Sankarea (2012)

[さんかれあ]

Director: Shinichi Omata
Studio: Studio Deen
Starring: Ryohei Kimura, Maaya Uchida, Sayuri Yahagi
Episodes: 12

Synopsis:
A boy obsessed with zombies has his dreams come true when he develops a compound that turns an abused rich girl into a zombie.

Impressions:
We once again have a series that I ended up checking out after a random Youtube clip prompted a deep dive for context. While I liked this series well enough, I don't feel it made the most of its premise. The comedic aspects aren't played up enough for this to be really funny nor are the serious bits strong enough for proper drama. The story just sort of dips its toes into comedy, drama, horror and romance, never going far enough to make any of these elements truly satisfying. Given Chihiro's obsession, he seems surprisingly detached once Rea becomes a zombie. Except for WankoRanko, the supporting cast isn't given much to do. With the aforementioned weakness of how the tone is handled, some would-be disturbing elements lack sufficient impact. A stronger sense of direction one way or another would have gone a long way toward leaving more of a lasting impression.

Although I've had some less than pleasant experiences with Studio Deen in the past, the production values are fairly consistent. Don't expect much of anything amazing, but it's a solid performance on their part, so it's a bit of a shame that the writing isn't stronger to make more of this mostly decent showing from them. The fact that this only covers a part of the story without much likelihood of a continuation outside of the manga may also disappoint a bit. A little more punch and I could at least recommend this for a watch with less reservation, but as it stands, I say take it or leave it.

Rating:
50/50