High School of the Dead 5

The Matrix?

Oh my God. I couldn’t stop laughing at the end of this episode. That fight sequence was ridiculous even by anime standards. I was easily able to get past the huge air that the bike made; I was even able to get past Takashi throwing Kouta the revolver and him firing two shots within a second. However I just couldn’t stop laughing when he catapulted Saeko into a flying, spinning leap that would make even the best Russian ice skaters explode. I imagine that one of my neighbours was annoyed to hear their wall yell: “BUSUJIMA SPINNING ATTACK-U!!!” Thankfully I can say that I enjoyed this episode more than the last, and that is the last time I will mention episode four of H.O.T.D. in this post. Rika was a character that I found to be cool in the manga and that transfers well here, however unlike in the manga, in the anime her eyes freak me right the hell out. The combination of brown and purple colours isn’t exactly a design choice that I would make for a Japanese person (or any real person for that matter) but her red, pupil-less eyes just take the cake and make her character’s colour palette quite weird looking.

Thank you, sudden wind!

This episode had one of the best transitions that I’ve seen in an anime in a long time. During the fight at the end, before Takashi and Rei get to the bridge there is a shot of Saeko saying that the only thing she can do is fight, and then she rushes towards the camera at which point her eye changes to red and it transitions to the back light of the bike that Takashi and Rei are on trailing the red glow. That was just a phenomenal action sequence transition, something that I’ve come to expect from both Madhouse and Bones. I’m not the best judge of animation quality, though I do catch things when they’re just plain wrong or bad, but I haven’t noticed any drops in quality since episode one. It would be great if this anime could air in actual 720p but since it does not I guess that just means that the Blu-ray release is going to look incredible by comparison. I wonder if the last volume of the Blu-ray releases will have an extra episode considering that seems to be all the rage these days.

....

I have a question: WHERE EXACTLY IS SHE TOUCHING? WHY IS HE ASKING HER NOT TO SQUEEZE HIM!? WHAT IS UP WITH THE TEACHERS AT THAT SCHOOL!?! Okay, so that was three questions, but still. I bet a week before Takashi wasn’t thinking: “I bet that one week from now I’ll be riding a bike while sensei is sitting behind me grabbing my junk!” I bet he’s just happy that the sensei turned out to be Shizuka-sensei and not Shidou-sensei, ne? Hooray for creepy sensei continuing to be creepy this week as well. I wonder if he emits a particular smell that just makes people crazy because I just can’t understand why anyone would find him to be A) alluring or B) a good leader. If I was a survivor on that bus I would have followed Archer, Lancer, Saber, Berserker, Caster and Takagi off of that bus faster than you can say: “weird reference.”

Takashi brooding face of the week.

Another episode and another ending sequence, although I’m not so depressed at this only being a one season show anymore as it means that they’re probably planning to test the waters, see how this anime does and then finish it up when the manga finishes. I hope the manga finishes soon simply because that is not a manga I want to see dragged out and I get the feeling that it might be. The narrating that Takashi does always gives a sense that he is talking after the events themselves, but he never gives reference to any individual person so we can’t know if anyone else except Takashi has survived. Now that I think about it, it’s been a while since someone made a good zombie movie; the last zombie movie that I can think of that I liked was Dawn of the Dead. I also liked Land of the Dead, but that’s only because that movie is RIDICULOUS, and yes, that did require all caps. Next week is finally the episode I’ve been looking forward to, I look forward to both Alice and apron time!

/ 7 Commentsleave a comment /

• Kyokai says:

  August 3, 2010

  I was just wondering if Saeko has iron bones and elastic muscles to go looping across and land on her feet like that. Though, Kouta finally had that GAR moment; he’s so adorable!

  Btw, you should check out Shaun of the Dead too. xD

  Reply
  • Flags says:

    August 4, 2010

    Oh, I forgot about that one. I guess that would have been the last one.

    Reply
• Decre says:

  August 3, 2010

  Busujima would definitely make any guy she is with her bitch. Hands down. lol

  Reply
• TheSuspiciousRedLamp says:

  August 3, 2010

  Hurray for the weird references that you made, Flags. DDD definitely has an impact on what you write (which means, references that doesn’t make a damn sense).

  Anyway.

  After this horrible fourth episode, it’s nice to see that the main story is finally back and my man Kouta was incredible this episode. Just because he’s voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama makes him ridiculously hot-blooded when it’s needed. And I have to agree with you: Next episode = Ultimate Appron. Can’t wait for it XD

  Reply
• Mikoto says:

  August 4, 2010

  Prepare for some hardcore censoring next episode. =/

  Reply
• panamakira says:

  August 7, 2010

  Yeah I liked this episode too~ There was a lot of kickass action! and although I find the creepy teacher, well "creepy"….I bet he's gonna add a lot of interest to the show though~

  Reply
• Canne says:

  August 8, 2010

  Now that I think about it, it’s been a while since someone made a good zombie movie; the last zombie movie that I can think of that I liked was Dawn of the Dead.

  You really need to see 'The Crazies', though that movie still falls short of craziness compared to HOTD :P

  Reply