Sankarea: Undying Love

I wasn't so sure about this show when I read about it. I try not to look to deep and spoil something that I shouldn't. Regardless, this show is very entertaining. Spoiler Free, outside from the summary information. Quick and simple for those that want to know if this is a go or not. Story: 8 This story was very enjoyable to me. It had just the right amount of comedy and ecchi without hurting the quality of the entire show. It pulls you in to see what on earth could happen next. With the whole plot around zombies, you cant usually go wrong, usually. The story will haveyou wanting things to happen and wish things continue, since theres only one season. Art: 8 The art was very good and on par with what I enjoy looking at. Everything fit and looked amazing the whole time I was watching it. I really enjoy eye candy. Sound: 6 The soundtrack was fine. There isn't a negative thing I can really say about it. Characters: 8 This is why the show is special, the characters. One crazy about zombies, one too rich to be free, best cat in the world and more await when you decide to start this anime. The chemistry between everyone is just great. The show really shines when you want to know more about the characters. Enjoyment: 9 The show was, like I said before, very enjoyable. The characters, plot and art all mix together to make a decent anime worthy of anyones time. Overall/Conclusion: 8 Overall, this was a pleasant journey. I begged for more in the end and that to me means that the anime did a great job. You'll love the situations they get into as well as the overall story. The art work just adds more praise to such a wonderful anime. If you like the idea of zombies and a bit of ecchi/romance then give it a try. I did and was thoroughly surprised.

Falling into 6 genres, Sankarea lacked a specific direction and yet remained enjoyable. The first 3-4 episodes focused on mainly building the setting on which the rest of the show would be based on, and from there it took the direction of a typical romantic comedy SoL type anime. Being a fan of many SoL anime, I found the rest of the show to be enjoyable. Those who do not enjoy SoL shows may be disappointed after watching the well paced, plot based first 3 episodes when the majority of the show is a character based comedy. As for horror and ecchi, both were incorporated into Sankareain an unobtrusive manner. Whist the first 3 episodes had horror undertones, the rest featured horror in a more comedic manner. Nothing overdone or such. Ecchi was also incorporated smoothly and presented in a subtle manner. Nothing too distracting and in-your-face yet still enough to provide service to ecchi-fans. Individual score breakdown Story: 6 After the first 3 or so episodes, the plot of Sankarea quickly breaks down into something similar to a SoL, with periodic arcs. Nothing really remarkable. Heck, the majority of the anime IS character/comedy based. It's still enjoyable, just don't expect some amazing plot. Art: 9 The art is simply superb. Not only is the quality excellent, the character design is also well done and each character takes on their own unique art style and appearance. The background is nicely detailed, and the atmosphere and lighting done just right. Animation is smooth as well. After watching the absolutely stunning animation/art of Fate/Zero though, I really can't give Sankarea a 10/10. Sound: 9 Voice acting is well done and brings out the personalities of all the characters. Background music could be a bit better, but it still integrates into the show quite well. The OP and ED are both excellent. Being an audiophile, I found everything to be recorded nice and squeaky clean. Character: 7 Other than the story, the character was the second weakest part of the show. Both lead characters were well personified and likeable to some degree. Unfortunately, every character was a subcategory of a cliché, but kept me interested through the rather... unusual circumstances the lead goes through. Enjoyment: 9 Much of the enjoyment stems from the comedy. Although it is no where as good as the better SoL/Romantic comedy/Comedy I've watched, Sankarea was mostly entertaining. Overall: 8 I believe Sankarea deserves better than a mediocre 6 or 7. The whole quality of the show is very impressive, and even though the plot and character is slightly weak, I give Sankarea a very good 8/10.

