Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? Review

This is review number one hundred and sixty four. This is part of the Winter 2011 lineup. It’s Kore wa Zombie desu ka? It’s an awesome show about a dude who is a zombie but is also a magical girl. Don’t worry, he has a harem and a lot of girls are in the show. There are also a lot of panty shots courtesy of the dude. It’s been awhile since I last reviewed an anime. I got in a hot streak of watching anime but my hard drive couldn’t keep up. I was forced to dump my 80 GB for 500 GB. That is not enough for me but that’s the best my limited financial capabilities can handle. At least I can marathon like crazy now. Until my laptop f*cks up again, anyways. I need to catch up on my list but anyways, this is a thirteen episode anime and it’s really awesome.

Story

The anime is about Ayumu Aikawa. He is a zombie. After being killed by a serial killer, a necromancer named Eucliwood revived him as a zombie. He now vows to track down the man that killed him and exact his revenge. It would have to wait though after he met a magical girl named Haruna and accidentally stole her magical power. He must now save the city from attacking monsters while Haruna recovers. Ayumu Aikawa is now a magical girl and a zombie.

Taking the Pants Off

The show has a dude as a magical girl. That is basically all you need to know about this anime. I am actually a bit curious why we have never seen an anime with all guys doing stock footage transformations as uncomfortably wonderful as a magical girl anime. I feel like anime has broken a lot of molds and pissed on a lot of rules yet a magical boy isn’t fully achieved yet. This was basically the only thing I wanted from this show. I wanted to see a dude transform into a magical boy and it was uncomfortable, creepy and pretty awesome. I peeked for the magical girl premise but I stayed for a lot of other reasons. This show is really wonderful. I am impressed at the way it balances all of its gimmicky storylines with its fan service and character development is pretty awesome. It has some minor flaws to it but the experience is still pretty awesome.

My first impression with the anime is a bit weak because it seemed to be a bit gimmicky. I am fine with a boy living his normal life as a zombie. I am also fine with a boy becoming a magical girl. I can handle the two combined, I guess. The anime doesn’t stop there though. It has a necromancer that has ties with the underworld and a vampire ninja. It was a bit intimidating because there seems to be a bit too much of a good thing in this anime. As if it was trying to over compensate the lack of a good story with a lot of supernatural sprinkles. The wonderful thing about the anime though is that it was able to balance all of these supernatural elements and make a very entertaining show out of it. I have to point out though that the enjoyment was brought out by the characters because the story really just couldn’t handle the amount of things crammed into it.

One of the anime’s flaws is the story. It’s pretty convoluted and there were a lot of things unexplained as you watch the show. The main story of the anime is about Ayumu and his eventual harem living under the same roof spending time together and facing problems head on. Some of these problems include monsters (called Megalo) that attack the city, personal conflicts of the characters and other kind of supernatural beings threatening to tear their relationship apart. The anime never explained though why the most powerful magical being ever is in the human world eating dinner with a zombie boy or why monsters randomly attack the city or how ninjas became vampires. These glaringly obvious questions are slid under the table and never discussed. The anime just want the viewers to focus on the relationship of the characters and how they handle certain problems.

As far as the set-up of the story goes, there are some plot points established in the anime. The first one is Ayumu and his quest to find the serial killer that killed him. There is a really dangerous killer that murders innocent people on the city and Ayumu is determined to stop him for killer more people. As the show progresses, we are given slight clues on the identity of the killer and just how strong he really is. The second plot point is about the necromancer and her complicated existence. She holds tremendous amount of power and she has taken a ton of burden out of the kindness of her heart. She lives with Ayumu but she does fear that her powers would one day harm the people she loves.

The third plot point is about the magical girl Haruna and her duties as a maso-shoujo. She came to Tokyo because she was ordered to complete a task that she cannot do because Ayumu stole her powers. She is now slowly regaining her powers while living with Ayumu and she is also slowly enjoying her time with the other girls in the house. The last one is about the vampire ninja. Her village ordered her to ask the necromancer for assistance but Eucliwood refused. She now decided to stay in the house until the necromancer changes her mind. The vampire ninjas are shrouded in mystery though and one by one, it is revealed just exactly these modern day ninjas are up to.

Despite the plot points, the anime was never really keen on focusing much on them. These plot points where established and used as a way for the characters to bond and the viewers to further understand them. They aren’t arcs. They were loosely spread across the anime and one plot point would advance in a moment’s notice with no proper build up. A villain would just appear related to that plot point and the characters just go with the flow. There are times where the plot points meet though but they were still just devices to develop the characters. The story of the anime is a bit weak, for sure. There were a lot of things unexplained, characters suddenly appearing and events just suddenly unfolding without warning. Thankfully though, the anime had other things to feature besides the story.

The anime is really character centered. It focused a lot of time on the relationships of the characters and their normal lives spent under one roof. The characters in the anime are really amazing. They all nicely stand out and their personalities really blend well together. The main character is Ayumu. He is a zombie maso-shoujo. He is the typical main character in a harem show. The girls act indifferent towards him yet they also like him and respect him. I also love the way the anime gave him time to act cool like the typical hero in an anime despite wearing striped panties and a pink skirt. Like a typical main character in a harem as well, he is also perverted and girls punish him for that. The anime revolves around him thouh so he was pretty well rounded as the anime progresses. The girls also have a unique personality to them. There is the kuudere that doesn’t speak but holds a tremendous amount of power, the tsundere that spent majority of the first half naked and the really sexy vampire ninja that enjoys verbally abusing the main character.

