Is This A Zombie?, or Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka, from Studio Deen is one anime I’d always missed out on seeing but finally got around to and let me say, the wait was totally worth it!
For those new to the series, the main protagnist Ayumu Aikawa has the unfortunate luck of being a victim of the neighbourhood serial killer. Lucky for him though, necromancer Eucliwood Hellscythe, or Eu for short, brings him back to life as an undead zombie. Eu doesn’t speak a word and instead communicates with handwritten notes. As if that wasn’t complicated enough, she moves in with him where he takes up the mantle of her servant. Upon battling one of the monsters in the series known as Megalos, he encounters Haruna, a Magical Girl.
During the battle, he accidentally absorbs her powers resulting in him becoming a new Magical Girl complete with cute Lolita outfit. Haruna also decides to move in with him and Eu resulting in hilarious encounters. Thrown into the mix some other interesting characters as well as an encounter with the serial killer who murdered Ayumu in the first place and you have a fantastic series loaded with fun, action and beautiful animation thrown in.
I found the story a bit reminiscent of Bleach with the whole substitute Magical Girl angle but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. Did I mention that it’s loaded full of fan service? If this is your thing, then this series has it in spades. Upskirts, panty shots, very busty females, there’s very little left to the imagination.
The packaging itself from Madman is really attractive though with a bright pink sleeve and attractive artwork, front and back. The discs themselves are beautiful as well although the only gripe I have is that they don’t mention Season 1 or Season 2 on them. The packs is a 4 disc set so if you mix the discs up, you really have no way of knowing which order they go in. If the season was printed on them, I couldn’t find them. I just had a quick look as I was typing this to double check and damn…the artwork on the discs is really exquisite!
Overall, this is a great package with a fun series that doesn’t take itself too seriously and audio/commentaries, trailers and textless openings/closings.
*Thanks to Madman for the review copy*
Final score: 7.5/10