Tell me if you've heard of this before. A high school boy dreams to be with his ideal girl. Not too uncommon among romantic tales, but here's something that might run your blood cold, pun intended. He likes zombies. He really likes zombie girls, and one day, POOF! Due to plot, he gets to live with one. With a premise like this, what could possibly go wrong? Quite a bit actually, yet Sankarea stands out as quite the opposite, as something special. It, however, requires some context. Adapted from a manga of the same name by Mitsuru Hattori, Sankarea was directed by Shinichi Omata, with in-showcharacter designs by Kyuuta Sakai. Produced by Studio Deen, for something designated with genre labels such as “comedy” and “ecchi,” the series begins rather morbidly. Chihiro Furuya has spent the last several evenings putting his enthusiast facet to work searching for a way to revive his beloved deceased cat. During a couple of these dusks, he overhears the strained cries of a girl his age, desperate to lead a normal life with friends and outings. She's no other than Rea Sanka, the school idol of the local prestigious girl's academy and the sheltered heir to a rather wealthy and influential name. And, through one direct encounter, the zombie otaku and the school idol end up hanging out and working through the nights on what now became a joint project, neither being intimidated by the other. In the most natural of fashions, through this relationship the show breaks down the walls of the stereotypes that would have otherwise defined these two. Chihiro, outside his odd persona, and Rea, outside her perfect exterior, reveal themselves to us as characters of depth: sensible, quirky, considerate, kind. In fact, the show does very well, for the most part, in coaxing out the stuff of substance from many of the cast, even the most despicable ones. Make no mistake, comedy is a prominent fixture in this show, and a welcome one at that, characters playing off one another in funny and even clever ways that forgo heavy reliance on exaggerated visuals. In fact, such restraint promotes that underlying sentiment of unease that balances the frivolity and serves to make the show compelling in a meaningful way. It's this ever-present feeling of tragedy that makes the moments that are meant to be tragic doubly so and the instances that are sweet more bitter than before, tragedy that's driven by two factors: One is zombieism itself. Far from being just a fun, but ultimately needless accessory, the show utilizes key aspects of this condition to derive really compelling drama. The specter of mental health and physical well-being wasting away overtime looms in whatever air our two leads breathe, and while the living dead gain abilities such as super-human strength and insensitivity to pain, they also lose precious things that we, as people, take for granted. The capacity to bask in the sun, to feel warmth, to shed tears. Two is how zombieism is applied to Rea. To live under the confines of a suffocating patriarch who's, at best, neurotically obsessive and, at worst, possessively abusive to his daughter, where his affection for her is that of a blur between love and lust, and a jealous matriarch who doesn't give a damn, she's like a songbird in a cage, crooning for her freedom. And so the songbird becomes a zombie. A tragic paradox rings true: She feels more alive dead than she otherwise felt living, and here's where everything falls together. No matter how much she aches to be normal, she can't. She's cheated out of experiencing life to the fullest because her condition chains her down. While the show flirts around humorously with the premise of zombie love, it also holds no illusions to its implications: wish-fulfillment, if not precisely necrophilia. But taking care of a zombie girl is a lot more emotionally demanding than can be preconceived, Rea living with Chihiro as much a romantic nod as it is sanctuary and liberty from her folks, the chemistry of this relationship, from before the girl becomes a zombie, to after the girl becomes a zombie, feels undeniably genuine, and the question is brought up constantly, aloud and not. Is this a lust toward zombie girls, or a love toward a girl that now happens to be a zombie? Any review of this show would be remiss without at least a mention about the direction. While this is Omichi's first project