High School of the Dead OVA Drifters of the Dead Anime Review

Highschool of the Dead: Drifters of the Dead
Gakuen Mokushiroku Haisukuru obu za Deddo
Section 23/Sentai Filmworks
15 mins. - 1 episode - 1 disc
$9.98 (2013) Blu-Ray
$6.98 (2013)
ISBN 9781616153991
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Tetsuro Araki
Studio - Madhouse

Synopsis: One day Takashi and his friends were regular high school students and then the world ended in a zombie apocalypse.  A small group managed to stick together and survive the initial outbreak.  They include:

The group find themselves on a tiny island just outside of the city.
From left - Rei, Alice, Kohta, Saya, and Zero

• Takashi Komuro - childhood friends with Rei and best friend was Hisashi
• Rei Miyamoto - swore a pinky promise with Takashi to marry each other when they were kids, but she ended up dating Hisashi until he turned into a zombie
• Saeko Busujima - president of the kendo club, she is calm and reserved
• Saya Takagi - also a former childhood friend of Takashi's, daughter of wealthy and political parents
• Kohta Hirano - nerdy and overweight, he likes guns and has surprisingly good survival instincts
• Shizuka Marikawa - school nurse with enormous breasts, despite being the only adult in the group she is mostly helpless
• Alice Maresato - young girl whose parents were killed by zombies and was rescued by the group
• Zero - Alice's dog

Time to relax and have fun at the beach!

The group is on the run again and stop on a tiny island off the coast of the city.  The island appears deserted except for a summer food/clothing stand.  Taking the opportunity to relax without a horde of zombies on their heels, Takashi and crew don skimpy swimwear and enjoy a day at the beach.  What they don't know is the island may be harboring a dark secret and safety is just an illusion.  

The girls convince the guys to go foraging for food - from left:
Rei, Shizuka, Zero (being squished), Alice, Saeko, and Saya

Pros: A lot of funny scenes with slapstick and lewd poses, pushes the boundaries of fan-service (practically all fan-service), bridges the gap between the first and upcoming second season, good dub

Rei lies out to get a tan

Cons: Incredibly short at only 15 minutes, should have been bundled with first season collection (instead of a standalone release), nothing actually happens in the episode, total fluff(er) episode

Saya plays in the ocean water

Mike Tells It Straight: This title has one single, short OVA episode and it's a joke to release a standalone volume for it.  It should have been released with the HOTD complete collection set as a bonus feature.  I think this OVA was released with a volume of the manga in Japan, but it's not standard for a single episode to be sold in the US market.  I dunno, maybe it did really well because it was cheap and rode the popularity of the first season, but I have to think a lot of consumers were pissed to find out it was so short.

Takashi rocks the 'banana hammock' 

I watched the first High School of the Dead season and found it to be somewhat interesting, but focused too heavily on fan-service to be taken seriously.  While there were exciting moments and some small character development, the show is definitely geared toward adolescent males and its highlight was the jiggling boobies.  This episode took out all of the story elements leaving just the comedy and fan-service aspects of the regular series.

Things heat up at the campfire, but what's really going on?

It's not uncommon for an anime series to release OVA episodes which are just hot springs or beach visits.  Drifters of the Dead pushes the boundaries of the fan-service, but stops just short of baring full nipples.  This episode is pure T&A (even Takashi dons a 'banana hammock') and basically exploits women as helpless, sexual objects.  There, I said it.  The most recent HOTD collection release includes this OVA, but it's a premium release which costs a ridiculous amount of money.  Don't waste your money and it's actually cheaper to buy the regular first season plus OVA disc.  Overall, check out this OVA if your favorite part of HOTD was the fan-service.

It gets even hotter away from the campfire, whose hand is that!?

TO BUY and Recommendations:
 

High School of the Dead (HOTD) Season One Anime Review

Highschool of the Dead - Season One
Section 23/Sentai Filmworks
Complete Collection - 2 discs
300 mins. - 12 episodes
$59.98 (2011)
$69.98 (2011) Blu-Ray
ISBN 814131015617
Japanese/English Audio - English Subtitles
Director - Tetsuro Araki
Studio - Madhouse

Synopsis: Takashi is a regular high school student who worries about classes and friends.  He grew up with classmate Rei and has a secret crush on her, but she likes his best friend Hisashi.  The three are attending classes at school when the "Outbreak" happens.  Strangely violent people appear at the school's gate and attack a group of teachers.  The teachers begin spitting blood and then attack some students - it continues and soon the entire school is overrun by flesh-eating zombies.  Not only is the school filled with zombies, but everywhere on Earth has been struck by a highly infectious disease and society is beginning to crumble.

"Have you seen my homeroom teacher? I need to chop off his head."

Takashi, Hisashi, and Rei must battle their way through the killer hordes of zombies in order to find their families.  Other students trying to survive join their group and these include Saeko the beautiful president of the kendo club, Saya the girl genius, Kohta the overweight gun otaku, and the school's incredibly busty nurse Shizuka.  Along the way the group gathers more members, but those without a strong nerve and will to survive fall to the zombie horror. 

Great animation and background visuals

A teacher manages to join the group along with several students following him, but the group soon discovers the zombies are not their only danger to be faced.  Humans taking advantage of the breakdown of society's laws are just as deadly as the shambling flesh-eaters.  They come across many people suffering from extreme psychological trauma and acting irrationally.  Will there be any rescue from this nightmare, can the students survive, and what hope do they have to find their families?

"Get back you undead fiends!"

Pros: Tons of fan-service with a nude bath scene thrown in for good measure, violent and gory - just like any good zombie flick should be, good script/dialogue with decent dub, great animation quality, nice music, opening/ending sequences are well done, underlying theme of friends sticking together was nice message

"I've been wondering all day if these are real!"

Cons: Over the top, not much character development, they establish zombies use hearing to find their prey and then everyone runs around shooting loud guns *sheesh*, annoyingly cute dog (that makes a ton of noise, people!), too few episodes (this set is the first season and just the start of the story, which is still in development) making this set pricey

More bath time fun with Shizuka and Saeko

Mike Tells It Straight: HOTD is the best of both worlds - equal parts ample fan-service and titillating zombie horror.  It delivers at every opportunity panty shots, jiggling boobs, up-skirt camera angles, bondage moments, and even firing guns causing boobs to jiggle.  If you like fan-service then you're in heaven here and there's even a fun bath scene where the girls grab each others' boobs.  Whee!

Zombies attack!

This show is definitely not The Walking Dead - it's not serious and lacks any true emotional drama past the first episode.  The characters run around among hordes of zombies without a care in the world.  The situations are over-the-top and unrealistic to the Nth degree.  If you're looking for a serious zombie show then look elsewhere, but this one is an action-packed romp.

Takashi rescues Rei by using her boobs to lessen the recoil
on a high-powered rifle

Let's be realistic here - there is no such thing as a serious animated zombie show.  TWD is as close as we're ever going to get with a live-action show and we don't need to beat up HOTD just to vent our frustration.  It's going to be okay.  HOTD doesn't elevate the zombie genre and only serves as an amusing escape from reality with a heavy dose of T&A.  The show is still better than 90% of the B-movie zombie flicks produced over the last 30 years.  Check out the series if you dig blood-splattering zombie horror flicks, big anime boobies shaking all over the screen, and can live without a compelling story.   

The Walking Dead...they're not!

TO BUY and Recommendations: