Sankarea Review

Hello there. This is review number thirty two and I’ll review another Spring 2012 anime. I already have a list of the shows I wanna watch though I do plan to watch them all. I have twelve anime I placed on my “watch first” list. Some of them are pretty amazing, I bet. The one that made me curious though is a twelve episode anime called Sankarea.

I just saw the girls face and it captivated me. I don’t know the plot or whatever but I immediately placed in my list. The girl is pretty hot, whoever she is. Anyways, let’s read on.

Story

Chihiro Furuya is a high school boy completely obsessed with zombies. He even dreams of having a rose colored love life with a zombie. One day, his family’s pet cat died and he was grief stricken. He was crushed at the loss that he decided to try and bring the cat back to life. He obtained a notebook awhile back detailing ingredients and procedures on how to revive the dead. He secretly dug up the cat and went on an abandoned building to create the potion.

One night, he accidently sees a girl screaming her frustrations out on a well. One thing leads to another and he met this beauty named Rea. Rea, intrigued by bringing the dead back to life, decided to help Chihiro on making the potion. Rea said on night, “If I become a zombie, will you take responsibility?” Chihiro agreed not knowing Rea would actually turn into a zombie.

Taking the Pants Off

When I saw this one in the lineup, I just had to watch it simply because of Rea. This girl, the way she looks and her inviting face, hypnotized me. I didn’t research the anime much further because I didn’t want to spoil myself though it did bother me a bit. What the hell is Sankarea? It’s pretty funny but Rea’s full name is Rea Sanka. I felt pretty stupid but the anime still made me curious.

So what is Sankarea about? Basically, it’s a romance anime that even borders on the cliché. We have the classic boy meets girl set up where they eventually form a bond. There is also the typical childhood friend trying to capture the guy’s affection. To put the icing on the cake, we have an over protective father trying to break the two apart. Yeah, romance wise, there really is nothing new in this anime. I think it’s pretty obvious that the show needed something to spice it up a bit. Well they did add spice. They added the element of zombies.

Yeah, the anime was pretty interesting because of the idea of Rea being a zombie. We all know zombies are flesh eating mindless corpse who thinks about nothing but brains. Isn’t it a delightful theme to make a generic romance anime more interesting?

It’s not hard to like the anime too. The first half of the anime is really nice. The storytelling on how Rea and Chihiro meet was pretty fascinating. They also have a nice chemistry together so it was fun watching them interact. Chihiro is this complacent guy who likes nothing but zombies. He even dreams of having a zombie girlfriend. Then we have Rea who is a refined lady who has longed to discover what the world has to offer. Rea is a girl who was brought up in a strict environment and she lights up whenever she talks to Chihiro.

You see, Rea’s father is over protective and a little bit incest. I love that. There are two plot points anime rarely tackles. One is racism and honestly, it’ll be a cold dark day in hell before that happens. The other is incest. The only other anime I know that uses incest as a plot element is a hentai anime. Actually, I think its sixteen hentai anime to be precise. Rea’s dad is just such a wonderful villain and it makes you feel Rea’s pain the way the story is presented.

The theme of being free was dominant in the first half until it reaches its climax. The plot was nicely presented and the pacing was pretty good. The opening sequence was also greatly appreciated when the theme of freedom is also prominent. I even shed a tear. As the anime hits its climax, will we finally see Rea free from the chains her father placed on her?

The second half of the anime is the typical romantic anime. The two now lives in one roof and they are slowly trying to understand each other. The third wheel is finally getting aggressive. Chihiro’s family is slowly accepting Rea. It quickly fell on the cliché but thanks to the spice, the zombie theme kept the anime interesting.

That’s basically what Sankarea is about. In terms of romance, it’s really normal. I do love the way the anime uses dark comedy as a theme. Some moments in the anime was pretty grim but it was a bit funny at the same time. I remember one line from the father: “To prevent him from seeing Rea again….castrate him.”

There was one thing I didn’t like about the anime. Sankarea wasn’t shy about fan service. It was just so because it wasn’t shy about gore either. Even though there was only moment of gore. The fan service was abundant. Some of the through the big breasted childhood friend and some are through Rea herself. I dunno, it just doesn’t feel right. There was one episode where they dressed Rea up as a bunny girl and it just ruined the moment for me. Again, it’s a minor complaint. Some people love fan service so it works out pretty well.

Sight and Sound

The anime had some pretty awesome background. The buildings are presented pretty nicely with clean straight lines and cool colors. The anime had a bit of a “Shiki” aura to it. The streets are often empty and most of the scenery is in secluded areas like the woods, an abandoned building or the cemetery. There were other characters too but most of the time, it’s just the main characters in a secluded place.

The scenery is beautiful though so I can’t complain. My biggest complain though is the heavy outlining for the characters. There were so many outlines that in a distant, all you see are the heavy outlines of the character. The anime should’ve tried to soften up the outline because there weren’t any sharp characters. The outline just ruins it a bit.

The opening song is Esogaroto by nano.RIPE. I fondly remember them for doing the soundtrack for Hanasaku Iroha so it was nice hearing them again. The opening sequence was pretty nice as it did have the theme of freedom that was pretty important in the anime. Like I said, it made me cry. It appreciates it a lot. The ending song was a bit melancholic probably reflecting the sadness in the anime. There were a handful of sad moments so it fits right in the anime.

Overall Score

6/10 “A nice story of love mixed in with a nice story about zombies.”

The anime is pretty nice despite its generic romance story. The first three episodes is the best part of the anime though. The plot wasn’t perfect but it’s enough to send you home happy. I recommend it.