Reviews

Madhouse proves itself yet again with a post-apocalyptic thriller featuring the undead, teenagers, and of course the hallmark of ecchi. Namely, there is a lot of gratuitous camera action on unrealistically large breasts and even some partial nudity. This was my first anime that included ecchi in the genre description, and I won't deny I was a bit titillated. However, I will say that to have such large endowments, especially on the school nurse, only gives viewers an exaggerated fantasy of what occurs in real life. Frankly, it's not possible for practically all females shown in HOTD to have such proportions. It's not necessary to hear a bounce when the breasts bounce or see partial nudity, it's pure fanservice. I mean, given the nature of the plot I would see the anime anyway, I don't need the fanservice to keep me going but I digress. The anime itself, as a story, is pretty well done, ecchi besides.

The main character, Takashi, is this pretty cool guy with nice spiky hair and a firm demeanor in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. A lot of the show is dedicated to his internal thoughts, on why the undead appear so suddenly in this world and how he and his friends have changed from typical high schoolers to hardened fighters. You see a dismal, firsthand perspective of this hellish world, in which a bite from an undead reduces you to eventually to one yourself and your friends are forced into taking you out of your misery.

Then you have Hirano, this "fat nerd" who appears hapless in this chaos until he gets ahold of some guns and he immediately rattles out their names and specs and gets this insane gleam in his eyes. You have Saeko, the buxom swordswoman who conceals an inner bloodlust. Rei, Takashi's former love interest and now a forced companion after a certain turn of events. Saya, the intelligent wealthy girl who pouts a lot but has her soft side.

If you're familiar with Madhouse, then the art shouldn't be anything too surprising. Good as usual. The sound is nothing extraordinary, sorta typical post-apocalyptic soundtrack. The OP is pretty good and something I like is the 12 different ending themes for each of the episodes.

What else to say? I finished this pretty quickly, as I do for any post-apocalyptic themed anime. The characters stand against enormous opposition, you're left wondering if it's possible to win, and they go through some serious trauma. Experience it vicariously.