Is this a zombie? Review

For this week’s ABC Challenge I is for Is this a zombie?. This series I had previously seen 2 or 3 episodes years ago, before it was even dubbed. I thought it was very funny but never really got into it. I figured I’d give this one a reattempt because I was in need of a good laugh. And plenty of laughs I had. Without further I bring you a review of Is this a zombie?. Spoilers ahead.

Basic Plot

Is this a zombie’s plot is at best very convoluted, particularly the second season. Your main character is Ayumu Aikawa who prior to the series was killed and brought back to life as a zombie servant by Eucliwood Hellscythe. Euliwood (or Eu) is a necromancer from the Underwood that is so powerful that mere words from her mouth can kill anyone but as a side effect also causes her physical pain. A good of bit of humor comes out of Ayumu fantasizing saying what she writes down in a cute flirtatious way which is counter to her normal stoic personality. Admitted if just showing emotions causes one pain, I think I would be stoic too.

Early in the series, Ayumu helps a “magical garment girl,” by the name of Haruna which in doing so he inadvertently steals her powers. Since Haruna has lost her powers it becomes Ayumu’s responsibility to defeat Megalos which are basically spirits in animal bodies. Of course, this means he has to turn into a magical garment girl which brings its own set of humor. This is particularly prevalent in season 2 when he breaks the magical chainsaw, Mystletainn, which he receives his magic from, and can’t erase everyone’s memories of him cross-dressing as a magical garment girl.

Later, a vampire-ninja by the name of Seraphim (or Sera) requests Eu to help their village defeat their rival village. Eu says no. Sera thinks that by defeating Ayumu she could become Eu’s servant and she will help with their plight. When she loses to Ayumu she moves into his house claiming to be his servant, but in name only. Later the four of them fight Ayumu’s killer, Kyoko who is a magical garment girl who takes souls and gives herself more lives to live with. After leaving her with one life left, Ayumu chooses not to kill Kyoko and have her taken to jail. Kyoko however has her body taken over by your main antagonist of season 1, the King of the Night. The King of the Night was a former zombie that Eu brought back that lost his mind and killed all of his former comrades. Eu then fought him and told him to “go away” which basically left him to live his immortal alone. His mission became to have Eu kill him because he couldn’t handle immortality alone anymore. He accomplishes this by driving her away from her friends and almost drives Ayumu to become like him.

Season 2 picks up shortly after season 1. It starts with the previously mentioned inability to erase everyone’s memories. Which ironically, makes Ayumu a huge celebrity at the school. In order to get some perspective he seeks out a young-looking girl by the name of Chris. Chris as it turns out is a ‘villainous’ magical garment girl who led a coup against the queen of magical garment girls, years ago. She lost and was sentenced to life imprisoned in a middle-aged male school teacher’s body. The only time she is herself is when she is under the influence of alcohol. She’s technically your main villain for season 2, but she’s only actually villainous in 2 episodes and they imply she didn’t even do it.

Season 2 has several episodes that have nothing to do with the main plot and there isn’t much of a main plot to begin with. The main plot is technically them getting ready to fight Chris which never happens. They have episodes where they bring back Kyoko to find out Chris’s weakness. They also introduce a former associate of Eu’s by the name of Naeglaeria (or Nene) that beat Chris previously and seek her for help which all the end up doing is help her on her manga. The series ends with Ayumu failing a test by Haruna’s teacher and her taking his memories and the girls working together to get it back. Originally he regains his memories but his ‘sloth-like’ personality takes over his body and fights the girls. Eventually his original personality comes back after Eu shows him her old notes. But between all of these actual plot episodes they have episodes for a cosplay cafe’, a dance of death, and Eu being sick. All of which have nothing to do with the main plot. It’s a little messy of a plot.

Commentary

This show as much as I struggle with how disconnected and strange the plot was, I have to admit this show is hilarious. I was pretty much guaranteed to horse laugh at least once an episode. Whether it was from Ayumu’s delusions or some misunderstanding of one of the girls leading to him getting beat up, it was all funny. The best came from Sarasvati, when she became a main character in season 2. How nonchalant she is with her love of his butt is just hilarious. She having held no positive conversation with him starts calling him her ‘Darling’ because of his butt. What made it even better was how serious of character she is aside from that infatuation. I almost died in the episode where she explains her infatuation to Sera and Sera starts checking him out. As another note, the post-credits scenes with the Eu delusions and their interactions with real Eu are so funny I wish they were more than minute long.

Ok, this series is not for kids. Yes, it features mostly cute characters, but much of the humor I talked about is very ‘ecchi’. Ecchi for people who don’t know is a Japanese slang term for dirty or sexy. Your main characters end up naked every couple of episodes or so. Now note the nudity is covered but still, they are naked. You make pretty much guarantee a panty shot or two in every episode. By the way not all of which are from the girls. There are scenes with the Ayumu inadvertently having poles stuck up his butt and then him talking effeminately. Both Ayumu and his best friend have extremely perverted minds that the audience gets to see. Even the delusions that Ayumu has while not super bad are usually Eu saying something dirty to him. Now note all that I have talked about is pretty par for the course for most harem comedies, but this one was a little raunchy at points. Again all of this was very funny just not for kids.

This is another series that I can complain that they set up another season and one did not occur. Honestly, the ending of season 1 felt more conclusive than the end of season 2. Now note season 1 did another thing that is somewhat annoying and that’s end its main plot on the second to last episode (and no I do not include the OVA as an episode for the season). This basically lead to an OVA-like final episode, which was funny as hell but unnecessary. This is actually fairly common for anime though, so I can’t complain too much.  Season 2 ends with an introduction to a new character that is a girl with talking doll. She shows an interest in Ayumu that’s very foreshadowing to future events, but that’s how the series ends. Again I only include OVAs with a season, if they are pertinent to the actual plot and this one was not.

Conclusions

Is this a zombie? had some very distinct flaws but over it was very good. The plot, well for a series that actually had an overarching plot, was a bit of a mess. The concept though was very good and it wasn’t that difficult to follow. The characters were all very entertaining. Saving grace for the show was definitely the humor within it. It was one of the funniest shows, I have seen at least this year. Note I have watched so many shows this year so that this quite an accomplishment. I would say if you want some mindless humor and you don’t mind some sexual references to give this one a go. If you are looking for actual plot development though I would say pass of this one. I personally loved it, but again I was looking for something funny to watch. I also knew going in, that if you are expecting an amazing plot from a harem series you are generally looking in the wrong direction. Thanks and enjoy.