Fun, crazy, perverted and entertaining, “Is This a Zombie? Of the Dead: The Complete Series” will entertain harem anime fans expecting fan service but also getting a storyline with a twist!
Image courtesy of © 2013 FUNimation. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Is This a Zombie? Of the Dead: The Complete Series
DURATION: Episodes 0-11 (325 Minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: 16:9, Japanese and English Dolby Digital 5.1, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment
RATED: TV MA
Release Date: December 11, 2012
Originally created by Shinji Kimura
Directed by Takaomi Kanasaki
Series Composition by Makoto Uezu
Screenplay by Makoto Uezu, Shigeru Morita, Touko Machida
Music by Shinji Kakijima
Original Character Design by Kobuichi, Muririn
Character Design by Shinobu Tagashira
Art Director: Kei Ichikura
Anime Production: Studio DEEN
Featuring the following voice talent:
Iori Nomizu/Jad Saxton as Haruna
Junji Majima/Austin Tindle as Ayumu Aikawa
Midori Tsukimiya/Cherami Leigh as Eucliwood Hellscythe
Ai Shimizu/Monica Rial as Dai-sensei (Head Teacher)
Aya GÅda/Caitlin Glass as Salas
Hiroyuki Yoshino/Anthony Bowling as Orito
Hisako Kanemoto/Brittney Karbowski as Yuki “Tomonori” Yoshida
Koji Yusa/Eric Vale as King of the Night
Mina/Emerick Jade as Kanami Mihara
Noriko Shitaya/Lindsay Seidel as KyÅko
Rie Yamaguchi/Erica Harte as Taeko Hiramatsu
YÅko Hikasa/Morgan Garrett as Sera (Seraphim)
Season Two gets off to a shocking start as Ayumu breaks Haruna’s magic chainsaw and accidentally exposes his fondness for pretty pink dresses to the entire school! Next there’s an incident with a dreadful dance that turns out to be a curse – and an embarrassing trip to a maid cafe where all the zombie’s roommates work! But the shenanigans take a backseat to bigger problems when Ayumu’s mysterious drinking buddy turns out to be the most powerful magical girl of them all!
To save his friends and defeat this adorable new menace, zombie boy must do the unthinkable: throw a mixer for his own murderer! With a little help from his loyal harem of vampires, magical girls, and the world’s cutest necromancer, Ayumu just might survive to rot another day!
In 2009, Shinichi Kimura wrote the Japanese light novel series “Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka?” (Is this a Zombie?) featuring illustrations by Kobuichi and Muririn.
With the popularity of “Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka?”, a total of five different manga adaptations were created and a 12-episode anime series adaptation was produced by Studio Deen and shown on TV Saitama from January through March 2011. Followed by a ten episode TV series +2 OVA’s which aired on Tokyo MX.
The harem anime series is directed by Takaomi Kanasaki (“Magician’s Academy”, “School Rumble: 2nd Semester”), series composition by Makoto Uezu (“Ah My Buddha”, “Sola”, “Utawarerumono”, “My Bride is a Mermaid”), music by Shinji Kakijima (“Uta~Kata”, “Transformers: Cybertron”), character design by Shinobu Tagashira (“Shonen Onmyouji”, “Yume o Kanaero Zo”, “Hunter x Hunter”) and art direction by Kei Ichikura (“Odolm@ster: Xenoglossia”, “Strike Witches 2”, “Freedom”).
And now the second season, “Is this a Zombie? Of the Dead” will be released on DVD courtesy of FUNimation in September 2013 featuring all ten episodes plus the 2 OVA episodes!
What is “Is This a Zombie?” about?
“Is This a Zombie?” revolves around a teenager named Ayumu Aikawa. A high school boy that was killed by a serial killer and resurrected to a zombie courtesy of a necromancer named Eucliwood Hellscythe. As a teenager, Ayumu used to be quite active in school but now, he tries to keep things downlow, so no one will find out that he’s a zombie.
With his parents traveling the world, Ayumu let’s Eucliwood live with him temporarily. And as Ayumu tries to keep himself out of trouble, he encounters a Maso-Shojo (Magical Garment Girl) named Haruna who is fighting against a demon. But somehow her magical powers are absorbed by Ayumu due to Eucliwood’s power of resurrection being stronger than Haruna’s magic. And because Haruna needs to defeat the demons known as Megalos, with Ayumu having her power, she needs Ayumu to take on the role as a Maso-Shojo.
