When I learned about this title on Amazon, I just had to get it in my collection, so I did order it and sat through it almost immediately as it arrived.
What is not to like here? Manga. Zombies. And I like both, especially zombies, so I was very excited to see this series.
Now having seen the 12 episodes on the DVD, I can say that I am honestly very glad that I did buy this DVD, because "High School of the Dead" was awesome.
The story is pretty much as in most other zombie movies. There is an outbreak of something causing dead people to rise up, look for living people to bite and devour, and they in turn rise as zombies as well, spreading the infection. And in the midst of this chaotic outbreak is a small group of unlikely survivors who teams up and have to struggle to stay alive in a world gone to Hell.
Being a Manga, you will, of course, be in for some outrageous turns and twists in the storyline. And trust me, there are just that in wait.
I must admit that I am conflicted whether to rate "High School of the Dead" an 8 or a 7. I went with the 8 because it was a nicely animated movie, had a great story, and best of all; lots of zombies! What was causing me to have gone for a lower grade was the excessive urge to constantly show jiggling breasts in almost every scene. It was ridiculous and it was seriously too much. It just brought too much juvenile humor to the series. And it was a shame.
What irritated me about this series was episode 6. It was over the top, too much nudity, too much stupidity, and it was not working in the series at all. I was at the brink of turning it off and not finish off the last 6 episodes. However, I did, and luckily they did tone down the nudity (and just kept it at an excessive showing of over-sized, jiggling breasts everywhere). They should have opted not to have episode 6 turn out like that, or just cut it out of the series entirely.
One thing puzzled me was that this series was set in Japan, right? Fair enough. But did you notice the breast size of the women in here? Come on? It was ridiculous. I know it is a Manga and is an animated movie, but seriously? Those sizes were bordering on being inhuman!
Now, with all Japanese Manga, you need to watch it with the original language track, of course. I got the dual language (Japanese and English) DVD version, and I also gave the English version a go. And I must say that the voice cast (and voice acting) in the English version wasn't too bad.
"High School of the Dead" is a must have in any collection if you like Manga and zombies.
