Blogpost 7: Zombie Anime: High School Of the Dead vs Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka

HOTD or KWZDK?

        I like zombies. I like to watch zombie movies. I like to watch them die and eat people. I like the way they looks and move. But, I do like ANIME too. Anime is my stress reliever and sometimes the only thing who can't leave (except if we lost our internet connection). Anime gives an artistic way of entertaining people at my age. we don't like some kiddie stuffs know or some love stories that can just make us bored. I am very glad that zombies also conquered the anime world. It is a great idea to combine the things i liked most, Zombies and Anime. For an instance, I've researched the outstanding anime which talks about zombies. After further researches, I came up with two outstanding anime. High School Of the Dead and Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka. I don't know if it is just a coincidence or I am just an obsessed fan of zombie-related anime because I already watched both of them last summer. In this blog, I will compare the 2 anime by the people's reaction and comments or reviews.

        First, i will talk about the High School Of The Dead. It is a manga series written by Daisuke Sato and illustrated by Shoji Sato. The story's main focus is a group of high school students, school's nurse and a young girl caught in the middle of zombie apocalypse and fight their way to safety through the deadly streets of Japan. As the cast are trying to survive, They will also face the additional threats of societal collapse, in the form of fellow survivors and the possible decay of their moral codes. According to an article entitled, High School of the Dead Review by Johnny Gondo, It said that it is an awesome masterpiece of a japanese cartoon. It shows tons of blood, tons of violence, some nudity, and a complimentary heavy metal soundtrack.

        For Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka, It is a Japanese light novel by Shinichi Kimura with the illustration of Kobuichi and Muririn. The story follows; Ayumu Aikawa is resurrected as a zombie by a necromancer called Eucliwood Hellscythe after being killed by a serial killer. As he tries to make the best of his undead life, he encountered a Magical Garment Girl named Haruna and inadvertently takes her magical powers, being forced to become a Magical Girl (Cross-Dress) in the process. With Eucliwood, Haruna and a vampire ninja named Seraphim living with him, Ayumu helps to battele demons called Megalos while trying to figure out the mystery of his own death. According to an article entitled, Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka? of the Dead Review by FlareKnight, The season was all about fanservice and taking out this kind of genre will not make the manga better. The story was all about comedy and that's made the movie have an advantage and provide more interesting scenes. the author said that the weakest part of this anime is their action when the story comes along. The author said that he was disappointed in the anime because he felt that was waiting for the series to get started.

        For my conclusion, both anime provide as new way of seeing things. Not only personally but also by the use of drawing. They both satisfied my wants for a zombie-related anime. We should appreciate all the anime that people are watching now and the manga that they are reading now. Both anime are good in their own way because High School of the Dead focuses on the true essence of zombie apocalypse while Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka focuses into different genre which is power and comedy. I really want both of them. It triggered my fascination to zombies and proves that zombies are not always bad. KEEP CALM AND LOVE ZOMBIES!

Blogpost 6: Zombie Breakdown Places to Survive

BEST PLACES TO GO

        We all know that zombie apocalypse are possible according to my succeeding blogs. We should be now aware that we need to do something when that calamity comes. It is not being exaggerated, It is being prepared. Skills are not enough to survive in a zombie apocalypse breakdown. A person who has the skill to kill zombies cannot also survive if the place he/she is taking is hiding a swarm of zombies and the survivors are not aware of. So, In this blog I will list down some places that a person can hide without any harm. According to an article entitled, Ten Best Places to Hide in a Zombie Apocalypse by Marcia Sullivan, there are plenty of places where can people hide.

        1. An Island

        2. A Tree House

        3. An Underground

        4. A Military Base

        5. A Prison Base

        6. An Offshore Drilling Platform

        7. A Riverboat

        8. An Old Fort

        9. A Zoo

        10. A Subway

An Island. When the time comes and you noticed that the people around you are not so friendly now because they were infected. An island is a best spot for you and for the other survivors. There are still no evidence that a zombie can operate a boat, yacht or a ship and zombies cannot totally SWIM in a sea or ocean. The article also commend to choose an island which is less populated. Less populated islands have a big chance that there are a little number of zombies wandering around the island. It provides less effort on wiping out the zombies throughout the sand of the island.

A Tree House. It is less convenient than an island You need to go down to look and hunt for food in order to survive. But, Some trees produce fruits and forests provides habitat for wild animals that can be eaten (if your tree house is in a forest). The Southerners long time ago ate squirrels coming from trees for them to survive. So, people can also do the same way like what Southerners did. There are lot of ways for people to survive in a forest. Survivors should take the risk to eat what they will see that is edible for humans.

