Disregarding sentient breasts, the fight scenes are all about guns being fired, limbs being severed, and zombie heads exploding in increasingly creative ways. Colors are vibrant, lighting is dramatic, and the action scenes are gloriously over the top. To avoid getting too serious, though, IвЂ™d like to point out that the animation in this show is downright gorgeous. In other words, the story is just as much about the failure of adults as it is the triumph and perseverance of the young. The students originally set out in order to find and save their families, some of whom are members of the police or the government. This isnвЂ™t a show thatвЂ™s only about the body-count, though itвЂ™s easy to lose sight of that. The showвЂ™s narrative complements this complexity of character nicely. ThereвЂ™s pettiness, thereвЂ™s jealousy, and thereвЂ™s evil standing in the way of their end goal, and the strength of the characters is in how they overcome, keep calm, and carry on. The last face seen by thousands upon thousands of zombies.Д®very single one of these characters has an emotional journey that is similar to SaekoвЂ™s вЂ“ some trauma, some guilt, some fear that they have to overcome in order to work together as a team and survive. Then thereвЂ™s Rei, TakashiвЂ™s childhood friend whose boyfriend was an early casualty of the outbreak Saya, a girl whose pride gets in the way of admitting her fear and Kohta, the bullied otaku who turns out to be a mean shot with a modified nail gun. Enter Takashi, who is also learning the emotional cost of surviving in a world gone to hell. She needs the support of someone who will hold her accountable.

SheвЂ™s afraid of completely losing control, of losing herself in a blood frenzy. She used to beat the hell out of her kendo classmates simply because she could, and sheвЂ™s having trouble adjusting to a world in which those desires to cause pain are not only acceptable, theyвЂ™re coveted. WhatвЂ™s raging under the surface, however, is massive guilt over the fact that she likes causing other people pain. SheвЂ™s calm and collected under pressure, and sheвЂ™s almost a second-leader under main character Takashi. WeвЂ™ll start with Saeko again, because despite all the aforementioned evidence against her, sheвЂ™s kind of my favorite.ДЄ year older than the other high-schoolers in her party, sheвЂ™s set up as the stoic badass of the bunch, able to deal out death to the undead with extreme prejudice. Seriously, these characters have well fleshed-out personalities and histories that rival and expand beyond their well fleshed-out, well, flesh. Not Pictured: The emotional trauma sustained and supportive relationships built by impressionable high school students trying to survive a world-wide apocalypse. Which is a real shame, because the show actually has a lot going for it underneath its sticky, unsavory exterior. In fact, many people arenвЂ™t going to be able to get past the absolutely overbearing pandering to the otaku demographic. ItвЂ™s a bit excessive, is what IвЂ™m saying, and it outwardly supports the notion of woman as sex object.

You can watch the scene if you donвЂ™t believe me. All while cartwheeling around in a miniskirt. In the heat of battle, SaekoвЂ™s breasts somehow develop a sentience of their own and move in opposite directions from one another as a bullet fired from a high-powered sniper rifle passes harmlessly between them. Take the infamous bullet dodging sequence carried out by dark-haired Saeko up there. A lot.ДЄdd in some completely unrealistic breast physics in the action scenes, and I have no idea how young Japanese men donвЂ™t come out of adolescence completely scarred by these shows. Did I mention that they also play with one anotherвЂ™s breasts, the naughty bits carefully camouflaged by steam? Because they do. The entire episode is about a bunch of girls stripping down and having a relaxing soak while the zombie infestation continues to rage outside. Now, the show never degenerates into downright porn, but it comes pretty close in some places, specifically the communal bath scene that seems to have replaced the requisite anime hot springs episode. (I dare you to google this show with safe-search turned off, but only if youвЂ™re 18 years of age and up.) Even the best shows fall prey to it, but they rarely rely on it the way High School of the Dead does. Can you guess which ones?ДЄnyone who has watched a lot of anime can tell you that fan-service is a part of the culture: itвЂ™s a marketing ploy to get hardcore otaku to buy into a franchise regardless of the strength of its storylines or characters. Two of these four people will be naked by episode seven.

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