Watching High School of The Dead is Like Doing Drugs
You know it’s terrible stuff, but you just can’t get enough of it. Well, that’s how I feel about High School of The Dead (HOTD) right now. After watching 7 episodes, I think I have a pretty good grasp of the anime and what it’s about. So far the plot has been mediocre, but sometimes great characters can make up for that. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case here. Lets just take a quick look at what kind of characters make up the cast of HOTD:
Takashi Komuro
Takashi is usually portrayed as the “leader” of the group. It makes sense considering he’s a young, physically fit teenager, and they’re always the heroes when it comes to anime. It wouldn’t be so bad if he fit the stereotype of a hero, the one that keeps everything together, fights for justice and all that good stuff, but he’s just another guy. The comments he makes in the show doesn’t make him sound too smart either. As an example, in the 4th episode when Rei asks Komuro whether he’s used a gun before, he replies that he’s seen them on tv. Seriously, if someone asks if you know how to use something, you don’t reply that you saw it on tv, it just makes you seem like someone trying to act smart.
Usually if the hero is lacking in intelligence, at least he’ll be funny, but Komuro is in no way humourous. Instead, he’s usually trying to get on Rei’s good side or just out smashing things.
Rei Miyamoto
In my opinion, Rei is without a doubt the most annoying character in the series. She’s a b*tchy, spoiled brat that gets whatever she wants by playing around with Takashi’s heartstrings. For example, lets take a look at the first episode. After Takashi smashes in Hisashi’s (Rei’s zombified boyfriend) head, Rei basically tells him to gtfo. When Takashi turns to leave, Rei runs up to him, grabs his arm and begs him to stay with her, talk about character consistency.
Rei also seems to like pointing out Takashi’s shortcomings in comparison to Hisashi, but ends up seducing Takashi a few moments later.
From my point of view, it seems like Rei really doesn’t like Takashi, but she keeps him wrapped around her finger because she needs a protector. Really, what a horrible woman she is.
Saya Takagi
Being a genius (as stated in the first episode), Saya is the brains of the group. She was the one that figured out that zombies only react to sound and helped the others get out of the school. I was glad when they first gave her some real screen time, especially after seeing what Takashi and Rei were like. Along with being smart, Saya is also the complimentary pink-haired tsundere character of the anime. The only downside is that she’s like Rei in that she’s also stringing along a protector of her own.
Kouta Hirano
The most awesome character in the anime, Hirano is the hero in the shadows. Usually soft-spoken and your typical geek, Kouta is actually very skilled with firearms and can pull his own weight when it comes to fighting off zombies. He actually gets headshots 100% of the time, which is amazing.
I actually feel sorry for him because he likes Saya. On the other hand, Saya keeps him around to protect her, but she is more interested in Takashi when it comes to love.
Shizuka Marikawa
While she’s supposedly the nurse, she’s pretty useless since none of the main characters ever appear to get injured. Shizuka’s main role in the anime is to drive vehicles since no one else has a driver’s license, and to show off her boobs. I’m serious, there are actually scenes where the whole point of it was to show off Shizuka’s boobs, and they’re the largest in the series. That’s kinda scary considering the other girls already have boobs that are bigger than anything you’d find in real life.
Saeko Busujima
When they first introduced Saeko, I though “cool, a swordswoman,” but my opinion quickly changed when it was revealed that she’s actually a sadistic freak that takes joy in killing others. She also seems to be an exhibitionist, spending most of episodes 6 and 7 in nothing more than a kitchen apron.
