Not your typical anime, Highschool of the Dead(HOTD) tries to accomplish a lot of things at once without enough focus on anything.

It is an extremely popular anime, ranking 37 in popularity according to MyAnimeList. Over 800,000 people have watched it. So why is a show this popular not getting better reviews? Or better yet, what draws people to this anime if not for the reviews.

As many may know, HOTD is not exactly appropriate for children. And this is not simply because of the zombies getting their heads chopped off. It’s also because this is one of the most erotic anime out there. Sadly, this is what caused the disruption in focus throughout this show.

Almost every anime tries to give the viewers at least a little taste of action, comedy, and romance, with a bit of fan service here and there. They give these things along with something else to make it their own. HOTD goes for too much in it’s attempt at a great anime. You’ll be left feeling very awkward and confused while the show jumps from serious to comedy to ecchi to horror then to romance in the same scene.

While not all of the characters were necessarily likable, it is worth mentioning that they were all made to be unique from one another. Even the main character Takashi Komuro is fairly interesting albeit being somewhat of a generic main protagonist. Another thing that was done well with the characters is making it easy to understand where their heads are at. Many characters lose most of their sanity throughout the story, which isn’t surprising in the zombie apocalypse. Still it’s a good thing to see interpreted into the show.

I cannot however finish talking about this anime without discussing the animation itself. Madhouse studio is known for producing amazing animation. This holds true for their work on HOTD as well. While not my favorite work by them, it still manages to be the shining point of this anime.

Overall HOTD is a fine anime with quality animation and pretty good character creation. On my personal MyAnimeList account I have rated this anime a six out of 10. It could have easily been an eight out of 10 or even higher had the story been fleshed out over a 24 episode series rather than 12 episodes. Anyway, these were my thoughts on the anime, let me hear your’s in the comments.