Kore wa Zombie desu ka?

Is everything really better with zombies?

Given the recent surge in stories involving the shambling undead it's pretty obvious that there are people out there who believe that they can improve any form of entertainment, so much so that at times it seems as though the world is already in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Tales of creatures that wander aimlessly, groan a lot, and have the annoying habit of eating people while they're still alive are rife in movies and games (although I tend to class Resident Evil as more of a playable soap opera with added undead), but that's only the tip of ... the iceberg. Zombies are now appearing on prime time TV (The Walking Dead), and even literary works have fallen foul of them (Pride & Prejudice & Zombies).

Of course, anime and manga are no strangers to stories of the undead, and while there are some interesting takes on the theme (and before you ask, no, the adolescent wet dream that is Highschool Of The Dead isn't one of them), the majority of titles on offer follow the George A. Romero method and offer up a healthy dose of body shock. While there are stories like Zombie Loan that try to do things differently, these are often lacklustre affairs that are more drama than actual horror.

And then there are shows like Kore wa Zombie Desu ka (Is This A Zombie)?

Originally a popular light novel series by Kimura Shinichi (which has also spawned three different manga that are set in the world of the story), the anime adaptation follows the life of Ayumu Aikawa, a highschool student who was murdered by a serial killer. He was quickly resurrected as a zombie by the necromancer Eucliwood Hellscythe, and since that time he has tried to make the best of a bad situation. His life now consists of everyday mundanity (barring an inability to tolerate the sun and avoiding fire hazards), as he lives in relative peace with his silent saviour, but all that changes when he meets the young, chainsaw wielding masou shoujo in training called Haruna (and no, that's not a spelling mistake).

After that his life takes a turn for the worse.

Okay, it all sounds pretty intriguing, but that's as far as it goes. The plot features some interesting tokens that work well with one or more of the themes in KoreZom, but the series composition has been poorly executed, so much so that viewers may find themselves wondering if there's any point to the show. The main problem is that there's simply too much going on, and because of this the storyline is so disjointed it can sometimes seem like the narrative is being held together with some glue and a couple of nails, and that's not the worst part.

KoreZom attempts to parody some well known genres, and initially it may manage to raise a few laughs with its approach, but this quickly becomes tiresome as the series attempts to turn them into running gags. In addition to this the idea of putting all of the protagonists under one roof has only been done for those stereotypical comedy moments that are amusing to those with more teeth than braincells, which is a shame as there are a few hints of how funny the show could have been. The storyline appears to be desperately trying to reach for ... something, but what it is and how it could be achieved are things that only the producers may know.

Unfortunately the shoddy workmanship continues into the visuals where generic design seems to be the order of the day. Aside from the outfits, KoreZom features some truly unremarkable looking characters, all of whom look like they were copied directly from other harem based shows. That said, Studio DEEN are only partly to blame for this as the main inspiration came from the light novel's illustrations by Kobuichi and Muririn, which is a tad unfortunate as if the rest of the artwork is anything to go by, the series would have been better served with the producers creating everything from scratch. While the scenery and settings may sometimes be generic, they can also be atmospheric and detailed, and there's a variety to the imagery that highlights the difference in creative mentalities. Granted the character design may have been an attempt to support the parodying of specific genres, but that's no excuse for the obvious lack of originality or innovation.

Which brings up the issue of fanservice.

When a show has a transparently weak foundation there are many ways to bolster the viewer's opinion of it, but the one that takes the least effort follows the simple ethos that "sex sells". Now somebody on the production team obviously realised very early on that KoreZom was a shaky proposition so not only is the fanservice aggressively blatant, it often feels more like a slap in the face.

I mean seriously, is there any need for all those close ups during the fights? This is supposed to be a comedy, not Ikkitousen or Queen's Blade.

Aside from the background imagery, the only other good point about the visuals is the animation, most of which is of a decent standard. There are a few blips here and there, some of which are purposeful to highlight certain comedic aspects while others simply slipped through the net, but these can be forgiven in light of the major problems this series has.

The opening sequence features a rather dramatic array of imagery depicting the main characters in various "thoughtful" poses before adding some action sequences to highlight their combat skills, all set to the song Leave-It-To-Me-Tonight by Nomizu Iori. Unlike the OP, the ending sequence is more true to the predominantly humourous tone of the series, and features the track Realize, Mr. Zombie, I Am Your Classmate by Rie Yamaguchi and Manzo. As for the background music, KoreZom has a nice variety of well choreographed accompaniments, but the truth is that a few of them are unnecessary as they don't really add much to the scene and seem like nothing more than another support for a weak storyline.

Surprisingly, especially given all of the production issues, the acting is actually pretty decent. The script is fairly mediocre as it follows an age old comedy format (so repetitive phrases abound), which isn't really the best thing for the serious moments in the show as it can be difficult to make the mental switch between humour and action - and this shows in several places. Thankfully the seiyuu are on hand to save the day, so what could have been very flat comedy routines gain some life and the more emotive scenes are provided with much needed personality. Unfortunately the actors are only human, so even though they do their best with the script, there's simply not enough viable content to support or develop their roles.

Now given that KoreZom is supposed to be a parody of sorts it should be the case that characterisation is all that's needed to make the series work, so it's a little disappointing that the characters are nothing more than shallow copies based upon one or more archetypes that are generally found in harem romantic comedies. Aikawa is the typical clueless lead male with few future prospects who is suddenly surrounded by females who apparently like necrophilia (he's a zombie, remember?), and after his introduction viewers can engage in a spot of ornithology (bird watching).