Alice Maresato
Only just introduced in the 7th episode, Alice is the complimentary loli in the anime. She was rescued by Takashi and Kouta after the group had decided that they shouldn’t risk saving anyone (once again, no consistency at all). To be fair though, it’s perfectly logical to try to increase the number of females in your group during the apocalypse. I wouldn’t mind Alice so much if it weren’t for her inability to read the situation in episode 7. As Takashi was carrying her and balancing along the top of a fence to avoid the zombies below, she needs to go pee. Any normal person would’ve peed themselves when they were attacked by zombies, not when they’re trying to sneak away -.-
So as you can tell, I was not happy with the characters in HOTD (except for Kouta). The story has been a bit dumb as well so far, seeming to be more like a video game than an anime. In each episode, the survivors seem to upgrade their equipment. Originally they had nothing, then they had simple melee weapons, then Takashi obtains a motorbike and gun, now they have high-powered military firearms and an armoured humvee. I found this really unbelievable considering Japan has such strict gun laws and a humvee probably wouldn’t fit on most of its roads, but they just happened to know someone that had everything needed to equip a small group of soldiers.
After reading all of this, you’re probably wondering what would keep people watching HOTD. Quite simply, it has everything that appeals to the Y-chromosome: blood, gore, panties, violence, guns, boobies, zombies, and most importantly, girls playing in the bath.
As you can see, HOTD is like a drug addiction: absolutely nothing good will come out of it, but you just can’t stop watching.
I really like the manga.. it went on haitus for more than half a year till recently (when the anime was announced). There are only a few mangas I read.. hellsing/hellsing dawn, bleach, claymore, history strongest: kenichi, and highschool of the dead.
I don’t expect much from the anime. I havn’t watched it yet. Ill maybe watch it when it ends. I am a fan of zombies lol. I like to believe that I will be a survivor =3…
but yeh, the manga.. there are lots of people who will die =( and its taking forever for them to reach their goal (which is like across town) lol. judging from your screen shots, it would appear that the anime is pretty fast compared to the manga. i doubt they would put this in and it might be a spoiler..
there is a bus orgy lol..
1Nah, I just watch it for teh boobz. Everyone watches it for the boobs.
2“Any normal person would’ve peed themselves when they were attacked by zombies, not when they’re trying to sneak away” -> This is funny ^^;;
I haven’t watch any episode since the first one. It reminded me of Resident Evil and whatnot. I guess I prefer live action over anime when it comes to stuff like this. Oh yeah, too much fanservice for me on the first one so…
3I am so glad you’re not completely amazed by this stuff. I heard that this got a rating of about 9.33 out of 10 on some anime rating site (though that definitely could have changed by now).
The animation and everything looks nice enough, but other than that, I don’t really get why everyone thinks it’s so awesome. (But that’s probably because I lack a Y chromosome /D)
Ehh… Way too much fanservice for my liking.
4its just nice to deviate from the usual splice of life 4 girl group (1 wierdo, 1 rich, 1 tomgirl, 1 tall/well endowed) or… alien female goes and flirt/want to mate with human male nerd.. or cookie cutter shounen lol
5I’ve yet to watch it. But, I must really start watching it sooooooonnnnnn!
6Interesting point of view, I’m actually quite glad you don’t like most of the cast. That means they have faults as a character, are hypocritical and what not. I find it makes them more human,
7@alucard13mm:
A bus orgy? That sounds really disturbing…
It certainly is different from the usual anime, but I just wish the plot was a bit better.
@Valence:
You’re probably right.
@flyzice:
It really is no different from other zombie series, the survivors shoot a lot of zombies and try to survive.
@Ari:
I’m not surprised it got such a high rating, but it was probably due to a lot of guys voting.
@softz:
When you do watch it, make sure you’re not in public, it’s NSFW.
@Miette-chan:
8You have a point, but I was hoping they would have more human characters that were likeable.
well it wasnt exactly an orgy.. but it was ecchi-ish with sweating and lesbian tongue kissing and stuff lol. there are a few sad moments where i was like.. NOOO SHE/HE DIED?! i dont really understand why the nurse is there either… shes older and even if the others get hurt, they are screwed or will turn into a zombie (i guess some people might like mature ecchi). even in the manga, she was marginally helpful.
i wish i bought that HOTD figure of Rei.. it was on sale for like 30 dollars =(
9I guess my Y-chromosome is messed up XD I never got through the first episode yet and I’m in no hurry to pick it back up and watch. I don’t mind reading the spoilers because I’m not worried about what I’m missing out on. I’m happy enough just reading about it without having to watch ^^ I don’t have anything against it though, and it wouldn’t be right for me to have an opinion without having even watched a full episode.
