It’s also fast-paced and occasionally terrifying. Within the first ten minutes, the story shifts from the calm of everyday life to zombie madness. And by focusing on the students’ mental states as they realize what’s happening and desperately try to escape, the first episode delivers one of the scariest moments of any anime (extra points if you’re afraid of zombies like me). This is the rare true horror anime.
The rest of the series is far less frightening but no less engaging. By the second episode, it becomes clear that the zombies, while innumerable and deadly, are also slow and feebleminded, and our main characters are badasses, wielding swords, bats, drills, nail guns, and basically anything they can their hands on to beat some zombie ass.
With the zombies losing their ability to invoke fear, the story shifts to developing the cast and plot, following the group as they escape the school and seek refuge amidst the chaos. What fear remains comes from the suspense of not knowing what will happen next. Occasionally the focus turns to events elsewhere in the world — Washington, D.C. burning, or a reporter signing off from the news for the last time — that add to the sense of global despair. The story also intermittently considers larger issues like quarantine, citizen unrest, and anarchy, and how they might play out during a zombie outbreak. The main characters are cliches, but they’re cliches done right — each one is likable, and each has a useful part in the story. Above all, Highschool of the Dead is simply fun, with a great balance of fright, action, humor, romance, and (yes even) fanservice.
Where the series falls short is not really in dispute. This is a show that is unabashedly about three things: zombies, tits, and ass. It’s a standard horror story that falls into the standard horror story pitfalls, all while flashing bras and panties in increasingly novel ways (at one point, someone shoots a bullet at a zombie, which passes between Saeko’s bouncing tits as she does a samurai leap through the air). And so there are plenty of stupid decisions and unfortunate coincidences to keep the zombies threatening and the plot going, as well as loads of fanservice shots that will alienate some people. Even if you aren’t bothered by the fanservice and consider it a welcome distraction, episode 6 is pure soft-core porn that will only appeal to those horned-up teenagers who are watching for that moment. Most problematically, the series is incomplete. While the recent resumption of the manga is promising, for three years and counting the anime has been an unfinished product, and given its relative lack of success in Japan, I’m not holding my breath.
Setbacks in story aside, Highschool of the Dead‘s animation is gorgeous, especially the scenery. This creates an interesting contrast between the often awe-inspiring backdrops and the carnage taking place in the foreground, cherry-blossoms fluttering in the wind as someone is ripped to shreds. The animation also excels in the action and ecchi scenes, which manage to capture every detail, be it a bat crashing down on the head of the zombie or a boob jiggling as a girl runs for her life.
The soundtrack, by contrast, is so-so. The orchestral pieces are completely forgettable, but the J-Rock OP and ED songs are excellent, and the use of a different song from Kurosaki Maon for each ending is refreshing. The English voice cast is great, with noteworthy performances by lesser-known actors Leraldo Anzaldua (Takashi) and Maggie Flecknoe (Saya), but the dub has some disappointing edits, making gratuitous use of profanity (“Fuckin A”) and pop culture references that are clearly meant to add to the “cool/fun” factor but come across as trying too hard.
Whatever your views on zombies, ecchi, or gratuitous fanservice, Highschool of the Dead is an important series. It fills a void that desperately needed filling and does a nice job at it, featuring strong production values and direction that results in one of the few truly frightening yet still enjoyable anime. While the common criticisms are entirely warranted, they don’t change the fact that the series is the only zombie epidemic anime around and, even for many of its detractors, one hell of a fun show.
