DVD Corner

Is This A Zombie?- The Complete Series DVD Review

“Is This A Zombie?” will appeal to fans of silly anime series.

“Is This A Zombie?” is listed as a 13 episode anime series, but technically it’s only 12 episodes and an OVA. At any rate, the series revolves around Ayumu, a functioning zombie teen who is brought back to life by a mute female necromancer of Hades named Eucliwood. Ayumu lives with Eucliwood and is soon joined by another roommate named Haruna (a magical garment girl who wields a chainsaw). The bulk of the series involves this core group of characters battling Megalos (monster beasts essentially) and Ayumu trying to discover who actually murdered him. Other key plots involve: Ayumu becoming a magical garment girl that has to fight Megalos, vampire ninjas (Seraphim and Mael), Orito (Ayumu’s friend who doesn’t know his secrets), serial killer murders, a mysterious girl named Kyoko, Ayumu getting married, another zombie (Yoruno), Eucliwood’s powers, a swimming pool trip, and an OVA about a festival trip.

Your enjoyment of “Is This A Zombie?” will depend entirely on your opinion of action-comedy haremy shows. If you adore that genre, you will likely get swept up into the slapstick humor, the fights, and the oddball situations. If you prefer more sophisticated anime or are more partial to serious anime shows, this show is not for you. So, where does my opinion fall? In the latter.

While there are comedic anime series I personally find amusing (such as “Shin Chan”), I failed to find any laughs in ‘Zombie.’ To me, the show is a flat-out dopey horror comedy that is more annoying than witty. The series mainly sticks to a formula that consists of of Ayumu getting into troublesome situations, random fan service, cheap humor (including crossdressing and pun jokes), and violent fights with Megalosized animals like a bear, crawfish, jellyfish a Doberman, etc. That’s really all the show has to offer. Sure, there is plenty of characterization and story arcs about zombies, killers, and vampire ninjas, but it’s all sadly forgettable.

Video/Audio:

The stylized anime series, which is presented in widescreen, looks sharp on DVD. With that said, it was a little disappointing to see this series not on Blu-ray yet. I wish Funimation would stick with the Blu-ray/DVD combo packs rather than releasing DVDs first and then Blu-ray somewhere down the line separately.

This set contains English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Japanese Stereo tracks. The English track is a little on the loud and whiny side, but the Japanese track is equally loud and rambunctious. I guess it doesn’t matter which track you choose here.

Extras:
* Trailers for “Panty And Stocking With Garter Belt,” “Level E,” “Is This A Zombie?, “Baka and Test,” “Shakugan No Shana,” “Toriko,” “One Piece,” “Strike Witches,” “Tenchi Muyo!” and Funimation.com.
* Commentary on episode 3 by ADR director Tyler Walker and voice actors Austin Tindle and Anthony Bowling. Not entirely interesting or informative, but I’ve heard worse tracks.
* Commentary on episode 7 by Tyler Walker, Morgan Garrett, and Jad Saxton. More of the same.
* Textless opening and closing songs.

Summary: I’m sure I sound like an old man here, but “Is This A Zombie?” is the type of loud and busy anime series that is more groan worthy than everything else. Recommended only for those who enjoy this genre of series.

January 19, 2013 - Posted by nicklyons1 | DVD review | Is This A Zombie?- The Complete Series DVD Review