Warning: This review contains spoilers.

First impressions: When I heard this was one of the very few zombie apocalypse anime, considering my penchant for gore and zombie apocalypse movies, I thought this would easily be worth checking out. It’s only 12 episodes and an ova anyway, so even if it sucks, who cares. Not like I’d be wasting much time. At least it’ll most likely make for a nice time passer, even if it’ll probably be forgotten after a week.

Story: 5/10
It's just a regular day, friends are hanging out and romantic tension is in the air. Business as usual, but then zombies happen. From then on, as one would imagine, shit hits the fan very quickly. And so we follow the not so happy-go-lucky adventures of a small group of animized good ‘ol American zombie flick essentials, brought together by hordes of the undead and the dream of living past the nightmare of reality. Highschool of the Dead is basically Japan's - and more specifically the mangaka Satou Daisuke’s - take on the schlocky American zombie movie, filtered through director Tetsuro Araki’s magnificently over the top lens. All of that, but with higher production values, a better soundtrack and of course, hentai hijinxs. So, to boil it down, the series is our “lucky” Survivors trying to get from point A to point B, while picking up anything useful they can get their hands on along the way.

Now, while one would expect a story of this caliber to not do so well, it surprisingly does a pretty ok job of showcasing what would happen if a zombie outbreak just up and dropped. The people going crazy, the breakdown of society and the pervading chaos in the streets, all staples of the zombie apocalypse genre that add detail and credence to the environment and setting. Let it not be said that the series doesn’t indulge in the absurd, yet not necessarily inplausible though, what with bits like the school teacher that creates a sex cult out of his own students. Unfortunately, yet not surprisingly, issues are also bound, a big one of which is that the series itself never goes into any depth as to why what’s happening is happening, nevermind questioning it. Instead, the show just more or less tells the characters, and by extension the viewer to simply accept what’s happening. On top of that, it fails to properly explore the presented underlying animalistic nature behind the veneer of human decency, ethicacy and morality that manifests when push comes to shove. Additionally, it displays how spontaneously capable various normal people can be in the chaos and uncertainty, because of the ordinarily superfluous skills and traits they possess. It plays with the implications of the characters thriving more in the apocalypse that in regular society, but alas, that too goes the way of being window-dressing. Finally, this is not so much a problem with the series itself, but rather an unfortunate tragedy, but the creator of the source material passed away before its completion, making the ride that is Highschool of the Dead destined to go unfinished, with little material past where the anime ended. And with that, its latent potential goes unrealised.

Characters: 6/10
For characters I’ll mostly be focusing on the survivor group, as I feel they’re the only ones worth talking about, given that the only thing there is to say about the side characters is that they exist. So out of the main cast the first one to start with is Takashi, who at first is portrayed as slightly broody and indecisive, shown through his relationship with his childhood friend Rei that he likes, but doesn't tell how he feels, who just ends up dating his best friend. This all changes though when the zombie apocalypse hits and survival mode kicks in, as he quickly starts showcasing his capacity for bravery and decisiveness. Generally he becomes the kinda guy that gets shit done, which is shown most clearly in scenes like the ones where he gets jumped by a dude that wants his bike, only for Takashi to shoot him at point blank and leave him for dead as zombies approach or when he saves a little girl from a bunch of zombies just cause it’s the right thing to do. Pretty much a schlocky teen zombie survival horror movie leader in the making. It would’ve been great to see his character arc play out in full, and for him to progress all the way from rejecting the idea of being group leader to completely accepting that responsibility, but unfortunately, that just isn’t to be.

Next is Rei, Takashi’s childhood friend, who’s the kind hearted, caring team mum type character of the group. Her development and progression were mostly well done, as she learns to deal with the world’s shift and goes from rejecting what’s happened, deluding herself into thinking things are gonna be fine and not wanting to fight due to viewing the zombies as people to accepting reality and rising to the occasion. The only drawback with her is that the whole drama with her and Takashi was just played out teenage drama crap that didn’t fit in with what was going on around them.

Saeko personality wise is the calm and composed head of the school kendo club. She's basically a bladed yamato nadeshiko, because nothing says Japananese then being an absolute monster with a Katana. The major problem with her character comes in halfway through the series, when it’s revealed that she enjoys brutalising others, and that she’s internally conflicted over that part of herself. While the idea of a character questioning themselves over something in them that they deem wrong and trying to deal with that unsavoury element of themselves is good, one has to question the show’s intelligence when it decides to bring this up in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. The environment in which her skills and natural inclinations are both needed, and highly valued. Now if Highschool of the Dead were any other kind of story, like say one set in a normal school setting, this could've had more impact and pertinence from a character drama angle, but as is, this element is just kinda an eyesore.