An Underground. You could bore a path with your friends and neighbors or some people that you trusted most or accompany some survivors into an underground which has been made before. You can live there without going up but you've to go to scavenge food that you will eat and get things that you will need like water, medicine, first aid kit, etc. If you are living in a large city, you will assume that there are many zombies and the needs you want will be scarce. This place is applicable if you have enough supplies to use when you are there and live down there as long as you can and then take your chances.

A Military Base. This place have many advantages. Namely, Weapons. Also, there will be foods that have been supplied for the trainees and military men and surely there you will find k-rations. When you ran out of supplies, you could use the tanks provided by the base. Some military bases have land-plowed gardens in which they grow vegetables to eat. The only disadvantage of this place is the military guys that doesn't want you to get in. They will just let you eaten by zombies to assure their own safety.

A Prison Base. It is a view of the film The Walking dead. Since, the prisoners cannot go out in this kind of place. The zombies cannot also go in. It is just like a military base. It provides food, weapons and produces rations. It is enclosed by fencing to keep the zombies out.

An Offshore Drilling Platform. It is a good idea from a friend of the author. People here are so lucky in case of a zombie apocalypse. They were far from the cities. They can make communication easily. In this kind of place, there will be a shortage on supplies. Since it has in the sea, it has unlimited foods that can they get from the sea such as fish and other sea foods.

A Riverboat. This place is not a bad idea. We are now ascertained that the zombies is a not a good swimmer.But, the problem is what if the power or the battery of the boat runs out? You will have to go into the shore where the zombies are waiting. It depends. You can choose to aboard in a fully populated zombie shore or into the shore which have lesser population. In case you don't have enough food, you can fish for food.

An Old Fort. This place were well fortified at once. So, you should be able to shore up any breaks in the wall. Some forts are near the ocean. It has the advantage because of the sand surrounding each forts. The sand may be a very hard terrain for the zombies to navigate. You'll have plenty of time to get ready for them.

A Zoo. This might be a bad idea if you initially think. But, As we all know, some of the animals needs an enclosed pasture to live and grow food. Obviously, you can also eat those animals. The buildings are attached to the fenced area which can be as your living area. If you can fortify the doors and gates, a zoo is a best place to hide in.

A Subway. It is surely a very dark place. But it is easy to barricade the entrance of a subway and zombies cannot in. But, It is not good in terms of supplies. Because, you need to go out to get and hunt for food. But the author said that he commends to use an island instead.

WORST PLACES TO GO

        If you're happy now, there is sadness later. If you're lucky now, there's bad luck later. If there's a male, there's a female. If there are problem, there are solutions. Everything has its opposite side. So, If we have the Best Places to Go, in this article we have the Worst Place to Go. It is not enough that we have knowledge on where is the safest place but we also know where are the places that people should not go. In my further research, The website www.roadtickle.com provides an article entitled, The Worst Places to Be In a Zombie Apocalypse which give information about on how or where we should not go.

        1. Hospital
        2. In A Traffic Jam
        3. Skyscraper
        4. A Mall
        5. An Airplane
        6. Stadium/Movie Theater

Hospital. It is a place where sick people came. because it is where typically started. More and more people come in to the hospital, the more zombies will come out. Some stories said that if a person will die in a zombie apocalypse it will automatically turn into a zombie. It is not safe to go into an hospital.

In A Traffic Jam. The number one rule is to avoid places where can you be surrounded, boxed in or places that there is no avenue to escape. Some zombies are easily to outrun but in case you were surrounded by them, it's a GAME OVER. In a traffic jam, you will be surrounded by some infected commuters. you will think that you're safe inside a car, hell no! Zombies will just moving around your car and try to let you go out.

Skyscraper. You will took that this place is a good place to hide because you are high from the ground and just look through the zombies eating other people but it's not. Apparently, you will go down. In case you will go down many zombies will face you and greet you. Since the elevators are not working in that time, you will need to take the stairs and zombies will surely get you there.

A Mall. A mall seems a great place for survival because they got all for you such as supplies, foods and medicines. Suddenly, malls are not a good place to hide. Many people are going to a mall for some reasons and in case of zombie apocalypse a mall is one of the most zombie-populated place. So, zombies can eat you easily.

An Airplane. It has limited space but more population. In case that the pilot will turn into a zombie, you will surely die because they were the one who control the flight.In an airplane, the only place you can hide is the bathroom and the pilot's den. But in some time, the zombies will just go in the door and start to smash it until it breaks.