Oh look! There's the Greater Spotted Tsundere Loli, and over there is the Large Breasted Warrior trying not to look embarrassed, and in front of the TV you can see the Silver Haired Silent Warbler waiting to be entertained.

Yes, KoreZom has a wealth of common character types that will keep any harem junkie entertained for five minutes, and the best thing about all of them is that viewers will never once believe that they could ever be real, so feeble is their characterisation and development.

So is there actually anything good about this series?

Well ... actually there are a few bits worthy of praise, and if one discounts the generally banal and inane humour then KoreZom has a few morsels to offer. There are some genuinely funny moments that are both surprising and well executed, and the while the initial parody of the mahou shouko genre is pretty bog standard, the second one actually refutes the idea that Puella Magi Madoka★Magica was in any way genre breaking.

Unfortunately the comedy can only carry the show so far, and the simple fact is that KoreZom simply doesn't know what it's supposed to be, so it winds up being nothing in particular. It's a shame really as the seeds are there for this to have been either an interesting supernatural tale, or a very good parody (if one removes the unnecessary fanservice), and it's nice to see a different take on zombies once again.

The sad fact is that the traditional zombie is now almost extinct in entertainment media, and those that remain are treated as rare relics of the original belief that a person could be magically raised from the dead in order to complete tasks like carrying the shopping, painting the house, etc, etc. These old style zombies from West Africa and Haiti are usually a far cry from the modern take, often being better groomed, able to speak, and capable of following simple orders.

Actually, they sound a lot like husbands.

Ok, so call me EL Diablo, amigos, for giving this anime a rating of all 6's, but, HEY! That's how I looked at it, anyway there are a couple of more episode to go before the "PIECE DE RESISTANCE" of this anime and move to the new season, so, why all the 6's?

Ist, the story:

Even it 's genre are: Action, ecchi and magic, I think that comedy and mystery should be inculded since this anime did played with our minds as to who really killed the muchaho(male lead) and how his realtionship doing with the tres chicas (Yu, Sera and Haruna) if there is ... a love connection with any of them before ep 7. There is also a lot of laughs involve especially when the muchacho (lead male) is a reluctant cross dressing Mahou shoujo and other funny secnes which the 3 chicas gives the muchacho a lot of cabeza del dolor (headache). I never thought that there is still a main villan involved aside from Kyoko whom we now know is the serial killer, but you know I think it is only FAIR ( number 6) enough that we wait just a few more episode and see how things will turn up.

2nd, the art:

I'd say for a anime with an action genre, I think that the art itself as to how the characters were drawn should have been given a much more symmetric body figure. Then again since there is comedy in it, so a 6 will do.

3rd, the sound:

Here, I'm referring to the soundtrack, particularly the opening theme......What can I say, soy mucho gusto. By the way, I really hate the closing theme. So 6 it is.

4th, characters:

Aikawa Ayumu- A loner at frist, until he get's skewed to dead and resurrected, though he's greatful for the unfortunated thing that happen to him - co'z he ain't lonely anymore, he's unable to enjoy summer co'z the intense sun shine willl dried him out. He kinda function as a male bitch for the 3 chicas and it is unclear if any of them has any feelings for him. He always fantasize about Yu talking in a cutsy manner and he also did the same with Sera (only once). Now he's linked to Yuki a vampire ninja from another tribe, question is, does he like her?

Eucliwood "Yu" Hellscythe - she was found by Aikawa sitting near a conveniences store, as just like that, they started chatting - Yu writing down her words rather that saying it and then the next moment she's reviving Aikawa. At fist I thought that she's the villian (how wrong am I). It is not know wheather she has feeling for Aikawa since she declared him his servant. Among the characters she's probably the most mysterious of all to the viewers, co'z as the episode progresses we see a lot more that what we think she is. Who wouldn't know that she doesn't just revivie dead people, she also has powers for fighting and she did mentioned that her magical powers would still fuction even when she's dead, does that mean she'll never die?

Haruna 'Masou Shoujo" - It's very clear as to why she stayed with the muchacho, she want's her powers back from the muchacho and as unlucky as it get's, both of them don't know how to do it, what puzzles me is why would the author of this anime decide to let Haruna maintain some of her powers, while her true form is stuck with the muchacho, also why did she since she already saw her sensie in ep 7, why didn't she took the opportunity to ask for help in getting her true form back from Aikawa? By the way, her near naked scene really adds to the encchiness of this anime.

Seraphim 'Sera'- is a vampire ninja sent to request Yu's help to come to their village, though she's the muchacho's servant (in word only) she doesn't seems to be like one co'z as we watch the anime she's always engage Aikawa in petty bikering and cusses the poor muchacho everytime, I like her boobs.

Yoshida Yuki - she only came around in ep 7 and her weapons are pretty wierd, her tribe is probably the only ones who uses Tonkastu soup as a weapon of choice - or maybe they used something else. She's cute, but I prefer either Haruna or Sera to be the muchacho's love interest. Like, that will happen.

Ariel - who we now know is haruna's Dai Sensie, I wonder if she's the main villian?

And last but not lease, Kyoko "The serial killer"- I guess she's the "Piece de resistance." Or is she?

I do have some questions about the character, but, who am I talking to anyway? Well a number 6 rating will do for this part.


5th and 6th, Enjoyment and Overall:

I guess this anime if fair enough to be enjoyed by early teens as young as 13 -15, since the ecchiness is rather quite mild and the blood scene were artistically done, Strongly it is not for children as young as 10 and below. So I give both a fair 6 co'z the anime itself is not that bad but not too good either.

