Highschool of the Dead – 08
Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream…
Hello everyone. Did you have a good day today? A bad day? Did it just start? My day just started, and I’m having a good day. Or rather, I know it will be a good day because I’m seeing Dir en Grey live later on tonight. I’ve never seen a japanese band live, so I look forward to all the screaming, headbanging and more screaming that will be going on. So if I seem a bit giddy in my post…forgive me.
Here we go, episode eight~! The President of the United States has been bitten! Oh noes! As amusing as imagining a zombie Obama is, I can’t bring myself to care much for the government. Next scene.
Meanwhile, Kouta – the softie sadist of the bunch – is singing with Alice as the hum-vee crosses the river. I don’t know how that massive car works, but I guess it has some river..crossing..mechanism. HOW HANDY. Alice and Kouta sing engrish english versions of the song (although Kouta’s is a bit more demonic) too. Ahahaha, oh Kouta. As Rei tries to hog Takashi from an adorable half-asleep Saeko, leaving her as the awkward third wheel, our survivors are already on the other side of the river.
“HANDS OFF, BITCH, HE’S MINE”
I’d like to remind everyone that Takashi was peed on the last episode and his clothes haven’t been changed, from what I can tell. Just saying. Anyways, all the girls get changed with some clothes Shizuka stole. We get some changing fanservice (do I even need to mention it at this point?) as Kouta tries to teach Takashi to use a shotgun. He’s rather stubborn, and just wants to use it like a baseball bat. He doesn’t listen very well to Kouta…*sigh*
FAAAABULOUSSSS~
Suddenly…everyone got new outfits!!! …Why do I not notice that big of a difference? EVERYONE HAS THE SAME SHIRT EXCEPT FOR TAKAGI. Oh well, they still look good, so whatever. AND SAEKO’S BOOTS…OH GOD. Rei is toting a big gun now too. Now that everyone is ready, Takashi and Kouta scout ahead to see if the coast is clear. Indeed it is. Surprisingly clear…So our survivors head to Takagi’s house, since it’s the closest.
*dere dere dere dere*
The ride through the streets seems different than on the other side of the river. It’s actually really pretty, and almost calming. Even Rei notices that they haven’t seen any zombies since dawn. However, with expert timing, that serenity is shattered. You knew it was going to happen, but Kouta’s voice piercing the soothing music is really jarring. I was actually surprised and instantly put on edge.
A calming pace soon turns into ramming through as many zombies as possible. Just as Shizuka gets her momentum going, Rei spots a wire fence up ahead. Shizuka swerves wildly to avoid it, throwing Rei off the roof of the car. Her back smashes onto the hood of the car, and she bounces onto the road, vulnerable to the zombie mob.
Groans are heard, signaling the approach of more zombies. They slowly shuffles forward, rotting limbs stretched out in front of them as….BAM! Takashi puts himself between Rei and the zombies, using a shotgun for the first time! He kind of sucks at first, and starts to panic. Kouta instructs him (while pwning some zombies. Multi-tasking ftw), and Takashi starts to actually get the the hang of it. In fact, he really likes it.
As Takashi gets into it, he runs out of bullets and scatters his back-up bullets everywhere. Saeko joins in and tries to fend off zombies too. At this moment, Takashi realizes how futile it is, mumbling “At least we can die together” as he hugs Rei. Before we even have a chance to feel bad, Takashi changes his mind, grabs Rei’s gun and gets in a position to fight back. I guess unfastening the gun from Rei would take too long, because he ends up just using Rei as a cushion. Every shot is accompanied by Rei’s sexual gasps, which is kind of…not hot. At least for me. Boys, feel free to disagree, I’m sure you enjoyed it.
OK, so, the first “follow the bullet” sequence was pretty cool. The second one where it navigates between Saeko’s breasts (which are doing the wave) was kind of LOLWTF. Still enjoyable in that “that’s so dumb, it’s awesome” kind of way though.
I…I…Wh…I don’t even think I should caption this…XD
Takagi is an asset for the team thanks to her strategies and keeping everyone focused, but now she makes herself physically useful! She grabs a gun, deciding that because she’s a genius, she will learn how to use it instantly. She learned a lot faster than Takashi, that’s for sure. You can imagine the frustration of facing death only a block away from your house, and your family. Takagi does NOT want to die for nothing.
The struggle turns desperate. Bullets are running low, Saeko is being surrounded, everyone is getting tired…They’re at the point where they want to give up. Even the DOG is fighting. As a last ditch effort, Saeko and Takashi team up (YEOSH) to try to lure the zombies away. They make as much noise as they can to do so. In the end, the zombies barely move from their spot, inching ever closer to the hum-vee and everyone in it.