Unfortunately, by transforming to a magical garment girl, everyone in school catches Ayumu in a magical girl outfit and think he’s a weirdo or tranny. And because Ayumu has Haruna’s power, he has no choice but to let her move in with him.
Meanwhile, another girl comes to Ayumu’s home, her name is Seraphim, a servant of Eucliwood and one that happens to be a vampire ninja. But when she comes to the house, she is asked to serve Ayumu, which he rejects. But despite her heavy tsundere attitude, she also begins living with Ayumu.
In season two, unlike the first season which featured a storyline of Ayumu trying to find his killer, the second season is more offbeat, perverted and crazy. Each episode is random and revolves around Ayumu living with his new roommates. From going to an indoor pool or going to a cafe! But also having to deal with the shame of letting people at school see him as a magical garment girl but also being naked.
“Is this a Zombie? Of the Dead: The Complete Series” features the following characters:
- Ayumu Aikawa – The main protagonist of the series. Ayumi is a normal (and also a bit of a pervert) teenager who attends high school but his life is changed when he is killed by a serial killer. He is revived as a zombie by Eucliwood Hellscythe and with his new power, he is immortal, invincible and has great strength. But he can still feel pain and easily dries out in sunlight. Adding to his superhuman strength, due to having the ability to absorb magic, he accidentally absorbed Haruna’ s Maso-Shojo power and now Ayumu has the ability to turn into a magical garment girl.
- Haruna – Haruna is a Maso-Shojo from Villiers and her primary weapon is a chainsaw which she named Mystletainn. Her job is to defeat Megalos and because Ayumu has absorbed some of her powers (and thus his transformation is a magical girl) and needs Ayumu’s help to fight the Megalos demons, she moves in with him. Moreso, because she has fallen for him.
- Eucliwood Hellscythe – Eucliewood is a necromancer responsible for bringing Ayumu back to life. She is a powerful magic user and because she can easily kill people by muttering words, she chooses not to talk but use written notes. She also experiences a lot of pain when she uses magic. She cares for Ayumu, because he is grateful that she gave him a second chance at life.
- Seraphim – A vampire ninja known for her well-endowed assets. She uses the power of the Secret Sword Technique: Swallow Cut and is the true tsundere character and thinks that everything that Ayumu does, even if it’s something good natured as a sign of deviance. She needs blood to stay alive. Despite her attitude towards Ayumu, she is starting to fall for him as well.
- Mael Strom/Tomonori – A vampire ninja from a different faction than Seraphim, Mael goes by Yuki Yoshida and she finds herself falling for Ayumu because of his courage and looks at Ayumu as her husband.
- Sarasvati – Seraphim’s superior and goes by the name of Kirara Hoshikawa. Her job was to make sure that Eu was killed because she is a Megalo magnet.
- Orito – Ayumu’s only guy friend who is obsessed with girls.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Is this a Zombie? Of the Dead: The Complete Series” is presented in 16:9 widescreen and presented in English 5.1 Surround and Japanese Stereo. For picture quality, the animation is pretty good, as characters are fun and well-shaded and art backgrounds are detailed well. There is a bit of softness but the series is quite colorful. I am a bit surprised the anime series was not released on Blu-ray considering it is a newer anime series and a storyline that would attract viewers but on DVD, the TV series does look good.
As for the soundtrack, the English dub track has a better dynamic range as it is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, so action scenes are much more active through the surround channels during the action scenes. And as the English dub is well-acted, it’s also a bit more raunchier thanks to the writing. The Japanese soundtrack is very good and well acted but because it’s a 2.0 soundtrack, the English dub has better dynamic range. But both soundtracks offer something different. If you are in a mood for something much more raunchier, definitely opt for the English soundtrack.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Is this a Zombie? Of the Dead: The Complete Series” comes with the following special features:
- Episode 4 Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary with voice talents Anthony Bowling (Orito), Caitlin Glass (Salas), Morgan Garrett (Seraphim) and Britney Karbowski (Tomonori).