10I’m only on episode 4 right now, but I’m already finding Rei and Takashi pretty annoying, Rei especially. She’s terrible.
11Also, the nurse’s breasts are too large… They’re kind of off putting for me actually.
As for Saeko, I actually really like her, but I’m still early in the series, so my opinion might change like you when I see more sides of her.
@alucard13mm:
Ok, that sounds a bit more like what I was expecting. I thought you were talking about an actual orgy, lol
@Persocom:
Well, just having a Y-chromosome doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll like it ^.^
@Yi:
12I feel the same say about ther nurse, she just doesn’t seem to have much purpose.
I must say I’m really enjoying HSoD so far. While I totally agree that some of the characters have annoying traits, in a way it makes them seem more human. We see their flaws as well as their strengths.
Probably my favourite aspect of the show is seeing how radically characters change when their life is in danger. Those 2 friends in episode 1 were interesting; the way she kicked her friend down the stairs to save herself really sets in stone what to expect from this show.
After seeing the motor bike jump sequence in episode 5 I pretty much gave up hope of them trying to be “realistic”. Sniper rifles, Assault Rifles, Hummers go go.
13@biotoxic
if it involves life or death.. id do the same thing.
i think they went with rifles because rifles are easier to use than hand guns (in terms of aiming for headshots). i did not watch the anime, but i read the manga XD.. i dont expect the action to be realistic. but their situation and human nature is realistic. lots of people sacrificed themselves or just went insane or just suicide. lots of annoying characters and asxholes.
14@BioToxic:
15I like parts like when that “best friend” betrayed the other girl, but I’m not seeing very much of it.
LOL wow they did put in that bus orgy.. i read it at some blog. cant believe theyd put something like that, even if its for mature viewers. its just short of full blown hentai.
16@alucard13mm:
17The whole anime is just short of full blown hentai, it’s basically the only reason it’s so popular.
Obviously, deary, you have a stick up your ass about everything and can’t enjoy the simple pleasure of watching zombies be killed. Yes, perhaps the characters are a bit inconsistant, but it’s not like you are that consistant. Your little snippy comments about every character (excluding Hirano) are rude and undermining. You obviously have not idled in the character-creation realm too much have you? During any sort of world-wide disaster, people are scared, angry, saddened, suicidal, manical, and many other things. Yes, the women will need protectors, so they latch on to whoever they can find and keep them close. They aren’t meant to be extremely developed due to the “small” fact that the world is being overruled by a virus killing off everyone they know. Perhaps you ought to view things from every point of view before critiquing something you have no knowledge about.
18@DeadMeridian:
Actually, I was very impressed with the characters and the plot at the very beginning as you can read in one of my other posts here:
http://www.forevergeek.com/2010/07/high_school_of_the_dead_a_realistic_portrayal_of_human_behaviour/
Unfortunately, with the latter episodes, the things that had charmed me at first started to disappear from the anime. In a nutshell, I had too high expectations for this series.
I also do enjoy watching zombies being killed, but HOTD really lacked in that area compared to other films. That’s why I wrote about the characters, which seemed like what the anime was more focused on.
19Ok, you clearly don’t know what you’re talking about, and here’s why I say this; the genre is ecchi, so there will be a lot of fanservice appealing primarily to a male audience. Also, the characters are highschoolers, I don’t know how long it’s been since you were in highschool, but we are damn inconsistant in terms of personality. The amount of killing zombies and the ways they are done? They kill zombies quite frequently, and while some of the methods used are unrealistic, they are no less so than those methods used in other media with zombie killing. The story line is very solid, as it not only addresses a very real fear (zombie infestation, however unlikely) and establishes the characters not only as people, but as people who are doing what they can to get through this disaster.