PS: I have not read the manga, so pls bear with me, amigos.

Ayumu Aikawa is a zombie resurrected by a necromancer named Eucliwood Hellscythe after being killed by a serial killer. As he tries to make the best of his un-dead life, he encounters a mashou shoujo named Haruna and accidentally takes her magic powers, being forced to become a mashou shoujo in the process. With Eucliwood, Haruna, and a vampire ninja named Seraphim living with him, Ayumu helps battle demons known as Megalos while trying to figure out the mystery behind his own death.

Story & Characters (5/10)
After watching enough gut-busting man-eating zombie movies you start thinking that you've seen everything that is until you saw Kore ... wa Zombie Desu ka? (aka KoreZom). This hybrid show takes those horror stuffs into a new leap with its flashiness like a magical girl chainsawing monsters or some guy trapped in your every harem jest.

Plain-looking high school student Aikawa Ayumu is a normal teenager living a boring, laid-back life with no excitement except one thing: as he's ready to tell you, he's a zombie. But how come a zombie doesn't feed on human fleshes and goes to school? That's not a long story. His life dramatically changed after being butchered by a serial killer. Luckily, a silver-haired lady necromancer by the name of Eucliwood "Eu" Hellscythe brought him back to life and Ayumu has entered the world of the occult since. Meanwhile, super-powered beasts wearing traditional seifuku called Megalo appeared wrecking havoc in town. Armed with a high magical (pink) chainsaw and a Cardcaptor outfit, Ayumu battles these monsters while trying to get to the bottom of things.

No mistake about it, KoreZom is utterly insane and comical. We've all seen the scene where a character selflessly jumps in front of a vehicle to save an animal or person countless times in anime, but in this case the potential hero, right before being struck, turns his head towards the screen and says: "Oh, yeah, I'm a zombie." Wow, that's one heck of a start and it sets a variety you couldn't expect in a show with the title "zombie." Wait, maybe you could.

For most part, KoreZom is purely for fun. Breath-taking humor being thrown rubbed away the disturbing gore and intense psychopath. There's chaos with zombies, vampires and the undead but the show always seems on the verge of blowing apart under the pressure of its own insanity. Characters are introduced when convenient or seemingly for the hell of it, to be killed or excised on a whim perhaps lighten the series up a little.

But they don't, being a typical harem trap, the female cast have convenient moe look yet their kinds don't attract much. Eu is an expressionless bishoujo with a hidden past, Seraphim is a busty hot chick with sword and Tomonori (naturally) is the protagonist's wife. For a "harem leader" achertype, Ayumu can pretty stand up for himself as he can dismember without hesitant, not exactly the "loser" formula. Crazy, but brilliant.

Art (7/10)
Studio Deen, an animation studio who is famous for those bloody gore such as Higurashi and Umineko, here produces a bright and colorful effort which is hardly a paragon of action animation but loads itself up so effectively on the cute factor. Its designs are uninteresting, mainly focus on the moe standard with is trademark hairstyle, facial expression and eyes (although Eu's Gothic-moe look is a joke unto itself). Ayumu's design is even worse, you can immediately tell that he's yet again another dating heroes. Still, the utterly absurd parody of a magical girl transformation scene, complete with the sexy gasp, involving Ayumu is a hoot and the ensuing panty shots of him show that even the series' fairly frequent fan-service isn't immune to parody, either. Stick with this guy a little, and you'll see tons of crazy stuffs around him including his pervy delusion and "man-service."

Ah right, because the title has the word zombie, there are expectations of violence. And speaking of violence, what is better than those moments full of all the decapitation, amputation and disemboweling that even the most juvenile of gore-hounds could desire.

Sound (7/10)
Casting features some familiar faces, giving KoreZom a bit of familiarity shared by its genre. Majima Junji again voices a colorless nice guy, while others such as Haruna or Seraphim's manage to give the show pushes with their cutie tsundere tones.

The synthesizer-heavy musical score mixes some cheesy themes in with cutesy themes, an occasional mildly dramatic one, and themes which sound like they were directly borrowed from an ero game for an overall effect that is energetic but unimpressive. The same goes for OP "Ma?Ka?Se?Te Tonight" sung by Eu's seiyuu, a somewhat cute and spiritual the show has, and ED which composed with a highly enthusiastic male-female dual with the lead characters performing some new kind of caramelldansen in the background.

Overall (6/10)
Accept KoreZom for what it is – a simple cutesy fan-service show – and it can be quite entertaining. However, those who finished the show would find it quite disappointing. The plot is divided into two parts with little relation to each other: the first part is about the search for the mystery behind the murders while the second revolves Eu's past. But what more of an utter disappointment is how the producers turn the last episode into a mindless silly gag created for fan-service. There's still the OVA (or perhaps a sequel) to talk about, but I highly doubt they will continue the left-opened story. Just wait to see what other tricks they have up their sleeves. You will find lots of laughter here, depth probably not, but really, what can you expect in a series that has a guy wearing women's clothing as demon fighter?

Good:
+ An entertaining, breath-taking humor take on demon-fighting cliches.
+ Ayumu is kind of manly for his achertype.

Bad:
+ Ridiculous villains.
+ Last episode is a cheap trick.

What could be more fun than a series that contains magical girls, zombies, vampires, ninjas, necromancers, and evil whales in school uniforms? Well, a lot of things actually. Kore wa Zombie desu ka? starts off promising and funny, but starts to take itself too seriously toward the end and focus on the rather unexciting and uninspired plot than what really made it good. When you watch the first episode, you know you are stepping into strange territory that only gets stranger as the series progresses, but it maintains a certain sense of seriousness that seems unneeded in an anime that’s main character is a zombie ... who can transform into a magical girl boy.

