Kore wa Zombie desu ka? OF THE DEAD: First Impression

This is a direct follow on from the first series so I think no introduction is required. The first episode does that for you, with a quick reintroduction of what the first series was about, ie the interesting cast.

This season takes everything that was awesome about the first season and puts it all together. It's hilarious. All the original characters are back with a few new cool additions. The only thing that irks me is it's so short! With only 10 episodes, I'm curious as to what they are doing with this series. What I definitely know is, if you loved the first series, you will surely love this. I don't know how I managed to catch onto a series like this since I'm generally not a comedy kinda girl.

Quick character reintroductions aside, the first episode gets right into it with all the hilarious jokes all over again. Everything is so silly and exaggerated, and I can't help but laugh. I'm definitely going to be enjoying this series.

D-6: The Best Anime of 2011「PRODUCTION」

Kicking off the countdown to 2012 with the best of 2011 by production. Please keep in mind that these are purely my personal opinions and therefore are constrained to the 40 or so anime I was able to see this year. That being said, let's start.

VISUALS
Visuals are a huge part of why I watch anime. If it doesn't look 'pretty', the chances of me picking up the anime is reduced by 50%. If it looks nice, you can't guarantee I'll like it, but I'll definitely watch it. So here are my top 3 for 2011.

3. Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

This series might not have any of those epic fight sequences the animation looked beautiful. I loved SHAFT's fancy camera angles and the scenery. I also adored Buriki's character designs. Definitely my favourite character designs for the year.

2. Shakugan no Shana III

Shakugan no Shana is one of my favourite series and I've always recognised it for it's impressive visuals. The finale definitely did not disappoint in that aspect.

1. Fate/Zero

Ufotable did an absolutely amazing job with this. It definitely doesn't look like a low budget production and I don't think I've ever seen so much work put into an OP in my entire life. Hands down one of the most beautifully animated series I've ever seen.

Other notable series: 
Hanasaku Iroha, Guilty Crown

STORY
While visuals are the part the gets me to start watching, the story is by far the more important factor that keeps me coming back.

3. Usagi Drop

The kind of story that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It didn't have the over the top melodrama that this kind of series generally has and I liked that.

2. Fate/Zero

Shaping up to be one of my favourite series of the fall season and perhaps of the year, Fate/Zero is full of clever dialogue and cliff-hangers that keep me coming back for more. I've also read that it's quite faithful to the original light novel but I haven't read that.

1. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

A beautiful tear-jerker.

Other notable series: 
Gosick, Ao no Exorcist

SOUND
Where would a series be without the awesome background music to set the mood for the story?

BGM - Kore wa Zombie desu ka?
I don't feel as if I've heard any outstanding soundtracks but when I think of background music that I like this particular show comes to mind, especially with this track.




OP - LiSA - oath sign (Fate/Zero)




Other notable OPs: 
KOTOKO - Light My Fire (Shakugan no Shana III), Oogame Akua - Os-Uchuujin (Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko), Nakano Aiko - Camellia no Hitomi (Hidan no Aria)

ED - Komine Lisa - Unity (GOSICK)



Other notable EDs:
Aoi Eir - MEMORIA (Fate/Zero)

Insert Song - Tomatsu Haruka - Monochrome  ~version de l'apprivoiser~

Kore wa Zombie desu ka?「REVIEW」

This was far from one of the best but it was quite the entertainer and not your typical zombie anime.

Most of the time I felt the story had no direction so after a while I pretty much disregarded the story and just watched the show for fun. Initially, it was about your average high school boy who happens to be a zombie on a quest to discover his killer but after he does find out (in episode 5) the show just loses direction and purpose. It seemed as if the story just ended and they had nothing left to tell. There were a lot of dark, emotional scenes but none without a mood killer or a joke tacked on the end. The show always walked along the border of serious, dark, action anime and a comical romance one. It seemed unsure in which approach it would be taking so I never really knew what to expect. This was really one of the downsides to this show that prevented me from scoring it any higher.

The characters were actually one of the things I really liked about this anime. They were really original in not just who they were but what they were. Take Seraphim for example, she's not just a ninja but she's a vampire ninja. Also with the 'masou shoujo' which is a play on your typical mahou shoujo, meaning magical equipment girl rather than just magical girl. They're really just not the typical characters you'd find in a harem. If you don't believe me, just look at Ayumu. He's a zombie. As a harem lead, he's not a complete failure. He does have his redeeming qualities. I mean he is your average teenager but when thrown into some ridiculous situation he demonstrates some pretty cool badassery.

While I really liked the characters, the art was by far my favourite part of the show. Artwork is generally what grabs my interest in an anime. It's always the first thing I look at even before what the show is called. In this case, it was at times the only thing that kept my interest. I loved the character designs, the soft lighting and the backgrounds. It was also great not to see any extremely exaggerated sizes in body parts which is rare in the ecchi genre these days. The way the violence was drawn, for example slicing a body in half, was more funny than gruesome and I'm the type to cringe at graphic violence. It wasn't so extreme in this case which was a real plus for me.

A further plus for this show would be the soundtrack. I can't really comment on voice acting because to be quite honest, I can't really tell if it's good or bad. The soundtrack on the other hand is a completely different story. It was done by some composer I'd never heard of but it went so perfectly with all the scenes conveying the emotion so well especially during action, suspense and melancholic scenes. My favourite song from the soundtrack is below.

Overall, I'd recommend this if you like light comedy and want to watch something purely for enjoyment. If you're looking for something a little deeper, unfortunately you won't find it here. If a well defined plot is essential for you then this probably isn't your cup of tea either. Plot aside, I found it a thoroughly enjoyable series although a little disappointed with the mood killers and the plot that wasn't really there so in overall quality I'd rate this a 7/10.