It's an ordinary school day for Rei and Takashi, until a strange man suddenly stumbles inside the school yard and bites one of the employees. From then on, chaos ensues: the bitten die and transform into flesh-eating zombies ("them") who stop at nothing to get their food. Rei and Takashi are caught in a fight for survival, forced to kill their own infected friends and classmates. After some time, the two escape the school and head for their homes to check up on their families. Along the way, they meet other survivors and group together, doing their best to protect themselves against the increasing hordes. However, they also meet rivals, and must rely on mutual trust and play by the new rules at all times in order to make it out alive.
Synopsis: pandemonium91
Ever wondered how it is like going to a high school? Well… of course that you know, what I am even bothering to ask. But check this out! Have you ever wondered what it is like to be in a high school… full of undead, with gorgeous girls and guys who define the word being brave and yet clumsy. Probably not, so let me tell you how it is.
The story goes as followed. Set in Japan during the 21st century, a group of high school students do their usual life by going to school and back with the usual background drama that they are having. But to add to all that love and school drama, they get another one. More like, zombie drama. Would they want that or not, it is not up to them because one zombie slowly takes his way up to the high school that they are going into and starts doing some chaos. As to everyone who is not yet familiar with zombies, they are dead corpses who walk and feed on the living people. The virus then quickly travels from them to the host making them another zombie. So this is what happens here and it quickly spreads not only in that high school, but also across the whole city, and even much more!
The story the slowly takes an even more drastic turn as they try to escape. And when I say they I mean a geek who knows almost everything that there is to know about guns, a guy who is a trouble maker at school but holds great feelings towards her childhood friend and she is a great spear fighter. Then there are some other ones, like the intelligent girl, the samurai girl and then nurse girl. Later they get some more characters to support them, but that’s for you to find out. Some characters will also leave them as this anime is covered with countless deaths and deceptions.
The characters do brilliant their job and the story is quite good and intense actually, leaving you up to watch it till the end in hopes wanting to know will they actually survive and meet up with their family. And will someone get suddenly pregnant? Yes, this anime holds many secrets and the story is not rushed at all and all characters get their own side stories. A bad note on the misuse of some characters and shortness of the others, as well as confusion that can sometimes bring to the viewers. That confusion is actually the main key, because even if you would be yelling at the monitor saying “Don’t do that!!! Run!!!!!” Or something in that line, still you actually see how it is going and in which direction, so it might actually at the end leave you speechless.
Overall I don't see any flaws with the story and this is how an anime zombie based one should look.
Rating:
Oh yeah, what do we like about this anime. Hot girls! And boy how they made a good job with animating them, the close ups as well as details. Maybe a little too much and sometimes even unrealistic at certain parts, but that’s what you can like here and that’s what definitely is a great example of amazing drawings and graphics that they put here. It is just unbelievable, even on the guys part where they haven’t put that much detail, but for known reasons, they still maintain their own and all that including “all” characters make up to some amazing moves that will leave you jawless. Yes, and what I mean by that is all the fighting and the animations that follow them.
Aside from phenomenal animations and graphics, this anime offers some superb backgrounds and details in them. You will
actually notice how the characters are fighting countless zombies only to see that there are many more in the background
there, walking alone on their own and attacking everything that they see. Everything is on the moving and not just the
focused parts. The live sequences are so good and all that is backed with some nice and smooth colors.
Not even the zombies would make a laugh after they see themselves at the mirror here
Rating:
The sound and their effects are another good part of this anime. Sound effects especially, from zombie walking, to distant sound, to zombie growing, to gun fires, to zombie voice acting… And the character voice acting as well, which is done in a good, maybe too fashionable way, but still quite good.
Now the OST is not something that this anime can be proud of. Sure it is presented there and what is presented is fairly
decent, but that’s it. The OST is again as many animes suffer present, but not very noticeable. The opening song is
great and the closing ones are good as well. But the in-anime soundtrack is not on the same level. But that is okay,
because the anime is mostly set on quick action on movements so you won’t have much time for it and as for that maybe
they could have worked more on these types of soundtrack, but still if you do notice some (like I have) you will see
that they are of a high quality as the rest of what this anime is made.
Rating:
If I was a guy, what would I like about this anime? Well, all that is presented. But interesting is, that only guys
would enjoy it, but also some girls too. Why? Watch to find out, but I will fill you with couple of things. First is
that this anime is heavily based on the ecchi genre and that is quite noticeable. There is much of fan service and they
are not afraid to show that all. It can be sometimes just for the pure fun, but in some cases it actually takes the
relaxing role and by that I mean comedy. Yes, even in the zombie filled show there is a comedy, but don’t get me
wrong, this is still an anime with heavily side on the horror genre. The comedy is mostly there for the relaxing and
enjoyable parts.
