Kore wa Zombie Desu ka OF THE DEAD / Boku ha Tomodachi ga Sukunai OVA

Wow, been a while since I last updated, been playing a lot of Dark Souls and watching the current anime season, so I haven't been watching a lot of stuff that can be completed quickly.  While we're on the subject of this season, I'd suggest checking out Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!, Girls und Panzer, and Little Busters!  Anyway.

Recently finished Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? OF THE DEAD.

I give it a 5/10.  This is the second season of the Kore wa Zombie series, and continues the story where the first season left off.  Again, our zombie hero Ayumu fights off evil as a "masou shoujo," leading to a bunch of crossdressing jokes and LOL misunderstandings by his classmates, all the while surrounded by his growing harem of beautiful girls from the underworld.

Story:  There really isn't much of a story going on in the second season.  Every episode is filler.  The story wanders and before you know it, the final bad guy shows up but isn't confronted, leaving the show open for another season.  You'd think the show would end in a showdown, but ends up in a completely different direction and it's just a mess.  Kore wa Zombie was never something that would be applauded for its gripping, logical storyline, but this season took it a bit too far.  There isn't any point to it other than fanservice and jokes.  I was pretty much watching every episode just to get to the short Eu scenes after the credit roll.

Animation:  Like the first season, OF THE DEAD is animated by Studio DEEN.  It didn't hit me until I saw Kyouko's crazyface, which looks exactly like Sonozaki Shion's from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.  With DEEN, you shouldn't expect anything breathtaking, and OF THE DEAD is no exception.  The animation is pretty sloppy and is only barely passable.

Characters:  OF THE DEAD's characters run the gamut from necromancer to zombie to vampire ninja.  There's a huge female cast and there's at least a couple characters that anyone watching the show would enjoy.  One of the reasons I kept watching was because I liked specific characters more than I liked the storyline.  To say that Kore wa Zombie is character driven is an understatement.

SHE KNOWS.

Voice Acting:  The acting in this show is pretty good.

Soundtrack:  The score is okay, but nothing to get excited over.  The OP "*** Passionate" by Nomizu Iori (Haruna) and ED "Koi no Beginner Nan Desu (T_T)" by Yamaguchi Rie (Taeko) are both awesome, and their single albums are pretty good.  I really enjoyed their singles from the first season, which I still prefer to these, but they're both very catchy.

I would recommend Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? OF THE DEAD to anyone who saw and enjoyed the first season and doesn't mind fully character-driven anime.  I'd also recommend it to anyone who likes breast fanservice or masochists (Saraphim got a LOT of screen time, it seemed).  Personally, I stayed for Eu and Sarasvati, so take what you will from that.  If you liked this anime you'd probably like Highschool of the Dead, another zombie anime that focuses on action and a lot of fanservice.

I also finished the Boku ha Tomodachi ga Sukunai OVA.

I give it a 7/10.  This is the 13th episode of the anime, and I think this episode shipped with the blu-rays or something.  The Neighbor's Club is at it again, and a bunch of outcasts that have difficulty making friends with normal people somehow form a semblance of a relationship with each other.

Story:  From what I can tell (I haven't read the light novel), this episode follows an unaired chapter from the manga.  The characters create a "relay novel," that is, a short story where everyone takes turns writing a story.  After one page, the author switches to the next character, and so on.  Based on what we know of the character's personalities, we know that this can't end well, but it'll end up funny for sure, and it is.  This was one of my favorite chapters from the manga, so I was glad to see it animated.  It fits well as an OVA and doesn't interfere with the rest of the story.

Poor Meat.

Animation:  AIC did a good job animating this show, but there's something that bugs me about it.  I think the outlines are done a bit heavy, but that's just personal preference.  I love the detail they put into lips, you don't see that often.  The colors are vibrant and every episode of this show is a visual treat.  Being that this is an OVA, you'd think that there would be more put into it as far as animation, but I didn't notice a difference between this and the TV series.

Characters:  I like all of the characters in this show.  None of them can relate to a normal person by any means.  In their efforts to find someone to share their lives with, they find each other.  I especially like Yozora and Sena, although I doubt Yozora and Meat will ever be candid enough with each other that they'd outwardly admit that they're slowly becoming close friends.

Meat confirmed for foot fetish.  Why is it always FEET?

Voice Acting:  The voice acting is pretty standard overall, but Rika's seiyuu, Fuken Misato, is amazing.  I don't know how she does her scenes without passing out.  Her nonsensical, frantically escalating description of Gundam doujins is... something that has to be seen and heard.  How did she voice Yin from Darker than Black?  It's totally different!  Also, a personal favorite, Hanazawa Kana, returns as Kodaka's chuuni little sister Kobato.

Soundtrack:  The soundtrack is decent.  The OP and ED are both annoying, but somehow grow on you, especially the OP "Zannenkei Rinjinbu (Hoshi Futatsu Han)."  Both it and the ED "Kimi wa Tomodachi" are sung by the cast members.

I would recommend Boku ha Tomodachi ga Sukunai to anyone who likes comedies.  There's a LOT of video game, eroge, and anime references in this show too, so if you like that kind of stuff you'd like this anime for sure.  If you like this anime I'd recommend Seitokai no Ichizon, which has the same feel.