Category: High School of the Dead

High School of the Dead – 03

by psgels, posted in High School of the Dead



Here’s one thing that I’m a bit afraid of: this series falling into the formula in which the main characters find survivors, who all just get killed off anyway in favour of the lead characters. I mean, the first half of this episode was really predictable in the way that you just knew that these kids they picked up would just end up getting eaten. I guess that that’s why it’s a good thing that this series will only have 12 episodes.

In any case, this episode tried a bit too hard in my opinion to introduce an asshole. For this guy to work, the creators really need to give more attention to the groupies around him, and give them personalities just like the main characters. The guy himself also needs to get a bit more of those normal scenes in which he isn’t acting like a total snob.

On the bright side though, the fanservice was pretty much toned down in this episode compared to the previous ones, which is a good sign. If anything, the lead characters are all likable despite their flaws, and I like how at the end of this episode the creators tried to break up the two lead characters from the rest, in order to avoid the formula from getting stale. Zombie killing can only remain interesting for so many episodes, so I’m glad that the creators have spent their time to at least give us some solid 12 episodes here.
Rating: * (Good)

High School of the Dead – 02

by psgels, posted in High School of the Dead



As for the series I’m not going to blog:
– Shukufuku no Campanella… who the hell found that a good idea?
– Seitokai Yakuindomo just keeps repeating the same jokes over and over again.
– Mitsudomoe has some actually funny moments. But it’s also utterly disgusting and it tries way, way too hard.

High School of the Dead of course has its problem, but in terms of atmospheric zombie bashing it’s a pretty solid choice this season. Tetsurou Araki, the director of Death Note, Kurozuka and that story with the really long title in Aoi Bungaku was the perfect choice to animate this thing and make it as atmospheric as possible with his unique style.

This episode wasn’t as good as the first, though. Mostly, this can be blamed on some of the new characters. The school nurse is just about an exact carbon copy of any other school nurse out there. Now first of all, this is something I’ve been wondering since ages: why are school nurses necessary in Japan? Really, at our high school the janitor knew first aid, and whenever an accident happened (which really was not often), he would take care of everyone. Are Japanese schools really so accident prone that they need to reserve an entire room for it, and hire someone who doesn’t need to do anything for most of the time?

But yeah, the big problem with that nurse is that she’s really annoying, along with that annoying sound that her boobs make whenever she does something. I really hope that we don’t have to listen to that for the entire rest of the series. Still, I’ve got to give credit where credit is due: she was decently fleshed out in this episode, and she isn’t an entire stereotype.

The other annoying character was that pink haired girl. Again, a collection of moe cliches: genius, tsunere, twintails, glasses, etc. The worst though was the part in which in she made NO ATTEMPT TO HIDE HER VOICE. She had the right intentions, she didn’t hide in the obvious places, she’s careful on where to go, she carefully analyzes the situation around her and yet she fails to think of one of the most obvious ways to give her away. Yes, it’s a zombie outbreak people. Let’s start yelling to everyone! Again though, credit where credit is due: her breakdown at the end of this episode promised good stuff. As long as she doesn’t continue yelling like that throughout the rest of the series, I’ll be happy.
Rating: * (Good)

Some Quick First Impressions: Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin, High School of the Dead and Seitokai Yakuindomo

by psgels, posted in High School of the Dead, Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin, Some Quick First Impressions

Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the daughter of the head of some supernatural high school.
How awesome. This was everything a first episode should be! Funny, entertaining, tense, mysterious, intriguing, engaging, this episode was all of it. I was really afraid of the way that the promo material portrayed the lead characters, but there turned out to be no need to worry. The female lead at least is a very colourful character, and most importantly: this episode really wasted no time to delve into her background. It just went “screw carefully introducing characters and waiting with their background until the last minute. We’ve got only thirteen episodes here, you know!” This episode was full of weird and entertaining plot twists that had a ton of charms. The jokes were quite creative, and most importantly: while it definitely made its characters out to be a bunch of oddballs, it never turned them into idiots. Especially the part in which that ghost pretended to be the lead character’s dead father, she really saw through such a shallow trap immediately, instead of getting all sentimental about it. However, I do have one thing to say about this episode, and this is a pretty big issue: this clearly was a “let’s go all out with our first episode”-first episode. That is NO EXCUSE for the show to dull in after this. This has the potential to become a classic if all the episodes are of this caliber. However, will the creators really have enough material to make every single episode entertaining, or will they just descend into random fluff after this?
OP: Very neat art there.
ED: A decent ballad
Potential: 95%

High School of the Dead

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is in a school full of ZOMBIES
Yeah, it’s pretty much like expected. The story itself has the depth of a paper bucket, we have a school zombie invasion and your average teen-aged lead happens to be one of the few who manages to escape, along with his love interest. There’s a ton of fanservice as well. Does that matter, though? Of course not! This is just one of those shows that knows exactly what it is: adrenaline. This episode was a great taste in what is about to come, with a tight and over the top atmosphere, with a lot of passion and overacting. Right from the start, this would be a series that’s going to sell itself with its action, and well, in this episode it accomplished its mission! On the cliche side of things, though: while there are definitely cliches here and there (the childhood promise being the worst of them), the lead characters for once aren’t actually useless or weak. the lead female practices martial arts, while the lead male has also showed that he can kick zombie ass.
OP: Decent J-rock, though nothing special.
ED: Again, decent j-rock.
Potential: 75%

Seitokai Yakuindomo

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to be in the student council in a school with 90% females…. they’re not even trying anymore, are they?
Oh boy, oh boy! I hope that you’re a big fan of short-jokes, because this series surely has enough of them in its endless attempts to remind us that one of the characters is short. Seriously, the people from GoHands are terrific animators. So why the heck do they keep spending their time with these incredibly stupid premises? While not as bad as Princess Lover, Seitokai Yakuindomo is yet another one of those series in which we get to see cute girls with the depth of a paper bag parade around the screen, all around one male character who gets his usual harem. The jokes here… were terrible. They’re not funny, and some of them get repeated endlessly. I doubt that many people who visit this blog were planning to check this one out, but still: there are so many better shows of this kind. I don’t see anything that sets this series apart from its ilk.
OP: Glad to see that the jokes that the series plans to drag out in the rest of the series are even more terrible than what they showed in this episode.
ED: Obnoxious.
Potential: 0%