as the head director, he's worked on a number of Shaft projects. He's a Shaft veteran, and, for anyone familiar with Shaft's style, that influence is apparent from the get-go: camera angles, theatrical metaphor, abstract imagery etc. But rather than being a mere copy and paste of Akiyuki Shinbo, whose application of said style can be heavy-handed and sometimes irrelevant to the narrative (to make the visuals superficially striking through its unorthodox-ness, in other words), Omichi co-opts the style as something his own, that carries meaning every time is utilized in place of the mundane (which I think is rather beautifully rendered, by the way) rather than something that is abused for novelty's sake. Something like a painting or curtains rising and falling to bring the audience in and out of flashbacks adds to sad and bad memories in not only a new way. It adds a whole new layer of melancholy by probing the emotional implications of these ruminations. Something like an arm fading away into nothing in place of a normal slap of the hand conveys far more than a one-fold rejection. In addition, the pacing goes at a slow, but natural pace that's embedded with a decent amount of subtly that allows the audience to really know about the characters rather than know of them. An example of said subtly can be found in the male protagonist's usually reserved deadpan of a snark sister, Mero, both in Episode 1 and Episode 9. Also, if it can be helped, I recommend watching Episode 9 before watching Episode 8, since Episode 9 takes place chronologically before Episode 8 anyway, and has unfortunately been perceived as a rude detour, what with it being placed in a middle of an ongoing crisis, so much so that its beauty and genius has been dismissed as mediocre filler. All of these wonderful things being said, the show suffers substantially on a few fronts. Ecchi. There are actually interesting uses for it in the show. Sparingly, it's great when it's used to convey atmospheres of the frankness of freedom and the desperation for affection. Sparingly, it's amusing in comedic moments, or at least tolerable. However, the show also goes somewhat heavy-handed on it for titillation's sake, something which mars characterization and, in general, is just in bad taste, what with how grim, but well-told the series otherwise is. And while the characterization is very good, for the most part, the show also plays up the gimmicky troppiness of some of the characters in a way that can get irritating at times. Now to end on a happy note, pun intended. Well, maybe not happy, per say, but the audio and visuals of the OP and especially the ED are impressive. The OP “Escoragoto” was done by nano.RIPE, and while I can't say I'm a fan of nano.RIPE's vocalist on her own, the melody, combined with the musical accompaniment, drum set, electric guitar, electric bass, makes for an energetic, uplifting piece that, even then, is tempered somewhat by some of its bitter visuals. Outside of introducing the cast, the OP does a great job saying a lot about each major character without saying anything, in particular, the segment involving Rea surrounded by her parents and household, this really fake, almost dead countenance of geniality pasted on her face when gripped on the shoulder by her father. Even the title “Escoragoto,” translated from Japanese, means “fabrication” or “pipe dream.” But if there's any one concise thing I could show to anyone that demonstrates the level of respect the show has for its material in a brief one minute, thirty minute music video, it would be the ED “Above Your Hand,” by Anabel. Soft, sincere, beautiful vocals accompanied by classical guitar, then electric bass, then the drama of the drums set and embellishing echoes, before revolving back to guitar, the visuals, which take place in the backdrop of the bowling alley Chihiro and Rea first met personally in, plays well with the classic dichotomy of dark and light which, when the female protagonist faces the light's source, is greeted by the male protagonist. She's much a figurative as well as literal person brought back to life. There's not a whole lot wrong with Sankarea. In fact, it does a lot of things right. It dares to something smarter, darker. More insightful, and heart-warming too. And, for the most part, it succeeds on every account. I give Sankarea an 8 out of 10.

