Customer Reviews

High School of the Dead [DVD]

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I watched this Anime over the internet and when I found it on Blu-ray, I had to buy it. It has, blood, boobs and a lot of zombies in it.

Highschool of the Dead was a pretty decent anime series, however the main focus of this anime was the fan service which was too distracting. I usually don't mind fan service but if there is too much of this stuff it tends to become idiotic and quite tedious. Now we have all seen this zombie apocalypse theme done to death and occasionally it can be done in a refreshing way like in the tv show The Walking Dead. What Highschool of the Dead does with this theme is make it take place in Tokyo and the main characters being Highschool students. As the story progresses the students witness a World Wide zombie epidemic first hand and are forced to fight and evade their way through the thousands of the ever growing undead as well as rescue other survivors and deal with the ones who have gone insane or crazy by the chaos of the zombie apocalypse. Some characters were well developed while others were just useless like the bimbo nurse with large breasts, actually almost all the female characters have large jiggling breasts, and thats the main issue with this anime is that you can't take it seriously, so there weren't any real scares or tension. The dark atmosphere that was brilliantly done in the first two episodes was quickly diminished as soon as you see the flashing large breasts and panty shots, this would have been fine if I were a younger viewer but since I'm an adult I thought it was quite silly and immature. Anyway the anime definitely had some great artwork and some shots especially in the background were stunning, it was top notch through out and the action scenes were terrific. The male character hops on a bike and starts slashing away with a sword at zombies in a cool sequence, the female characters also had their parts when fighting the zombies as well so no complaints there. It was a fast paced 12 episode series with at least one filler episode. Overall I would say that it was a decent anime nothing to memorable but still fun, but if you like a lot of fan service then you'll obviously love this.

I got this anime in spite of some of the reviews saying it was 'pervy' and I actually really enjoyed it. It was quite serious on the most part and each episode seemed to fly by, the only problem is all the junk at the end of each episode, it's got Japanese credits, closing scene, preview of the next episode, English credits before the next one.

I found all the characters to be quite interesting especially Hirano who goes from geek to weapon expert like that & Takagi who was sarcastic, clever but arrogant- it was kind of annoying that she wouldn't really help fight till halfway through. The other characters where good too, except Rei Miyamoto I just didn't find her that interesting.

The plot was quite interesting and there was situations I was thinking 'ooh, what would i do?' and like other people have said it's like a zombie movie broken down. There are clear influences here like one scene was RIGHT OUT OF RESIDENT EVIL 2, I was sat there like 'are you messing?' but it all came together nicely. It was chock full of action too, there was guns and swords/wooden swords and everyone was dealing quite well- maybe a bit too well for a bunch of 15/16 year olds.

Now why i gave it 4 stars instead of 5, I would have liked something extra at the end- I won't spoil it- but the end was lacking. I was annoyed that the horrible teacher wasn't killed in any way, shape or form. I was annoyed that the OVA wasn't included, so I'll have to wait for another series before I can see it properly (I don't really like watching stuff online, before anyone says 'You can just watch it on YouTube').
Also the main gripe of everyone who gave it bad reviews: The Fan Service. I didn't find it offensive, but SOME of it was unnecessary, though it didn't detract form the enjoyability of the show it just felt a bit gratuitous e.g. two people are talking and then it goes to a shot of the girls unchanging, or the bath scene- one episode was basically all the girls having a bath and the guys talking about guns.

Overall it was a really good series, it kept my attention and had enough going on to fill the series,maybe it could have done a bit more, we never found out about any of the parents and it didn't rely on flashback episodes to use more time. so i give it 4.5 as I explained above it didn't quite warrant a 5. Hope you enjoyed my review :)

Overall

Not to say there hasn't been great Anime recently, but nothing as engaging as I've found when watching HOTD. The last Anime I enjoyed this much must have been FullMetal Alchemist.
It gets very ecchi (pervy) at times, but after looking at the creator's career history it isn't hard to understand why! If you can forgive the fan service (or enjoy it), then you're left with a great Anime with plenty of action and excitement, it's visuals are a treat to watch as well.

This series is one of those that you either love or hate, lots of anime gore and ecchi moments aren't everyone's cup of tea, but if seeing someones face bitten off one second and a panty flash the next sounds good to you, this will not disappoint. The animation is very high quality with some awesome moments with 3D camera movement and fast moving objects in slow motion. although the story is above average at best, it slows down at points taking you away from the action.

Overall id give this 5 Stars, The story isn't great but it kept me watching and the action scenes were so phenomenal its easy to overlook its faults.

Long have I awaited the day when the zombie genre would be done properly in one of my favourite mediums of entertainment. Highschool Of The Dead is anime and zombie's coming together and being near perfect, the outcome being an intense tale of action, excitement and romance set in a slowly crumbling Tokonosu city in Japan. Five students and their school nurse begin a fight for survival after their high school is infected by a lone zombie who attacks several members of staff. After leaving the school they realize that it is not an isolated event and that the whole city has succumbed to the zombie infection. The group must continue to survive in a city that is filled with the dead and barbarous bandits in order find their friends and loved ones.

This series shows that the medium of anime can be used to portray many issues of societal collapse that some films wouldn't even go into. Good friends are seen betraying one another slyly in order to save their own skin, while a supposedly upstanding member of society turns into depraved sexual predator preying on his young scared students. These are all things that most definitely could happen if a huge shake up in societal normality occurred. When things aren't so serious the action provides a great break from everything drab and dreary. The fighting is a bit over the top but then again it wouldn't be a Japanese anime without it and it certainly gives you that "Hell Yeah" feeling you may be used to during epically intense fights.

There is a point that let's this anime down however. This anime contains lots of fan service which are usually shots of the female characters at particular angles meant to make you a bit hot under the collar. At first it didn't bother me but it's continuing gratuity got a bit annoying partly due to the fact that the majority of the characters are under 18, and that i'll probably never be able to watch it with or recommend it to another person as it may make me look a bit strange in their eyes. However if your into great amounts of fan service this anime is your new best friend.

Overall a great story mixed with great action scenes and lovable characters let down by gratuitous fan service. But still a must buy.

I haven't got this yet but i have seen it i'm not Japanese but i can speak a little of it and i love this anime wish it went on for a second season this is not for kids there a lot of blood in it and a few up skirt shots and a few nude scenes can't wait to get it to watch it all over again great for my collection 5/5 from me hope you like it to

I bought this Set after watching it elsewhere and wanted to watch it in better quality would be the term im looking for.

As its an anime the typical things are present, girls with big jugs but aside from this the story is awesome, i mean Zombies in Anime?? What more could you want.

Leaves you wanting more due it being so short and as of yet no season 2 being made due to the manga hiatus

very enjoyable zombie out break but drags near the end

very gory and well drawn nice story, but watch it with subtitle as i hate dubbed

I like high school of the dead its got a good story line i don't know what more to say really apart from its a brilliant buy and another brilliant anime released by the company MANGA.

But on the second disc there was a fare amount of scratches although i brought it brand new.
my computer did pick up them while playing the dvd i would have contacted the seller but the option is not available.