High School Of The Dead Review

• 16th Sep 2011

Boobies! If I were to sum up this Manga series in one word, it would have to be that. This show is so obsessed with bouncing breasts that it knocks aside the good work that has actually been put into this animated zombie apocalypse.

The 12 episodes in this series follow a group of teenagers whose school falls victim to a zombie attack. Things start off quite eerily in episode one as a group of teachers approach the school gates to investigate why a strange man is hanging around there. Naturally this fellow turns out to be a zombie and bites one of the teachers and so this is the beginning stages of the infection spreading throughout the school. It is actually quite an excellent set-up and I can’t really think of a zombie film set in a high school. With so many slasher movies regularly based at the teen market it’s a wonder why this hasn’t been done before.

Despite the fresh set-up, the characters fall into regular stereotypes with our broody hero and love interest who are both joined somewhere down the line with a school nerd who realises he’s good with a gun, a bossy know-it-all, a dumb blonde, a cool ninja girl, a cute little girl and a yapping puppy. Our protagonists eventually manage to make it out of the school grounds and begin their journey to go find their parents. This is all fine and well, nothing too original in terms of zombie apocalypse storylines but it’s well animated and has some tense set-pieces along the way but it all plays second fiddle to…the boobies! Within every few seconds, there will be a close-up of an enormous bosom which adds nothing to the story. That’s a little unfair, panties and crotches get a look in quite a lot as well. It’s a little disturbing looking at the knickers of a teenage zombie. And I won’t even get started on having to see the little girl’s underwear that joins the group in the latter half of the show. Now that’s just wrong.

Now I am not being an old fuddy-duddy, I’m fully aware that large breasted heroines are often part of the tongue-in-cheek quality of Manga titles but really, there is a time and a place. I get that the filmmakers relish the fact that the girls are all in small, tight school uniforms but when they are fighting zombies perhaps the focus should be on the action and not what colour of knickers they are wearing. Too often the boobs and knickers play centre stage and the action is in the background. What it also does is diffuse the tension of some scenes, there are some extremely tense moments throughout the series that would have been better served if the filmmakers weren’t so keen to verge the show on hentai.

Things come to a head (no pun intended) in episode 6, where our heroes finally manage to get a resting place to relax. So naturally the four females go take a bath together and start feeling each other up (!?!). This episode contains endless amounts of nudity and the girls continue to wear very little from here on in. Is no one remembering there is a zombie apocalypse outside?

Yes, teenage boys are going to love this series but the show has so much potential to play beyond just that market. There are some interesting supporting characters and sub-plots while the character relationships do evolve in quite an intriguing way. There is also some well played emotional beats at key points so it is such a shame that the show is weighed down by watermelons galore.

So overall, don’t take the show too seriously, have a laugh at the preposterously well-endowed teenage girls and enjoy the actual horror moments when they manage to squeeze in. As there is an open ending to the final episode I hope the makers of the series will cut back on all the titillation if a second series is produced. It would be nice to know where the gang end up next. So long as it’s not a zombie orgy.

Extras

Next to nothing really:

The opening titles without the credits (the song is actually a catchy little number after having heard it 12 times I‘ve started singing along, even though it’s in Japanese).

The closing songs without credits (twelve different songs, not as catchy).

That’s it. Though I have a feeling for many young men who go out and buy this DVD set, the pause button will be all the special features they need.

Stewart McLaren