high school of the dead 1
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Tagged: high school of the dead
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“You’re fucked the moment they bite you.”
Wow, I first pimped High School of the Dead four years ago back in 2006… that was a long time ago. The manga came out the same week as Bakemonogatari Volume 1. That’s a long frickin’ time ago. Since then, I had given up on High School of the Dead, and so did everyone else. The manga was discontinued for a period after 2008 because, well, there’s absolutely nothing more to this story than well-proportioned girls killing zombies. It’s fanservice of the highest order. But it’s not going to keep our attention forever.
(I have since given up on the manga… it’s not going anywhere, and, as much as I appreciate a chapter about Rei discovering a cosplay shop and the orgy bus, it’s just too stupid now. And, yes, I’m convinced the only reason the manga came back was to promote this anime. Why else would a left-for-dead manga that went on hiatus for over a year come back?)
Not that I don’t enjoy a good fanservice-filled story about bashing zombies. Mmm… uh… what was my objection to this franchise again?
But watching this episode… it makes me think that the anime could be better than the manga. One, despite Sentai Filmworks best efforts to improperly label this as an “action horror” (much like how The Shining is a romantic comedy), this is a fanservice show. And Madhouse… well… you couldn’t find a more appropriate studio for it. And they come out swinging with the fanservice.
And when I say “swinging,” I mean swinging. Team Ninja swiftly approved. Plus, Madhouse’s latest great series, Needless, is pretty much is in the same genre as HSotD. Then there’s Rei’s dad… who can best be described as Kogarashi’s little brother… and who animated Kogarashi? Yes. Madhouse. Oh yeah.
(Enjoy the helicopter flyby when Rei just… let’s it fly. Madhouse is the anti-Kyoto. You get all the colors of the rainbow.)
Two, the cast involved. You’re kidding, me right? Araki (Black Lagoon and Death Note) directing, Kuroda (Gundam 00) scripting, and Marina Inoue (Kana “Drago” Minami) voicing Rei? Redeem Team quality. My only disappointment after hearing that Kuroda is writing this is that maybe he’ll keep Hisashi alive… because, well, you know, if he did stay alive, a Hisashi and Takashi pairing would be as inevitable as Setsuna and Lockon. But it could have been great… a Hisashi, Takashi, and Rei love triangle would be the greatest one since Lulu, Suzaku, and Shirley. Rei, he wasn’t jealous of Hisashi for stealing you away… he was jealous of you for stealing Hisashi away.
(Can’t say I’m disappointed or glad that Hisashi died.)
If you have no clue what the series is about after seeing the OP, you’re just an idiot.
(I love it when a sequel just uses the original’s OP instead of coming up with a new one if the original was pantheon class. I’m referring to, of course, Araki’s greatest work– Black Lagoon. Mell’s Red Fraction is just pure awesome. I HAVE BIG GUN!)
(No, I wouldn’t have mind if they used that song for the OP for HSotD. It fits!)
My favorite scene of this episode… you knew what was going to happen. Just knew.
(Of course, this manga combined with Raki Suta spawned my idea for Moe of the Dead where we take cute moe girls going around killing zombies in a souped-up ice cream truck. I have since tweaked the idea to make it cute moe girls that form a girl band going around killing zombies in a souped-up ice cream truck with Onsakumaru narrating. Tell me you’re not interested in this.)
The First Modern Law of Anime… satisfied! Why are windows always on the frickin’ left side? Also, when Takashi slapped Rei… I gasped. He slapped her in the middle of class, and she still went along with him? Rei’s not very smart. I’m not breaking new ground with this analysis, am I?
I like Madhouse’s decision to not show any of the brutal zombie deaths but do show plenty of fanservice. Amazing. Madhouse would afford panties, but Shaft could not.
(Twelve? episodes long. Haven’t decided if I’m going to blog this one. I still have K-On!! to finish up, and two mindless anime might be too much for me.)
26 Responses to “high school of the dead 1”
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i thought you might blog it for sure…cause you know there is fanservice
There is even fanservice when the girls are being eaten alive by the zombies! Do you think there will be a happy ending after 12 episodes?
“Mindless anime”
Quite a pun there, mate.
I knew you would blog this.
My mini review…
The intro to the last song before the ED is a straight rip off of “24 hours later”.
Production quality is low, but it is true to the art style.
Production quality is low.
Reminds me of another anime that was based on monsters and high school kids with “uber powers” and had a chick who had like 8 irises in one eye.
I forget the name of that other anime, because it is forgettable and I deleted it to save space.
Production quality is low.
Reminds me of how Kurokami was drug tru the dirt.
Not a bad manga (manwa?), horrid anime.
Maybe its the director’s fault?
I liked the part after the OP where the ep name was floating off the sign.
The OP reminded me of season 1 and 2 of black lagoon.
The intro was nice.
