Is this a Zombie? - Reviews

Yes, but it's also a cross-dresser

This is review #2 of Winter 2011. Kore wa Zombie is a difficult anime to describe. Some good comedy, some good serious moments, but more than anything an absolutely ridiculous premise. This is what sucks you in to watch the series to begin with. Just as MM! in the Fall created the ultimate ech com atmosphere, Kore wa Zombie creates a perfect atmosphere for a very bizarre fantastical series. Characters include a zombie, a necromancer, a magical girl, and a vampire ninja, oh my! The plot is very much not cohesive. It begins with Ayumu (the zombie) searching for his murderer. But this is at the forefront for less than half the series, the conflict isn't really even fully resolved, and then any sense of cohesion left in the series is pretty much gone. The only benefit of this was that you didn't see what was coming. And in what has to be considered an unlikely outcome for a series without a cohesive plot, the ending (of ep 11, not 12 which I'll get to next) is fantastic. I actually gasped aloud at the final scene. The ending honestly made you forget how patchwork the plot was. And overall, I suppose the story does do the important things right. Namely, a strong "climax" towards the middle of the series (here I'm referring to the scene where Yuu is fighting that other magical girl/vampire ninja/zombie chick) and a strong ending. But back to the ep 11/ ep 12 thing, ep 11 is the true ending of the series. Ep 12 is more like an OVA, which sort of makes you feel like you got robbed an ep worth of plot development somewhere in the middle/ latter part of the series. Now I'll step away from the plot and discuss the characters. During the serious moments of the series, Ayumu can be pretty compelling. But more importantly, he is the ultimate instrument of physical comedy. Although, him becoming a Mahou Shoujo was funny for all of about 5 seconds and then it was just creepy. On that note, with the exception of the last few eps, I did not like the fight sequences in this series (too much fantasy for my taste). The problem I have with saying that Yuu was a great character is that it seems like her character archetype (as a stoic young girl with intense magical powers) by default made her awesome. But through the course of the series, she doesn't really develop much beyond that. She has some wonderfully compelling moments, she's certainly the best character, but I can't help thinking I wanted to see more from her. And maybe we will (season 2 anyone?). Haruna definitely grows on you. She starts the series as a bratty loli supergenius who's either naked or wearing an oversized t-shirt most of the time, but becomes fairly compelling in her pursuit of a relationship with Ayumu. Also she was the most fun character in ep 12. Sera, let's face it, is the eye-candy of the series. Her highlight moment is in the opening scene of an ep towards the middle of the series where Ayumu sees her making out with Haruna and then she sucks her blood. Lastly, I did not understand the purpose of Tomonori. She's only introduced in the latter part of the series and sure she has a cute little relationship with Ayumu for a few eps, but I mean Sera was already the primary vampire ninja character so why have another? Alright, now a quick note on the music. The OP is neat in how it's a parody of an arcade-style video game, the ED honestly I never listened to cause it seemed like some bubble-gum pop crap. But all in all, Kore wa Zombie is a good, unique series that didn't quite realize its potential. It lacks the plot depth it seemed to promise early on, but recovers with a strong finish, so I'll give it a 6.5 out of 10.

THE STORY IS: Ayumu Aikawa is a teenager who gets murdered by a serial killer & becomes resurrected as a zombie by a necromancer named Eucliwood Hellscythe. While Aikawa tries to make the best out of his newly found life as a zombie, he encounters a Magical Garment Girl from another world named Haruna. Aikawa accidentally steals Haruna's magical powers therefore causing Aikawa to become a magical girl on top of being a zombie. Afterwards, a vampire ninja named Seraphim appears with an unknown mission to fulfill for her village. With Eucliwood, Haruna, and Seraphim living in Aikawa's house together, he helps battle demons called Megalos while trying to solve the mystery of his own murder.

Kore wa Zombie desu ka? was definitely a strange anime of which tried to fuse together a bunch of different types & genres of anime. Generally speaking, it succeeded in doing so for the most part. It was a wonky concept to have a teenage zombie being a crossdressing magical girl, a necromancer who doesn't speak, a magical girl with no magical powers, & a vampire ninja all sitting on screen together. Being a weird mash-up, it wasn't terrible. The story wasn't much of anything nor did it go in depth, it was pretty straightforward. It was sort of awkward the way going to the next episode kind of forces the story in. If anything, it's not anything major & can be overlooked, but it makes the transition feel rough instead of smooth. The anime portrayed all this mixture with comedy & some drama added in. There was some ecchi, but it wasn't bad at all. Mostly bra & underwear kind of stuff. Overall, the story won't impress much, but it was entertaining to watch the shenanigans being played out with such a ridiculous concept.

THE ANIMATION & SOUND: Neither were anything special. The animation was pretty typical of it's time & didn't do anything new or crazy. It flowed well with what was going on. The sound was bland & mostly forgettable. The voice acting suited each character & did well. The english dub, though, is absolutely atrocious in terms of the voice acting. Save yourself some agony & stay away from the dub version.

