Horse s**t......that pretty much sums up how I feel about this anime. Ha ha ha, no but seriously, I honestly couldn't fathom how awful this show was. High School of the Dead was the most popular anime that came out in 2010 and this completely baffles me. No, I take that back because I know the answer, 3 words.
Tits & Ass.
The fan service here is extremely excessive and unnecessary. It distracts and takes you out of the show. Clearly the creators of this anime are strong believers in the whole "sex sells" mentality. In all seriousness though, the ecchi genre and fan service in general needs to die because it embodies everything that’s wrong with anime. Crap like this continues to enforce negative stereotypes about anime and it's fans. Like how anime fans are all nerds, losers and have no lives. Fan service and ecchi’s are also the reason why anime isn't taken seriously as a true art form and is mocked at and looked down upon. When non-anime fans think of anime, do they think of tragedies like Berserk, Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal or Grave of the Fireflies? How about thought provoking philosophical anime like Ghost in the Shell and Serial Experiments Lain, maybe the multi-layered complex plotting of Monster or 20th Century Boys. No, none of them do, because they think it’s either stuff like pokemon or trash like ikkitousen and this god awful thing that I’m reviewing. It’s such a shame, because anime in my eyes deserves a better reputation then what it has. Sorry that's enough of my ranting.
Now wait, let me step back and look at this show from an objective viewpoint.......eh, it’s still horse s**t and here’s why.
Excluding all the unnecessary fanservice, from a story telling standpoint, High School of the Dead is nothing new nor innovative. We've seen this s**t before a million times; the story is incredibly formulaic and mundane. It follows this exact formula: a Zombie outbreak happens, a group of survivor’s band together, they fight their way from one safe house to the next and that’s pretty much it. If you’re a fan of George A. Romero’s work like Night of the Living Dead or Dawn of the Dead, then this anime has nothing new to offer. Don't get it confused, in no way is this piece of sh*t on the same level as those brilliant films. It's just story wise this anime borrows from those movies. To top it off, it doesn't even have a proper conclusion, it just ends. The manga is still ongoing, which is to be expected, but still, they could have given it a standalone ending.
Ah now the characters, arguably the worst part of the show. Now yes, I know that this is meant to be a mindless popcorn action show, so I shouldn't expect the characters to be incredibly complex and have massive amounts of depth. But that’s not my problem; it’s the fact that none of them were the least bit likable, entertaining, memorable, funny or interesting. They can all be described as being annoying, disposable and were nothing more then caricatures. I should at least have something to latch onto so I can care about them. Take Shizuka Marikawa for example, she perfectly fits the slutty blonde stereotype and is an air headed bimbo who probably has the largest pair of breasts in the group. Then there’s Rei Miyamoto, a moody stuck up whore of a character who deserves a good b**ch slap now and then to keep her in check. Back and forth, back and forth, she goes from being a bitchy heroin to a needy damsel in distress. Saya Takagi is next, she’s also a stuck up shallow b**ch (yup, women like this don’t deserve to be called women, we call 'em b**ches) who only cares about her looks and nothing else. But hey, thank god the creators gave them big tits to compensate for the lack of depth. - _- In terms of voice acting, you decide between dub vs. sub, both were pretty average, same thing goes for the OST.
High School of the Dead has got to be one of the worst animes I have ever had the displeasure of watching; it’s bland, generic, trashy, tasteless, clichéd and is devoid of any redeeming qualities (excluding the animation and visuals which were probably the best part about the show). I recommend it to fans of low budget grind house exploitation flicks and chronic masturbators.