Ill watch, just to see how they do, but I expect a quality train wreck.
I liked how the sub I watched called the “best bud who stole my GF dude” Hahashi, or something like that. They clearly called him “Saji” the whole time.
Two trains are on the same track 20 miles apart one train is moving at 30m an hour and the second is moving at 2m a second, how long will it be until they make contact? How many passengers will die?
I’m liking ir so far it seems to be full of gravity defying bouncy fun, surprised they didn’t limber up before bashing brains in though foolish talking boobs I mean dudes
Ah, zombie fanservice. But without the moe of Sankarea. :D Time to see if they can keep the pace up – a nice train wreck with fanservice would be a nice thing.
Look at all dem Canadians above me.
I seriously don’t like Rei… I was always rooting for Saeko, and it looks like that’s not going to be changing. Rei’s so wishy-washy and whiny. Still, SO glad that Madhouse pulled this. It’s right up their alley
K.K. – Do you mean the fanservice or the zombie violence? :D Either way, it was a good choice, and it looks like this might be a decent adaptation. Unlike, say, most of the last season.
Haess: Decent yes, but the studio will really have to pace itself with this one as the source material behind it is relatively thin: I practically read all the available chapters in less than two hours.
If this is just a 1-cour show as I’d think it is, and since I didn’t see the cute victim of Hirano’s headshot in the latest chapter, I guess they’ll end it somewhere after the siege of Saya’s mansion. Unless they want to go the anime-original end route, which can be good or bad.
Myssa Rei: They may decide to go all-out and ‘adapt’ it (translation: screw the story which went away awful quickly) and keep the elements which keep selling the otherwise mediocre series (the fanservice) without going too deep into tasteless fanservice.
Regarding the First Law: perhaps the windows are always on the left side in anime is because… they’re always (or almost always) on the left side in real life?
…by which I mean junior high and high schools in Japan of course.
Light on the plot but heavy on the fanservice, well one of the original creators is a fairly prolific hentai artist after all: http://www.mangaupdates.com/authors.html?id=2497
Jason, why don’t you do a REAL episode review of this:
TITS TITS TITS ZOMBIES BOOBIES ZOMBIES TITS!
Our classrooms almost always had the windows in the back of the room.
how nostalgic, takes me back to the L.A. riots of the 90’s. the smoke, the looters, the guys with rifles on the roof, getting off the school bus next to a burning liquor store… it was….fun.
@ Haess: I meant the Fanservice~ I think the author gave up on the manga, so if the anime comes up with its own ending, it’s fine by me. Though I’m pretty sure the ending is going to be one of those “and the story will continue” endings, where nothing is actually wrapped up.
When I was in high school, the windows were ALWAYS to the back and to the left~ I think the teachers set up the desks so that they’d always be that way. Incidentally, I would always take the farthest seat from the windows (front row, off to the other side) because THAT is inevitably the closest to the door.
>>it’s not going anywhere, and, as much as I appreciate a chapter about Rei discovering a cosplay shop and the orgy bus, it’s just too stupid now. And, yes, I’m convinced the only reason the manga came back was to promote this anime. Why else would a left-for-dead manga that went on hiatus for over a year come back?)<<
while i agree that the only reason the manga came back was to promote the anime. I disagree that the story is going nowhere. There plenty of plotlines that can follow, however i don't think the mangaka got what it takes to follow through. The guy is a great artist but he needs a Takagi to his Mashiro.
So the manga is now undead?
Ithekro: like Haruhi, yes. Appropriate, no?
Being surrounded by zombies is fun only if you can directly control some chainsaw/shotgun with a joypad. If you can only watch is a no no.
Yeah, classrooms in Japan always have the windows on the left. It’s just the way they build them. And I’m pretty sure the windows never face north.
So far, this show is awesome, but if they don’t reference the Hellsing connection, I may have to reconsider my position.
This is an action packed manga with a likable hero and a colorful, interesting cast.
At the end of the day, there just aren’t that many zombie anime out there – and this one is pretty solid in that regard. Yeah, it’s goofy, silly, and smutty at points… but hey, that’s just the sort of thing that might get those stoners off their asses and watch anime again.
Besides, occasionally after I’ve just seen some violence, I like to look at some boobs. Yes, that was (probably) sarcasm.
where is the gore, i only saw blood fountain, pantsu, leg and breasts everywhere ?
Interesting point: I never saw any male students get brutally zombified.
I’m with the same opinion that this can only get better than the manga (or, alternatively, you can’t go lower than the manga has). A good zombie movie isn’t a good zombie movie because of the plot (what plot?) it’s more about the atmosphere and the characters (fanservice). HSoD doesn’t have any characters that die during the escape, but then again, they don’t really have a goal they should be heading towards – I guess the mangaka really can’t be bothered finishing it (or has no idea how to).