Review: Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?

Anime: Korean Zombie Desk Car Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?
Animation Studio: Studio DEEN
Number of Episodes: 12
Length per Episode: Approximately 24 minutes

Huh, these reviews aren’t coming out in the order I expected at all. Not that that’s a problem, but it just threw me through a bit of a loop. Tomorrow is going to be hell, though. FOUR shows I’m watching finish tomorrow. Not gonna be a pretty. I’ll have to get pictures ready and start typing them up ahead of time.

Now, onto Kore wa Zombie Desu ka.

Kore wa Zombie Desu ka is split into two parts, story-wise.

The first half dealt with a psychopath who went around town cutting people up for fun.

At the same time, it also dealt a lot with Eu. The reasons behind her mannerisms, such as never talking or showing emotion, were also explained.

Not only did it help to set up for the second half of the show, but it’s what caused me, and many others, to empathise with her.

Pretty much everything about her, down to her wearing armor, is to suppress her magical power which is strong enough to bend reality. That’s a tough life to live.

Also, those don’t really count as spoilers, because that scene takes place in the third episode.

 

The second half of the series has a different plot, which revolves around something dealing with Eu’s past.

Specifically, Ayumu isn’t the first person she’s revived as a zombie…

Though the ending episode of the arc was kind of… bad. I had to watch it a few times to completely understand the conflict and resolution that was going on, and even then it seemed like it happened way too fast.

Not to mention, Haruna got her powers back for no reason whatsoever.

And what the hell was with this scene?

It was a little funny at first, but then I realized they were actually being serious with this scene. The hell?

 

The show isn’t all just plot, though. It’s also a comedy. And when it wants to be, the show can be incredibly funny.

Take for example, Ayumu powering up in Magiclad Girl form. Early in the series Ayumu mentions how humans are built with limiters so they can’t use their full power, but being a zombie he can remove those limiters. When he applies the same practice when in Magiclad Girl form:

His outfit got more and more girly the more power he released. It was pretty hilarious.

The last episode, which was basically just fanservice for the most part, also had some good laughs. Mainly when it switched to the whole “idol battle” setting which completely took over the pool area they were at. The episode also seemed like promotion for Midori Tsukimiya, who’s the official voice for Eu, which also happens to be her first role.

99% of the time, the crowd was done in CG, which for some reason made everything funnier. Probably because knowing how much CG costs, it means DEEN threw their whole (or at least what was left) budget into this episode. A fanservice episode. Oh, DEEN. You so silly. (☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞

Sorry for the blur. They were kind of, you know, moving.

It just got even funnier when Haruna took the stage and there was FIRE EVERYWHERE. The crowd was getting blasted to oblivion by it.

I don’t know where the pool disappeared to, but who cares? Shit was funny.

 

Hmm… overall? It’s kind of hard to say. When the show wants to be funny, it certainly doesn’t have a problem with it, but a lot of the time it also switched over to have focus on the plot. This isn’t really a bad thing, as the plot can be pretty interesting at times. Especially the second half, which had been building up since the beginning of the show. It also helps that it focused almost entirely on Eu.

The problems came when the second arc was coming to close. It honestly seemed like the writer(s) just stopped caring. It was very anticlimactic, and the whole maid orchestra thing with the vampire-ninjas was completely unnecessary. Also *MINOR SPOILER* When Eu finally talks, it’s completely unexplained. Her magic is supposed to be uncontrollable, and no context was given for her finally being able to talk. It just… happened. *END OF MINOR SPOILER*

Ultimately, I’d have to say that I enjoyed Zombie. It had its weak moments, but it was undoubtedly fun to watch, and the interactions between characters was always great. If you can stand the show having its bad moments, it’s definitely worth the watch.

RATING: 8 out of 10.

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