Final Thoughts: Highschool of the Dead, Occult Academy

Summer 2010 turns out to be a disappointing season. I shouldn't have been surprised. My shortlist contained only 5 titles, not to mention that I was only really watching 3 shows in all and I still couldn't get interested enough to blog with the fervor with which Jute used to do. I thought at first it was just me. I've been through two seasons of anime since I took over this blog and I haven't exactly been great at it. It's not for lack of trying. I have tried both being discriminating and being open-minded, but neither of which methods really worked and I'm still bored. So then I started thinking that maybe it's not me; it's the shows themselves. For some reason, they're just not bringing it this year. Not even when they bring the zombies in (even Jute agrees with me on this).

Take Highschool of the Dead for instance. The manga is practically a confluence of pop entertainment. It has everything -- action, romance, zombies, heaving bosoms. All in all, a very, very fun read. So they made it into an anime and frickin' Madhouse takes the helm and, as expected, they do everything right, and yet somehow, the anime still falls flat. Simply put, there was just no magic in it, no x-factor, nothing to make a person really go, OHMYGODSHI that was gold! (Kurozuka, at least, for all its confusing psychobabble had its moments - jute). So final thoughts? Thank god for Busujima-senpai. She was the only reason I stuck it to the show.

If Highschool of the Dead was bland, then Occult Academy is just absurd, and not in a good way. Everything about it -- from the monster-of-the-week approach, to the highly derivative futuristic set-up, to its clumsy attempt at character development, the completely unnecessary fan service and the ohmygodplot! last three episodes -- just screamed SILLY. Final thoughts: What a silly, silly show.