Gakkou Gurashi - Anime Review

From left to right : Kurumi, Yuki, Rii
Sitting down : Taroumaru (the dog) and Miki

So today I'm going to review an anime which is quite popular last season, which is Gakkou Gurashi. This anime wasn't in my "to-watch-list" at first but when everybody on the internet be like
"OH MY GOD! THIS IS THE SHOW OF THE SEASON!"
welp....
I'm curious about it so I watch it... so does it live up to the expectation?
I'm honestly a skeptical person when it comes to something popular... Because I believe that popular does not equal good

Since this anime is hard to review without spoiling it.. so this is going to be a total spoiler review..

Do you want a non-spoiler review? okay, here's a short version
Bunch of girls living their life at school and they spend their day on club activity named school life club....... the end

Since my usual format review is such a hassle to write, so from here and out, I will shorten my review.. *since I reviewed JoJo here, I feel that I should shorten my review hahaha* and I'm also currently writing a "Hunter x Hunter (2011)" review which contains 148 eps... so yeah... That'd be a long ass review if I stick with my older format XP

So let's just jump to the spoiler review shall we?

Yuki

The first episode kicks in with the daily school life of Yuki, the pink haired girl who is cheerful and apparently a dojikko and she spent her days learning stuff at school and so on.. And she chased a dog on a school
So at first 15 mins, I was like "ok, nothing's really going on here, just a girl chasing a loose dog in a school"
apparently in the last 2 mins of the first episode it is revealed that everything that we saw in the whole episode was only her delusion.. all hell broke loose! Apparently they are in zombie apocalypse!

I was like.... "Whoaaa~ that was interesting"

Yuki was like that dog comic where everything burns up and he said, "This is fine"

Up to that point I was thinking "Well that was an interesting theme" and I'm a zombie genre fan.. and this kind of theme is unique
"The psychological impact on zombie apocalypse"
You know when we watch The Walking Dead, the theme was "Human drama in zombie apocalypse"
or Shaun of the Dead "Humor on zombie apocalypse"
or another genre like High school of the Dead "Fanservice on zombie apocalypse"

but that was what I perceived after I finished watching the first episode......

I was expecting something more dark and psychological impact on the team...
but
nope
the anime just say "Hey you were expecting a psychological impact anime? But it was me, MOE!"
to me


yes dude... I can say that 70% of this anime is just moe shit with slice of life theme. with extra zombie as a gimmick


just look at the zombies! They are the least threatening zombies I've ever seen!

booo... I'm scary

I can't even see their face! Even mysterious black guy from Conan have some expression!

hi we're zombies...........

The story itself is actually quite engaging if there's no Yuki around... seriously tho.. I know they kept her on the show because the other characters wants to be reminded of how things were supposed to be before the zombie apocalypse.. but she make everything become moe and cutesy.. which is kinda kill the mood sometimes...

this anime makes one thing clear for me.. Moe and zombie just don't mix well...
Well maybe they want to follow Madoka Magica's formula, moe girls with dark theme

At the end of episode 8, it is revealed that the school that they stuck in (which contains a lot of things that is very CONVENIENT for survival. i.e : Garden, food stock, solar panel, water purifier etc) is actually a shelter built by the government in case zombie outbreak happened and they were given an instruction manual to evacuate immediately in case zombie outbreak happens

at that point I was like "*sigh* Finally we got to see something interesting"

but what did they do in the next episode?

THEY STARTED IT WITH AN OBLIGATORY SWIMSUIT EPISODE! BECAUSE EVERY MOE OR SLICE OF LIFE ANIME NEEDS THAT ONE EPISODE AT LEAST IN ONE COUR AIR TIME!

My god... After the huge reveal and they decided to "pretend" as if the last episode didn't happen... I was like "SERIOUSLY?!"  =___=;

But I have to admit that the episode 10 and 11 are the best episodes the entire series. when everything went wrong and these 2 episodes was something that I expected from this anime.. A psychological turmoil and dilemma on zombie apocalypse
for example when Kurumi (or as the fan says, the shovel girl) got bit by a zombie, and in the previous episodes Rii made a promise with her,
"When I am about to turn into zombie, just kill me! Do not hesitate!" 

but it is depicted that Rii is morally conflicted, should she kept the promise? Should she let her become a zombie? but that isn't that too risky? what should she do?
that is the kind of psychological impact that I was expecting from this anime!

Kurumi got bitten by Megu-nee (their teacher who turns into zombie which caused Yuki's shock which leads to her mental disorder) because she hesitated to kill her. That kind of dilemma is also shown in the first episode of The Walking Dead when the guy who helped Rick (totally forgot his name) is unable to kill his wife that has been turn into a zombie.
That what is interesting to be shown to the audience! That what makes us human a human!

which leads us the final episode, the ending is a cringe material for me

So in the last 2 episodes, the zombies finally raiding the school and everything just went wrong.. but Yuki has an idea to the broadcasting room and her plan was to distract the zombie with all of the speakers around the school

and you know what she said?

*I don't really remember how it goes but I think this is basically what she say*

"Dear zombie-san, the school time is over, just go home now.."

and the zombie just leave... and never go to the school again.....




wat the actual F????




THAT PLAN WORKED?!?


My god this anime...


And they just leave the school afterwards... and before they leave they have some kind of graduation ceremony bullshit because they are at school...


the opening song and the ending song doesn't suit me because it's just #2Moe4me

but the BGM is quite good honestly, the song that I love is when the groups saves miki from the mall. that song played in the car when they are on the way back to school..


so here comes to the final section.. should you watch it?
If you are a zombie genre fan, well, this thing will let you down, so don't... don't even think about it...
but if you are a moe lover, you should totally check it out.. if you are into that kind of thing...

I'd recommend you to watch a better zombie movie like Dawn of the Dead *yes I'm recommending you a live action movie not anime* which is my all time favorite zombie movie!


That's it guys, hope you find this review useful and fun to read of course!

This is Reikichi, signing out!