The plot is fairly simplistic. Ayumu dies and is resurrected by a cute necromancer girl, Yuu. The guy runs into a tiny, feisty magical girl named Haruna. He steals her powers accidentally and gains the ability to transform into a magical girl boy complete with pink striped panties. He also meets a vampire ninja. Together, the four search for the person who killed Ayumu. It gets somewhat complicated from there with a magical girl school and rival vampire ninja clans and another zombie like Ayumu. This is all well and good, but the problem with the plot is not in the fact that it is trying too hard to be complicated and adult, but more so, as I stated, in the fact it takes itself so seriously most of the time. Which is fine, but when you start a series with lots of comedy and very little story, don’t try and throw something at me that is attempting to be complicated.

Another problem can be seen in the rushed ending. The main bad guy of the series is another zombie who was resurrected by Yuu. His intentions are never clear, other than the fact he wants to die. Why he wants to destroy the world in the process is lost on me and how he has magical powers is never actually explained. Anyway, the end of the series comes with episode eleven. Episode twelve is what should have been an OVA as it is the obligatory pool episode with enough fan service to make Rosario Vampire blush. Not only is the episode stupid and pointless, it is also a waste of time. With a second season on the way, there had to be more story that could have been thrown in, or at least something stupid, but progresses the plot or character interactions (like something between Ayumu and Tomonori?).

The animation is alright. Characters look good, backgrounds look good, but it can sometimes look a little on the sloppy side, especially during fight scenes. If I can give the animators an award, it would have to be for jiggle physics. One particular fight halfway through the series was so amazingly captivating in its use of hypnotic giant boobies bouncing around a graveyard like two happy, skipping children. With every movement the breasts flung themselves in the direction the girl is going, threatening to tip her over. A chiropractor had to have been needed after that battle.

Sound, sound, sound. Whatever shall we do without you? The opening is pretty good, not exactly amazing but better than the generic pop that permeates the openings of a majority of anime. The ending on the other hand is plain. Music during the show ranges from six notes on a piano (which I’ve complained about before) to what could be village music in a Final Fantasy game. The voices are all good and the sound effects are good as well.

The character department, as always, is the part where I completely destroy an anime. But one of the things that makes Kore wa Zombie so great is that it has a variety of good characters to enjoy the company of. A few aren’t so great, but a few are pretty fun.

Let’s start with main character Ayumu. He’s as generic as every sentence I write about main characters in anime. It’s getting boring saying that the main character isn’t all that exciting minus his one problem or complex (in this case, being a zombie), but it has to be done pretty much every time I review something. He’s just a generic guy with a harem. Nothing sets him apart from the rest of the high school kids in strange situations.

Eucliwood Hellscythe is an interesting character. As she doesn’t speak and doesn’t really show emotions, there’s a lot that you know is inside of her that you want to learn more about. What she writes and the few emotions she displays do make you feel sympathetic toward her. She’s not the kind of character you will fall in love with, but she does have a certain appeal that can mostly be found in the mystery surrounding her, as well as her feelings later in the series.

Haruna is the magical girl of the anime and has an allergy to clothing. She’s got a lot of nude and scantily clad scenes throughout, but she is also not a particularly bad character. She’s got the tiny complex, she’s got the attitude, but there’s also something likeable about her. And it’s not the nudity. Don’t say that. It’s more so her personality. I know you can trade her for a magical girl version of many anime characters, but I like the females with an attitude who don’t take crap from anyone. She’s strong and likeable because of how tough and in your face she can get. She doesn’t act like it when just screwing around with her friends, but she truly cares for them and would do anything to protect them. She’s also a magical girl with a chainsaw. A FRICKIN’ CHAINSAW. And she’s also the funniest of all the characters.

I did not like Seraphim on the other hand because the moment we are introduced to her, I knew she was what my friends and I call “The Boob Character”. Big tits=big laughs and lots of guys paying attention. Not only is she a total slut, she’s also a vampire ninja. This ridiculousness would have been funny if it hadn’t turned into some sort of political intrigue about conservative vampire ninjaism vs. radical vampire ninjaism. On top of that, she just didn’t have a lot of character. She was helpful as a fighter, but as a person she was just an ass, plain and simple, and totally unlikeable.

Tomonori is the final character I’ll dedicate a whole paragraph to. She was one of my favorite characters for whatever reason (maybe it was the fact I didn’t get to see her enough to learn to hate her). She was damn cute, and on top of that her relationship with Ayumu is my favorite of the series. As the plot progresses, you can see her change and start to really like Ayumu. And on top of that, she was the second funniest character.

King of Night, the bad guy, as stated before was lame and pretty cardboard. The other bad guy (who I won’t name) wasn’t all that exciting either. Dai-Sensei is a character I want to know more about. Otherwise, everyone else is not worth mentioning.

Kore wa Zombie is a fun little ride. It has good action, good characters, and some pretty funny comedy. It starts to lack that comedy as it progresses, but the story isn’t all that bad, just nothing worth remembering. There are some idiotic moments (the last episode), some cool moments (the whale), but overall it’s a lot of meh. It just never seems to find its stride. With a second season on the way though, we can hope that it will provide better bad guys and figure out whether it wants to be a funny plot-based story or a serious plot-based story.