As the anime progresses, the anime really focused a lot of time on the relationships of the characters because certain fight scenes or events are really just a way for their bond to fully shine through. It’s safe to say that you will fall in love with the characters as you keep watching the anime because of how much effort is given to make them really interesting. Whether it’s the fan service or the cool personalities or the way they open up to the main character, I really admire how the anime was able to compensate from the really weak story by giving emphasis on the characters.

The side characters were pretty nice as well. They play their role well and they were able to shine despite the limited screen time. The villains, despite having no proper build up to their appearance, were able to be effective villains nonetheless. The classmates of Ayumu and the various vampire ninjas in the anime also had a decent appearance in the anime. I love Ayumu’s guy friend who would say things “I don’t like girls” just to protect himself from being hurt because he was rejected countless times.

The anime has the typical Comedy and Ecchi elements you’d expect. There were some pretty funny gags like the vampire ninja’s cooking ability or the countless times we see Haruna naked. The two genres were nicely incorporated to the anime and it delivered some pretty memorable moments. Perhaps the one that truly stands out is Ayumu’s magical girl transformation complete with panty shots and frilly ribbons. The Ecchi part of the anime usually just involves the girls doing some fan service. Ayumu never really grab some boobs or fall on top of them, for some reason. There were some bath scenes, pool episodes and other kinds of sexy moments in the anime though.

The anime also has Gore. They were a bit graphic and there were some blood but it’s really nothing horrifying. These scenes usually involve Ayumu getting his limbs torn off or a monster getting chainsawed in half. There are also characters being split in half or their skin being ripped off their body to put emphasis on their body taking a lot of damage. I love that there is blood but the anime honestly didn’t need it. It was just some more sprinkles placed on top. This is a really awesome anime. The story was weak and I like a really great story in my anime but the characters really saved the show. There were a lot of things piled in the anime and there were a lot of stuff crammed into the story but the focus on the characters made it really easy to enjoy the anime. I really love the characters and watching reminds me again how much the second season disappointed me.

Sight and Sound

The character design is pretty awesome. There was a lot of range in the characters from the loli character to the super sexy one. Ayumu is the typical main character with normal features and doesn’t really stand out visually. The girls in the anime are awesome though. Haruna has a cute small body frame and a cute tusndere attitude to complement it. I love Eu’s body armor nicely tucked in her body on top of her frilly clothes. The nice fierce eyes and the expressionless face was also a nice addition to the character. Seraphim is amazing as well. She has big boobs and doesn’t seem to wear a bra. She also loves to wear tight clothes that exposes a lot of her skin s you often see her nice curves and the model features she have. The magical girl outfit of the characters was also pretty nice. There aren’t a lot of details on them but the dominant pink color and the other stuff really reminds me of popular mahout shoujo anime. The design on the chainsaw is pretty cool as well. It’s pink and it glows. It was a nice twist to the sugary personality you often expect in magical girls.

The fan service in the anime is pretty awesome. Haruna loves being naked and any lolicon would blow his top when he sees how lovely Haruna is when she is in various Ecchi scenes. Eu and Seraphim also have their moments. Ayumu often conjure up Ecchi scenes in his head about Eu and some of them are pretty awesome. My favorite is the cat girl costume he imagined Eu wore as she teases the hell out of the viewers. Seraphim doesn’t really need to do much. She has a tall build and a sexy body. Just standing is enough for perverts like me to enjoy her presence. With bath scenes, pool scenes and even a tentacle scene, there is no shortage of fan service in the anime, for sure.

The animation is pretty awesome. There weren’t a lot of fight scenes but all of them are pretty awesome. There were some pretty impressive movements in the fights with people dodging swords or chainsaws and the addition of blood in some scenes are really amazing. The movements are pretty fluid and it really made some scenes pretty amazing. The facial expressions of the characters are also nicely animated. The transitions to various emotions are really nicely done and the characters displayed a wide range of emotions here. From normal to angry to scared and, hell, even aroused. The animation in the transformation scenes is also nicely done. It was familiar but the fact that Ayumu does them is pretty freaking insane.

The anime’s OP is “Ma・Ka・Se・Te Tonight” by Iori Nomizu. It’s sung by the voice actor who voiced Haruna. She has a mature voice in the song though and that nicely stands out. The song slowly picks up pace and her voice sounds really nice in the anime. The OP sequence features all the characters in a 3D setting acting all cute or sexy. There is a short introduction to them but it’s mostly just a flashy montage about the characters. It’s pretty awesome though and it ends with the characters battling some monsters. The anime’s ED is “Kizuite Zombie-sama, Watashi wa Classmate desu” by Rie Yamaguchi with manzo. This is a really catchy song sung by one of the supporting characters. I’m a bit surprised she doesn’t have a lot of main roles in other anime because her voice is really amazing. It’s paired by the cool voice of manzo. It’s the first time I heard of him but he has a really nice voice. The song has a cute vibe to it and a bit of a slow start that ends in a really cute medley of the singers just going wild. The ED sequence features a chibi form of Eu and Haruna dancing in a loop. In the background, Ayumu is slowly being dried up by the sun.

Overall Score

6/10 “A solid anime about zombies, magical girls and a harem.”

I really enjoyed this anime. The characters are the main selling point of the show and it’s not that hard to like them. The story is a bit underdeveloped but the show has a lot more to offer to make up for that. This is an awesome anime. I recommend it.