Like when they make funny comments about each other, or when they fight in a not so appropriate way, or when they just
take a bath, everything is possible here.
What you need to know here is that the story can sometimes be confusing and that some stuff may seem pointless. Keep in
mind that you have to keep a basic knowledge about some things which will help you understand certain decision and
moments there. What is good about it, is that this helps to keep you on this anime from the beginning until the very
end. You will constantly ask yourself what will happen next and even remember all the other characters or victims or how
everything came together. This is one of those anime that will keep you thinking for not apparent reason, but you will
enjoy in it.
The fanservice scenes sometimes seem like they are just rushed for their own purpose and there are some not unnecessary
twists, but don’t let all that get you down. If you think that the genre and the theme is for you, then this might
even be the best anime that has those things to offer. Now go and enjoy!
Rating:
8.6667 (very good)
Reviewed by LightFykki, Sep 26, 2011
as for my side, School of the dead is one of the best i have ever seen, if i do say so myself. a bit much to the gory
side with too much blood gashing, but the attention to detail in drawings shiny rosy red contours: perfect
story line: perfect
the ecchi-ness: perfect
horror mixed with love scenes & & a bit of comedy: perfect
I thought that the kind of Naroto & Bleach will be something I'll go for & nothing els but, i should say
"this really hits the spot"
I was not impressed with this anime and dropped it five minutes in. sure the artwork was outstanding but that's about all it had. the rest was sort of dull and lifeless (no pun intended). I didn't care for the over uses of ecchi, fanservice and whatever else they could throw in to ruin it further. it is quite possible to make a zombie anime without throwing all that stuff in there. as it is a nice review and better done, I'm not going to remotely agree with the scoring. from the previous reviews I can tell what you're into and tend to give a higher rating to, but that is diversity after all :)
One thing I always enjoy is reading a review on an anime that completely differs from my mileage of it. It gives me a good idea of what mindframe was taken and where the viewer is coming from. After reading your review of HTOD, I would almost think that we were watching two separate animes.
Like Xuan, I was not impressed. I was drawn into the great concept of Highschool of the Dead from the manga and was really excited that they were doing an anime adaption. Oh boy, my excitement slowly fled and turned to misery as the story progressed and after it was all said and done, I was glad to be done with it. My biggest problem with Highschool of the Dead is a rather blunt one. It tries to see how far zombies and tits can carry it. Seriously speaking, my biggest issue with HOTD is that while it does a great job setting up the story and giving a fairly gritty realistic concept behind it, shortly after they leave the mall they abandon it.
It also becomes really apparent that the main focus of this anime is not the story, and rather the four big breasted females that accompany the group. A lot may have to do with the fact that I'm past my mid 20s, and a show like this just comes across as childish pandering more than anything else, but the fact that HOTD never really knows what it wants to do was my biggest issue ultimately with the series. Lots of gore and ecchi don't make a great series, they can make for a really good guilty pleasure for some. However, the characters and how they develop within a story does and this series was just lacking that after the halfway point in the anime.
As you can tell, I can see why you scored it so high but I do have a tough time seeing what truly makes this story a perfect ten. However, I think you did a great job in crafting a review and letting us know why you thought so highly of it. My only suggestion would be to watch out for score inflation.
Great review, Light!
I can't really say that girls would like this - not at all.
No girl would like to look at bouncing chests - unless their... well , y'know , the Yuri type.
Some girls may like violence , that I know , but seriously , no girl would enjoy looking at bouncing boobs - they'd
rather look at... say... a topless image of Usui Takumi? XD ( Right , seriously though , the main point is that this is
a Shonen Anime )
Whilst the psychopathic characters does make it "intense" , the plot is not it's strong forte. After all
, Highschool of the Dead is known more for the blood and the... well , girls.
You may also want to keep the review slightly less suggestive ( *points at pregnancy* ) and you might want to give a stronger detail standard to the Presentation part.
Otherwise , the review is quite detailed in the sense of which it may give an idea of whether audiences whom share the
same tastes as you may like the Anime or not. It's a tad bit of a deviation as compared to the other reviews on the
web but it's useful in that way , yes.
Still , you might want to be slightly more critical for such Anime - not too much if you don't want to but yes , a
few negatives is fine - or rather , necessary.
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