Kore wa Zombie desu ka? was one of the animes that we all enjoyed a good bit in the Winter 2011 preview podcast. The first episode was a very funny introduction to Ayuma, Hellscythe and Haruna, with episode 2 being the introduction of Seraphim.
Episode 1
It's ok, kitty. He's a zombie.
“The protagonist of this show is a zombie. Don’t try this at home!”
The show feels the need to remind us of this much, which… dammit, I felt like there was another show that included a message from within the episode. I know School Rumble had something about leaving the lights on, but that wasn’t as comedic a take as this is. If anyone knows, give me a comment. Thanks. Anyways, what I liked about this episode was that when we talked about it on the podcast, we were recalling a number of moments from the first episode and just laughing at how bizarre everything was surrounding Ayumu. From him jumping in front of a bus to Haruna getting stripped literally naked of her powers to Ayumu turning into a Masou Shoujou, episode 1 was on a roll from start to finish, and it was definitely apparent that Ayumu wasn’t going to live a normal life… not that he already was as he’s a zombie and he lives with a necromancer who he fantasizes as a kawaii imoutou. This first episode was a surprise not necessarily for being interesting (I had garnered that much when I saw preview information for it), but in how slap-sticky and how well-executed the comedy was. DEEN looks to do a fine job with the animation, as this show should go toe-to-toe with the other DEEN production this season, Dragon Crisis.
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Episode 2
Pretty clever to throw his forearm at her ala a shuriken.
Respectfully speaking, this episode was a piece of shit. Well, at least Ayumu is one according to Seraphim and Haruna. No surprise there, really. Seraphim, the Vampire Ninja did make her debut appearance this week (voiced by Youko Hisaka, who does Houki in Infinite Stratos this season), flaunting a pair of breasts that can rival Dragon Crisis’ Eriko, and has a hobby of the Tsubamegaeshi Sword Technique. Strange but intriguing combo of ninja and vampire, and certainly a strange hobby that she feels the need to repeat it 6 or 7 times. Her appearance was completely random and funny when out of nowhere leaves start circling around the dinner table. She’s actually there to ask for Hellscythe’s help, but ends up getting into a duel with Ayumu over who gets to be her servant.
Ayumu's got some ideas for his new "servant".
The action in the fight scene between the two was a piece of shit. I discussed on the show how Ayumu’s abilities allowed him to go above human strength, but that was at 120% in episode 1. Here, after holding Sera’s sword, he puts in a headbutt at 250%; is there a ceiling for this guy’s strength? Sera’s ability to turn herself and her sword into leaves was really cool looking, and she does use a shuriken to cover the ninja side of her abilities. She admitted defeat, even though she stuck Ayumu right in the head with that shuriken.
"Quit playing with it!... piece of shit."
Yuu actually got some good development this week in a couple ways, but much like the rest of the episode, it was a piece of shit. We find out how Yuu and Ayumu met, and of all the things to woo her over, after trying to strike up small talk by bringing up UFO’s, a break-dancing sequence got her attention. Kid has got some moves actually, that is until he lands awkwardly on his wrist. And while we’re use to Yuu writing things on her notepad, we’re not use to Yuu slapping the fuck out of Haruna for her “Die” comments. Based off of how the conversation was going, I did find Haruna’s use of, “Go die, you idiot!” a bit forced to anger Yuu, but hey, she did deserve a good slap for not making white rice.
Go Ayumu! Breakdance until ya break!
Comedically, I felt like the second episode was funny all-in-all, though this time it was mostly packed into the first half of the show. I’m thinking of blogging this show differently in the coming weeks than how I normally would with Freezing or that kind of series. This show seems to have plenty of gag moments, so giving my impressions of this show the way I am here doesn’t quite cut it with me and I think I can approach it on a funnier level, in such doing the show justice. One thing that attracted me to blogging this show was the number of moments in the show that made for a great Save Screenshot moment. Those will be included in the gallery below.
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* The CrunchySub opted to use “Piece of Shit” over “Piece of Trash”. Personal opinion, I prefer PoS over PoT.*