Yes, I was supposed to review Infinite Stratos yesterday. Obviously didn't
happen. Nor was there a weekly update and that's because I still wasn't
watching anything last week.
The IS review will go up tomorrow in lieu of the Durarara!! post I was going
to do. For today, as planned, is the review of Kore wa Zombie desu ka (Is This
a Zombie?).
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka Anime Review
Kore wa Zombie desu ka opens up with a ridiculous scene in which the
protagonist, Ayumu Aikawa, is hit by a truck saving a kitten and goes flying
and this is a feat he could only live through because...well, he's a zombie. That seems to sum up half the tone of the entire series.
Basically, Ayumu was murdered by a serial killer and revived by one
Eucliwood Hellscythe, a necromancer who happens to be fucking adorable. I
mean look at that:
Anyway. He's sort of her guard / servant / thing and she lives with him and all.
His goal is to track down the serial killer, so there's the basic plot.
Now one night dear Ayumu is walking in a graveyard and he's cut in half by a
crazy magical girl by the name of Haruna.
In a move stolen straight out of Bleach (though I have to say, far more
hilarious in this situation), Ayumu somehow ends up with her magic and has
to become a mahou shoujo to defeat creatures called Megalos.
Shenanigans ensue. Along with some really serious, intense stuff. Then more
shenanigans. I loved both parts.
The Characters: Kore wa Zombie Desu ka
You know. For being so...generic-stock-variety-esque...I really loved the
cast of this anime. At least like half of them. Some were not very well-done. So let's review
the primary cast, one by one.
Ayumu: Kore wa Zombie Desu ka
Our main man. Him, I love. Why? Because for all his Male Protagonist Stock status, he's got something
that sets him apart and that is...he's kind of like Tomoya. He cares so much for the women in his life. Especially Eu. And you know what? I love Eu. So he and I are like totally in
sync.
Eu: Kore wa Zombie Desu ka
Already said I love her. I can't really get into why I love her though, without spoilers of EPIC
PROPORTIONS. So we'll just leave it with...backtrack to the picture from earlier and I
rest my case for the moment.
Haruna: Love and do not love all at the same time. She was good for humor,
but she wasn't a very deep character. I mean there was nothing to her. It was Mahou Shoujo Stock. So I mean...I love her for being amusing and whatnot...but other than
that...flatness makes Arianna sad.
Seraphim “Seras”: Kore wa Zombie Desu ka
You know what? No. She's part of the cast I dislike. Female Ninja Stock. Which I guess is slightly better than Male Ninja Stock, but I swear, 90% of
this woman's dialogue involved insulting Ayumu, and it was only funny the
first two times. If that.
Yuki: Kore wa Zombie Desu ka
She gets mentioned because of an accidental marriage, but she's not actually
worthy of being on this list. That's how much I don't like her. She doesn't even qualify as Female Ninja Stock.
So much like I said about the cast of Angel Beats!, it was a mix of strong
characters and not-strong ones. There is another strong one, but they weren't a main character, and it would
be spoilery as all hell. ...Two of them, actually.
The Labels: Kore wa Zombie Desu ka
This series doesn't even try to hide that it's labeling its characters. I
mean really, it's right there in the opening: So yeah.
Now here's the thing...that's sort of a giant hint that they're going to be
Stock, isn't it? And I did acknowledge that they were in general stock
characters. (Minus Eu. Eu was just the shit and in no way generic). But...the labels...they worked. It was crazy.
That anime made damn sure you knew “This chick? She's a vampire ninja. Deal with it”. (No, I am not fucking around, she was seriously a vampire
ninja. Which is actually just as stupid as it sounds).
Now here's one of my random thoughts on why these labels work: They tell you
exactly what you're getting.
I feel like the fact that they labeled the characters as those generic
things (Zombie / Mahou Shoujo / Vampire Ninja...all right, that last one isn't
generic, but you know what I mean) made it more acceptable for them to be
Stock.
Because you kinda knew right away what you were getting. They were totally honest.
I'm not saying that made it permissible for a lot of the main cast to suck,
just that I'm wondering if they did that on purpose.
Conclusion?
All right, so far it might have sounded like I didn't think there was much
to like about Zombie. But that's a fallacy. It was honestly one of my favorites for the season.
The humor was there (honestly, my favorite will always be the character I
have dubbed Crayfish Man), for sure. So I loved it for making me laugh so hard I cried. More than that though...
This series pulled off something for me (I know not everyone will share my
perspective) that only one other series has managed in the past.
You'll have some series where they're like 100% series and then they'll try
to be funny but it falls flat, because you just can't insert humor where
you've always been stoic before.
You'll have series that are always so funny and then they try to be serious
and that doesn't work either (Soul Eater being a perfect example of this).
Now Fullmetal Alchemist pulled that off beautifully.
And you know, so did Kore wa Zombie desu ka. It went from
laughing-my-ass-off-hilarious to I-can't-stop-crying-right-now-emotional. It made that happen. No, I won't say why, because that would once again
involve spoilers. But it did it.
My rating: 7/10
Honesty is best. I loved it, but it wasn't high quality by any means. And
that last episode? I am incapable of forgiving that shit.
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka | |
| Episodes | 12 |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action, Comedy, Ecchi, Magic |
| Aired | January 11, 2011 to March 30, 2011 |
| Directed by | Takaomi Kanasaki |
| Producers | Studio Deen |
| Opening Theme | Ma-Ka-Se-Te Tonight by Iori Nomizu |
| Closing Theme | Kizuite Zombie-sama, Watashi wa Classmate Desu by Rie Yamaguchi |
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