Stadium/Movie Theater. This places is populated. Many people will turn into zombie there There a lot of possibility that the people will just killed and eaten by the zombies. In some time it will be crowded and people will hardly go out because of the fire exits or exit doors.

        For my conclusion, your safety depends on how you are thinking. You should know where to go and where you shouldn't. The most populated places are the most dangerous because of its high chances to spread the infection of the zombies fast than to other places which is more wide. Zombie Apocalypse is unexpected. So, We should be prepared on the things that may happen. Keep safe and be prepared!

Blogpost 5: Disney is not Exempted!

DISNEY PRINCESSES GONE WILD

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths". by Walt Disney

        Cinderella, Snow White, Little Mermaid, Rapunzel, Belle (Beauty and the Beast) and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). They sounds familiar right? They are the most popular characters on Walt Disney among little girls. They shows that all woman can experience a happily ever after even problems are occurring to their own stories of life. They give entertainment and joy for those people who patronize their movies. Each of them provides a different perspectives in terms of on how the story flows until the end. But, they have the same point of view of having a prince charming that makes girls gone bad. But how if the Disney Princesses will be infected? How they will look like? This why I am creating this blog to provide you some of the information that can form some thoughts about zombie conquering Disney Princesses. Like what I've said, Zombies conquers all.

        According to an article entitled, "Artist Turns Disney Princesses Into Horrific Zombies" by John Squires, Since there is a veritable zombie outbreak has been sweeping through the landscape of pop culture, Artists turned the most beloved Disney characters into undead monsters using their talent and skills. The images will show the scary part of those Disney Princesses. You will see them all rotting away and feasting on brains (shown in the image ). It also said that not even iconic children's characters are safe through the zombie outbreak.

        Another article entitled, "These zombie Disney Princesses are downright childhood-ruining" by Cyriaque Lamar, The internet's affections for the undead and Disney Princesses are perhaps only matched by its predilection for seeing familiar characters in semi-unfamiliar situations. Since those characters have been posted, the author said that he can't see those Disney Princesses in face to face but he/she preferred to see them using his/her peripheral vision.

        For me, this is a sign of fascination into zombies. Even artist are using zombies as an art. It provides us the answer that zombies are not only for movies, songs and games but also for paintings or digital images. It also proves that the virus of fascination to zombies are spreading. We can conclude that we can't always see zombies in an unpleasant image or picture but also for a unique kind of art. Some people will say that those pictures changes the interpretation of the people to the Disney princesses. But I will say, NO! This is just an affirmation that artists is just using their wide imagination to give people a variety kind of arts. Because, If people see one kind of image in all over years, they will look at it as boring and uninteresting art. So, artist are just being innovative about their profession.

Blogpost 4: Story Behind Zombie Movies

LET'S TALK ABOUT RESIDENT EVIL

        Resident Evil was the most popular zombie movie among other films. How did I discover this movie? In fact, I've watched the 2nd series (Resident Evil: Apocalypse) first of this movie before I decided to watched the very beginning of this movie (Resident Evil I). It is because in that time, Resident Evil: Apocalypse was in the trend. After watching that I've burst my curiosity on how it was started so I gave an effort to find the Resident Evil I. From that, I started fascinating this movie until now. Why I was interested about this kind of movie? I was amazed about the story line of this movie in which there is a woman named Alice that has been used by a corporation (Umbrella Corporation) for an experiment in a zombie infected city together with his husband that has been turned into a monster named NEMESIS. The Infection spread through different countries. Alice was programmed but because she can control it, she decided to get rid off the Umbrella Corporation and helped other survivors to kill zombies with her own intelligence and skills. After many confrontations, Alice slowly discovered her own powers and strength. The Umbrella Corporation is still operating until now. This corporation made many ways in order to face the strength of Alice. They provided many clones of her but still they can't make a clone who is perfect as her. This corporation also made many headquarters throughout the world. This corporation is also responsible for the zombie apocalypse because of the creation of the T-Virus which causes people and animals to turn into a mindlessly killing machine. Because of Alice's exploration, she met people who turned as her comrades such as Jill Valentine, Carlos Olivera, Claire Redfield, Leon Kennedy and Ada Wong.

        Resident Evil is a science fiction film series based on a CapCom video games of the same name. The first producer company who filmed this movie is the Constatin Film in January 1997 with Alan McElroy and George A. Romero. In 2001, Sony acquired a distribution rights to the film and hired Paul W. S. Anderson as writer and director of Resident Evil (2002). He continued his job and help created many series of this film. He wrote and produced the films, Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) and Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) and returned to be a director on Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) and Resident Evil: Retribution (2012).