Kouta tries to help Alice climb over the fence, but Alice isn’t dumb…she knows that when Kouta says “We’ll be right there” that he’s lying. Alice would rather stay with them than be alone, a refreshing expression of selflessness. Her life isn’t worth saving if she’s not with them. Awwww, Alice-chan~
Alice…one of the only little girls who isn’t annoying when they cry.
As things ACTUALLY feel hopeless, a few people in heavyduty protective suits come in and blast the zombies with what looks like highly-pressurized water guns. They’re saved! Cue happy reunion, it’s Takagi’s mom. WHAT A COINCIDENCE. Of course, why end on a happy note when you can leave us wanting more? Takashi and Saeko are too far away to just hop over the fence, so they have to go around. The two look beyond awesome whacking zombies together, and Takashi’s final thoughts are quite interesting. Despite the severity of this whole ordeal, and all these fights..he’s happy. He’s happy because after all that, he’s alive.
ZOMBIES. ZOMBIES EVERYWHERE:
I swear everyone in this show can hover in midair.
Takagi knows you love the fang.
I feel sore just watching this .__.
PedoKouta says: Y HALO THAR, YOUNG ONE.
Help, I can’t see the road past my boobs~
End Thoughts: This episode may have violently defiled just about every law of physics, but it provided a lot of fast-paced entertainment. Not as good as the last episode, but still quite good. Why isn’t it as good? Well, mostly because they were trapped and couldn’t do much. Despite being trapped and constantly losing, I never once felt like they were in any real danger. Every moment of “let’s die together” is always contradicted with someone not giving up, or Takashi changing his mind in an instant. If you want to make us feel like the struggle is desperate, commit to that idea.
My favourite scenes, I must say, all involve Alice. She’s still so pure despite all this chaos, it’s just so endearing. Especially when even she joins the fight, but helping Kouta find a magazine to reload. He feels bad that he can’t protect her from the horrors of this world, and gets a sudden burst of determination. I loved that scene~
I like where things are going overall. Highschool of the Dead has been pretty steady since the beginning (let’s pretend the fanservice episode never happened). It took all that effort just to find one family, I wonder how finding the other families will progress. I also wonder if the killing is going to get too repetitive, because if you reallly break it down, it’s just shoot, shoot, slash, whack. Keep the action fresh, and it’ll be fine~
Preview: I’ll be honest, I have no idea what is happening in most of these previews. I feel like I’m having an epileptic seizure or something with all those images being flashed at me. Anyways, it looks like SAEKO SAEKO SAEKO which makes me happy. Seeing some Takashi + Saeko action (Saekashi? 8D) will be much appreciated!
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
This was a odd episode..the use of bullet time effects was really strange..xD but entertaining in the end I guess, nice to see Saya’s mom is still alive! now I wonder who’s left for the others…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I think they’re trying too hard to think of action scenes lol. This episode was still good, but let’s hope they don’t go crazy later on lol.
At least one family has to be dead to add the drama, I would guess…Hmm…
POWUH: iLurker with 8 comments
man they are gonna end the season b4 all the good stuff happens…..
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Yeah…if they run out of steam before the finale, I’m going to be sad T_T Please leave something epic for us at the end!!!
POWUH: 1100-1199 and Meta's Evil rice-flour Product with 1137 comments
Matrix+boobies= 8D
liked the episode, also love how they manage to put in the best scenes from the manga,(Saeko+takashi scene next episode=…interesting)
also zeke pwned some zombie ass
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
LOL I was thinking Matrix too XD Yeah, they put in all the good manga scenes and added some too~ Kind of like how Saeko and Takashi got separated in the anime, yet in the manga they just go through the wires. This shall be interesting, kekeke~
Zeke! Yeah! I would want to be a dog during a zombie apocalypse…the zombies don’t even try to eat the dogs. So lucky.
POWUH: and Yaoi Fangirl~ with 2320 comments
i haaaatte the whole bullet scene. i mean, i get it, saeko is so awesome she can avoid bullets between her boobs. but don’t show it in slow motion! and that scene where takashi used that annoying girl’s boobs for shooting. their shapes are horrible! it made me think,”…my boobs can be like that?” xD
so much zombies, i regret watching this before i slept (>.<). i hope they're gona get better, because i'm starting to get bored ^^;
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Keke, I didn’t think it was that bad, but doing two bullet scenes in a row made it less cool (and the second one was kinda whack). So you would’ve been okay if it wasn’t in slow motion then? o.o
Gah, I know, her boobs were like water balloons…I don’t think we can do that, anaaga…LOL and let’s not try it either. XD;;;
I’m not bored YET, but I feel quite scared that they’re running out of ideas…Hope you didn’t have any nightmares ^^;
POWUH: 400-499 and Manly Russians lover with 401 comments
If anyone has read the manga, please tell me.
