Is this a Zombie? (Review)

Is this a Zombie? Is a More Silly than Shameless Harem Anime.

I’ve always been more than a little confused when it comes to fanservice in anime. However, after watching Is this a Zombie? I think I’m finally starting to get it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s always been a guilty pleasure of mine, but I never got the appeal of the absurdity. Is this a Zombie? though embraces the absurdity turning itself into a full-blown comedy that pokes fun at the whole idea of harem series where everyone is inexplicably in love with some random guy.

It’s hard to know where to start with Is this a Zombie?. Basically, the hero of the series, Ayumu, is a teenage zombie. Not the brain munching kind though. In fact, he’s pretty normal except for the fact that he can’t go in the sun for very long, possess super strength and is ridiculously durable. In typical harem fashion, he finds himself teaming up with plenty of women over the series who have varying feeling of affection towards him. Everything from a necromancer to a vampire ends up forcing their way into his house to take up residence with him. Together they fight monsters demons and baddies that want to take over the world.

I know a lot of anime fans are purists that only enjoy watching the subs. However, I strongly urge you to check out the dub of Is this a Zombie?. Not only are there top-notch performances from the likes of Austin Tindle, Jād Saxton, and Morgan Garrett, but they actually take the time to include modern American slang and jokes to help with the translation. They don’t change the context of the show, but I found the dub to add a little extra humor that left me in stitches. Sure most of these jokes are more than a little inappropriate, but the most important thing is that they land. There’s nothing worse than a dub that sticks to the original word for word and ends up losing a lot in translation.

Is this a Zombie? not only offers a lot of things that anime fans crave. More importantly, though it mocks a lot of the more well-known tropes that most people are familiar with. For example, one of the characters is a chainsaw wielding magical garment girl. In other words, Sailor Moon meets Leatherface. To make things more ridiculous, her chainsaw is “magical.” Alone this would be enough to make anyone do a double take. However, Is this a Zombie? takes it one step forwards and forces the Ayumu to take over her role while she recovers from injuries. That means he becomes a cross-dresser sporting her poofy pink dress. Oh, and there are plenty of grossly inappropriate upskirt shots of him (and he is wearing the panties). Then there’s the whole harem thing. While the girls might feel some sort of feeling endearing emotions towards Ayumu, they’re all disgusted by his perverted nature and give him plenty of crap for his shortcomings. Sure it embraces all the gags and cliches that come with the genre, but it does it in a way that is more silly than anything else.

The only real downside to Is this a Zombie? is that it feels unfinished. Despite its 24 episode run, you never really get the satisfying ending you want. Then again this seems to be a trend with a lot of anime I’ve seen recently. They build to an epic climax that never arrives. While there’s little hope of seeing more episodes in the future, you never know when a series might pull an Attack on Titan and release a new season years after the last.

What really sold me on the series is just how tongue in cheek it is. Like I said earlier, the dub definitely helps in this aspect, but the series itself takes cliches to the extreme. Of course, there are your typical beach and dating episodes, but these aren’t just there for you to look at 2D girls in bikinis. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of Is this a Zombie? is shamelessly gratuitous, but I think that’s what makes it so good. The fact that it is literally shameless. It’s in on the joke and knows how pervy it’s being and it’s fine with that. The characters, on the other hand, have plenty of opportunities to freak out at inappropriate situations, and the hero definitely has his fair share of “accidental gropings.” However, director Takaomi Kanasaki takes this all in stride, instead, he uses the series to point out that anime is absolutely ridiculous. This though it more from the perspective of a fan. Someone who enjoys anime, but isn’t blind to the typical pitfalls so many series fall prey to.

While Is this a Zombie? might have something for everyone from fanservice to humor to action sequences, it’s not an anime for everyone. The female characters are overly sexualized at certain points, but in a way poking fun at the main character. On the other hand, the hero certainly gets a bit of sexualization of his own (one girl says he has an “onion booty”). This isn’t an excuse for Is this a Zombie?, but I feel like this isn’t the same as such series like Sekirei or High School DxD. Those are trying to give fans what they want, and Is this a Zombie? Certainly does too. However, it also makes sure to remind you that this is just a cartoon and it’s weird to be sexualizing all these characters. It’s self-aware and that’s what makes it a series worth checking out.