THE CHARACTERS: They stood out in their own way & were very well played out. The interaction between everyone was entertaining to watch & flowed without feeling awkward or forced. With this having the feel of a typical harem where the male character is very stereotypical, Aikawa really stands his own ground. He isn't a one-sided, one-dimensional kind of character which is nice. Otherwise, very well done on this aspect.

OVERALL: Worth a watch. A lot of people would be turned off by the overall concept, but it is entertaining more than an actual "blow your mind" anime. I enjoyed going to the next episode to see what kind of amusement I could find. Not anything that is an "absoultely must watch," but worth it at some point to check it out.

Recently watched this anime and I loved it I eould definitely say it is worth your time .... Is this a zombie is one of the most hilarious animes I have ever watched and its also action packed with good art

This has to be one of the funniest animes I have watched in months/years.

 

When I started watching this I thought it would just be another slice of life anime that gets a twist or two, but by the end of the first episode I was so hooked on it.  It is absolutely hilarious.

 

The animation is done very well.  At the beginning of the first episode it looked like DVD quality anime.

 

I would recommend it to anyone who wants a good life and some funny action.

Kore wa Zombie desu ka? is a show about a crossdressing zombie magical girl. Yes, a male crossdressing zombie magical girl. Allow me to repeat that. A crossdressing zombie magical girl who is a man. This is a parody of course, but still it needs to be said: a frickin' male zombie who crossdresses when he's a magical girl.

Needless to say, the premise is awesome. Add in egregious amounts of fan service as fit for any ecchi show, and Kore wa Zombie desu ka? probably just wrote itself. Situational comedy is pretty easy when you are talking about a male zombie who is also a magical girl. Add some low brow humor, and the audience will have a hard time not to burst out laughing at any given moment.

Of course, the premise does get overused. Plenty of sexual "innuendo" which is as subtle as death metal being played during a sermon is a good thing, but really, at some point it gets a bit overdone. Kore wa Zombie desu ka? is both downright silly (and extremely proud of the fact) and particularly dumb (and even prouder of this). This is great stuff for a parody, but over thirteen episodes you are unfortunately beholden to things such as keeping things fresh, which the show doesn't really do.

Of course, we get the moments where it isn't quite as light hearted. Those suck, because they go against the entire premise in far too extreme a way. When the show is funny and full of fan service, it is great. When there are action scenes, it is subpar unless it involves humor (and then it is great). When it tries for deep emotional content, it utterly fails. Luckily, it is usually more to the funny side of things.

Writing (Story and Characters):

Really, this is a story that writes itself. Kore wa Zombie desu ka? goes for all the low hanging fruit possible. Ecchi, harem, low brow humor, and parody. With such a premise, how could it not? When it works those things, the show is incredibly strong. When it doesn't, then it fails. The writing is just great when it doesn't try, and absolutely horrible when it does. Fortunately it usually doesn't try too much. Unfortunately, it tries too much near the end.

As a show with a stupid premise, Kore wa Zombie desu ka? has an equally stupid story to match. At times this is an incredible strength. Not always, as the drama really makes things worse. For as long as the story is just endless setups for jokes and visual gags, it works well even if a bit repetitively. Still, overall, this is a well written funny story.

Characters are only as good as the way they interact with the world and each other. Their interactions with the world of Kore wa Zombie desu ka? are for the most part great (and hilarious), and really, their are some amazing comedic interactions. Unfortunately, they don't manage to make for any convincing serious interaction. That last thing is the main problem with the last few episodes.

Still, there is a lot to be said about how comedy in Kore wa Zombie desu ka? just works. Well, that and endless setups for pantyshots. I'm a simple man (violence, humor, fan service, pick two and I'm satisfied) and this show is written to make me happy. It isn't classy nor elegant in any way, there are faults all over the place, the drama is not spread out enough to be convincing when it happens, and the cast is not a perfect fit nor particularly developed... but for a low brow show, it hits the spot.

Art (Animation and Sound):

It isn't so much art as it is an endless fan service parade with some respite for other things. Kore wa Zombie desu ka? is shameless great at this. It doesn't have a high budget, that much is obvious, but it does what it needs to with pride that should make the artists afraid to advertise the fact they were involved with this. I cannot say that this doesn't please me greatly.

The animation is crude, obvious, and gloriously ecchi. With all the faults and budget issues, we get more than enough of what the show needs. The backgrounds are good, the character designs offer all the different cup sizes types of characters you would want, and for such a show not much else is critical. I'm not saying that they're spectacular, just good enough to be effective. Still, I have to mention that there are some faults with movement and speech from a visual aspect.

Where this show excells is in the use of the soundtrack. It isn't that the soundtrack is particularly good, just that it is used extremely well. The voice acting is also rather decent, and at times even great, but is really the standard you'd expect for a parody and not much more. One thing I did like was the sound effects which were cleverly used and made the visual gags work very well.

Kore wa Zombie desu ka? has art that does what it needs. It is also is well executed overall, though like in many cases could have been better (Studio Deen is not known for their top-tier output). Also, fan service, panty shots, fan service, pool episode, fan service, fan service, fan service. That is all.

Overall:

Kore wa Zombie desu ka? is great fun. It is not a work of art, but hey, ecchi never is.