Kore wa zombie desu ka? follows the story of Ayumu, normal teenager who one days dies, then comes back as a zombie, then turns into a magical garment girl after some pretty funny sequences of events. He is now tasked with defeating Megalos, demon-type enemies bent on destruction. However, he has a few problems, mostly the girls in his life who will not leave him alone! I giggled throught the anime and it made me smile.

I thought Kore wa (shortened!) was a nice little anime at first, kitchy with its comedy and fanservice and the way the girls (haruna, Eu, and Sera) always picked ... on him and more often than not (haruna) beating him up. However about halfway through the story changed into something darker, deeper and more compelling. Sure there were the comedy/fanservice moments but i found myself tearing up at some parts and really getting into the characters, most noteably Eu (Lady Deathsythe) her story just about teared me to bits.

As far as characters go Ayumu is pretty average, he is the typical high school guy, leering at girls, slacking off. He really does have a soft spot though and he really shines near the end during Eu's crisis. He had his redeeming moments, much like the others. The one i did not truely like was Sera (Seraphim) she is a ninja and thus, cold. She does show a softer side but hearing her call Ayumu 'repugnant' or a 'maggot' multiple times Every. Single. Episode. Got annoying to say the least. Same with Haruna, i had to hear 'dumb Ayumu' more than i would have liked. There are other characters thrown in as well, but they do not have such a defining story as the others.

All in all it is a charming anime, with 12 episodes int he first 'season' it is short and worth the 6 hours to watch it if you like yoru light animes. While there are some dark themes and quite a bit of blood, it is not so deep that it will stick with you indefinatly but its a nice, easy, vacation from the more complex animes out there.

Story: 6
It's a story of a cross-dressing zombie, a near mute necromancer, a ninja vampire (that's new) and the original masou shoujo as well as a few other characters which will be introduced later in the series. The anime did spend quite a bit of time in the first half cramming in its share of ecchi however, it did mature a bit near the second half of the series. There are a few things left unfinished in the end but overall, things went much better than I thought they would judging by the first 5 or 6 episodes. The first half mainly ... dealt with fighting various monsters of the week but there was actual tension and various vampire related complications in the last few episodes which did help thigns quite a bit.

art: 7
Petty typical art of an ecchi/comedy anime. it isn't the best art in the world but it isn't bad either.

sound: 8
The opening theme is pretty good, the ed is no where near what the op is but that's not too uncommon. The voice acting is pretty decent, the voices fit the characters so it gets an 8.

characters: 7
Aikawa Ayumu: The cross-dressing (not by choice) zombie, the male lead voiced by Junji Majima who was also Ryuuji from Toradora's Japanese voice actor.
Haruna: The original Masou Shoujo female lead. Highly intelligent but also similarly arrogant, her very first meeting with the male lead resulted in her cutting him in half with a chainsaw; I guess she says "hello" a bit differently.
Eucliwood Hellscythe (Yuu): The quiet necromancer. There is a good reason why she doesn't talk much or show too much emotion, she's not just a Yuki/Tabitha/Rei clone. She's probably the character that is most easy to sympathize with especially in the 11th and 12th episodes.
Seraphim: The ninja Vampire... yes you read that right. She hates the male lead... a lot. Responsible for the other 1% of ecchi/yuri in the series. There is a legit reason for this strangely enough which is revealed along with Yuki's introduction.
Dai Sensie: Haruna's teacher Ariel. Dragged Haruna down to Earth for tofu apparently. She is mostly on the sidelines as she never really gets entangled into any of the scoobie scrapes that occur in the series; it may also be that she's pretty much the most powerful character outside of Yuu.
Yoshida Yuki: she isn't introduced until ep 7 and uses soup as a weapon of war. Serephim doesn't get along with her but Serephim seems to "hate" Ayumu slightly more. Between herself and Serephim, the two of them have pretty much the same problems as far as their clans are concerned.
Yoru no Ou: The other zombie created by Yuu only introduced near the end of the anime.
It's kind of hard to say anything about this guy without spiling things but I'll try anyway: Yuu and Yoru know each other from way back in the past. This of course, eventually causes problems for pretty much everyone.

overall: 6
Although the series did improve considerably in the last few episodes, I don't think it outweighed the scchi from the first 5 or 6 episodes and there were a few clear weaknesses in the plot that didn't help.

So listen, I had a really hard time trying to start this review… partly because this show isn’t a normal Zombie show and partly because so many people have reviewed it before me and given it the review of ‘what the hell was it?’. Even the way they show off a zombie is not typical; nothing like ‘High School of the Dead’ or ‘Walking Dead’. The zombies in this show… or should I just say Zombie as there is really only one… doesn’t eat brains, go on a rampage, or try to kill everyone around him. How is that a good show? Well… like I ... said, the show isn’t normal and hard to explain if I don’t go into detail.

Our first character is Ayumu Aikawa, or if you would like to call him typical high school boy stereotype number one then that would be fine too. The first time we even meet him, he basically spells himself out, then says he’s a zombie like it doesn’t mean anything at all. And it’s true, if you took out the Zombie aspect to him, he would be pretty normal. I just don’t actually understand the part that happens after he says he’s a Zombie. What was the point of having his clothing fly off after he was hit by a truck? Anyway, the reason why he is a zombie is actually a rather sad story. He was killed by a serial killer after trying to protect someone. Then he was brought back to life by a young Necromancer and now stays by her side wanting to one day catch the person who killed him. Like I said, he has a rather tragic back story and yet we don’t get much of that. Sure one or two times he would stop and think about it, but other then that, he spends his life just learning to cope with being a Zombie rather comically. Even more comically when he absorbs a magical girl’s powers and is able to transform but I will get to that in a moment.

