Highschool of the Dead (Manga) review

TW: ACAB. Alt-Right Nationalists, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Homophobia, Ageism, Racism, Abel ism, Misogyny, SA (Assault)

The leftists would try and reason with the zombies, is a point that is brought up twice on separate occasions through the story. One, in a case of 'police brutality' and the other in a case of 'they can be cured'. This scenario as driven as an impetus of misdirecting the aggression away from zombies and towards each other. And the saviors of this story, at various points? Cops. The Army. And of course, Ultra Right Wing Japanese Nationalists. Because they're determined, in the situations that present themselves, to handle things with force and without hesitation. That they can make the sacrifices and choices necessary to involve the survival of the greatest good. Because they get things done.

Except of course, that the perspective that people who are left would reason with corpses in a fight for their life, is one of many ramblings produced by a creator that seems lost in a fascination with scenario over understanding of the wider human experience. The idea that people trying to hope for a cure for their lost loved ones could have been explored with pathos, care and trauma in a story that was well written and understanding of the genre's roots is one that will not occur here. The concept of people fighting against a regime more brutal then the undead, that 'law and order' can be something more frightening then the undead to combat, is something that has been explored, far better, far more thoughtfully elsewhere. No, this, is a pastiche. And it's a pastiche with nothing to say beyond being a pastiche. It's a story that ostensibly wants to titillate and fails to. It fails to because the scenarios it places the characters in are brutal and non-comically laughable. They aren't zany hi jinks, they're pantie shots combined with just brutal gore that potentially only appeals to the torture porn hungry. The story is a by the numbers zombie apocalypse. There are zombie stories involving school children dealing with the wake of a shattered youth and delusion that handle trauma better than this attempts to. They are maudlin stories of the end of the world that have more heart held in them then this machine gun addled Zack Snyder loving deep dive into casual Islamophobia, homophobia, fat phobia, sexism, racism, xenophobia, ableism, ageism, if you can find a phobia or ism, this story probably contains it.

To be a man is a central defining talking point that pops up a number of times. Our main character, who I will call some fella, is a fella who somehow is the lead character. He is by and large an average Japanese main character boy, conventionally attractive, burning passion, with a 'bad boy streak' because he hangs out with a punk friend and likes to ride motorcycles without a license. It is insipidly boring to listen to the other women closest to him, consistently defined by their 'duty' as women to men and how they need to remember they are 'of the female sex'. While not verbally, his first interaction with his main love interest during this apocalypse is to slap her for being 'hysterical' in front of her partner, his friend, and ostensibly, by being 'tough' he is taking charge and making the right choices. When meeting an ultra nationalist right wing leader and his wife, the story hinges on him 'becoming a leader' and the way they can sense his ability to but how filled with doubt he is.  This manga loves to define men who take the lead as men who use force to do it. Dignified force of course. The evil men of course, use things like words or force taking what they want. They need to use force the 'right way' for the greater good. Someone can commit SA and as long as they don't do anything else bad, they can be forgiven. It is hard, I want to stress, to focus on the steady improvement in the art such as the backgrounds, the clothing and even the titillation to a degree when the faith in cops and armed forces to solve the conflict to the point they are ostensibly superhuman becomes such a focal part of the narrative. Even the flawed cop who struggles, other than being another that says fat phobic, awful things, does the 'right thing' and stays true to being a cop in the end, even if their choice also just leads to more trauma and pointless death. At this point, I understand this is also my frustration at a narrative so out of touch with other human beings that don't feel starved for porn, guns and the superiority of the Japanese. It's not hard to infer when nationalists are a central protagonist, the hidden meaning of somehow the two places being nuked in an off handed comment being Korea and China, two places Japanese nationalists have never had a problem with.

This manga prompted a query multiple times from a loved one. As I would react or perplexedly say a line aloud, xey would look up at me and ask lightly 'You do know, you can stop, right? Take a break.' They asked me and at the time, my desire to finish, to force myself to completion was entirely my focus. But as I finished, as the rest of the evening drew on, I realized how heavily it sort of weighed on me. That a human being holding ideas this disconnected from reality, that is so focused on tits, guns and killing could also believe in ideas and ideals that would make them dangerous if close to any of those three concepts in reality. I don't necessarily always want to invite a moral judgement but it's hard to read this and not do so when it so blatantly wears them on their sleeve, in an armband, with a big red circle behind the words 'Japan is number one'. And of course, if you commit SA, if you're really intent on self-sacrifice, you can be forgiven for that. Because we're operating on hentai knowledge. And it's a poor hentai.

The lesson I received from this was something more profound then the manga could have any intention of truly giving. After sitting with my partner, being venerable about how the SA in this and a dozen of other manga, anime, shows had sat with me, stayed in my head and how much I remarked at the casual evil of people whose ideals begin and end at 'superiority of strength, and race' I decided that when things like this would occur again, I would signal a break to my loved ones, leave things be and go to them, to spend time away and easing my mind with those I care for. My 'duty' to finish things should not come at the expense of my being. And nor should you believe, your duty to yourself should be anything except the true care of yourself and those you care for and care for you. That we do not have to be passive in voicing how things hurt us or how they are rooted in hatred even if disguised in the laurels of heroism. How loving zombie films does not make you good at understanding how to create a good one yourself. And how love and courage are better defined by anything except this manga.

I don't recommend this manga to you. If you want to look up hot art of women, while there are some cool older women designs, you could legitimately just look anywhere else. It's not worth the slog through a manga that feels busy trying to concept a manifesto.