The plot was basically just your generic gory zombie anime, and while it's ok if that's what you're looking for, there are still parts that just piss me off regardless of what it's trying to be. So in the long one, no I did not like this anime, I thought it was terrible. But don't let that deter you from watching it!

Welcome back to horror anime month. This week we're going to look at a zombie apocalypse anime, Highschool of the Dead. An anime from Madhouse based on the manga by Sato Daisuke. It's also one that I've been avoiding because every clip and image I've seen makes it look ridiculously exploitative and overly fan-servicey. So, of course, I've gotten a request to review it. I can only hope that it's better than it looks because if it's exactly what it looks like this is going to be painful. Let's dig into Highschool of the Dead and find out. Okay, now that I've watched it I ... can say that it's not as bad as it looks. It's much worse.

Let's start with the story. Normal life gets interrupted by an outbreak of the undead. A small group of survivors runs around seeking refuge/their families. You know, the same story that gets used in virtually every zombie apocalypse story ever. Highschool of the Dead offers nothing unique or new, just the same tired cliches that most of us have gotten bored with already. If you've seen or read any zombie apocalypse narrative then you can predict absolutely everything that happens, unless you fail at basic pattern recognition. As a consequence of the cliches, or possibly the characters but I'll get to them in a moment, the whole thing is really boring, when it's not infuriatingly misogynistic, because we've seen this done to death and done with far superior execution. There's not a single original thought or scene in the whole anime. Those stretches that aren't mindless action are mostly used for highly problematic fan-service instead of anything story or character developing since Highschool of the Dead is against that sort of thing. Why have depth when you can have mindless T&A?

Now, I said I'd get to the characters. This is another aspect that fails utterly. Like the story, there's nothing original here. The characters are all one-dimensional stereotypes with roughly the same depth as a puddle that's been evaporating under a hot sun for several hours. The best thing about them is that they occasionally move to two dimensional stereotypes but it's barely an improvement. There's no likable or sympathetic character to be found. The most interesting character is the dog and the dog does virtually nothing. This isn't Cowboy Bebop or Sailor Moon, there will be no animals that are also intriguing characters here, or any intriguing characters for that matter.

The art and action scenes could've been good. There's just one humongous problem, the entire anime is over-run with tasteless, exploitative and highly misogynistic fan-service. The action sequences are frequently broken up by random shots of bouncing breasts and panties. Class, there's as much here as there is depth. Which is to say none whatsoever. I can just see the process behind this, Artist: "I've gotten the scene done! I think it's nice and intense with plenty of violence. The mindless action crowd'll love it." Sleazy douchebag: "There's too much action. Throw in five or six panty shots and pan to bouncing breasts here, here, here, here and here." Artist: "But that'll make the whole thing disjointed and it'll look terrible." Sleazy douchebag: "I said do it." Yeah, the action scenes are disjointed with the flow being constantly interrupted for fan-service. The only major female character without breasts that had to have gone through several surgeries to get that large is the small child. The zombies look pretty bland. They look like just about every horde of zombies in media. I know, they did nothing new and it's shocking.

The voice acting and music are the best part of the anime. It's not that they're good, but they aren't bad either. They're just kind of mediocre. There's nothing that really stands out about them.

The yuri factor is a 5/10. There are some very detailed les-yay scenes involving some of the minor characters. They're used for... you guessed it, mindless and exploitative fan-service.

Highschool of the Dead is atrocious. The story and characters are completely cliche. The art is full of absurd and exploitative fan-service, which also interrupts the flow of the action sequences. It gets, do I even have to say it at this point, a 1/10. I will give it some credit. It is scary, not because of the plot or generic zombies, but because it has a fanbase. I don't know if people just love cliches or if there are that many people who are just entranced by the fan-service, but either way this pile of excrement having fans is pretty scary. All in all, there's not a facepalm hard enough.