New Anime Series! High School of the Dead episode 1

Welcome to the end of the world!

Rounding out the posts today is High School of the Dead. I love me some zombie movies so it makes sense that I would give this show a try as it combines both anime and zombies. BRAIIIIIIIIIINS people.

Anyone who is a fan of the zombie/horror genre should give this series a try. People not a fan of dead people and blood need not apply. But if you are a horny teenage boy this show also might be up your alley.

This is post 3 of 3 today. Check out my Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru episode 13 and Kuroshitsuji II episode 1 posts that went up earlier today. Woot for sleep (hopefully).

Oh but it is.

Episode Summary: The first few minutes of the show is actually the middle/end of the show so I will skip them for now. The timeline starts off with a boy talking about how he was slacking off the day the world changed. Takashi is outside being glommy thinking of his high school crush Rei. She promised to marry him when they were like 10 and since she broke that promise she is evil. Also she is dating his best friend Hisashi which makes Takashi more emo. This chick Saya comes outside to yell at Takashi for being a skipper and procedes to call Takashi stupid 19 times. Whatever. While not being in class Takashi sees a stranger approach the school acting all strange. The gym teachers go to investigate but the dude turns out to be infected and makes quick work of the teachers. Takashi runs to get his girl Rei and her boy but no one in the entire class believes him. But Hisashi quickly changes his tune and actually gets weapons for their tiny group. Rei tries to call her dad Mr. Police Man but the line is busy. Suddenly there is an annoucement to evavuate the school but the person making the annoucement gets eaten so that’s bad. Hisashi leads them through a less known path that should be safer. But he still gets bitten protecting Rei. That is when he decides to explain the Zombie 101 rules to the other two.

This scene was too stupid for words. XD

Those three make it to the rooftop where they see the entire city in chaos/on fire. Some military helicopters go flying by and they know it is serious business. In and around the school students are dying by the truck load. Zombies here, dead bodies there. BLOOD BATH CITY YA’LL! But only one suicide which is weird. Anyway they make it to the top with a few close encounters (including the opening scene) and they barricade themselves. Hisashi then starts showing signs of zombieness. Rei is in deep denial as Hisashi tries to explain more zombie rules. Hisashi asks Takashi to push him off the building before he becomes one of them. But Takashi hesitates and Rei is all crying. Hisashi dies and comes back as a zombie despite Rei being in deep denial. Takashi ends up killing his best friend and Rei is hysterical. She says really nasty things to Taskashi and says she wanted to be a zombie with Hisashi. Takashi goes FINE I am going to kill all the zombies on the roof by myself since you hate me. Then magical Rei needs him and is sorry.

Let’s get the rant out of the way. Anyone who reads my blog knows what I am about to complain about. Fanservice. I dedicate this moment to going UGH. UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH.

This shot was so necessary.

Okay. Better now. But going into this series I knew there was going to be a lot of fanservice. Even the promo art had huge bouncy boobs front and center. Looking at some of the manga pages it was obvious the anime was going to have panty shots, huge breasts that were too big to be even sexy, and probably some nudity. That aspect of the show was keeping this show on an iffy list for me. I don’t really have time or the patience for stupid stuff like that. I have boobs. I can see them every day. In fact seeing the huge fake boobs like that make me wonder if men/boys really think having boobs like that is possible or healthy. Some panty shots are okay with me, if it natural for the scene but every other minute not so much.

Yeah there was a lot of fanservice in this episode. It mostly focused on Rei and her boobs aren’t even that big (compared to the other characters) so I know the worse is yet to come. But there was a lot of bouncing. Boobs really don’t work that way, especially if one is wearing a bra. But the number of panty shots in this episode made me roll my eyes. There are zombies trying to eat the character’s but hey, here is a shot of what Rei’s underwear would look like if Rei was being attacked by a zombie. I will just pretend this is a really long sci-fi movie minus the tank tops and in their place we get to see a lot of underwear.

Starts with one death and suddenly everyone you know is dead.

