Highschool of the Dead [spoiler free]

***Note: The videos are nooot really safe for work.***

This Anime isn't about zombies, contrary to popular belief.

It's about fanservice.

Literally, this is an Anime made for someone who is into girls and violence and gore. Don't watch it if you're not okay with those three things. Oh, and did I mention a crappy ending? Don't watch it if you're not into crappy endings that make you go, "WHY DID I SPEND SIX HOURS WATCHING THIS WHEN I COULD HAVE WATCHED THE LAST 2 EPISODES AND PRETTY MUCH GET WHAT HAPPENED?!"

Literally, the plot is "ZOMBIES EVERYWHERE! WE MUST SURVIVE!" and that's it. There's a HINT of a suggestion as to why the zombies appeared in the first place, but it makes no sense at all. Without telling you what it is (because this is spoiler free), let me tell you why it makes no sense: IT'S NOT USEFUL TO ANYONE. AT ALL. And are you trying to tell me that no one, oh I don't know, THOUGHT ABOUT THE RISKS before all this crap went down? No, no, that doesn't fly with me. Sorry. Try again. :/

The characters. WELL. They're actually pretty cool. The one thing I thought was stupid: You know how in most zombie movies/Anime/etc the creators write the characters as people living in a world where zombies don't even exist in fiction? So therefore the characters know nothing about them, not even fictitious facts, and then their absolute helplessness makes more sense? Well in this Anime, they DO have zombie movies/Anime/etc... and yet for the first episode, no one remembers the first rule of zombies: GET 'EM IN THE HEAD! I facepalmed when I found out that they SHOULD have known this, but just CONVENIENTLY FORGOT. (Convenient for the sake of screaming girls and pantyshots, not convenient for the characters, obviously.)

There are too many characters to talk about them all individually, so I'll just name the three characters I had a problems with. 1: the nurse. She exists for moar fanservice and comic relief. She's successful in the former and fails so miserably hard in the latter. I was not amused by her stupid, dazed personality, and found myself wondering what kind of school would ever hire her. (I'm telling you, it couldn't have been because of her "intelligence" in the medical field, because A, nurses don't have to be ridiculously skilled to work at a school, and B, she did like one medical thing the entire series and that was rub salve on someone's back.)

2: Saeko, a.k.a. BA kendo girl. She was AWESOME at first... and then she explained something to the main guy in a temple, and she was ruined. It's not even the little tidbit of information she shared that ruined her, it's that there's no explanation for it. Maybe if we knew more about her past, and there were legitimate REASONS for it, I'd be like "OMG SUCH DEPTH" but no. Instead I'm just like, "WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?!"

3: Crazy pedobear teacher guy. I can't remember his name but he wears a pinstripe suit and looks like a creeper. And he is. He's supposed to be "charismatic" to the point of almost resembling Hitler in some moments, but there was absolutely no point to this. His character barely--BARELY--advances or hinders the plot. If anything, he gave Rei and Komuro the motivation to break off from the group for a bit, and later gave Rei a moment to look mature, but that's literally it. ...Speaking of, the reason Rei hates him is kind of weak. I can understand how you'd be pissed at the guy, but it's definitely not a good enough reason to leave safety over, imo.

The art. OMG THE ART WAS SO AMAZING. I mean, it's an Anime, so I didn't expect to be scared 'cause it's drawings... I figured nothing could be made to look scary enough that I would freak out. But seriously, I jumped, I gasped, and I full-out screamed at some points, THAT'S how good the art was. (And I suppose you could argue that directing + sound also contribute, but STFU THIS IS MY BLOG YOU NO ARGUE ANYTHING OKAY? OKAY. ...Although I must add that both were also rather fantastic, especially in a certain scene where you hear the sound of teeth clacking together. 8D If you've watched, you'll know.)

The fanservice. It's ridiculous. Honestly. There were WAY too many minutes wasted in one particular portion of the Anime where they kept showing the girls sleeping or whatever thing were doing, all of them just happening to be naked or might as well be. Oh yeah did I mention STUPIDLY LONG bathroom scene where the girls are like "THERE ARE ZOMBIES OUTSIDE BUT WHO CARES LET'S PLAY WITH EACH OTHER'S BOOBS! 8D" No, I'm not kidding. And this lasts for way longer than it should. Worse yet, they keeping switching from serious scenes to THAT, and it really disrupts the flow of the Anime. I THINK they were trying to balance out all the DEATHDEATHDEATH with some comic relief, but they did it in a really poorly executed way. Also, I can understand pantyshots when a zombie with no regard for underwear is dragging some girl down the stairs... that's just realistic. But when Rei is getting ready to lance one in the head, suddenly we need to see her butt as she gets into position? No, we don't. Try again.

The point where I got really disappointed in this Anime: There is literally a scene where Saeko's boobs are jiggling at JUST THE RIGHT PACE so that a bullet can pass through them as they undulate back and forth. I am not joking. It was stupid. The bullet that passed between her legs as she leapt forward to attack, leading to a pantyshot? That was epic. The bullet that passed between her boobs? No, that was just stupid. Really, really stupid.

THE ENDING IS TERRIBLE. There better be a second season because that... UHG!! Even then, that pisses me off. You know who does cliffhangers right? TRUE BLOOD. They resolve the main conflict that was going on in that season, and then in the last minute of the last episode of that season, they leave a cliffhanger so you're excited for the NEXT season. Newsflash Anime creators: IT'S NOT AN EFFECTIVE CLIFFHANGER WHEN YOU HAVEN'T RESOLVED ANYTHING. THEN I'M JUST PISSED OFF THAT I WASTED THAT MUCH TIME ON AN ANIME I'M NOT EVEN SURE YOU'RE GONNA CONTINUE. (I'm lookin' at you too, first season of Haruhi Suzumiya!)

All in all, I give it a 3/10. Bashing zombies was entertaining for a while. Then there was a lull and I got bored. Throw in ludicrous fanservice and a crap ending, and you get a 3.