Anime Review: Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?

Despite having more potential, Kore wa Zombie Desu ka ranks just below Dragon Crisis. On the surface both animes explores similar themes, the supposedly ordinary boy, living alone, suddenly becomes involved with a pint size magical heroine, eventually leading to a gravitational pull of more busty magical/supernatural women. However the end product flounders around, falling flat on its generic face.

The initial storyline was the most attention-grabbing. It introduced our male protagonist, Aikawa Ayumu, previously murdered off screen only to be resurrected by a cute, chibi necromancer, Eucliwood Hellscythe and returns to his normal life, only now as a zombie. Early on Ayumu clarifies his intention to solve his murder and take revenge. This was all the material needed to develop a substantial series, simple but effective. Nevertheless it quickly ran out of steam, abandoning the straightforward murder mystery twist in order to bombard the viewer with as much ludicrous hijinks as possible. Kore wa Zombie Desu ka struggled because it lacks perspective. There was simply no direction, just a cluttered mess of choppy storytelling served with ample of cheese.

Essentially there are two reasons why Kore wa Zombie Desu ka turned my stomach. The first should be fairly obvious, in that I have a hard time enjoying fan-service in general, least of which when it is unnecessary and plain dumb. The second reason concerned the personalities of the female harem cast. Enter the Masuo Shoujo, Haruna, an annoying, stubborn, ungrateful, tyrannical brat and the well-endowed Vampire-Ninja (are you fucking kidding me?) Seraphim, an arrogant, discourteous fucking bitch. Honestly there is nothing redeemable about these two. Ayumu basically lets them live with him, no catches, and they treat him like complete crap. Passive female stereotypes are bad, but portraying women as heavy-handed, man-haters, than physically exploiting them is somehow okay?

Ultimately the conclusion takes so many desu-ex-machine nosedives that all writing credibility is rendered obsolete. At least the audience are treated to miscellaneous fan-service final episode that tightly comprises everything I disliked about the series into 24 minutes. The show basically went with quantity over quality, ending on an atrocious low.

Rating: 4.5

March: In Retrospective

Kore wa Zombie Desu ka (Ep 7-11)

As part of a last ditch attempt to get into KoreZom, I held a mini-marathon. To no prevail. This show is too sloppily put together, the comedy is off (by a long-shot), the characters are genuinely unlikeable, and the story seems to have just given up on itself.

Dragon Crisis (Ep 9-12) [Complete] Rated 5/10

Forgettable. In a nutshell. The series set to achieve no more then it physically does, oping for moe over creativity, depth, concrete storytelling every time. Disappointing to say the least.

Gosick (Ep 9&10)

Through only two episodes of Gosick aired, they were perhaps the worse story arc in the series so far. Victorique is not a super genius, every other character is just below normal human intelligence.

5. (7) Kimi ni Todoke (Ep 8-10)

Finally Kimi ni Todoke is starting to demonstrate its worth. The relationship between the main couple is no longer will they/won't they, its a simple case of when and where. I'm banking on it being episode 12.

4. (6) Yumekui Merry (Ep 9-11)

Lately I've been noticing a reoccurring problem with this one, whenever the bad guy(s) have the heroes cornered, they inexplicably let them go. Why? Why wait until "next time"? Crush em now and be done with it! Just a minor detail :)

3. (2) Level E (Ep 9-12)

With one episode to go, I have a theory as to how Level E will end. Since this show has done its best to dispense with cliches, often deviously spinning them round on their heads. So, what ever I'm thinking, I know I'm probably wrong...

2. (3) Hourou Musuko (Ep 7-10)

Hourou Musuko refuses to be an ordinary young teenage/slice of life/school days program. It's breathtakingly refined and mature, just superb all the way.

1. (1) Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica (Ep 9&10)

In light of the recent tragic events in Japan, only two episodes of Madoka Magica have aired, I'm not sure when the final two episodes will come to light but I eagerly await their broadcast. My favourite show this season.

January & February: In retrospective

Top Ten Animes:

10. Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka? Ep1-6

I’ve fallen behind and it’s increasingly difficult to be motivated to want to continue. The problem with this show is the unnecessary horde of female characters, the relationship between Ayumu Aikawa and Eucliwood Hellscythe is more than enough to intrigue the viewer. Probably won’t feature next month.

