With the genre of the global apocalypse, where the world under the threat of an unknown phenomenon turns into a realm of the dead, familiar from the films of Sam Raimi, hexalogy with Milla Jovovich and 28 Days Later. Not a fan of zombies never once and in general horror films, but anime with a similar plot one or two and screwed up. In addition, the title, judging by the number of episodes, is nothing and does not oblige. As a result, history deserves a place in its niche and, as time shows, absolutely justified.
The history of world Armageddon begins to become the name of anime. A boy with a melancholy look and expression on his face is lonely in his thoughts about breaking up with a girl. And then he is attracted by an incident in front of the school gates. No one imagined that by this time the world was already in agony and that few would survive. A general panic begins, most just run in the hope of something, and our trio, that is, the boy Komura with his friend and his ex-girlfriend Rey with grief in half, find themselves in a lull for a while, but only for a short time. It is possible to keep a cool head and the girl from the section on lessons with the sword Saike, who, due to circumstances, saves the school nurse Shizuku. Lucky and Takagi, who along with the unpopular “nerd” The cat, thanks to his rich past, manages to escape. And with the second episode, our six begin their journey with the intention of saving their loved ones through the devastated streets and highways of modern Japan, which has become a hell for the living and a paradise for zombies.
Here is such an uncomplicated entanglement and development of the story offers the title. All this was chewed by almost everyone and everyone. But you can still praise the series, at least for the fact that the story is not static, as, indeed, the characters of the characters.
Characters change greatly, this can be judged by their actions, and by the voice-over comment to the actions of a group of survivors, as “still yesterday’s schoolchildren after a few hours already make their way through the crowds of infected people.” A relatively middle-class Komura shows signs of an unspoken leader, Ray becomes more determined and fearless, Saika remains cold-blooded, Kota remains himself with his love of gunshot, Takagi is responsible for brainstorming the actions of the entire group. Yes, I very weakly described the change of characters, but believe me, the anime shows it a hundred times cooler.
The second positive thing, I would highlight the atmosphere of this anime. It very skillfully creates contrasts of calm, comedy, tragedy, hopelessness. Footage in the night, when the street is filled with crowds of dead people, and our team saves a little girl; ero scene in the bathroom with lush shapes; cherry petals sliding along the freeway with a lonely passing through the empty streets of Hummer under a sad arrangement; rare intervals of calm and a sense of security. Very skillfully, this anime reveals the actions of military and law enforcement agencies, extras-civilians who managed to survive in the first hours, when the world is in turmoil, panic, anarchy.
The production of frames and scenes also keeps the level of its time. Paphosically flying from the springboard to a group of zombies bike, footage of the slow-mo change of an empty machine shop, beautiful angles of the bullet fly between the charms of the female body, which will please not only lovers of action and drive. Yes, there are a lot of shots with boobs, bare butts and their constant swaying, but all this hints at the living characters, their natural physiology and character, and of course, as an additional point to attract the target audience.
Opening and endings are also memorable. Very catchy cutting frames from the anime itself and a kind of collage with a photo (each series ends with its own theme, it was only in Chainsaw). Not bad spelled and dialogues with pauses or understatement.
The anime ends quite ambiguously. The heroes are alive, it is clear that they are ready to continue their way and, standing in front of the defeated shopping center, their faces illuminate the sun with their rays, but who can guarantee that in a minute or an hour they will not join the numerous crowd of the dead?
Without a doubt, the series stands out against the background of its genre and anime in general, its plot, the formation of heroes, an oppressive atmosphere, non-static shots and hope for an already failed continuation.
Once again, I turn to viewing the work of the Mad House studio, either so it happened, or most of the works of interest to me were made by them. You have Death Note, Hellsing, Claymore, and even the last one I saw, The Devil Can Cry. Which, by the way, I didn't like. This time I decided to pay attention to the “School of the Dead”, because judging by the trailer, the viewer should wait for a rather big and crazy spectacle in the spirit of the same “Hellsing”, with a lot of blood, torn limbs and other incredible madness.
The plot of the film starts in an ordinary school in modern Japan, where students suddenly learn that the world is surrounded by a strange epidemic of a virus that turns people into terrible zombies. These zombies feed on human flesh and are ready to destroy all life in their path. In this regard, a small team of these same schoolchildren is formed, who unite to confront this scourge, survive and find a way to reach their loved ones who may still be alive.
To be honest, I didn’t expect anything serious from the start, and I didn’t really expect anything. Only now I could not assume that “School of the Dead” refers to a rather ambiguous genre for me, which is where I first get acquainted – ethie. What does that mean? And as it turned out, this means that the viewer will have to contemplate a whole bunch of female ass, breasts and other fillet parts in a variety of angles and poses. In itself, it can be good, but it is terribly annoying the frequency with which it is all used here. Literally in every episode and almost in every episode, the creators choose the moment to demonstrate the color of the underwear of certain girls. In this regard, the main characters fall into completely dull and dull situations, especially when it comes to some relationship. In the rest, everything is fine, the plot, although simple, but at least does not cause irritation, the action certainly pleases, and some dismemberment is enough, although with the same “Claymore” or “Hellsing” is no comparison. As for the characters, they are certainly stupid, naive and in my humble opinion, completely uninteresting. But it seems that this is all the cost of the same ethie.
Is it worth watching? Well, if you are familiar with the genre and you are satisfied with it, then “School of the Dead” is almost certainly one of its best representatives, I can judge this, and also by a fairly large number of positive reviews that I was able to stumble upon in the expanses of the network. Everyone else probably even makes sense to pass by, since there is no depth here, philosophical overtones, especially. “School of the Dead” is another, rather simple spectacle, touching on the topic of the zombie apocalypse. There is no more to expect, but I still counted on at least a little more serious something, without the constant presence of women's close-ups and completely stupid nuts. Alas, the picture is just about that, but fans will definitely appreciate it.
