High-school of the Dead

High-school of the Dead (HOTD) is a Japanese Animation that, like most anime, is an adaption of a manga conveniently of the same name. The story follows a small group of students who have managed to survive an outbreak of zombie in their high-school as they attempt to survive a larger world wide zombie apocalypse.

As I watched HOTD it occurred to me that it would make a great video game. Then it occurred to me that it already is a video game; HOTD could basically be Dead Rising: High-School Edition. Even though the main character has the personality and depth of a balsa wood cutout he would still be more compelling than Chuck Greene.

HOTD is well paced with each episode clearly moving from a point A to a point B without too much dithering in between. All the events serve a purpose to move the plot along and there is no sense that they are trying to prolong the story; it moves along nicely and is never boring. The action is also good. For example, it is incredibly fun to watch Saeko Busujima beat zombies to death with her bokken (wood sword). The art style is not awful though I find the angular nature of the faces a little off putting but anyone can tell you that I am a little (extremely) hard to please. The opening theme is catchy and I like that each closing theme was different. Way to go the extra mile there!

Now that I have that out of the way I'd like to say “What the hell, guys?” That whole well paced thing I talked about earlier has the negative side effect of story sometimes being dropped casually into the narrative in ways that are either ineffective or bizarre. The story starts with the main character, Takashi Komuro, brooding over a love lost when he sees several teachers at the gate get attacked. He promptly runs into class to tell said lost love that shit is hitting the fan. When she, in a reaction that is utterly shocking to all, asks him what he is doing, he slaps her. This will not be the only time he acts weirdly violent towards women. He then drags her and her boyfriend out of the classroom where, apparently, the teacher and other students are used to people coming and going at random. The boyfriend gets zombied in the ensuing race to the rooftops (because that makes sense) and Takashi kills him. Rei Miyamoto (lost love girl, you following?), having failed to comprehend ZOMBIES, accuses him of killing her boyfriend out of jealousy. His reaction is to threaten suicide disguised as heroic charge into the horde.

This seemed so weirdly manipulative that it left me utterly baffled as to how we were supposed to identify with this character. The show was basically a power fantasy where the girl you can't get is left relying entirely on you - what's that? Oh, the boyfriend was your best friend despite there being no indication of any affection between the two of you over the last 20 minutes? I guess that was supposed to make Takashi deep and tragic but, really, that should have probably been establish early on. The effects of this “tragedy” are mostly invisible during the rest of the series except when randomly brought up to create tension and character depth. Throughout the series Rei will randomly become critical about things and he will always assume she is comparing him to boy/best friend.

And speaking of her being randomly critical, it is just plain weird. At one point he says he has no money to activate the self serve gas pump and she says, “you are the worst.” What? You are mad because he didn't prepare for a zombie apocalypse? Maybe we can chalk this up to the stress but it is not the only time in the series characters seem to behave in strange or inappropriate ways. Or become drunk without any indication of having actually had any alcohol. After groping each other in the bathtub. Moving on.

HOTD is supposed to be a horror story but it is as if the writers never quite fully settled on it being horror or comedic action. The characters behave in ways that are only silly and obviously intended for comedic effect. Kohta Hirano, for example, is almost completely a clown character. He is fat and wimpy until he gets his hands on firearms, at which point he turns into a maniac except when he suddenly becomes soft and polite when speaking to the girl he has a crush on. Shizuka Marikawa is another example; she is the ditzy blond school nurse who seems to exist purely to carry around a giant set of ridiculously squishy breasts. I would not be far off comparing them to udders, especially with some of the “camera angles” employed by the animators.

And oh how they jiggle. In fact, every single one of the female characters jiggle at every chance they get. This is something I have noticed in a lot of more recent anime but I assumed that this was because they were all silly comedies intended to get a laugh. This is somewhat jarring when it is supposed to be a tense and horrifying story. It is hard to take anything seriously when the show contains the line “my boobs are killing me because you used them to balance an ak47!” There is a surprisingly large amount of content that exists just to be titillating considering that it is a world where 90% of the population has recently become a lot less articulate. HOTD is filled with lovingly drawn panty shots, has an entire episode basically devoted to the women groping each other in a bathtub, and several episodes with the women running around in skimpy underwear. Saeko spends some time wearing nothing but an apron and a thong. None of this is conducive to tension or terror.

Besides the main plot there are a few little subplots, mostly dealing with character background. Also, there is a love triangle of sorts since every single one of the female survivors happen to be people who have the hots for Takashi (remember what I said about a power fantasy?), except maybe the nurse because she was just drunk when she tried to grope him. She is 26 and he is 17, by the way. But whatever.

I have to note that I watched the English dub. The voice actors were less terrible than having your eyes eaten by rats, so that was a plus. One little oddity was the localization. At first I thought it has been localized as if it were taking place in the US but after watching more I realized that this was indeed supposed to be Japan. The comment about the US having been overrun was apparently supposed to show what a worldwide disaster this was. Still, I was thrown off guard by references to Sarah Palin, the NRA, Blackwater, and a comparison of a corrupt teacher's group of student followers to Scientology. Were these added in to the English Language version in place of more Japanese references? I can see Sarah Palin being a large enough figure that the writers might throw in a reference, and I suppose the same could be said for Blackwater, NRA, and Scientology but I can't help wondering if in the Japanese version that last one was actually SGI Buddhism. And what should I make of the line “very breakfast cluby?" Was that movie ever popular in Japan? Would that have meaning for a Japanese audience? I could find a Japanese Language version to figure it out but, really, I don't care that much.

It may sound like I hated HOTD but this is actually not the case. The story played out well even if there were some threads not fully brought together at the end. While I did want to see more character development I also have to acknowledge that twelve episodes does not leave a lot of room and, in the end, I really did like all the characters. I even liked Shizuka. Her best moment is when she seems keenly aware of her place in the world stating that her ditziness was not her fault because it was her character. Maybe the writers were a little self conscious about her portrayal up to the point. Did I mention the part where she protectively hugs a seven year girl while her breasts drape over the girl's head? No? Okay then. Anyway, these 12 episodes also seem to be only half of the story told in the manga, so maybe some of those loose threads and the character development is continued in the rest of the story. Maybe they will even animate the second half at some point but it is not entirely necessary. HOTD managed to tell a seemingly complete story with a satisfactory, if open, ending. All in all it was compelling enough that I pretty much watched it straight through and in the end I didn't want it to be over. Sure, it is only “pretty good” but that is saying a lot these days.

Summery: Don't expect spine tingling terror or deep emotional content but, all in all, a good time.
Rating: Three out of five MASSIVE BREASTS

Reviewed by: Leer's Poor Fool