20Now, on to your reviews of the characters; Takeshi: he only matches the stereotype of anime/manga hero as a physical specimen, as for his role in the group, he doesn’t want to be leader and admitedly doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s smarter than you think, and while you say somebody may not say “I saw it on TV once” in the USA, you don’t frickin’ live in Japan, and that may be a commonplace kind of comment there, don’t forget that he does what needs to be done to help others, regardless of danger to himself, which is a great moral standing. Rei: I agree to the fact that she is annoying, and for the most part uses Takeshi, in the beginning. She can obviously protect herself so that shoots that part of your theory of her out the window, and eventualy develops genuine feelings for Takeshi. The whole situation with her emotion on the roof? Well, you have somebody you care greatly for bitten, zombified, then killed in front of you without being emotionaly unstable. Takegi: She is a genius, but she strings nobody along, not even Kohta (which is the correct spelling of his name, duh). She speaks her mind, and clearly states that Takeshi is to protect her, to his face! She tells Kohta she does not like him to his face, but eventually develops feelings for him, but is confused by her emotions, she’s only in highschool so that’s expected. Ms. Marikawa: Duh, she is the only one who can drive, and very versed in the medical arts. While nobody has been injured as of yet, the anime is still in it’s infancy, so there is plenty of time for injuries. She also brings in a connection that is used for weaponry, remember? She is a networking character. Saeko: the most badass girl in this and most other anime! And how dare you have the gall to call her a sadistic freak, you ass! Who are you to judge people on that? Nobody! So stfu about that, as there are some of us out there who are sadistic, and rather loath being called a freak! Alice: her primary beginning role is to help remind the kids that they are still human and haven’t become monsters like some of the other survivors we have seen became. She is also a symbol of the innocence still left in the world, helping keep the others mentally focused.
The humvee and guns? The lady is one of the top marksmen in the military! Like it or not, in all nations, the higher up you are in a situation like that, the more “rights” you have. Them knowing her? Of course it’s coincidence, this is called fiction for a reason dumbnuts! Why people keep watching it? Not cuz of the reasons you said, hell, I know plenty of girls who like all those things, including boobs, so pay attention.
All in all, it is a great anime, unless you don’t like ecchi-horror genre, which makes that person an idiot for watching it in the first place!
Pay attention to what you say before you say it, as I personaly found some of the things insulting, demeaning, and overall rude.
@Takeshi:
I’m sorry if I have offended you with my comments, but those were my opinions at the time of writing. As personal opinions, I don’t expect anyone to agree with them and you are welcome to criticize them all you want, but please refrain from using words like “stfu” and “dumbnuts”. I will let it slide this time, but I will delete comments with that kind of language in the future.
I have considered your points and I may have been harsh on the anime. If there is a second season and I end up watching it, I will keep your comments in mind before writing another post.
21@takeshi dude im with you, if you dont like it dont watch it and complain about, @takeshi already said what i was going to say so theres no point.
22I just cracked up when you described Saeko. I can imagine someone being like oh goody! And then like shes a sadistic freak who likes hurting people! Yay
23Kyo recently posted..Observations in Mawaru Penguindrum – An Explanation of the Method to the Madness
And also, lay off the guy hes perfectly right. Out of all the people they find a girl with a mafia dad that they can shack up with and a guy who just HAPPENED to become a gun expert the previous summer. And to the person that said emotions were running crazy, Saeko was sadistic BEFORE the Outbreak so what about that. And also yes, I like Senseis torpedo boobs. Oh and who else freaking cried when Asami died in the manga. Im a GUY and i teared up a bit. I mean they made her so cute and she spoke in the third person and was so likeable. Then she sacrificed herself (cliche, totally trasnparent plot move) and i hated those sick writers that messed with my emotions.
24Kyo recently posted..Observations in Mawaru Penguindrum – An Explanation of the Method to the Madness