Five seconds later:
*rub* *rub* “I’ve been laying on my boobs all morning. They feel almost numb.” *rub*
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If this snippet doesn’t describe Highschool of the Dead, I don’t know what else does. Well, except maybe the famous “Matrix Boobs” scene, but that would imply a level of reckless abandon which is rarely present in the show as a whole.
Highschool of the Dead is a teenage zombie survival show that has essentially zero substance, is a narrative and tonal mess, but still attempts to carry itself solely on rip-roaring zombie killing set pieces, serious survival conundrums, and a whole lot of random fanservice shots which only end up sinking the whole enterprise.
The use of fanservice, specifically of the sex appeal variety, doesn’t have to be a problem in and of itself. I’m overall neutral on its inclusion unless it distracts or detracts from other aspects of a title. Unfortunately, Highschool of the Dead is a classic example of this issue. Every other scene that wants to be emotional or tense is interrupted by either anatomical dialogue, sexually charged scenarios, or shameless shots of “the goods” of its female cast. The show wants its characters and their struggle for survival to be taken seriously, but it’s hard to do so when the camera is constantly concentrated on plump panty perspectives and bouncing beach ball breasts.
These moments repeatedly break one's immersion in what the characters are saying, their emotions, their zombie confrontations, or anything else the show attempts, simply because it can’t help but toss in more money shots every 2 minutes. It’s a constant source of tonal dissonance; in that regard, even a random mid-series beach episode would have been a far superior option, and that’s saying something.
Well, there is a random hotel bathtub harem hijinx episode. I suppose that’s not all that different.
I’d also mention how such brazen fanservice just emphasizes characters’ anatomy instead of their personalities, but in this case, there’s not much personality to emphasize in the first place. Among the main cast, only a few have any notable traits which goes even slightly beyond stock archetypes. One of these is a sinister teacher who is weirdly fond of this whole zombie mess, and possibly involved in starting it (we never find out). He appreciates the new “survival of the fittest” way of the world to the point of happily discarding those who are weak, yet proudly takes on a leadership role in a bus of those students who were strong or cunning enough to escape a zombie-infested highschool without being biten. He’s cold, manipulative, and honestly a little creepy. It’s very heavy on the “wicked” and lacking in the “human”, but at least it’s an attempt at giving an antagonist a worldview to justify his inherently hateable actions.
The next and probably “best” attempt at a developed character comes in the form of a girl who is legitimately fairly smart and knowledgeable, but also very arrogant about it and completely lacking in self awareness or agreeability. She also hates being seen relying on others, and, somewhat ironically, despises others who can’t admit their own faults. At face value this is a solid template to work from, but in practice, these traits go nowhere interesting. Outside of a few useful observations about the zombies’ senses and about other people’s intentions, it mostly just leads to a the occasional bickering and acting like a jerk.
Said jerk behavior is directed mainly at our next character: a stereotypical otaku shut-in who also happens to be obsessed with guns and can use this to build a makeshift ranged weapon. That’s about it - his character never evolves beyond this basic starting point. There’s a woman wielding a katana who looks composed but secretly seems to enjoy the power rush that comes with killing, but isn’t proud of this feeling; this also gets little further exploration. There’s the somewhat headstrong protagonist who likes his childhood friend... and that’s the end of that sentence. There’s a childhood friend who likes the protagonist... and that’s the end of that sentence. There’s an innocent child character who lost her dad... and that’s the end of that sentence. There’s a blonde ditz with big boobs... and that’s the end of that sentence.
At the very least, the chemistry between these characters isn't the worst, and most of them, blonde ditz aside, do take agency and act reasonably given the circumstances... if we disregard some of the "sexy time" at least. But as a whole, they still offer little of interest, and unfortunately, neither does the wholly unfocused story they find themselves a part of. Various potential directions are brought up - questions about the zombie origins, police corruption, civil unrest, budding romances - but sadly all of these possible paths ultimately develop little within the confines of the series.
In fairness, I can somewhat forgive a first season of an ongoing adaptation for having a few loose plot threads, provided there is an intent to continue the adaptation, a clear purpose and direction for those unresolved threads, and a satisfactory amount of story content and exploration outside those threads within the season. After all, an adaptation, incomplete or not, should still be able to stand on its own merits. However, in this case, not only is there no sign of continuation at the time of writing, but more importantly, almost nothing that gets introduced is tied up or significantly developed by the series’ end; this leaves little to gain from the narrative present beyond the initial highschool escape. Any momentum built is further stunted when the show decides it needs to start stuffing itself with harem hijinx and other downtime moments for character “revealing” and “examination”, quadrupling the fanservice quotient beyond what it already was. The end result is a story of little value. It merely amounts to a long sequence of set pieces interspersed with “sexy time” and a whole lot of baited hooks, but no catches.
Fortunately, if there’s any redeeming quality here, it’s those very set pieces, specifically, how they are presented if you ignore the random fanservice. Director Tetsurou Araki brings his A-game with lots of well-paced cuts, dramatic theatrics and skilled kinetic camerawork, giving scenes plenty of dynamism and excitement without ever straying into incoherent territory. His work is so effective that one might not even notice the fact that the action choreography is often pretty basic. There are even moments of quiet dread or anticipation which are genuine successes, provided they aren’t interrupted by random panty flashing. Satoshi Hashimoto also deserves recognition for the series’ saturated, high-contrast color design, which is pleasing, striking, and pairs well with the content on display. Takafumi Wada’s soundtrack also contributes to creating rousing action sequences; it’s no “Sawano drop”, but it does its job as intended. Finally, Kazuya Tanaka’s sound direction gave plenty of “oomph” to the carnage without ever being obnoxious about it.
It’s a case of a few skilled hands almost single-handedly carrying an otherwise completely disposable project. But when Araki designed this show as “something his middle school self would be running out to buy”, perhaps that should have stopped at teenagers extravagantly murdering zombies, rather than also throwing in so much out of place fanservice. Either that, or stop being so serious and just commit to matrix boobs levels of ridiculous fun, rather than trying to have it both ways. I'd have been completely on board with that.
It’s not surprising that this show became so popular. It’s easy to watch and at times succeeds as mindless, cinematic zombie-killing entertainment. It’s just a shame it falls short in every other regard.