The next person I’m going to bring up would be Haruna, one of the many girls who ends up living with Ayumu, hence the harem part of this show. She is a magical girl from a different… dimension?... who is learning how to be a magical girl though… school? The only real reason why she is actually in Tokyo was to get… Tofu… for her… teacher? Alright, so for her character, there is a lot I have to actually speculate (or ask why the heck it’s even in the show to begin with) as they don’t really do a very good time explaining it. Her power ends up being absorbed by Ayumu and for the whole show, she does nothing but complain about it, learn how the world works, and try to get her powers back. I don’t understand why they put her into this show except for the fact that she ends up giving Ayumu her powers. Actually, the scene they show when she loses her powers reminds me a lot of ‘Bleach’ when Rukia gives Ichigo her powers in a way. The difference is that Rukia was actually a likeable character in that anime and Haruna just gets on my nerves.

The reason why I didn’t bring up Eucliwood Hellscythe second is the fact that she really doesn’t have much of a presence in the first half of the show. She is one of my favorite characters and the only one that I can actually have feelings for as when they get into her back story, it is really sad and actually explains a lot more about her then the other characters. Hellscythe never speaks (although Ayumu always pictures her with this really cutesy voice) and will only write things down on a paper to express herself. All through the show, there are very few times that she will actually show any emotions at all, normally she just sits at the table in front of the TV and drinks her tea. I guess this is why I like her so much. When she does show even the slightest emotion, you can really feel that what is going on is important.

The last person I’m actually going to put energy into talking about would be Seraphim. By the name, you can know exactly what she is, right? Well no… she isn’t an angel, she’s a Vampire Ninja. Yes… you heard me right, a Vampire Ninja. Don’t look at me like that, I didn’t make that up! I can only wonder just exactly what was going on with how they picked what she was, like they pulled it out of a hat or something. Anyway, her signature outfit to wear is a yellow spaghetti-strapped top showing off her midriff and dark blue jeans... (um… So… that’s what a ninja wears in this universe it seems…) She is also fights with a Katana and is always yelling ‘Swallow Cut’ (‘Swallow Return Strike’ in the English Dub… which if you really look it up, its not what she says it is) as she is fighting… (Again, seriously. What the hell makes her an actual ninja?) Shall I also mention that she is the one with the largest breasts and they seem to like pushing them in your face as a joke? I know Japan’s idea of what is funny is different then America, but still, I can’t get away from sighing at this.

So let’s go into the main aspect of this show, the fact that we have a male zombie turning into a Magical Girl. It is an awesome idea in concept, but with how this was executed, I am not all that sure. While I liked watching the show, I feel more like I watched the show to know more of Hellscythe’s back story rather then for any of the other characters. Ayumu just seems bland as a main character, Haruna is really annoying, and Seraphim… I have no idea exactly what she is. I feel a bit sad that Hellscythe isn’t the actual main character but then I do remember how she doesn’t talk and know how hard it would be to write a story around someone like that. Maybe it is the mystery behind her that makes me want to watch the whole show.

The animation is actually rather good. Studio Deen did a rather beautiful job for the most part. The only problem with the style they are using is the fact that it has been used countless other times. They aren’t doing anything ground breaking with the designs of the characters, the action scenes… its just very typical. I give them props for not just throwing things together with squiggles and luckily every character keeps their proportions for most of the show which after reviewing so many other shows, the proportion thing is a bit of a blessing. The colors are very bright and happy even during some of the darker times that it basically keeps reminding me this is a comedy show. Sadly, that doesn’t go well for the times that we are supposed to get emotional.

The English voice acting is actually pretty good to me, making it pretty enjoyable. The voices of the characters do seem to fit well with the personality and look of the characters making me believe that when I don’t like a person, it’s not just because of the voice. Ayumu is voiced by Austin Tindle and he has a little bit of a monotone going for him. Austin did a couple voices like Alzack Connell in ‘Fairy Tail’ and Ken Kaneki in ‘Tokyo Ghoul’. What makes me rather sad is that Haruna is voiced by a voice actress that I really like. Her name is Jad Saxton and she voiced the character Masako Hara in ‘Ghost Hunt’. She was really good in that one but here, it feels like she is sort of trying to force the energy into the character (I do give her props though that I did not first recognize her voice as that from ‘Ghost Hunt’). Like I said, this is one of the reasons that I believe it’s only the characters I don’t like and not the actual voices for those characters. It did surprise me though that many of the main characters were voiced by little known voice actors rather then large names. Most of the big names are set for either side characters or antagonists. Funimation has been known to put the bigger named voice actors like Vic and Todd Haberkorn into main character roles that it’s nice to have characters that don’t sound like someone from another series. The music isn’t really something to write about as it’s the same sort of stuff you would normally get for a comedy driven show.

Overall, I would not call this the best show ever, but it does have some strange and interesting parody changes. I give them props for there creative twist to a genre that was pretty much set in stone but the way they executed it was a little forced. From the many different characters that pop up, the situations they put themselves into, and the fact that there are so many genres smashed into this one show… it just feels like they were trying to hard. It’s one to try and watch, but I wouldn’t blame someone for not really getting into it.

Is this another harem anime?

Yes! This is another harem anime.

If you are thinking this is some kind of zombie apocalypse like HS of the Dead...well it's not. It's somehow stupider than that.

Story (6/10)

The first few episodes started out great because you do not know what stupid thing might appear next. They did a good job meshing up stupid combinations such as a magical girl zombie. You’ll get a few chuckles here and there but after a few episodes, it abruptly shifted to a corny, boring romantic mystery drama that somehow feels rushed then finally for the final episode they shifted to a full out fan ... service mode.

