For those wanting to see a weird, crazy and at times dark, anime series about a zombie-loving human and a zombie-girl, then “Sankarea: Undying Love” is for you!
Image courtesy of © 2013 FUNimation. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Sankarea: Undying Love
YEAR: 2012
DURATION: Episodes 1-13
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0, English Subtitles
COMPANY: FUNimation
RATED: TV M
Release Date: October 1, 2013
Originally Created by Mitsuru Hattori
Directed by Mamoru Hatakeyama
Series Composition by Noboru Takagi
Music by Yukari Hashimoto
Character Design by Kyuta Sakai
Art Director: Hirotsugu Kakoi
Anime Production: Studio DEEN
Featuring the following voice talent:
Maaya Uchida/Tia Ballard as Rea Sanka
Ryohei Kimura/Aaron Dismuke as Chihiro Furuya
Mayumi Asano/Lydia Mackay as Aria Sanka
Misato Fukuen/Monica Rial as Baabu
Saori Hayashi/Ryan Reynolds as Mogi
Sayuri Yahagi as Ranko Saoji
Seirou Ogino/Christopher Smith as Doon Furuya
Shiro Saito/Mike McFarland as Jogoro Furuya
Shuuhei Iwase/David Trosko as Yasutaka
Unshou Ishizuka/David Wald as Dan’ichiro Sanka
Yuka Iguchi/Felecia Angelle as Mero Furuya
Zombie-obsessed Furuya is making a potion to reanimate his dead cat when he meets Rea. She’s about as miserable as a girl can get, thanks to her creepy, domineering father. When the pain becomes too much, she tries to commit suicide with a sip of Furuya’s weird elixir. The potion doesn’t kill her – but it does turn her into a zombie after she falls from a cliff.
Now that Rea’s undead and ready to finally live, she hides out with Furuya, who’s always dreamed of having a zombie girlfriend. Their one-of-a-kind relationship comes with some challenges, like the fact that Rea is decomposing. Even worse, her freak-show dad is dangerously determined to get her back under his control. As Furuya fights to keep his ghoulfriend safe, Rea finds the secret to resurrecting her happiness: live like you’re dying – even if you’re already dead.
In 2009, mangaka Mitsuru Hattori’s “Sankarea” manga began its serialization in Kodansha’s “Bessatsu Shonen Magazine” and is ongoing (as of June 2013, a total of eight volumes have been published).
Hattori, known for his work on “Concerto”, “Inu Neko Juno!” and “Kenko Zenrakei Suiebu Umisho” goes for a romantic comedy with darker elements in “Sankarea”.
In 2012, a 13-episode anime adaptation was created by Studio DEEN and would be directed by Shinichi Omata (“Rozen Maiden – Zuruckspulen”), series composition by Noburo Takagi (“C-Control – The Money and Soul of Possibility”, “Baccano!”, “My Little Monster”), music by Yukari Hashimoto (“Koi Kaze”, “MoonPhase”, “Magikano”), character designs by Kyuta Sakai (“Pita Ten”, “Strawberry Panic!”) and art direction by Hirotsugu Kakoi (“07-Ghost”, “Blue Exorcist”, “InuYasha”).
And the anime series “Sankarea: Undying Love” was released on Blu-ray+DVD Combo Pack in Oct. 2013 courtesy of FUNimation.
“Sankarea: Undying Love” revolves around a teenager named Chihiro Furuya. He is obsessed with zombies (he plays only zombie-related video games, watches zombie anime and films) to the point that he has no desire to have a human girlfriend, he wants a girlfriend that is a zombie.
He recently found an old manuscript to resurrect the dead and he tries the potion on his dead cat, Babu.
Meanwhile, Rea Sanka is a teenager who is abused by her father. His father insists that she be home-schooled as he is obsessed with her and photographs her nude on her birthday each year, as he wants to “note her growth”.
One day, Chihiro overhears Rea talking about her life problems and afraid that someone had heard, she pleads to Chihiro to not tell anyone. As the two become friends, she finds out that he is only interested in zombies. And jokes that if she is a zombie, would he take care of her and Chihiro agrees.
Meanwhile, she hears about his resurrection potion and one day, she steals and drinks it, as she tries to attempt suicide due to the abuse she receives from her father, Dan’Ichiro Sanka.
Meanwhile, as her father tries to go after her, jealous that she may be seeing a guy, he pursues her near a cliff and tries to bring her back home. She slaps his hand and while Chihiro sees Rea and her father having a discussion near the cliff, Rea tries to tell her father that he doesn’t own her body and soul and that she wants her freedom.
When his father is upset that she wants the freedom to love, he grabs her and tries to force her to the house and doesn’t want her seeing Chihiro. Meanwhile, both see Babu resurrected and that the resurrection potion that Chihiro created has worked. But as her father hates cats, he tries to kill it with a bar but Rea takes the hit and falls off the cliff. She is impaled by a sharp rock and falls to her death.
