🥈 8/10
How do you imagine zombies? They would surely look scary, having a rotten body, and full of scars. Well, that is what it might be until you watch Sankarea.
🎬 Story - 7/10
The story starts when a boy named Chihiro Furuya lost his cat Baabu by an accident, trying to revive him with despair, then he met Rea. As written in the synopsis, Rea became a zombie at some point in the story.
The storytelling is slow yet enjoyable, being character-focused, not boring at all. However, the story still lacks many things, nothing surprising has happened yet due to the anime length, as the anime only adapted 2 out of 11 volumes of the manga with some additions and alternations, but it is overall a very nice start.
By looking superficially, Sankarea might seem to be a relaxing and happy anime due to the anime length and Rea being a cheerful type of character, but deep down, Sankarea is rather a sad one. So far, I have found no plot holes, as everything could be explained logically. Lastly, as suggested by the ecchi tag, this show contains only a little of ecchi, which I consider being great since I personally do not prefer ecchi and the overuse of the ecchi element can ruin the anime.
🎨 Animation - 8/10
Sankarea has a normal art style, not being so unique, but comes with a quality higher than standard. The most noticeable qualities are sceneries, lightings, and shadows, which are done finely. Art on the characters could also be improved further by adding more details.
🔈 Sound - 8/10
Sankarea consists of a nice opening and ending theme song, both giving off a unique vibe. I personally prefer the ending theme song. As for soundtracks, I consider them as well-made. Sankarea’s soundtracks are not outstanding, but they fit and create the mood and tone of the anime. As mentioned in the story section, deep down Sankarea is rather a sad story, and some of the soundtracks point out that hidden sadness.
🕶 Characters - 8/10
Starting with Chihiro Furuya, a zombie maniac. Different from many other shows’ male protagonist, he is not weak and whiny type, he is not plain and overly-nice either, he rather differs from standard and having some unique traits, which are what make him a fine male protagonist.
Next, Rea Sanka, who later becomes a zombie. Rea’s story is told pretty detailed, revealing her sad past, which describes the reasons for all of her actions throughout the show. While Rea might look like a normal female protagonist, I somehow found her special. I wonder how could someone be able to create such a cute and charming character like her.
Rea has parents which considered to be her troubles, with the story revealing backgrounds of both of her parents, it makes sense even how irritating her parents’ actions are and how her relationship with her parents has come to this point.
Lastly, supporting characters like Mero and Ranko are not being left out. With the additional story on both of them, the show seems to be more complete, especially the story on how Chihiro and Ranko became friends since their childhood.
🎉 Enjoyment - 8/10
Sankarea is quite an easy-to-watch and enjoyable show. It is actually one of a few shows I could watch several episodes continuously without a break, cliffhangers might be one of the reasons, which exist at the end of many episodes. To be honest, what I loved about this show most is the female protagonist, Rea. Other than her cuteness and her charm, what I find interesting is how she still be able to enjoy her time despite of her cruel fate. I consider this to be a success of the show since the show is named after her after all.
📌 Recommendations
Sankarea is not an outstanding show but rather a unique one. If you are looking for a unique non-action anime, unique supernatural anime, or an anime with a nice female protagonist, then I recommend this anime. Despite being suggested a romance genre, I recommend not to get your expectations up for that, it is still too early since this is the first adaption of Sankarea.
After the show completion, I encourage you to read the manga which has already finished publishing. Even though the anime has already adapted 2 out of 11 volumes, I recommend starting over from the beginning since there are some slight differences, I am sure you will have a great experience. Enjoy!