Where is the dfc? Really.
At least they had clothes on this episode. That made it watchable.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I’m only partway through the manga…don’t want to read the chapter that might correspond to episode 13 because I want to be surprised 8D dfc? Definitely had to look that one up. Deliciously flat chest? o.o I…don’t know about that one, Hato-kun.
At this point, whether they have clothes on or not makes very little difference to me lawl.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 190 comments
If I remember correctly… Alice would be the only one to fit in this “dfc” every other chick ranges from saeko to rei’s size
theres one more char that im thinking that also might fit “dfc” but you wont see her this season…
Well assuming that dfc = deliciously flat chest…
POWUH: 400-499 and Manly Russians lover with 401 comments
Alice is the only one?! She’s like, two year old! That’s sick!
🙁
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 190 comments
I just double checked the manga. Theres a dfc adult character :-]
But she probably won’t be in this season of HSoTD but she’ll probably be in Season 2 if they decide to make it
If you want some dfc’s from this summer’s season try Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi :-]
I guarantee there’s dfc’s there xD
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
lol Hato-kun, is this why everyone tells me you’re a lolicon then suddenly changes the subject when I try to ask why? XD Whew, glad that one was finally cleared up for me.
POWUH: iLurker with 4 comments
There’s always heaps of new Anime coming out, like 10-20 series per season. It totally gives us alot to look forward to – I just wish there were more romance titles, as I love them the most out of all Anime genre. All we get nowadays, is ecchi Anime, and they’re so overused, and boring.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Ahh, so you looked at our Fall Anime List then~? (maybe you should comment on that post instead of here so everyone can see it =D) Yeah, there’s a lot of series coming out this season and I’m excited~ I prefer action to ecchi…and sometimes it feels like ecchi is swallowing the entire universe, yeah (ok..maybe I’m exaggerating a bit). I don’t like romance though, so you’re on your own with that one 8D
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
I knew it, that they would make us pay back for the last episode! :XD: Though I seriously got worried on a couple of moments. Overall, I liked this episode. Except the Matrix bullet-dodge dunno-what-to-call-it cr*p…. That was just ridiculous…. But everything else was pretty good. I just love the way everybody is bound to each-other on emotional level, that almost makes my chest warmer. :tea minna~! keep it up! :cheer:
What I caught in the preview, they reminded me about Kakeru and Misuzu from 11eyes. Something bad is gonna happen, I feel it. :sigh It’s almost like a tribute to Saeko :scared I hope, I’m wrong…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
HOTD is wandering dangerously close to getting boring. Right now, it’s still good, but I’m scared T_T lol the bullet thing was pretty weird but I still ended up liking it for the sheer absurdity of it. XDDD
Yeah, everyone became so close so quickly~ Awww =D
Haven’t seen 11eyes (should I?) but let’s hope the large amount of Saeko isn’t to make up for some sort of death…I still think they’re going to make it to the house in one piece, but maybe I’m too optimistic @__@
POWUH: Meta Resident and Metanorn's Hime-chan~ with 1758 comments
Yeah, I’m not sure either…. And I too hope that they will make it in one UNHARMED, and UNBITTEN piece >> Let’s just be optimistic, okay…. :cold
You can watch 11eyes, I liked it for the art mainly, the storyline is developed poorly (I think so at least) and the animation is so so. But I think it’s good enough to kill some time at least…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
They can be harmed, as long as they don’t die…lol.
Ahh, if it’s only okay I guess I’ll pass. =P I like it when people recommend things for me to watch, kekeke >w<
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 190 comments
Agreed! Saeko in boots pushed me to my limits xD
LoL! Gotta love the b00bz physics especially the part where the bullet passed through Saeko’s
And this episode totally shows how good of a combination Saeko and Takeshi are (I mean look at all the near misses of Takeshi’s shots xD)
Something to note, in the manga Saeko and Takeshi get seperated from the group later on they are actually rescued together in the actual story line.
But hey! I’m not complaining against Saeko x Takeshi time >__<
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
YES! SOMEONE ELSE NOTICED THE BOOTS! 8D I like how EVERYONE is talking so avidly about the bullet scene XD It’s like…the main event of the episode.
lol yeah Saeko x Takashi make a great combination~ Okay, so they’re just messing with the manga timeline though. Thought it was something entirely new =P Thanks for mentioning it ^.^