As Chihiro runs to her body and cries, suddenly the resurrection potion that she had drunk has kept her alive but now, Rea has become a zombie.
And now Rea lives with Chihiro but starts to show signs of rigor mortis and thus the resurrection potion is not perfect. So, he tries to find a way to preserve Rea’s body, Rea begins to fall for him, but also his cousin Ranko.
But what happens when Rea’s father, Dan’ichiro’s obsession with his daughter, is wanting her back into his home, despite her being a zombie.
VIDEO:
“Sankarea: Undying Love – The Complete Series” is presented in 1080p High Definition. Studio Deen did a very good job with the anime series. Colors are vibrant and there are moments in the series where the art backgrounds are actually beautiful to look at, while other backgrounds were static CG. Character designs and shading are well-done. But for the most part, the anime series is vibrant and I saw no problems with banding, artifacts or any other issues.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Sankarea: Undying Love – The Complete Series” is presented in English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and Japanese stereo. The anime series features crisp and clear dialogue and music, but while the anime series does have its moments of action and use of the surround channels, the soundtrack is primarily center and front-channel driven.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Sankarea: Undying Love – The Complete Series” comes with the following special features:
- Audio Commentary – Episode 3 – Featuring audio commentary with Tia Ballard (Rea Sanka) and Aaron Dismuke (Chihiro Furuya).
- Audio Commentary – Episode 11 – Featuring audio commentary with ADR Director Joel McDonald, Teri Doty and David Wald (voice of Dan’ichiro Sanka).
- Clean Opening and Closing
EXTRAS:
“Sankarea: Undying Love – The Complete Series” comes with a Blu-ray and DVD version of the series.
While anything zombie-related has become popular in Japan, from films to manga and even the Zombie walk through Roppongi, the question is if they can create unique stories that are different from what many people have seen before.
For mangaka Mitsuru Hattori, he strays away from the usual zombie infestation but tries to focus on bringing together a romantic comedy with something a bit more macabre.
In the anime series “Sankarea: Undying Love”, which is an adaptation of Hattori’s manga, the anime series is definitely an interesting, “think out of the box”, type of anime-series because the main protagonist is addicted to zombies.
Zombie video games, films, etc. he is so obsessed by them, that he wants to have a girlfriend that is zombie.
And your first inclination is, how is that going to happen?
Well, he stumbles upon his grandfather’s manuscript of a resurrection potion. His grandfather, known as Professor Boil, happened to be a well-respected professor in the United States researching zombies and having done experiments with zombies, as his grandfather tried to resurrect his grandmother, which he did accomplish, but only for a short time.
The anime series was interesting because each time it focused on Chihiro, it was more of insane, crazy comedy. The fact that everyone thinks he’s a weirdo because of his obsession with zombies and dreams of having a zombie girlfriend, his buddies are horny teenagers and he has a busty cousin named Ranko who likes him but also beats him up.
Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the spectrum is Rea Sanka, a daughter from wealthy family, she’s not very happy with life and is often depressed. But there is a darker storyline and it is the fact that her father is strict, a germaphobe and so he wants his daughter to stay inside the house and obey his every command. But even worse is the fact that her father has a thing about taking pictures of his daughter in the nude for each birthday, in order to document her growth. Suffice to say, there is this incestual atmosphere that is very uncomfortable to watch. (Note: I don’t want to spoil the storyline but for concerned viewers, the act of actual incest does NOT happen in the anime series.)
Until, Rea becomes a zombie and starts living with Chihiro. And thus, the anime becomes a romantic comedy as Rea is now free away from her father, getting taken care of by Chihiro, while Chihiro tries to find ways to prevent the rigor mortis from settling in and killing Rea.
But as this anime series is only 13-episodes long, the end of the 13th episode leaves the viewer with a sort of a shocking surprise and I would imagine that as the manga series continues, it leaves the possibility for a second season as perhaps this romantic comedy may get even darker.
As for the Blu-ray release, colors are vibrant. I didn’t detect any banding or artifact issues during my viewing of the series. Special features include two English dub commentary and clean opening and ending themes.
Overall, “Sankarea: Undying Love” is definitely a zombie storyline that is unique and the fact that it is a romantic comedy but also incorporating these dark, macabre elements, that surprised me. But the uniqueness doesn’t translate to awesome. Most of the time, it felt as Chihiro was constantly reminding Rea of how she should treat her body, to reminder her to eat the leaves and not to overdo it. And I understand his concern but I felt that the first six episodes were character driven storylines for Chihiro and Rea and then later for Ranko, Mero, Dan’Ichiro and Aria. But the storyline does pickup with the latter episodes.
But for those wanting zombie infestations, this is not that kind of anime series. This is nothing like “High School of the Dead” or “Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?” nor the “Resident Evil” video games.
For those wanting to see a weird, crazy and at times dark, anime series about a zombie-loving human and a zombie-girl, then “Sankarea: Undying Love” is for you!