6 out of 10
So, "School of the Dead." I watched this series for the first time, and it didn’t leave much of an impression. It's just a bunch of high school kids surviving a horde of zombies. Well, as a "heap" - a stamped set of five characters (+1, which is not called a character). Well, how "survives" - do not eat, do not drink, strictly according to the plot find "gadgets" and move to the end according to all the canons of not a zombie survival, but a rail shooter like Call of duty. I will try to explain it in more detail.
Once upon a time there was an Ordinary Japanese Schoolchild (in this definition, in this case, all the known clichés about a particular type of character are collected) named Takashi. I went to school, met a girl, etc. In general, he led the existence of an ordinary Japanese schoolboy until there was a zombie apocalypse and he had to escape from school, along the way building a team of his ex-girlfriend Rey, a militaristic nerd Kota, the school chief Sayi, “samurai in a skirt.” Saeko and a walking fan service - school nurse Shizuki (the same character who is not a character, because in the bust of huge size lies all her "utility"). And, in general, there is nothing more to say about the characters – solid stamps without a hint of disclosure and “double bottom”. Despite this, viewers are “fed” with flashbacks, mainly about the same Takashi, which in some cases consists of a good half of the series and not only that they are bored to death, so even thanks to them, the plot moves forward in meager steps.
There's nothing to move! As I wrote above, the plot canvas is a “rail shooter”, because there is no survival from the word “at all”: the characters came there, did that, got the necessary things and went to further “checkpoint”. All the time watching, despite the creations, it seemed that the characters in principle are not threatened. As a result, they could not empathize, despite good, in general, moments and a couple of good sidelines. Added to the overall unsightly picture a large portion of scripted idiocy, manifested from time to time.
Now on drawing:
It is not bad: moderately detailed, with good rendering of landscapes, equipment and weapons. What can't be said about the characters. They say that the author of the original manga, mainly draws hentai and, in principle, it is noticeable with the naked eye - pants, breasts, buttocks and other "attributes" flash in the frame almost every second, and the figures of 15-year-old schoolgirls will give a head start to any silicone porn actress. Personally, I painted eroticism “does not catch”, so I soon began to get tired of all this.
In summary: If "School Life" is an example of how to make anime on zombie-themed, then "School of the Living Dead" - how not to do it. Heroes do not empathize, because they are nothing of themselves and they are not threatened, these strong scenes are rare and for the most part, viewers are forced to watch unnecessary flashbacks and fan service. It’s better to see something better.
As I watched it, I felt like I had seen it all somewhere. Deja vu. I’ve watched a lot of zombie movies, and I got the impression that this series has taken all the movies about the walking dead together, borrowing small ideas from each. For example, when the heroes were on the bus. If I'm not mistaken, that was in Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, and the zombie attack on the mansion was 28 Days Later. In the series, everything is according to the standard: chaos reigns in the world, there are always hungry dead everywhere, and on the streets of cities there is silence and smoothness, interrupted only by the moans of zombies.
But everything is not as good as it may seem at first glance. There are 12 episodes in the series, and only the first half is worthy of being called a worthy zombie horror. Of course, there is no special plot in sight, as always, the main goal: to survive. But that's the interest. We're shown high school students who are supposed to be a team, forgetting the word "I." There's only "we." It's shown in every zombie movie. The animators managed to preserve the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic world, a sense of hopelessness, some “quiet” chaos, because there are no bombs on the streets, there are only zombies. Heroes are left to themselves. It is in this world that they have to survive. During the first six episodes, the most interesting thing happens.
As the second half begins, the series slowly begins to disappoint. In other words, it's draining. From the "Zombov" atmosphere remains almost nothing. There is a lot of nonsense and a lot of stupid situations. It seems that the characters begin to get used to such a life, and as if they start to like it. There have been more rash decisions, stupid conversations about nothing, scriptwriters noticeably begin to waste time: ideas run out, and as many boobs and bare buttocks as possible begin to stick into the screen (more on this later).
School of the Dead is, you could say, my first time watching an anime, because the last time I watched it was a long, long time ago. At that time, I could not make a conclusion about Japanese cartoons. But the memories are still there, and I have grown up, and I can conclude. It's too much drama and breasts. At least it happens very often. School of the Dead is no exception. In the series more than once there were moments when the characters are too emotional, in other words, they frankly overplay , and it is so noticeable and striking that already begins to annoy. If the characters cry (usually they were always girls), then they roar at the whole district, while talking some nonsense; if they swear, then God forbid that I ever be scolded like that. And then they go and they go, you know what? Overplay! Don't be so dramatic!
Speaking of what hangs out. Probably everyone in the world knows that Japanese animators like to paint their characters. In general, this piquant part is an integral part of the entire series. Large-breasted main characters with short skirts very effectively deal with zombies, while constantly sparkling underwear. And, as I mentioned, in the second part of the series all this becomes more when the plot develops dull and somehow jerky. I myself am a representative of the male half of humanity, I cannot but like it, but to see boobs dangling in every second frame, begins to infuriate to some extent.
After watching, I had a rough idea of the whole anime. If that’s the case in almost every movie, it’s not good. The fans will be happy, but personally I grew up on cartoons from Marvel and DC Comics, which, of course, I’m happy, so I can’t judge the whole anime, so here’s what I will say in conclusion: if “School of the Dead” somehow was more serious, less stupidity and drama, it would be an atomic zombie movie. This is especially true for the second half of the series.