The Synopsis
The first episode is summarized quite simply: a couple Japanese high school students have found themselves trapped in a school where their fellow classmates are being ravaged by flesh hungry zombies.
High School of the Deadis based off a manga series which had an initial run between 2006 and 2008. It's being produced by Madhouse and is licensed here in the US by Sentai Filmworks.
From her on in, this review is ridden with some spoilers, thought they're pretty predictable.
At the beginning of the episode a deep voices reflects on the world he once knew, before flashing back to the good ol' start of the zombie infestation. It then flashes back even more to give a bit of back story about the main character Takashi, his love interest Rei, and the guy she'd rather be with, Hisashi.
There are some other random chicks who show up, all with various sized gravity defying tits. Some quickly become tasty treats for the undead while others, such as the know-it-all Takagi, aren't about to let zombies get in their way. We're also briefly introduced to Hirano, who seems to be your stereotypical cowardly geek.
It's revealed that the world outside the school compound has gone to hell. The Japanese SDF has been mobilized and friends quickly turn on each other in vein attempts to survive. One gym teacher commits suicide by jumping out a window in a delirious state.
As blatantly alluded to in the first scene, Hisashi gets bit and turns into a zombie. Takashi eventually takes him out, much to Rei's disapproval. While Takashi may seem like the reluctant, cowardly type at times, he's not too bashful about smashing in some heads.
The Review
Do you like zombies? Do you like fan service? If you answered yes to both of those questions then
High School of the Dead is for you. You'll hands down love it...
...but I need to stress that you need to enjoy
both aspects to fully enjoy the first episode. Without a full appreciation for tits and zombies, you'll be left with the realization that you just watched some pretty generic shit. Fan service, school girls, and zombies. It's such a perfect match I don't know why it took this long to animate. It's like sandwiching a burger between two grilled cheese sandwiches with bacon thrown in for good measure. I'm fairly certain the initial brainstorming for the manga went a little like: "Hey, you know what people love? Zombies!" "You know, they also love floppy tits and short skirts. If we were to combine them..." "We're gonna be rich!"
Granted, it's only the first episode. Having not read the manga, I can't comment on where the series is headed.
As far as zombie aspect goes,
High School of the Dead seems to be pretty generic. A handful of inexperienced folks are forced to take up arms against your everyday, superior in strength, zombie. Lots of biting, lots of heads bashed in, and lots of blood. The zombies move a lot faster than your everyday Romero breed, but don't run at a full clip a la
28 Weeks Later. Nor are they very adept at climbing short obstacles. I don't foresee the series bringing anything new to the zombie outbreak genre.
I think the intro does a great job foreshadowing of what the series is to become. Adult girls with big tits, small girls with small tits, and lots of fucking underwear shots...
Video is MIA! :(
Tits, tits, everywhere tits. As expected they randomly juggle and bounce around as though they believe they'd have a better life out on their own. Every now and then you'll get a nice random close up to remind you that you should be thinking about tits.
At one point Takashi gets a good look and the closeup features so much shading that it completely clashes with the rest of the animation. Panties more your thing? Well, they haven't held back on that front either.
When Takashi unsuspectingly spots his first zombie, he presumes him to be a rapist. Getting into the mind of the viewer are you? You clever program, you.
In general the animation is pretty good. Relatively detailed and stylized backgrounds work well. I like the character designs and animation, actually, though they're pretty par for the course when it comes to anime. The trend of random CGI continues with a few backgrounds looking a bit out of place at times. At some points things get a little obnoxious though. Flashbacks might have manufactured film noise & scratches, other sequences will have random Photoshop-like effects. At one point a cherry blossom petal falls in, and soaks up, some zombie blood. Subtle. Considering the subject content I'm probably being too picky.
This series is going to be right up the alley for a lot of folks. Everyone else is going to hate it.
Note, that for whatever reason a lot of folks are calling it
Highschool of the Dead with 'highschool' as one word. The Wikipedia article uses both forms, but the in episode title presents them clearly as being separate words. Despite the fact that the self chosen acronym is
HOTD (implying highschool is one word). Now, I may not be able to write like an educated person, and my proofreading skills are abysmal, but I'm going to take a chance and fall in with the English language by adding spaces where appropriate.
Did I mention boobs?
