Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

School-Live! Blu-ray Movie Review

Zombie Academy.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 2, 2017

One might be surprised to learn that maybe the closest comp for School-Live! is actually Dawn of the Dead meets Good Bye, Lenin! which certainly isn't a typical mash-up. But within the Anime world, anything is possible, and that's exactly what School-Live! (which is sort of a double entendre) is all about. A unique vision of the zombie apocalypse and the human defense mechanism to combat the horrors of an unthinkable reality, the show constructs around an interesting mashup of concepts that offer an exciting alternative to both dour zombie scares and unrealistically cheerful Anime excess. It's a solid show for its uniqueness, characters, and entertainment value alike.

Things aren't as peachy as they look.

Yuki is a high school girl known for her funny hat and is someone who is prone to oversleeping and failing tests. She and her dog Tarōmaru have become something of a fixture at school, and that term takes new meaning when one joins the School Living Club that challenges students to set up camp at school, never leave the grounds, and definitely not go home. She's joined by classmates Kurumi, Mii-Kun, and Ri-San as well as a young new teacher named Megu-Nee. Everything seems cheery at school and as part of the club, but things aren't so rosy outside. In fact, they're down right dreadful. A zombie apocalypse as fallen over the world. Zombified ex-classmates stumble about the grounds. Desks are stacked as barriers. Supplies are low. But for Yuki, hope springs eternal. With the help of her classmates, she's all but tuned out the truth. Can she and her friends maintain the illusion, or will reality -- or worse -- interrupt the good life for the members of the School Living Club?

The show's dichotomy makes it an interesting proposition and easy investment for the audience. On one hand is innocence born of an innate protection mode, on another is the corruption of a dying, dystopian world. It offers a nice counterbalance to the incessantly gritty world of The Walking Dead, this show certainly never shying away from the reality of the situation but presenting it, at least form one perspective, with rose-colored glasses. Perhaps it's naiveté, perhaps it's even unhealthy to dismiss reality for a more favorable outlook on life, but the show offers a fascinating juxtaposition of real and imagined, of both the value and dangers of fantasy as a coping mechanism. The show is certainly at its best when it's focused on the gloomy realities of life after a zombie outbreak, but it's at its most interesting in how Yuki sees the world. It meshes the two brilliantly, offering the stark contrasts and capable of telling the same story in different ways or veering to a more traditional school setting environment where, at least for a bit, the characters and audience are given a reprieve from the dark reality that always hangs beyond the façade.

School-Live! doesn't remain static, doesn't simply settle for maintaining the established status quo of its first episode or two. There's an evolution of plot and character as reality grows ever more clear and Yuki's fantasy boundaries show cracks. The show explores with some depth and detail the mindsets of others, too, not content to follow Yuki only and reduce the others to necessary support. They're challenged with handling dwindling resources, making use of solar panels and vegetable gardens, planning and preparing around the zombies, and scavenging, adapting, and hoping, all the while trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy. As the season progresses, particularly in the final episodes, it takes some drastic turns that shift the status quo and promise great change and upheaval for the characters and the small corner of the world they inhabit. It's bold, unafraid, and willing to push the characters and the story in some unexpected and dark directions. Reality creeps in, which is the ultimate counterbalance to the show's essential beginnings premise.

Characters are well drawn, not necessarily in their physical representations -- they're classically Anime with unique identifiers but the same core structure fans expect form the genre -- but certainly in their personalities. It's a nicely diverse group and each of the main characters contributes a unique perspective to the show's overreaching dichotomy between the reality outside and the manufactured reality inside. Voice performances are good; the English dub doesn't seem to lose much in translation, each character presenting with a capable cadence that offers a satisfying depth of emotion and certainty of character definition and center. Additionally, the environments are well drawn and reveal that same juxtaposition of reality and fantasy very well, sometimes with the two blending together. Things might appear cheery, but broken windows, barricades, or other small and large details always keep the viewer aware of what's really happening.

School-Live! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

School-Live!'s 1080p Blu-ray presentation is a good one. Though banding is introduced along some large-area backgrounds, stability and clarity of presentation are both strong. The pastel color palette shows a nice range and accuracy, revealing not so much shade subtlety but certainly vitality through the most colorful elements throughout, including hair and eyes. The contrast between the well-lit school and the more dour, dark, and despairing world of the zombie apocalypse is handled well, with each taking on their on consistent character and detail to finely tuned palettes. Details fare well. Lines are sharp and clean and the Blu-ray is capable of revealing all of the little odds and ends the animators have placed in the film, showcasing finer point textural nuance like wood grain, worn paint and battered lockers, and clothes. Fans should be happy with the results.

School-Live! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

School-Live! features a pair of DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtracks, one in Japanese and another in dubbed English. Both fare well. Dialogue pushes in a healthy central direction and always feels balanced and naturally positioned, clear and precise in both languages. Music plays with satisfactory width, instrumental clarity, and enough detail through the range to please. Various effects, whether more innocuous elements like a ladle beating on a pot to wake Yuki or more intensive elements of action and chaos present with impressive depth and detail. The track is very full and takes complete advantage of the two channels at its disposal; it never desperately wants for surround implementation, though there are certainly scenes that would have benefited from a greater sense of immersion.

School-Live! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

School-Live! contains a couple of brief extras on disc two.

• Clean Opening Animations (1080p 9:12): The opening titles without added text.
• Clean Closing Animations (1080p, 12:34): The closing sequences without added text.
• Also Available from Sentai Filmworks (1080p): Previews for Re-Kan!, Punch Line, Softenni, and Rozen Maiden.

School-Live! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

School-Live!, based on the Manga series of the same name, is a fun and fairly unique spin on the Zombie genre that also explores the human conditions of response versus reality, of safety and sanity in the darkest of times. It offers a nice mix of light entertainment and carefully considered depth, some dark moments combined with enough levity and buoyancy to keep it moving. Sentai Filmworks' Blu-ray features sparse supplements but delivers very good video and audio. Highly recommended.