9. Dragon Crisis! Ep1-8

It had me and than it lost me with the beach episode. Aside from being visually pretty, Dragon Crisis seems incapable of delivering anything else worthwhile. The characters are clichéd, the plot is cluttered and the outcome is starting to feel very predictable. In short: my attention is starting to dwindle. Fast.

8. Mitsudomoe 2 Ep1-8 [Complete]

Shorter, more compact and overall much better, Mitsudomoe 2 continues the antics of Mitsuba, Futaba and Hitoha. There is one downside, the series doesn’t really go anywhere we haven’t been before and I mean how many Christmas sketches is this show going to have?

7. Kimi Ni Todoke 2 Ep1-7

Kimi Ni Todoke ranks highly because there has been some romantic development (at last) between the two main characters. It may have brought about a new barrier, but it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out or rather how long the show can drag the misunderstanding along.

6. Yumekui Merry Ep1-8

Pretty cool, pretty funky and still pretty impressive. No complains here.

5. Gosick Ep1-8

If I’m honest Gosick continues to under whelm me. The premise is still pretty interesting; it just has some serious kinks that need to be smooth over. That being said, I like this show.

4. Supernatural Ep1-6

Once the anime stopped reanimating TV episodes and turned to more original routes, the show did a 180 for me. The acting is still a little starchy and the script needs a bit more work, the Winchester brothers in particular are lacking as a pair. Hopefully this will pick up when Jensen Ackles is brought to the table, despite the fact that the actor dubbing Dean is doing a top notch impersonation.

3. Hourou Musuko Ep1-6

Wandering Son was pretty much set up to be an instant classic. The sensitivity and maturity towards this topic has been handled very touchingly. Primarily through the progressive, multilayered characters who easily engage with the audience through their own individual struggles.

2. Level E Ep1-8

The first arc was the best, unfortunately the following episodes haven’t been quite on par, still extremely good nevertheless. Which is surprising considering the original manga was published over ten years ago. True comedy is timeless.

1. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Ep1-8

It was a tough call but Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica narrowly scrapped ahead after dropping one sinister bombshell last week. Each episode continuously goes from strength to strength, all it needs is to deliver a knockout ending and Madoka Magica will be my highlight this season. Delightful twisted would be the icing on the cake.

First Impressions: Hourou Musuko and Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka?

Hourou Musuko.
A boy wants to be a girl; a girl wants to be a boy & they’re good friends.

Anime is no stranger to cross-dressing or gender confused characters, through more often then not, the character has already established their gender-identity and this is not the major focal point. It’s rare for an anime to address the issue of transsexuality in such a progressive and sensitive manner, one that doesn’t just accept cross-dressing as an eccentric characteristic, but tactfully draws the subject into an ordinary, realistic environment involving normal, day to day people. Wandering Son does precisely this, and it is so beautifully crafted. The animation has a dreamy watercolours style that seems almost surreal and it’s absolutely enchanting. That being said, as an opening it felt a little muddled. It seemed like a lot had already happened, that the audience was joining the story half way through rather than at the beginning. Still the story is easy to follow so that’s not a massive problem. In all, I’m very excited with Wandering Son, even it promises to be more of a coming of age than a slice of life programme, which means its probably going to be a tear jerker.

Rating: 9/10

Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka?

Undead Tweenboy is a magnetic for magical women and soon his house becomes a harem.

At first glance “Is this a Zombie?” seems to be peddling the standard harem material. You’ve got the bit-of-a-drip male lead living by himself one minute, and then suddenly bombarded with a horde of antagonistic women the next. Unfortunately for Ayumu Aikawa he isn’t lucky enough to exist in the type of harem where all the girls are aggressively into the male lead. On top of that, the first two episodes feel very claustrophobic. There is too much happening with far too little explanation, almost like a series of events taking place without an actual purpose. The characters could have been brought together much better. Still the sub-plot that Aikawa is plotting revenge on his killer is intriguing and if developed well could do wonders to improve the shows initial rating.

