alright, time to go on HIATUS for now, till around 11-13 Oct. examinations coming up =X i could do a write-up on Seitokai Yakuindomo and Mitsudomoe after it ends next week, BUT it depends on whether i could squeeze in my tight revision schedule, so there's no guarantee for that. and sadly, my exam dates clashes with the start of the new seasons, so i guess i wouldn't have time to blog about their first airing until my exams are over. So, till then! :)

Highschool of the Dead 12 (END)

after looking back at how the other episodes were, honestly, this would be the best among them, considering that it IS the last episode.

With the 4 nuclear missiles shot, the submarines were preparing to intercept them, no matter what their targets were. 3 of the missiles were intercepted but the last went on with its programmed route after the submarine that was responsible for its interception had already fell prey to "them". Soon after, the missile blew up in the atmosphere, emitting a bright light across the country and frying all electronics with it. Moments before, Shizuka-sensei had remembered the phone number of her friend who's in the special unit and borrows Takashi's phone to contact her. Shizuka-sensei was happy to know that her friend was still alive but before she could disclose her location to her, the cell phones got fried with the bright light that lit up the entire sky. Saya recognised the light as an EMP burst, which was caused by a nuclear missile blowing up in the atmosphere, causing special particles to be emitted and they target the waves that electronics use and frying it as a result. From that moment on, nothing that has electronics would work, not even the aiming function in the rifles. The EMP blast had also brought devastating effects with it affecting pacemakers as well and the brakes of vehicles. Shido-sensei had crashed the bus onto a barricade due to fried brakes and with the barricade broken, "they" had started entering the Takagi territory. Soon after the barricade had been crossed, the Takagi household witnessed the first all out attack from "them" and even with the iron gates closed, their inhumane strength overcame it and hell broke loose in the premises. Takashi and his group started to help out and retaliated with their firearms and the situation got temporarily controlled. Takagi's father tells Takashi that he should go and look for his parents and Hirano to protect Saya. Hearing what could be the final words of her father, Saya tried to interrupt but was slapped by her mother, who tells her that it was a selfish decision but hopes that she would not make things more difficult than it already was. With a last word that she loves them, Saya leaves with Takashi and the others, who headed for their armoured vehicle. Turns out that it was EMP-proof and was reinforced by multiple plates of metal, preventing the EMP blast from affecting it and while the mechanic was onto repairing some damaged parts, the others started to take on "them" from where they stood. Within minutes, the vehicle was up and running again and with everyone assembled in it, Shizuka-sensei hits on the accelerator and the group leaves the Takagi household. With a side-wheel maneuver in the streets, they managed to reach the highway where they continue to encounter more and more of "them" and with their vehicle damaged after a long ride through, the group finally reached a shopping mall.

It had ended rather nicely with the end of the Takagi household arc where the shopping mall arc is about to begin BUT the season ends here. It was certainly the best episode they had so far, as compared with the other 11, with ample action and the cool side-wheelie to end the series off. The series has a unique storyline and that was probably the "cool" thing that prompted me to start with this series, and after reading through the manga as well, it was indeed a rather promising series. Action-wise, it was great, with firearms and blades (although they're all highschool students) storyline-wise, it does have many possibilities but a conclusion would be rather difficult. The only disappointing part of the series was probably the excess and overload of fanservice. Come on, a little is OK, but that is just excess! focusing on action and storyline would honestly be a better option IMO. the end of the end of HOTD had its usual casual tone in the humvee to conclude everything and that was rather typical but they could have a much more conclusive ending, rather than just showing the shopping mall where non-manga readers wouldn't understand why it was shown for. A 2nd season is perhaps possible, but it'll be a long long time before they could animate what the manga is being released at their slow pace. Nice series? Kinda. If you ignore the fs, the recap episode (right early in the short series), how they drag on for a chapter to be completed in an episode, it would probably be a series one can enjoy. So for now, no more zombie fighting!

P.S. and no more Shido-sensei xD