I’ve been looking forward to this show more than anything else, even with its common tale of boy-loves-zombies, boy-turns-girl-into-zombie-by-accident. There’ll be a recap, some random thoughts and I’ll confess my own Sankarea type secret.
Night of the Living Title Screen.
We’re introduced to Furuya Chihiro directly after the opening and seriously, what’s with this guy’s hair? The high schooler has a serious zombie fetish and dreams of being romantically involved with some sweet defenseless zombie maiden. And hey, don’t we all?
Ok, he loves zombies, he’s got some high school friends and his family lives in a historic temple, which they run. Administer. Priest over, whatever. His family consists of his father, gramps and 12-year old sister. They had a cat, Babu, but he died from a hit and stay accident. Of course, with his massive zombie knowledge and recovered ancient resurrection manual, Chihiro thinks he can raise the dead.
Resurrection manual.
Later, we’re introduced to Saoji Ranko, Chihiro’s vibrant cousin–an older sister type. Oh yeah, we’re also introduced to Aria Sanka, the girls’ school’s principal’s beautiful daughter, who has a himi-cut hairstyle and enjoys yelling in desserted places. On one such outing, our zombie lover overhears her her father takes nude photos of her to measure her growth. And probably his too.
The two talk things out in an abandoned bowling alley and Furuya ends up telling her of his plans of neko-resurrection. The two chat it up and start their whirlwind undead romantic adventures, before Sanka leaves and remarks she’ll return the next evening.
Hate the opening, but I rarely like them. The characters don’t leave much of a first impression, although I have a certain kinship with the main character, Furuya. I’m being serious here–since I was a child I’ve only wanted to date, not zombie girls, but robot girls. The kind of robotic man-made girl who is just learning to deal with emotions and what not–and who can also do cool shit like fly and put together difficult machinery-like projects. I’ve tried dating girls who are emotionally vapid, but it’s just not the same. Sad face.
I liked the subdued ending of the show and I rarely like them. Was anyone else disappointed Sanka wasn’t turned into a zombie in the premier episode? I wonder how long they’ll make us wait. By watching the preview, it could be as early as next week. Yay.
He really does love his zombies.
Some other first impression type thoughts. The character designs left me sort of wanting for more. They’re not terrible, but not terribly strong either. The animation is pretty fluid and seems ok. I laughed aloud at the defenseless zombie girl early in the episode. “Please stop killing us indiscriminately.” Heh.
Will we be watching Zombie Japan with Danny Choo?
The story itself is what I’m interested in here and for me, it will make or break the series. I was talking with ThatOtherGuy, sometimes Moe Monster writer, and we were discussing the recent rise of zombie related fiction in Japan and we came to the conclusion that there could be something happening there that the Japanese are trying to hide. Our second place conclusion, was that zombies are very modern, unlike the traditional spirit like fiction/folklore, and it provides storytellers another avenue to explore. We still think there could be an actual zombie problem in Japan though.
I’m really really hoping this will be a decent series that could provide some good viewing times–fun, slightly humorous with some dramatic moments. If it’s the 12 episode length it’s being reported it could be a nice short series to ring in Summer 2012. See you for episode 2!
“Was anyone else disappointed Sanka wasn’t turned into a zombie in the premier episode?”
I kinda get where you’re coming from, but they seem like they’re doing a good job following the manga, and it takes a few chapters for *spoilers* her to turn into one.