Highschool of the Dead, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

This product certainly isn't something for the little tweens that want more Naruto and such, Yen Press's translation of Diasuke Sato's Highschool of the Dead comes with all the '-kun' 'chan' 'sensei' and 'f' words in tact. Some think it's clunky to include the Japanese honorifics, but it was everything I was hoping for in an official product. I don't yet know how censored the product will be, but the gore and parental advisory warning has been a good start so far and hopefully the entire idea of zombie survival and fan service will keep it uncensored.

It's true the themes in H.O.T.D. can be seen in most zombie survival movies, but with so many films not making the cut anymore it's the perfect spin on a classic tale. But apart from gore and brief fan service this series will also take some time now and then to make you laugh, poking fun at the stereotypes this series itself endorses. Character development (something that is a little sparse in this series) will come a little later folks, so don't despair, it wont be a total hack n' slash story line...

And finally the only thing I can complain about is that there will be such a wait between the english volumes, but since the Japanese version has had very infrequent updates recently the manga itself it not to blame. Hopefully good english sales will boost creator's confidence. I'll be buying every volume, however, and the anime as soon as it's released!

I got interested into reading this manga series when I spotted an anime trailer for it a while back and it really into it. I am by no means a huge "fan" of zombie movies and of the sort because they never had real story or substance. But after opening up the wrapping for this series (it's for mature audiences only 17+) I was not able to put down the manga, I read it in one sitting. The art is great and the action is engaging. The flow of the manga is great for a survival horror genre. Basically the setting for the volume 1 is the high school where basically a virus broke out which made anyone who is bitten a "zombie". I am grateful that non of the content were censored, including the language and intense violence.

The story is still building up and is getting more interesting with each passing chapter as more interesting characters are introduced. I feel great character development coming in the upcoming volumes. All in all art was consistent, dialogue was great, translation is accurate, there was some fan-service (but it wasn't bad, it was just enough) and story/action was engaging.

So these factors should usually mandate a guaranteed purchase, however, the only beef I really had with this is Yen press's decision to make this retail at 13.99 which is ridiculous. Yes, I understand that this is mature and usually mature manga or books in general are more expensive, but there is Omamori Himari which is also mature and it retails at 10.99. And to top it off the volume of HSOTD is only around 160 pages (might be less). So I recommend that you buy this series when there is a good percent off the cover price (which Amazon usually has), I got my volume for about 8.20 USD which is a great price, even 9.00 or 10.00 is better than the 13.99 cover price. These are my thoughts and it sure was a fun read, I already have me second volume on pre-order.

Great story? It's zombies. But the teens at least get character development, you feel for them and generaly don't want to see them die. Especially Kohta...ah Kohta.
The story is the one thing keeping this manga from a perfect review from me. It pretty much seems like you're reading a side scrolling adventure with point and click controls. It doesn't feel like there is a different senario the characters would encounter if they headed another direction. At this early point in the story, they fight to survive, they arrive at school perfectly safe, no zombies in site, then by lunch the world turns to hell. One by one the 'main' characters meet one another and join up to fight against the horde- to survive and find their families, anyway. By the end of volume one you know where they are attempting to head next-I won't spoil it.
As for the art...the artist did hentai manga before this work was published. So boobs are a-plenty. But boobs in this story seem to just exsist for the sake of boobs-maybe except for Marikawa. His style is beautiful for the horror genre, the zombies don't just look like a glob of undead corpses. Looking at each one you can tell how they met their fate. And, while the main guy looks like your stereotypical douche who doesn't care, he's a much different person than you think by the first two chapters. hint: He seems like a real person than just a manga character, not many authors can do this.
the gore is just what you'd expect from a zombie slaying, apocalyptic story. Blood covers every single page, street, zombie, and even highschool girl.
So with all of these factors in mind, join Gun crazy, smart crazy, Takeshi crazy, blood crazy, little girl, and, well, Boobs on this wonderful adventure of blood, guts, carnage, boob bouncing, ecchi filled story!
I would not recommened to someone looking for a deep, meaningful story 'plot' wise. but it's good for watching characters struggle to make it out of desperate situations, or if you just like 'apocalyptic' stories. If you want a 'life changer' check out something else.
If you want boobs, zombies, blood, and violence then, welcome to Highschool of the Dead!