smearyllama said:
So far I've only seen a couple episodes of the show, so if I've just haven't gotten to the point where the exposition is over and the plot actually starts moving, please tell me.
From what I've seen so far, though, the show is kind of meh.
It's got great animation, and the voice acting is alright (I'm watching the dub), but the characters just feel a little cliched.
All valid statements. I was impressed that the nerdy guy was a gun enthusiast, though. Normally he'd be the one that, I dunno, hacks computers and whatnot, but it was a refreshing change of pace.
smearyllama said:
There's also the slightly creepy amounts of fanservice. Early on, while the characters are still dealing with the shock of, you know, zombies, we're getting a whole lot of panty shots and such. It just seems like a little much for early on in a show that looks like it's trying to be serious.
You know that expression "Trying to have your cake and eat it"? Never has there been a better example than this.
The creator is trying to do two things at once that not only
shouldn't be done at the same time, but rarely ever
can be done at the same time. There's a reason why you rarely ever seen works that have a massive emphasis on gore and an equally massive emphasis on fanservice. And, quite simply, it's because there are things that people like that they don't want to have overlap. You might like zombie movies, and you might also like porn, but do you want the two together? And I don't mean a zombie porno with hilarious production values that ends up just being two people shagging while wearing pale makeup: I mean a realistic, gruesome, and disgusting zombie movie.
Sure, the girls might be hot (or the guys, depending on the viewer), but can you appreciate that when half of them are screaming in agony as they get their ribcages ripped open? Hopefully no. And if yes, then congratulations: you're a part of a very, very select group that even /d/ doesn't allow in their club.
smearyllama said:
I might be wrong, and I might just not have seen enough of the show, but are these indicators of a bad series?
I'd like to hear your thoughts.
The sorta-ranting aside, there are some legitimate ways that the contrast of tone does detract from the story. For one thing, it degrades both aspects: a comic based largely on fanservice that dedicates half its time to graphic depictions of cannibalism will never be as good at fanservice as a comic that doesn't include the aforementioned cannibalism. Similarly, a zombie apocalypse story loses weight when the female characters have a group-bath scene or something.
Imagine a really funny joke. Like, the funniest joke you can imagine. It doesn't matter if it's funny to other people, just as long as you find it funny. Now imagine that joke, except also imagine that your family has just suffered a tragic and sudden loss. The joke hasn't changed at all, but the context of it has changed, and what was once funny has become crass.
Whew. Sorry 'bout the length. I guess it comes down to a failure of balance: if you want a violent zombie story and a fanservice series, there's a balance you need between the two, and that balance is
not the 50/50 that Highschool of the Dead has.
...oh, and I was really offput by the girls' chest sizes. They're supposed to be in highschool, for one, and they're supposed to be
Japanese. I know the writer wants them to be well-endowed, and I can live with what might be 'unrealistic' sizes, but Jesus Christ, show some restraint. After a certain point, it just gets downright creepy.
![[Kira Must Die]](https://eg-forums-escapist-data.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/data/avatars/l/68/68539.jpg?1620622912){kind=avatar}
Mostly because I love practically anything dealing with zombies. xD