Though, I must admit, the only thing memorable about this anime is its stupid catchphrase, “I’m a zombie” ….and a magical garment girl.

Art (6/10)

Nice animation and cinematography (lots of dramatic bloodshed and other sfx) but the usual forgettable character designs.

Sound (7/10)

Good background music and other sound effects plus a pretty decent ed song.

Characters (6/7)

The characters’ personalities are the usual – the same old characters that you may find in any harem anime (a guy surrounded by pretty girls and suddenly falling in love or drawn into him) with a twist of zombies, vampires, ninjas, magical girls and other stupid combinations. I must admit it is fun watching them at times but overall, with all the drama, their personalities doesn’t quite add up.

Overall, it is one of those 12 episode anime that started out good and ended badly and somehow rushed. Is it worth watching? No, yes, maybe? If you hate poor romantic mystery drama, give up on it. If you like fan service, this show has a lot of it. If you just like watching for the sake of watching, then go for it.

I've approached this anime while looking for something trashy and relaxing, for which I could turn off my higher brain functions and just enjoy the dumb humour and action - and I've got exactly that, but not necessarily in the quality I hoped for. If I wanted to describe this anime shortly, I'd say it's Highschool DxD, but with less ecchi and way more WEIRD. It's a show that never treats itself seriously and has fun with the harem formula, but to the point it barely manages to even pretend it tries to tell a coherent story, or build a setting and characters that are ... more than just walking gags.

There are, to be fair, many fun ideas in it and jokes that land well. The strange, "mute" main heroine adds quite a lot of mystery and comedic opportunities to the whole setup. The parody of magical girl tropes is great. The protagonist is perverted in an amusing way and the internal dynamic of the harem is quite fun, thanks to the very different attitudes of the girls and a clear emphasis on Eucliwood being the primary one. All of this, however, does not develop into any kind of coherent narrative, and none of the characters truly shine during the first season. It was fun while it lasted, but left me feeling pretty much nothing when it was over and with very few memorable moments to think about - if something ever stood out, it was mostly through sheer randomness and absurdity.

The production quality of the show is very decent and I honestly think it provides a fine way to burn a few hours when you don't want to challenge yourself in any way. It just never rises above being a fun distraction - be sure to adjust your expectations appropriately.

I don't see how people gave this anime such high scores. Honestly, I feel that it should be a lot lower. My main problem with this type of show is how some of the main or minor characters, especially in a harem, give so much crap to the main. All everyone does is ridicule and beat on Ayumu for no good god reason. Those types of shows are really not okay in my book. It's just bullying. Not to mention that one of the characters always calls him names. All this show is about bullying. The only real parts I liked were the actions scenes, ... and this particular show is supposed to be a comedy, but I hardly laughed. I've been trying so hard to finish this just so I can say I watched it, but it's just so hard considering all that I said.

TLDR:This show had some real potential but too much torture p0rn and too much cringe. If they had focused on the real comedy, the fight's, the side characters, and the romance this could've been god tier. As a result I say it's a 5. if you're willing to go through the shitty first season, for a mediocre second then it's worth a watch. Otherwise stay away. I recommend you watch kona suba for a real comedy, as for this anime, at the very least watch the funny moments on youtube.

I have seen both seasons, as such i'm reviewing it as a package.

Story: Forgettable...I just finished ... it and i can barely remember the plot points. The plot is just there to get the characters from A to B. Which is fine, it's a comedy.

Characters: Most of the main cast are unlikable. The MC is funny and cool, but the 3 girls he lives with are awful. Eucliwood is okay, Haruna can be cute and funny at times, but is usually really annoying and obnoxious, and Seraphim is just a bitch...she so snobby and condescending it's not even funny. (More on them later) The side characters really make the show for me, but get very little screen time. Aikawa's best friend is super funny, yuki is a really great person, Kirara is interesting, and Kyoko is just awesome. But they get barely any time.

Comedy: Here is my biggest problem with this anime, over 80% of the jokes (especially in Season 1) are pretty much the MC getting hurt or humiliated to the point where honestly i'd call it torture p0rn. The MC is like deadpool, as he can regenerate from pretty much anything. Seraphim, and Haruna pretty much use this as an excuse to mercilessly beat him every episode. You really start to feel bad for the MC for taking these beatings on the daily...Whether it's getting pikes shoved up his anus (Not exaggerating) getting his eyes stabbed (Not exaggerating) Getting his teeth kicked in ETC... Even though it's his house, for some reason he puts up with it. If that's what you find funny then to each their own but that stuff is really dumb to me. What makes this anime funny are the interactions with the side characters. This show could have been funnier if they ditched all the torture p0rn and made more of the real comedy this anime has to offer.

Art:This one is hard because there's times where this show looks average, but times where it looks almost movie quality. But it never looks bad.

Sound:The voice actors are great and did what they could with the scripts they were given. Music doesn't stand out. Sound effects are decent.

Conclusion:(Same as TLDR) This show had some real potential but too much torture p0rn and too much cringe. If they had focused on the real comedy, the fight's, the side characters, and the romance this could've been god tier. As a result I say it's a 5. if you're willing to go through the shitty first season, for a mediocre second then it's worth a watch. Otherwise stay away. I recommend you watch kona suba for a real comedy, as for this anime, at the very least watch the funny moments on youtube.

This is one of the anime which build up the story so good, but in the last 2-3 episode they just ruin the whole series. I started to like this anime as it started with many interesting characters and till the end you will get to see new characters which you will like for sure. This series has amazing artwork and characters, but it lacks the content, story and the enjoyment level is also not good if you compare it with other anime of the same genre.