- Episode 10 Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary with Jade Saxton (Haruna) and Austin Tindle (Ayumu) and Jerry Jewell (Director).
- Characters in Action: Episode 1 Video Commentary – (26:28) Featuring a video commentary with Cherami Leigh, Morgan Garrett, Jad Saxton and Austin Tindle.
- U.S. Trailer – FUNimation trailer for “Is this a Zombie? Of the Dead”
- Textless Opening and Closing Songs
- Trailers – FUNimation trailers
If you enjoyed the first season of the harem anime series “Is this a Zombie?”, you’ll no doubt enjoy the second season with a focus on more craziness and more interaction between Ayumu Aikawa and his new housemates.
There is no denying that the perverted nature of the series has been taken up a notch. While a lot of these episodes are standalone, there is a storyline that relates to the character of Eucliwood which begins to take shape in episode 6 but for the most part, the storyline for season two focuses on Ayumu and his roomates and his relationship with them.
From the first OVA (episode 0), the group goes out swimming at a indoor swimming pool and while Ayumu finds himself distracted by his housemates in their bikinis, what happens at the pool and when they throw a birthday for Eucliwood?
But to make Ayumu’s state of unpopularness sink to new lows, his classmates eventually see him in his magical girl outfit with a chainsaw to take down the Squid Megalo, meanwhile what happens when Sarasvati becomes obsessed with Ayumu’s round bottom and yes, a running theme of Ayumu in his magical girl outfit and his classmates’s thoughts about it, becomes a running gag in the series.
Meanwhile, Orito is worried about Ayumu being a crossdresser, so he takes him to a “tsundere” cosplay cafe owned by Sarasvati’s clan and sure enough, Yuki and Haruna are employed there and takes part in a challenge to bring out there tsundere (an act by maids to treat customers with a cold attitude).
Sure, anime fans…we have seen harem anime series before. Well-endowed or characters that constantly show their panties and your protagonist guy who is either a really kind individual or a crazy pervert.
But where “Is This a Zombie? Of the Dead” tries to be different from other anime series is the fact that its main protagonist is teenage guy who is a zombie and also a magical garment girl! And I know, some of you are reading this and asking yourselves…”what?”.
And to add to the twist is that each member has a tsundere attitude towards the protagonist (but yet falls for him despite him ticking them off in some way or other) and joininh the harem is a necromancer, the other a maso-shojo, three vampire ninjas and suffice to say, the main protagonist Ayumu Aikawa, is just a guy trying to play it cool and cares for each of them as a good friend (but being a teenage guy who is interested in sex, he also has perverted things going through his head at times) despite getting beaten up quite often.
So, there is more to this anime than just perverted humor with fun and games.
Also, included with “Is This a Zombie?: The Complete Series” is the zero episode, an OVA about Ayumu and the young ladies going out to the indoor pool and with the girls wearing bikinis, you can expect the perverted shenanigans from Ayumi and also Orito. Plus the second 11th episode OVA featuring Ayumu drinking some concoction that makes him invisible and that can only mean trouble!
As for the DVD release, while “Is This a Zombie? Of the Dead: The Complete Series” is not being released on Blu-ray and only on DVD, the picture quality is good on DVD. While there is softness as one can expect from a TV anime series, the series looks good and the OVA 13th episode looks even better. Dialogue for both Japanese and English soundtracks are clear and understandable. And as for special features, you get two audio commentaries featuring the English dub voice talents and also a video commentary as well!
As for the series overall, there are better harem anime series such as “Love Hina” or “Aoi Yori Aoishi”, or those who want comedy will enjoy “Magikano”, “Rosario + Vampire” or “Nyan Koi!” and for those who are primarily in it for the perverted fan service, will probably enjoy anime series such as “Sekirei”, “Samurai Harem” or “Heaven’s Lost Property”.
But “Is This a Zombie? Of the Dead: The Complete Series” tries to incorporate harem anime but instead of loving girls, most of them are “tsundere” and often beating Ayumu up!
Fun, crazy, perverted and entertaining, “Is This a Zombie? Of the Dead: The Complete Series” will entertain harem anime fans expecting fan service but also getting a storyline with a twist!
