Highschool Of The Dead (Season One) – Gakuen Mokushiroku: Haisukūru obu za Deddo
Takashi witnessed the moment the infection spread onto the school grounds. One teacher was bitten. Then, another and another. He ran to save his friends. However, the school was quickly overrun and their hunger was insatiable!
Highschool Of The Dead (Season One) – Gakuen Mokushiroku: Haisukūru obu za Deddo
What did you watch?
I’ve no idea how many times I’ve watched Highschool of the Dead, but I can promise you that this is not going to be the last time. It’s the show that I recognise as the one that pulled me back into the anime scene after years of travelling and focusing on movies. As a result, it’s always going to have a special place in my heart. This is the third time that I’ve reviewed it, although the two previous versions are no longer around. I have backups on my hard drive and I can confirm that this is by far my longest and most comprehensive attempt at conveying my feelings for it. The episode reviews alone total eighteen thousand words… Anyhow, let’s see if I have anything else to say about Highschool of the Dead… [Spoiler] – I do!
What happened?
Takashi Komuro was skipping class when the world came crashing down. As the teachers turned on one another in the schoolyard, he raced to class to grab his ex-girlfriend, Rei Miyamoto and his best friend, Hisashi Igou. At first, they didn’t believe him, but it was hard to argue with the conviction in his eyes. As they followed his lead, a horrifying announcement was broadcast over the intercom telling all students to evacuate immediately. Then the speaker was attacked. Panic engulfed the school. Students ran and fought to escape unaware of what was going on. Before long, they too became a part of the problem. Takashi, Rei, and Hisashi followed a different path, however, it wasn’t without risk. A teacher attacked them which resulted in Hisashi being bitten. They escaped to the rooftop, but before long Hisashi turned into one of them, forcing Takashi to kill his best friend.
Meanwhile, Saya Takagi was quick to assess the situation and stayed back in class as the student body exploded into the corridors. Along with Kouta Hirano, she made a plan to escape from the school while getting a feel for what was going on. At the same time, the school doctor, Shizuka Marikawa was worrying about a student who had been bitten. When they turned into one of them, she was saved by Kazu Ishi, however, he too was bitten. Just when things were looking dire, another student, Saeko Busujima burst in and saved them with her wooden practice katana. She realised what had happened to Kazu and offered to save him from becoming one of them. He accepted. Saeko and Shizuka hurried to the teacher’s lounge where they would find her car keys. Outside the longe, they also found Saya and Kouta fighting a group of zombies. Takashi and Rei arrived at the same time and offered support. The world had crumbled before their eyes, but their nightmare was only just beginning.
What did you think?
Guess what! I loved it. Every time I watch it I notice something new that makes me appreciate the writing that much more. I am willing to admit that this series is not for everyone, some won’t be able to get past the fan service and others (for some bizarre reason) don’t like zombies… I know. Crazy, right? Anyhow, the depth of the characters and their actions is incredible. I can’t praise Daisuke Sato enough for how well he crafted this story. It shows that he was a true zombie fan who understood the tropes and also knew enough about storytelling to make them work. This is some lofty praise, but this is not just my favourite zombie anime it’s my favourite zombie story in any medium, and I’ve watched a lot of zombie movies, read a lot of zombie books, listened to zombie audio productions, played zombie games. If it’s got zombies, I’m on it. This is my absolute favourite.
What was your favourite moment?
There are so many great moments that it’s hard to pick just one. For example, I love the opening scene of episode one and wrote an entire post on those two minutes – Highschool of the Dead (Introduction) – A Killer Opening! I love the moment when Takashi rescued Alice after her father had been killed and then the others come to get them in the Humvee with Saeko on top in just an apron! I love the way things almost fell apart when they were trapped on the road with zombies closing around them. Everyone was fighting for their lives, aware that the end was closing in. I loved the ending and how they decided to go it alone rather than join up with the adult group led by Saya’s parents. However, there is one episode that speaks to me on so many levels.