Let me break out each segment for you-

Story - 4/10

I know many of you will not agree with me, ... but I think it can be better than this. I would say they build up pretty good, but in the end how they ended the story just irk me. I want to point out some details, but i don't want to put any spoilers in my review.

Art - 8/10

The Art is actually pretty good. lots of fan service. :P

Sound - 7/10

I cannot judge it properly as I am Foreigner, but for me characters voice was a good match.

Character - 7/10

There are pretty awesome character in this series like necromancers, Magicclad girls, Ninja vampires and of-course zombies. The characters are neatly built and each character has their own kick.

Enjoyment - 6/10

The show is pretty much enjoyable. The Gags are funny, there may be many cliche you come across but still you will enjoy them. But I was not able to enjoy the show that much because of the story part and also the show may be funny but not Hilarious. There is a pretty much fan service for Ecchi lovers.

Overall -5/10

Overall guys this is just an average anime, the concept is new and good, but not up to the mark. There is many good anime with the same genre like kill la kill, High School DxD, Angle Beats and many more. You are welcome to disagree, but i think I rated it fair enough.

Thank you for reading, sorry if there is any mistake in writing as English is not my mother tongue. you are welcome to point out any mistake.

Ok this anime had some really funny moments, I mean hilarious, I had to pause the show and laugh for a few minutes before I could resume watching, but the problem was that the show was too separated on whether it wanted to be serious or a harem comedy, some episodes were pure comedy while others were straight up business. I think this anime would have been better if we're to focus on the harem comedy aspect if itself, don't get me wrong I loved the action parts as well. All in all an ok anime, watch it if you have some time to spare ... and want to see a badass zombie in a dress.

More fanservice than harem, more occasional cross-dressing than gender-bender and a story that isn't all that coherent. So what strengths does this anime actually have? Well...

- Story & Theme
We're told the backstory early on and it's not very complicated. The protagonist dies, is turned into a zombie by a necromancer and is now immortal. In the first episode he is also turned into a chainsaw wielding magical girl and then a vampire ninja becomes his servant. It's an over-the-top take on the harem genre, but for a harem it isn't really played out as one. The main story revolves more around the necromancer and her ... powers, although the first episodes establish the characters rather than have much plot and most of the series focuses on gags and violence rather than story. It's seldom very serious, but it has its moments. It also has a lot of fanservice, especially the two OVA episodes (I will not be writing a separate review on those).

- Characters & Writing
The characters are based on tropes, but they still manage to come through as their own characters. Not too deep or complicated by any means, but enough to make them distinct from other animes. The writing is mostly fun and silly with serious, romantic or over-the-top weird scenes thrown in every now and then. Don't expect a masterpiece of writing, but it's competent and works well for what it is.

- Style & Presentation
The animation and style isn't the best so don't expect anything fantastic. Still, it's not terrible by any means, perhaps with the exception from the few times it uses poorly done 3D. Monsters are mostly large animals with clothes which plays into the weird and silly and the other antagonists look like humans. Every now and then there are scenes with an abundance of blood, mostly when the chainsaw is used, and the action scenes are fairly well directed and do not drone on for too long. You'll see a lot of ecchi moments and they often feel a bit cringe, although at times they're tied into the plot.

- OVA episodes
I'll mention them briefly here because they're just two short episodes with even shorter stories in them. Basically, they are simply fanservice to the point where they're hard to watch, even at their short lengths. The stories aren't very good or interesting and they don't tie into any main plot. You can give these a skip.

- Conclusion
There's no single thing about this anime that is outstanding, but the show is nonetheless entertaining and I'd say the different elements tie together well enough for the show to become more than just the sum of its parts. It did make me chuckle from time to time and the fact that it's not too long also helps. The pacing is good and nothing really overstays its welcome, but I would have liked to see a more clear main story and more character development. It's a good enough anime to watch if you feel like it, but I'm not sure if I'd actually recommend it to anyone. Also, you can skip the OVAs even if you plan to watch the second season.

It was a decent anime, but the protagonist is such a beta male. Literally almost all the girls living under his roof treat him like shit. He should've had more of a backbone. He could literally make them leave and be homeless but he just puts up with their shit. Also that bit about getting married if you accidently kiss was really fricking weird and stupid. He's way too passive. I liked the characters, especially Eu, and it had a decent story. I'll likely watch the second season, again, there are many better animes than this one. I would definitely give this a watch if ... there's nothing better to watch.

I watched Kore wa Zombie desu ka? (both seasons + all OVAs)
Here are my thoughts:

This is just another junk-food harem-comedy show that for some reason became popular among casual anime viewers and was subsequently overrated.

Any attempt at plot always resulted in a convoluted mess. The show is strongest when it sticks to SOL and comedy scenes. The weakest episodes by far were those which were plot-focused. Poor direction might be the biggest flaw of this anime.

The show's best aspect is its supernatural flavour, I think. This is somewhat unique, and a lot of the skits and gags built around supernatural phenomena were funny ... and creative.

There is a strong otaku culture influence as well, which I found entertaining.

The character designs and animation seemed somewhat dated even for the production year. I'm not sure if this was an intentional artistic decision. This is not necessarily a bad thing but I thought it was noteworthy.

The music is okay; I liked all of the OP and ED songs.

There are moments where the show shines but they're outweighed by the mediocre remainder, unfortunately. I rate this anime 6/10 overall. It's watchable junk food, but junk food nonetheless.