She used to beat the hell out of her kendo classmates simply because she could, and she’s having trouble adjusting to a world in which those desires to cause pain are not only acceptable, they’re coveted. What’s raging under the surface, however, is massive guilt over the fact that she likes causing other people pain. She’s calm and collected under pressure, and she’s almost a second-leader under main character Takashi.

We’ll start with Saeko again, because despite all the aforementioned evidence against her, she’s kind of my favorite.Ī year older than the other high-schoolers in her party, she’s set up as the stoic badass of the bunch, able to deal out death to the undead with extreme prejudice. Seriously, these characters have well fleshed-out personalities and histories that rival and expand beyond their well fleshed-out, well, flesh. Not Pictured: The emotional trauma sustained and supportive relationships built by impressionable high school students trying to survive a world-wide apocalypse. Which is a real shame, because the show actually has a lot going for it underneath its sticky, unsavory exterior. In fact, many people aren’t going to be able to get past the absolutely overbearing pandering to the otaku demographic. It’s a bit excessive, is what I’m saying, and it outwardly supports the notion of woman as sex object. You can watch the scene if you don’t believe me. All while cartwheeling around in a miniskirt. In the heat of battle, Saeko’s breasts somehow develop a sentience of their own and move in opposite directions from one another as a bullet fired from a high-powered sniper rifle passes harmlessly between them. Take the infamous bullet dodging sequence carried out by dark-haired Saeko up there. A lot.Īdd in some completely unrealistic breast physics in the action scenes, and I have no idea how young Japanese men don’t come out of adolescence completely scarred by these shows. Did I mention that they also play with one another’s breasts, the naughty bits carefully camouflaged by steam? Because they do. The entire episode is about a bunch of girls stripping down and having a relaxing soak while the zombie infestation continues to rage outside.

Now, the show never degenerates into downright porn, but it comes pretty close in some places, specifically the communal bath scene that seems to have replaced the requisite anime hot springs episode. (I dare you to google this show with safe-search turned off, but only if you’re 18 years of age and up.) Even the best shows fall prey to it, but they rarely rely on it the way High School of the Dead does. Can you guess which ones?Īnyone who has watched a lot of anime can tell you that fan-service is a part of the culture: it’s a marketing ploy to get hardcore otaku to buy into a franchise regardless of the strength of its storylines or characters. Two of these four people will be naked by episode seven.

Highschool of the dead reddit