"Highschool of the Dead" impressions

Do you have a hankering for a good ol' fashioned mix of zombies, gore, and boobs? If you said "yes" to all three of these things, Highschool of the Dead (from the same makers of Black Lagoon) is certainly your must watch for this summer season.

The zombie infested madness starts off the bat in the first episode; a teacher gets bitten by a businessman at the school gate, and shit hits the proverbial fan almost instantly. High school student Takanashi knows something serious is about to go wrong, joins a crew, and they work together to survive and get out of the city. Sure, the plot may be cliche as far as zombie flicks go, but it remains to be a wonderfully violent and overly-sexualised production.

When I say overly-sexualised, I mean it. The creators have certainly made fanservice a main staple of the show, with ridiculous boob physics and panty shots abound. Normally I'd be turned off by such blatant sex pandering, but it does well in creating a certain message: "We're making this anime for dudes who love zombies, blood, and tits. Do not expect anything more."

That's not to say there aren't thought provoking moments, however. When society and order is crumbled away, combined with the aura of death a zombie apocalypse creates; some people will use this as an opportunity to completely indulge their dark nature. The show does well to show the audience this, which includes people murdering others for sport, rapists stalking the streets, and naive teenagers extorting the elderly (with one particular mention to a narcissistic teacher who uses his title to create a cult/student harem for himself). I also have to stress that as generic as the show can feel, there are some very genuinely eerie and disturbing moments which will undoubtedly get to most people.

Thankfully the main crew of students that the show focuses on is more or less likable, although I haven't developed any sort of emotional connection to them thus far. You have the generic apathetic teenager, annoying damsel in distress, pushy tsundere, coolheaded sempai, darksided nerdy kid, and ditsy school nurse (whom the creators decided to insert a "boing" sound effect whenever her enormous boobs bounce. Wasn't kidding about the fanservice). I'm hoping as the series goes on, more character development will be made.

If you want to check Highschool of the Dead out, it's currently being simulcast on the "Anime Network" in the US, with the dub coming out late this year or early 2011.