School-Live!, Vol. 1

by Norimitsu Kaihou

[inlibrisveritas]

3.5 Stars
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I checked this one out on a whim. I’ve been out of the loop in regards to anime and manga for several years now so I missed out on the hype that apparently surrounded this one due to its anime. However, I can see why people were drawn to it!

School-Live is an odd, almost slice-of-life like story but with the added twist of it being in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, so there is an odd mix of lighthearted cuteness with danger and creepiness. I can’t type too much about the story line itself as it does through some unexpected turns at the reader and really surprised me, but I can say that it really does have some really solid psychological elements to it that really add in something unexpected. The zombies themselves are portrayed as the shadowy creepers and not too much focus is placed on them except in a few short instances. I really like the characters as well. Kurumi is the shovel-wielding girl who takes care of business, Yuki is an overly optimistic girl who brings a smile to everything, and Yuuri who makes sure they both stay alive and fed.

We don’t get a ton of ‘why’ in this novel, however. We don’t know why the zombie apocalypse has occurred, or why a certain character behaves the way she does…but we do get to see few flashbacks that reveal some needed info and drop a little bombshell of their own. While does have this cute quality to it, it still has that harder hitting story element that all isn’t quite okay with the girls and it at some points the cuteness only serves to highlight it even more.

The artwork is really nice as well. I love that there is so much detail in the images and that the zombies themselves are more of these shadowy hunched figures. It keeps the art ‘cute’ but it does add that element of creepiness without stepping over into gross.

I’m definitely going to check out the second volume, maybe even binge read a few all once. I’m really intrigued to see where it’s going to go and if some of my questions will be answered.