        In this blog I will make a comparison between the first and the latest film series of Resident Evil; The Resident Evil and The Resident Evil: Retribution. On how it improved and how the story gone far from the very first time it was produced. But first I will talk about the Resident Evil. According to the article entitled, Resident Evil (2002) Movie Review by Nix,

        For a big budget movie, the movie is lacking of WoW factor. But it has been good because of the appearance of the lickers and demon dogs and the dripping of bloods in the movie that needed a high knowledge in special effects. As we learned that this movie is based from a game, this movie doesn't used the plots of the real game but they included some part of it such as the T-virus, the Nemesis subplot, the characters design, the walls and corridors of some part and the noises produced by the approaching demon dogs. Since it was the first, it is not that quite beautiful but instead it leaves a twist in which it let us viewers to watch the next series of this movie. 

                For me, it deserves to have a compliment for a movie like that. It has a realistic foes and the fight scenes are terribly awesome. The zombies there are different from a normal zombie movie. It provides us different kinds of infected beings such as the licker than came from an infected rabbit and demon dogs. It needs improvements because it was just starting in that time. The movie was effective for those who wanted a movie genre like this. This part serves as my boiling point to watch and wait for the succeeding series of this movie.

        For the review about the latest movie of Resident Evil. I've gathered and research for its reviews. Many considered it an excellent work but some people said that it was not that interesting to watch. According to an article entitled, Resident Evil: Retribution (Movie Review) by Eric Eisenberg,

        The fifth movie was appealing for a core fan, but it has no excuse for other people who disregard this movie. And even the movie is created for the fans, it provides sloppy, awful, plot hole-filled storytelling. It suggested that if you want to start watching this movie, you should not watch this sequel first. But, start from the beginning in order to understand what is happening in the movie. In the article, it is also said that this movie is a poorly directed. 

        For me, the movie was highly improved from the beginning. It gives us a twist that Alice can somehow control her powers. The fighting scenes gone bad and intense. So much more fearsome enemies. The Umbrella Corporation provides to show the modernization of the world by using holograms, realistic machine-generated countries and much upgraded weapons. And to the story, it get me more interested. I was really happy to see again the characters who died from the past sequels like Rain and Carlos.

        This movie provides us new knowledge about zombies and how it can affect earth if it gotten worse. We can also see that movie now are too far from the movies before. This movie is more than beautiful or interesting than other movies. So, I can conclude that I like this movie because I love zombies in the first place and I love watching intense fighting scenes specially when there are zombies included. I will just leave a quote that formulated by my own thoughts. "Fascinating zombies are not for crazy people, It is for the aware and future-based mind people".

Blogpost 3: Zombie Invasion in Video Games

History of Zombie-related Games

           Zombies was adapted to every people who were fascinated to them. Zombie doesn't only conquers town, cities or countries but also through digital aspects. Since zombies were very popular, it has been used in multimedia matters such as movies, music and specially in GAMES. The topics that I will talk about here is all about Zombie-related games. The first game that zombies exist doesn't started from the Resident Evil game. According to the article entitled, A History of Zombies in Video Games by Patrick Shaw, zombies in games started shambling around more lately than 1996. The following are the timeline created by the said article;

 Zombie Zombie ( first zombie game )

In 1984, A game released in ZX Spectrum and titled by Quicksilva. This game was played using a rifle to kill the zombies wandering when the player used to overrun from it. This game had an inclusion of a helicopter which could be piloted and use to alter the terrain. To kill the zombies in this game, the player needs to lure the zombies in a high place and let them fall off the edge.

Super Mario Bros. 3 ( as of the Dry Bones )

           In 1988, This game was introduced and created. This game was very popular even for our generation. This game doesn't categorized as zombie game but some of the enemies here specially the skeleton turtles. Dry bones is ordinarily a lightweight character in games and always accompanied by Boo.

Wolfstein 3D ( as of Undead Soldiers )

           In 1992, This game doesn't also categorized a zombie game but it was introduced to the players by its zombified enemies which are the undead Soldiers. This game was made by Dr. Schabbs. This game was totally a critical and commercial success. It is highly regarded as having helped popularized the genre on the PC, and having established the basic run-and-gun archetype for many subsequent first-person shooter game.


Zombies ate my Neighbors ( A Cult Classic is Born )

           In 1993, This game was released by LucasArts for Sega Master System, Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. The goal of this game is to put up a player into the two teenagers place and kill all the zombies or save their neighbors from the flesh-eating creatures including a giant demonic baby. Various elements and aspects of horror movies are referenced in the game with some of its more violent content being censored in various territories/countries.