Saya’s the “smart” one of the group, as evidenced by the fact that she’s the only one that wears glasses(aside from Kohta, but he’s an otaku and male, so doesn’t count). While she’s a very intelligent girl that manages to come up with some very practical solutions to problems, she also suffers from rich, snobby bitch-itis, due to her family’s high social and financial status, and the standard that sets for her. Now it transpires that she views her family as controlling and oppressive, even if they actually end up being quite supportive and caring, for which the corresponding drama ended up being boring and hamfisted. The only redeeming moment was when she got bitchslapped by Takashi, so she would calm the fuck down already and finally just talk to her unexpectedly baddass family.

Kohta’s the fat otaku nerd, you don’t originally expect anything from(aside from going on to write Drifters), but never judge a book by its cover. When the chips are down he’s the man to reveal himself to be a massive gun nut, to the point of having gotten gun training from a former member of delta force. His little drama revolves around his struggle to have more faith in himself and his ability to get shit done. This was probably handled the best out of issues plaguing every other member of the show’s cast because of how understandable and relatable it is, as well as how nicely it concludes.

Shizuka is the nurse, as well as the token milf. She’s just a total ditz, only really being around as injury insurance and comedy relief, not really serving any other purpose, aside from filling out the breast size spectrum and driving the group around. Finally, Arisu is the token innocent kid that the group save along the way, which of course comes with a puppy included, that got left along in the world after a group of randos indirectly caused her dad’s death by leaving him, along with her out to die, which of course barely impacts her at all.

Visuals: 7/10
The art and animation are pretty decent for the time this series came out, not really surprising, as when it comes to this department, if in none other, Madhouse sure knows how to deliver. Even so though, a particularly notable aspect of the art I really like is the level of detail that was put into the backgrounds. The lighting that’s often applied to them helps add this very creepy tone to so many scenes. Couple that with the barrenness of a lot of the streets and buildings and the pools of blood everywhere and you’ve got yourself some prime schlocky horror movie atmosphere. The animation while flowing nicely, with high octane action scenes, that are packed to the brim with that oh so gory goodness, have the problem of the gore being lacking in detail and variety. There’re quite a few blood sprays and everything’s consistently covered in blood, while not looking uniform as a consequence, but even so, that’s not enough. There’s so much more that could be present, like dismembered limbs, bones and organs flying all over the place, like in various 80s or 90s OVAs, the absence of which takes away from the goresploitative nature of the series, making it feel somewhat neutered as a result. Fortunately this problem is somewhat mitigated by the show’s various camera angles, giving different points of view from which the action scenes, among other types can be observed. Another point in favor of the show is that the character designs are pretty well drawn, not to mention attractive as all hell. Although one slight knock against them is that they’re ever so slightly excessive with some of the proportions, as some of the characters can look a bit off model, not to mention this design tendency can be a bit distracting during action scenes. On the bright side, there are definitely worse distractions out there than ‘dat jiggle and bounce. Also, I didn’t know how to organically fit this in but Saeko has my favourite character design, due to the presence of several elements I really appreciate, including, but not limited to, good ass and tiddy, the color purple and swords.

Sound: 6/10
The opening is nice to listen to and has a good beat to get you hyped, despite suffering from “sounds like too many things by the same band” syndrome and the ending themes provide a large enough variety of songs to listen too, even if I personally don't like any of them. The OST by Takafumi Wada, who worked on series such as The Seven Deadly Sins and Terra Formars is pretty good and has quite a bit of variety. The voice acting is good, both in the sub and dub, although the dub is the recommended version, as the dialogue and cool one liners work particularly well in one’s native language and help add the necessary level of seriousness to many of the situations the characters find themselves in.

Enjoyment: 6/10
Needless to say, I enjoyed this series quite a bit, albeit for very basic reasons. I love blood, gore, action and just zombie apocalypse media in general, for which Highschool of the Dead did a pretty good job of doing justice to. Also what with being the man of culture that I am, I was able to greatly appreciate the visually “refined”creatively depicted and pleasingly prevalent boobalicious content that this show has in unusually high levels.

Overall: 6/10
If you're looking for a simple action show and you like zombie and ecchi, Highschool of the Dead will most certainly provide what you're looking for. It's very straightforward, simple, the girls are sexy, the action’s cool and the kills are entertaining. It’s just an all around good time. Of course if your not into that, you should maybe, just maybe, avoid this show at all cost, unless you just so happen to be a massive Tetsurou Araki fan or are a massive Masochist, in which case hey, how you enjoy yourself is your business.

Special thanks to my not so consistently paid in Yu-Gi-Oh cards and slightly pissed editor Lonecrit.