Series Review: Kore wa Zombie desu ka? Of The Dead (7/10)


Instant summary: Boy dies and becomes a zombie, and goes on to meet other denizens of the underworld like chainsaw-wielding magical girls and ninja vampires.

Well, they certainly ramped up the fan-service this time round. For premises such as this, it's a huge improvement. Huge improvement.

You know, I actually enjoyed this way more than the first season. Previously, there was a failed attempt at a serious storyline - something that KoreZombie are definitely not good at. The conclusion was really bad because of how absurd the logic was. True, "absurd" can be said about a lot of things in KoreZombie, but they were trying to be serious - something completely opposite of what the series is good at.

Thankfully, this time they threw all that away and left us with minimal storyline. While things does get a little dramatic in the end, they didn't leave out the element of nonsensical fun. It was a cliffhanger; but not that it really matters if it's fun right up till the end, which is how is should be in the first season as well.

Since this is a sequel, you should already know what the show is about. The cast is the highlights of the show; it's chock full of Ninja Pirate Zombie Robots, and is perhaps the only anime that has taken this trope so far. The story of the show is as ridiculous as the premises itself, and more than often we had our main characters fight giant monsters in high school uniforms and do stuff like drawing manga to prevent a war. That's where the fun is at, because the show sells on the lack of seriousness. Occasionally there are moments are somewhat emotional or sentimental, but luckily they wasn't as melodramatic as anything they've tried in the last season.

The animation quality, unfortunately, shows no improvement, and it might haven even taken a dip, based on some jarring inconsistencies right up in the first episode. Imagine the rage I had when Todoroki's awesome breasts were practically deleted off in the first episode. Studio Deen was never known for quality work anyway, but I thought that a title that warrants a sequel should at least receive a decent budget.

In short, it has the same old fun the previous season had, minus the blemishes that ruins it in the end. Yes, I enjoyed this.

Plot/Concept: Very Good!
Story Style: Hugely improved!
Audio/Visual: Fair
Value: 7

(Fun fact: The team of "imaginary Eu"s has always been voiced by "expiring" seiyuus, so I'm really surprised to see Horie Yui as one of them. Does this means that she has reached that point in her career as well?)