Rating: 5/10

Interest: Winter Anime 2011

Title: Wolverine
Starts: Animax, Friday, January 7 at 10:00 p.m. JST
Studio: Madhouse
Genre: Action

Summary:
Second in the four-part Marvel Anime project, broadcasting after the Iron Man anime. Wolverine is a mutant possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced psychical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing factor that allows him to recover from virtually any wound, disease or toxin at a accelerated rate.

Title: Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? Starts: Tele-Tama, Tuesday, January 11 at 1:30 a.m. JST Studio: Studio DEEN Genre: Action, Magic Summary: Aikawa Ayumu is a normal high school boy. One day he is killed by a serial killer and revived as a zombie by a necromancer named Eucliwood Hellscythe. He starts to serve Eu as her guard but he happens to deprive the mahou shoujo Haruna of her magic power. Haruna orders Ayumu to fight against the anti-mahou shoujo system "Megalo" in her place.

Title: Kimi ni Todoke 2nd Season
Starts: NTV, Wednesday, January 5 at 12:59 am JST
Studio: Production I.G
Genre: Comedy, Romance

Summary:
Kuronuma Sawako is completely misunderstood by her classmates. Her timid and sweet demeanor is often mistaken for malicious behavior. This is due to her resemblance to the ghost girl from "The Ring", which has led her peers to give her the nickname Sadako. Longing to make friends and live a normal life, she is naturally drawn to Kazehaya Shouta, the most popular guy in class, whose "100% refreshing" personality earns great admiration from Sawako.

Title: Hourou Musuko
Starts: Fuji TV, Friday, January 14 at 1:15 a.m. JST
Studio: AIC
Genre: Drama

Summary:
Shuicihi Nitori appears to be a shy and quiet preteen boy, when he transfers to a new school he quickly makes friends with the tomboyish Yoshino Takatsuki who sits next to him. It soon becomes apparent that both Shucihi and Yoshino are more than simply a sensitive boy and masculine girl, they both are transgendered. Together they decide to take the first steps toward becoming the people they want to be.
Title: GOSICK
Starts: TV Tokyo, Saturday, January 8 at 1:23 a.m. JST
Studio: BONES
Genre: Drama, Horror

Summary:
GOSICK takes place in 1924 in a small, made-up European country of Sauville. The story centers on Kazuya Kujo, the third son of a Japanese Imperial soldier, who is a transfer student to St. Marguerite Academy, where urban legends and horror stories are all the rage. There he meets Victorique, a mysterious yet beautiful and brilliant girl who never comes to class and spends her days reading the entire content of the library or solving mysteries that even detectives can't solve.

Title: Fractale
Starts: Fuji TV, Friday, January 14 at 12:45 a.m. JST
Studio: A-1 Pictures Inc.
Genre: Fantasy

Summary:
The story takes place in an island, where a "Fractale System" is beginning to collapse. One day, Crane finds an injured girl called Phryne under a cliff. She disappears leaving a pendant. Crane sets out for a journey with the girl-shaped avatar Nessa to look for Phryne and discovers the secret of the Fractale System

Title: Dragon Crisis! Starts: Chiba TV, Tuesday, January 11 at 1:30 a.m. JST Studio: Studio DEEN Genre: Fantasy Summary: A normal high school boy Kisaragi Ryuji's peaceful life is turned into an adventure by the return of his second cousin Eriko. Ryuji and Eriko seize a relic box from a black broker. In the box, they find a red dragon girl Rose. In order to protect Rose from the black organization, Ryuji decides to fight using his power as a relic handler.

Title: Beelzebub Starts: YTV, Sunday, January 9 at 7:00 a.m. Japan Standard Time (JST) Studio: Pierrot Genre: Supernatural, Action, Comedy Summary: Oga Tatsumi is a first year in Ishiyama High, the school for delinquents. One day while sleeping next to a river he sees a man floating down it, he pulls him to shore and the man splits in half revealing a baby boy. This boy is the son of the demon king and he has been chosen as the one to raise it with the baby's demon maid Hilda. The story follows his life with the child and at the delinquent school.