I’m talking about Episode 9 – The Sword and the Dead where we followed Takashi and Saeko as they fought their way through the neighbourhood to meet up with the others at Saya’s house. For me, Saeko is the love interest in this story for Takashi. She’s new and exciting whereas Rei is his ex and they’ve never gotten over that. Saya is the childhood friend so she never stood a chance, and Shizuka is more like the inappropriate aunt. Anyhow, Saeko and Takashi got to spend some time alone where they got to know one another better. There’s a hint of them kissing and maybe more, which feels entirely justifiable. The main reason that this episode really connects with me is that I see a lot of myself in Takashi and since Saeko is my number one all-time Waifu, it was like this episode was about me hanging out with Saeko. I couldn’t have asked for more!
What was your least favourite moment?
All right, it’s time to get critical… Who am I kidding? I can’t find anything that I would change… well, other than the boob-bouncing sound effect they added to Shizuka for the second episode. Thankfully, that seemed to disappear pretty quickly or it was as noticeable, but in the beginning, they really went all out on that and it wasn’t necessary. No one is going to fail to notice them bouncing. It’s not like they needed any more attention!
The only other thing I would like to mention is that this series is only twelve episodes long when it quite clearly needs another hundred-plus episodes to do it justice. I know that it’s not going to happen since Daisuke Sato tragically died before finishing the story and his brother Shouji Sato, who drew the manga, has confirmed that it will never be finished, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be disappointed about that. There is just so much potential and I love the characters so much that I need to find out what happened to them.
Who was your favourite character?
This is really hard because I love all the characters. They all have their moments and made an impact on me. Of course, I have to single out Takashi as he’s the character that reminds me the most of me across all of anime. There are things about other characters that resonate but nothing to the extent of Takashi. I’ve no doubt that is why I love this series so much and why I keep coming back to it.
However, even with that in mind, there is one character who stands head and shoulders above a Humvee… Saeko Busujima is my favourite character in the series. She’s also my number one Waifu so no one else really stood a chance. I love how calm and determined she is. She knows how to handle a sword and there’s also a glimmer of darkness inside her heart. What’s not to love? Then there was the episode where she revealed her inner-self to Takashi and that just made me love her even more. The characters are a huge part of why this story works and to stand above them all (even when she’s not standing on a Humvee) is spectacular.
Who was your least favourite character?
This is an easy choice. Koichi Shidou was designed to be hated. From the moment we met him, he was paraded around like a moustache-twirling pantomime villain and he did it amazingly. We say him casually kick one of his students in the face so that he could escape the zombies. Then, he tried to take over the bus, putting down all the work to survive the others had done. Then, he tried to make Shizuka stay when she wanted to leave. He was devious and manipulative and he got what was coming to him. The only missing thing was that we never saw him actually die or become a zombie. Sadly, we’ll never know if he really is gone or just waiting for his chance to rise up again!
Would you like some more?
There are three volumes and one chapter of the manga that hasn’t been adapted into an anime which could make up one more season. I’d love to see that happen, but I’d also love to buy the rights to the story and continue to explore the world that these characters live in. It’s a pipe dream that will likely never come to be, but I’m putting it out there just in case the chance ever arises. I don’t know if I’ll ever get tired of rewatching or rereading this story, but I highly doubt it. I don’t just want more, I absolutely need it!
What have you learned?
I loved the way Daisuke Sato used classic D&D character types to build this story around. It just goes to show that you can borrow ideas from other things and bring them into whatever you’re working on. It works well here because they use weapons that are similar to the ones in D&D, but they don’t need to. There are character traits that are specific to certain roles and they could be used in any story. It helps to distinguish between them and even as a starting point, it will help ensure that your characters don’t all act and sound the same. As an author, we have to give our characters life and wills of their own otherwise they all end up sounding and acting like us. It’s incredibly boring if all the characters are the same.
Series Information
| English Title | Highschool of the Dead |
| Japanese Title | Gakuen Mokushiroku: Haisukūru obu za Deddo |
| Genres | Action, Apocalyptic, Ecchi, Harem, Horror, Supernatural, Zombies |
| Demographic | Seinen |
Anime
OVA
| Title | Drifters of the Dead |
| Released | Spring 2011 |
| Animation Studios | Madhouse |
Bonus Posts
| Analysis | Introduction – A Killer Opening! |
| Saturday Spinoff | Sniper of the Dead |
| Saturday Spinoff | Meet the Takagis |
| Fan Fiction | Isekai of the Dead |