Resident Evil ( The Rise of Zombie games )

           In 1996, This game was created by Shinji Mikami and released by Capcom. This game was played inside the mansion with some crawling creatures that is needed to be killed in order to survive or accomplish your mission. At the start of the game, the player will select one from Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine as they investigate the disappearance of their fellow team members on the outskirts of Raccoon city, where they escape the danger into an old mansion infested with zombies. As the players explore the mansion, they will uncover clues to solve puzzles and battle the various biological monsters of the mansion alang the way using various firearms. Depending on the player's action, the game ends with different outcome.

The House of the Dead ( More zombie slaying, Less Bullet Rationing )

           Also in 1996, A Sega's light-gun game which has been released on arcades. This game focuses on action as it is presented, where the players are frantically unload and lad their guns in front of a swarm of zombies. Throughout the course of the game, the players are faced by numerous situations in which their actions will have an effect on the direction of the gameplay. 

Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green ( Another Bad Movie Game )

          In 2005, Brainbox Games released this game on Xbox and PCs. This game was considered as the worst zombie game ever because of its quality. The soryline of this game is all about an unnamed redneck farmer must fight his way through hundreds of living corpses, all bent on devouring any human flesh they can find, in order to reach some sort of safe ground. After seeing the city that he hoped would support him is completely overrun and slowly burning to the ground, he decided to run for the last salvation.

Dead Rising ( A Light-hearted look in Zombies )

          In 2006, A Capcom game released on Xbox 360. It is more on a tongue-and-cheek approach in surviving a zombie outbreak than the Resident Evil game. The storyline of this is that the photojournalist Frank West finds himself trapped in a shopping mall overrun by flesh-eating zombies. He needs to kill those zombies in order to survive in the zombie outbreak.

Plants Vs. Zombies ( Mother Nature takes on the Undead )

          Also in 2006, A game was released by PopCap. This is a tower defense game in which players use plants that is needing sunlight to produce in order to defend the house from approaching zombies. The game involves the homeowner using many varieties of plant to repel an army of zombies from eating his brain. The primary game mode of this game are single player, multi-player and adventure mode on which the player can receive money where he spend to upgrade and improve his backyard.

Left 4 Dead ( Play as a Zombie )

          In 2008, A Valve's creation who does this game effectively to the users/players. It was released in Xbox 360 and PC. This game pits a team of human survivors against undead. It is a game in which you have to pass and kill zombies in order to go into a safe zone and meet some survivors. 

Call of Duty: Nazi Zombies ( An unexpected hit )

          Also in 2008, This is only a patch episode of the game CALL OF DUTY. The players need to defend a room for an onrushing zombies by the use of guns  and by boarding up through the windows.



Dead Space ( New Breed of Zombies )

          Another 2008 game was released. This game was debatable for being a zombie game because of the enemies which is transformed into abominations by the use of alien virus. This game was released by Visceral Games for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Dead Rising 2 

         The most latest zombie game created in 2010 according to the article. This is a fictional game which used Vegas as a setting which have lavish casinos and showgirl undeads instead of a mall. This game uses different style in slaughtering zombies. Instead of guns it uses boxing gloves and other types of unusual weapons.

ZOMBIE INVADES VIDEO GAMES

           Video games are used to entertain people. New generation persons are used and born with this kind of environment or regime. Video games releases games which is in the trend. So, they formulate or creating games which can entertain people more than they have been expected. They releases zombie games in order to boost their fears and because of this they are enjoying this kind of games. But, why do people loves zombie games? Aren't they preferring another game rather than this kind of games?There is a quote where it proves why people is fascinating all zombie-related things;

"I can't really make fun of zombies. They're not liars. They're not cheaters."

                                                                                                            - George A. Romero

           According to an article entitled, Why Are Zombies Still Popular in Video Games? by Jeff Marchiafava, 

ZOMBIE GAMES MAKES MONEY

           Putting up a zombie games needs a big amount of money. Game Development is a risky business. If a creator publish a zombie game which is very popular nowadays, He/She can receive a big amount of many for a company to sold it to you and add it to their businesses.

ZOMBIE GAMES FEATURE INNOVATION

            Zombies drives games to innovate new styles of slaughtering them. Many games invented many ways in order to get rid of the zombies approaching. Game Developers will think or innovate thing that are better in order to a line with the standards of the other games.

ZOMBIE MAKES IDEAL FOES

            As we all know that zombies can exist that is discussed in my blogpost 1. Zombie games will stand as our digital dummies. We can learn how to kill them when taking up a zombie game. The things that you will learn from this kind of games can also apply for some defensive actions through the people who have a bad intention.