I am going to start by saying that there has to be a second season of this. I am just going to put my fingers in my ears, close my eyes, and chant that a second season is coming. Otherwise, the pacing of Zombie Loan makes absolutely no sense at all. What kind of series goes at a very typical 26 episode pace, introducing a slew of new characters (about half of which are not even named), and then ends at episode 11? How is this possible?! Almost zero loose ends were wrapped up, and yet the arc with Shito was so good! Going on recent trends for having a set of 13 episode series back to back, I am going to assume that Zombie Loan was simply the first in a set of seasons, much like Peach Pit’s other series, Rozen Maiden and Rozen Maiden Träumend.
Up until episode 8, most of Zombie Loan was opening-fluff. We get your typical episodes that don’t really contribute much to the overall story, but introduce various characters. However, the one thing that really made Zombie Loan special was the various little philosophical moments. At first I derided the silly plot, but actually the fact that most of the characters are zombies lets Zombie Loan address a lot of issues about life and death. These discussions were fantastic, and I was surprised at how deep Shito’s feelings about life were. Although Chika ends up with the usual “RAWR I am genki and want money, but sometimes I can be sensitive!” shtick, Shito’s tortured past, and jealousy of those that live normally was riveting.
Oddly enough, almost all the characters lead really craptastic lives, but yet barely anyone sinks into an emo-funk for very long. Michiru is an especially great protagonist, because she is able to contribute so much with her extremely limited talents (seeing black rings and talking to plushies). Chika and Shito seem to be your usual stock genki and cool combination of characters, and to a large degree they are. However, the fact that they are somewhat indestructible, and forced to work together leads to a unique dynamic. Basically, as Yuuta puts it, this is the friendship that comes from trying to kill each other. Nanoha would understand.
The final arc, which gives hints at Shito’s past, seemed to really be kicking the series into high gear. All the sudden, mysteries were abound, and loyalties were questioned. Most importantly, Zombie Loan finally introduced a plethora of merchandising opportunities. Zombie Loan handled all the plot twists deftly, and continued to build the bonds between the characters. During the final third, I was really getting excited about the series. Unfortunately, Zombie Loan ends abruptly after Shito is rescued, and almost nothing gets answered. WTF?!
Story aside, Zombie Loan also had a lot of surprisingly funny moments. Michiru’s confusion and moments of self-doubt often became hilarious jokes, like when she blamed herself for global warming, or when she tried to hit Phalanx with Chika’s bokken. In fact the humor was always very understated and welcome. It was the expertly handled humor that made the characters (well, those that got names) so loveable and memorable.
As for the various production values, Zombie Loan didn’t always have the best animation, but the art was pretty good in general. Once you got past the extremely sharp and skinny characters, most of the still shots and daily life moments looked fine. There were maybe a few too many sickly green moments, but overall the production values were good. The background music was excellent, and did a lot to enhance the mood. The OP/ED were ok, and I would have liked the OP a lot more if there was a different vocalist.
I made fun of Zombie Loan at first, but by the end of the series, I was a huge fan. There were a lot of similarities between Zombie Loan and Rozen Maiden, but Zombie Loan seemed deeper and more serious. I can only hope that Zombie Loan will follow Rozen Maiden’s lead in putting out a second short season, so that we can continue the story where we left off. If I judge the series based solely as an individual unit, I’d only give Zombie Loan a 3/5, because very little of the story was wrapped up, and yet so many mysteries were presented. However, I’m going to give Zombie Loan the benefit of the doubt, just because it seemed to be setting up something grand, and the series got better and better with every episode.
Kabitzin’s Rating: 4.5/5
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Kabitzin – who has written 1940 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Started with ep 1 based on the strength of this review
Was very surprised with Shito’s harsh response to Michiru when she was, well.. talking like a ‘living dead’. Was thinking Shito should cut her some slack since she’s still a kid. Now I’m looking forward to Shito’s backstory.
Oh wow…You really did like this show…
Maybe I should go back and finish it.
One thing about Peach Pit’s Rozen Maiden….it was extremely popular. Peach Pit’s other creation DearS only had a few (and I mean a FEW) major fans…and I’m one of them xD. That show ended with 13 episodes, only covering half of the manga…and that was like 3 years ago. Zombie Loan looks like it suffers a similar fate, especially while being overshadowed by so many shows this season. A lot of people were instantly turned off by the animation as well. I suspect that fans of this show will have to resort to the manga for more =\.
I totally agree with you on the overall impression. At first, I even wanted to drop Zombie Loan. Honestly, the only way I got past the first 3 eps were from people telling me that it got good. When I started getting to the later episodes, the deep messages sent off by the characters really hit base with me. I don’t know if I’m really in the dumps for not being able to have more, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in the story anymore.
I agree. Zombie Loan needed more Zombie Loan.
For me, it’s the lone joke I make about Michiru’s “studdering girl” was missing from Claire (Claymore).
I should splice that up and combine that show: Call it LoanMore.
Man, it would be so sad if this wasn’t extended… I don’t know that there were very many Zombie Loan fans either, though…
What they should have done is made every other episode of Zombie Loan an infomercial for Rozen Maiden, like what Lucky Star did with Haruhi.
it’s actually really funny how I found this anime. I saw someone’s signature on a forum and loved the art. So I asked what it was from…. and then I got addicted
I was so pissed that it ended at 11 I believe my mouth even dropped open. Still a little mad at that. I was hooked from episode one because it has the type of characters I like… ^^ But anyways I’m rooting on for more!!! must have MORE
if there isn’t a second season im going to create some zombies of my own lolz
not really but seriously NEW SEASON NOWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!
I don’t see why people don’t like the art style…it’s unique and different and I honestly find Tsubasa’s character designs about 2x worse than Zombie Loan’s. Chika was my favorite and of course his catch phrase, “Let’s go make some money!!!” :love:
Yes I noticed similarities to Rozen Maiden as well, Yuuta when you first glimps her looks fairly similar to souseiseki, though her personality is completely different, but the chairman looks and acts incredibly similar to shinku. The ferryman reminds me of Walter from hellsing aswell XD. However I have to disagree with you on the depth comparison, as I found Rozen Maiden to be more deep of a story, despite the childish appearance. I found that RM was excellent for character development, but what I found truly intruiging was the fact realistic fact that in the alice game there weren’t any good or evil sides (excluding the 7th doll, who’s intentions and reasoning I believe aren’t fully revealed yet).
Sadly I found Zombie-Loan to fall more on the flipside of this, as you have the “evil” chairman and a reoccurring villain who can’t quite die. Also I find the whole discussion of life and death was undermined with the whole “we can bring you back from the dead, and then some (shiba)”. I also didn’t find the motive behind Shiba’s actions convincing enough, as I cannot bring myself to believe that boredom would be a powerful enough force to cause someone to commit suicide, if anything boredom would cause him to do nothing at all.
Aside from that Zombie-Loan is a better anime than some others of this broad genre (Yea I’m lumping all monster anime into a genre, and it be somewheres above Souleater but way before Hellsing.).