Moving on to something that doesn’t involve boobs or underwear….XO This show was exactly how every zombie movie should be or is. And if you follow my Movies of the Month you will see that I watch A LOT of horror movies. A LOT! I won’t claim to be an expert since I haven’t seen older zombie movies but I will give most a try that I see ON DEMAND/SciFi/random movie channels. I went to a How To Survive a Zombie Apocalypse panel at a convention once. My husband and I got in a silly fight when he said I was not in his survivor group. I have my plan in case of a zombie invasion down pat. So yeah…this episode was enjoyable for a person who enjoys this genre.

No I am making it up for fun!

We first got the confusion. Confusion is very important as it takes down the population quickly. You can’t be having too many main characters/characters with speaking parts. It is important that no one realizes that OH if you get bitten by a zombie you become one. No it is more important to stare in disbelief and scream a lot instead of running away. This show adds a little something special as one character is aware of what is happening BEFORE the trouble actually hits and people don’t believe him. Sorry Takashi. There were horror rules going against you. Don’t feel bad that you didn’t save many people.

This is not a movie or video game people. THIS IS REAL!

Then we have the mass infection. There is always a scene showing people getting attacked and chaos in the streets. These scenes are pretty graphic but are done so in a way that you really don’t care about who is dying. Just that they are and there is blood and guts everywhere. These zombies seem to be slow moving ones which means that more people should have been able to survive. But common sense tends not to click in when people are eating brains.

Attack of the super moody teenager!!!

Another great thing about this show is it is all about high school students (well and one teacher). Most Sci-Fi movies focus on a young people/teenagers/young adults getting killed and maimed in horrible ways. What better back drop for the end of the world than a high school? Teenagers are panicky and stupid in terrible situations so it makes all the deaths seem more plausible. But it might not be a good back drop for the teenagers as it will be hard to guard an entire school with multiple entrances.

Poor Hishashi. :(

I like how he wanted to die to save his friends.

Next we have the death of someone important. See we just watched over 100 kids die but that doesn’t matter. The tears are for the beloved boyfriend/best friend. Hisashi getting killed was a bit of a surprise as he seems to be up to speed on Zombie Rules. However since he was in the way of the main character and the survivor girl hooking up he had to die. Thems the breaks. He would have made a valuable asset to their team but it was not in the cards. I do think he should have thrown himself off the roof and not put the pressure on Takashi. But we needed conflict or something. Rest in peace dude.

It will be okay...but probably not.

And last we have the rise of a hero and some melodramatic chick as his side kick. Rei might be slightly more useful than I previously thought. She seems to be able to protect herself but she lost some points when she thought her boyfriend was too special to become a zombie. Yeah I would probably have some problems killing my husband if it came down to it but I would run away. I wouldn’t want to join him in the zombie afterlife. But since she was semi quick to apoligize she isn’t that bad. Of course her words were kinda harsh but I can forgive her since her boyfriend just got his head bashed in. Takashi was a little hestitate to kill people at first but he has stepped up to the plate. But he lost bonus points too with that whole slapping thing. -_- So even though he was smart enough to try to save people before it got iffy I will still classify him as a reluctant hero.

I like how the zombie rules got explained to us.

The two characters who got face time this week seem okay. I probably would have liked Hisashi more but now he is zombie bird food. Rei cried some and was a bit antagonistic at points. It’s almost like she was waiting to pick a fight with Takashi. She can do some fighting which makes her better than like 90 percent of females in zombie movies. Takashi was really quick to act but since he was skipping class there was some luck involved. I am surprised more people didn’t panic when he announced the whole dead people thing as you should try to minimize freak outs. But he gets double points for a baseball bat. One of the reasons I got kicked out of my husband’s survivor group is because I think a baseball bat is more useful than a gun! XO Guns run out of bullets son!

So bleak this new world.

So while this episode had a bit too much fanservice for me….there was way too much zombie action for me to pass on! I think this show is a keeper despite the boobies and panty shots. MMMM brains people. BRAINS!

X_X Blogging three posts in one day. What was I thinking…At least I am caught up now. XO Go me!

I really liked the ending...even thought it was kinda sad.