Sankarea is an adaptation of Hattori Mitsuru's light novel series. Mostly, the anime stayed true to the manga and as such many of my issues to do with the show stemmed from the poorly written script. *Please stop reading here if you have not seen the show and do not like spoilers* Story: 4 The story is of a young sheltered girl trying to free herself from the clutches of her very strange family - namely an abnormally obsessed father and an indifferent mother. The main story itself was quite interesting but that is where the positive ends. In trying to establish a deeper story, Sankarea poorlyspends its time revealing the back-story of some of its characters. To begin, episode 7 which was dedicated to explain how Wanko developed feelings for the protagonist had issues. It begins by her crying as she runs alone in a cemetery. Viewers are left confused as to the reason she cries. Did she seriously just run into a cemetery to get scared? The point is, for a show that feeds the viewer information and does not employ undertones, this one scene is poorly explained. Moving on, the show never makes clear if Chihiro's family is aware of Rea's 'zombie' circumstance. For most of the show, his Dad and sister seem confused as to why Rea chooses to only eat those hydrangea leaves, however in episode 9, it seems that Mero is fully aware that Rea is a zombie. On that note, did they seriously place that filler episode 9 in between the "climax" of the show? Talk about terrible sequencing. The end of the show signaled the possibility of a second season but I cannot stress how poorly done it was. It did not create the cliff-hanger effect intended, instead it just left the audience feeling dumbfounded. Why would the director even end the show there instead of a bit earlier when some resolution was achieved (after Rea's Dad left)? The scene where Chihiro fends off the dog to save Wanko was pathetic. The dog just stood there and barked without attacking for ages and was scared away by a little kid who looked like he could support the weight of the bat... unreal but effective in winning over Wanko's heart. Besides that there was episode 10 about Rea's mother. But that will discussed more in the character section. Art: 6 The art did not break new grounds. The background and scenery was good but the characters sometimes looked strange from angled shots. The use of changing weathers to create an atmosphere was over-used to the point that it didn't create the desired effect when it really mattered (episode 11). There are also many inconsistencies in artwork that should not have been ignored. For instance, when Rea fell down and got up there were not wound marks left. Also when Chihiro was stabbed, where is the blood when Rea removes the blade from his body? Why is it that he only starts to bleed profusely once he has collapsed and finished his little "talk"? There is no suitable excuse given how much blood was poured earlier in the show when Rea "died". Sound: 5 The voice actors did a decent job. Although it was probably hard for them because the characters were lacking in personality. The ending song was mediocre. While liking some other works by Nano.Ripe, the opening song may have been good, but did not seem to fit the show very well. The music in the show itself was just okay as it did not really enhance the feel of the show in any way. Character: 1 I don't know if I have ever seen such a pitiful cast before. The characters are about as uninspired as the title of the show. There is zero character development, mainly because every character is one-dimensional. It is almost as if the characters were given one stereotypical role, and that is all they do, quite horribly though. It is difficult to relate or like any character in the show, because they are ultimately just empty shells. They may think or talk about their feelings but this does not give them extra depth. Additionally, these characters talk about responsibility and things they need to do. Yet none of these things seem to be very high in their agenda. Here is an example: How does Chihiro plan to preserve Rea's body? He decides to stop trying to look into books and follows his grandfather's advice to observe. What can possibly achieved from this is only noting down the rate Rea rots away. But I guess his pervy and lazy desires are satisfied in the process and so he sticks with it. Strangely enough in episode 10, Rea's mother while wallowing in self pity and filled with tears she continues to watch on as her husband takes naked photos of his daughter. The servant who also knows of this does nothing to intervene. It seems that Aria does not feel enough anger nor does she have enough morality to stop the act. Also, the servant who knows of it does nothing as well... very strange that they aren't calling the child abuse hotline or something. Yes, the characters in Sankarea are unbelievable. Another example is when Chihiro gets stabbed, it doesn't seem to matter to all the maids watching. Their loyalty is truly commendable. Also, after getting up why didn't Chihiro just report Danichirou for assault, did he forgive that bastard after seeing how "cute" Rea was in a nurse outfit? As per normal, the main character in a shounen is always dense but Chihiro was surprisingly sharp in episode 6 when he told Wanko "She's (Rea) not my girlfriend or anything" as a way to thank Wanko for donating some clothes. It's almost as if he knew Wanko's feelings in episode 6 but not in the rest of the show... Interesting. Enjoyment: 2 Sankarea had potential but was poorly executed. It did not satisfy the genres listed. No horror, lack luster comedy, and little romance... If anything, this anime did not even present romance in the roundabout fashion that many shounen do. The lack of real emotions and unlikable characters really made this show a difficult watch.