「Running in the DEAD」

Would you imagine the look on my face when recaps started playing when I first watched the episode? Well, it wasn’t that amazing because I had read about it beforehand, but nonetheless, I did not expect the entire first half to be about 60% recap. There’s really only a handful of explanations for this, and they’re quite sensible. The first reason would be that the chapter is relatively short when animated (usually because the chapter mainly consists of actions scenes), so they had to buff up the episode a bit and elongate scenes (such as the grope, but I’ll talk about that later). The other reason is that Madhouse has probably decided on an ending already, since it’s only one cour, and they decided on doing one chapter per episode, no matter what it takes. Maybe they just really like quality cliffhangers.

Whatever the case, this episode was not completely worthless, as it pretty much served as a “morals” episode, asking the question of where “humanity” goes when the world turns to the apocalypse. The first half pretty much just enforced the setting, while the second half strikes the question. Takashi finds himself enjoying the freedom of the current world, and the bully loses all sense of care as he lost everything he had. In the end, while the bully doesn’t “deserve” being killed, he was an obstacle in a dog eat dog world.

While there weren’t any censors this episode, instead they just chose to not animate the bully being eaten alive by the zombies. The groping scene was something that was just a bit too long and a bit too awkward than it should have been. I can already see the animated gifs popping up around the internet soon, if they haven’t already. Was it lengthened to pierce the rage of the viewer? To make the impact stronger? Maybe, maybe not.

Although I didn’t catch the “Shaun of the Dead” reference last time, this ep made it pretty clear with a gas station named “Shaun”. Why they make a reference with a gas station is beyond me, but hey, it’s amusing at least. While it seems that the show may have dipped to a slowing point, the next one seems to be more exciting (then again, I do know what happens).

 

ED4 Sequence

ED4: 「cold bullet blues」 by 黒崎真音 (Kurosaki Maon)
Watch the 4th ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

Preview

57 Comments

    1. I’m going to guess that’s per liter and not per gallon.

      And as for the episode, my face was like =.=” when they started playing recaps, but at least it wasn’t all old material. I’m also not sure why so many of the house/building lights are on.

      Prooof
      1. You are correct. They go by liters. The US doesn’t like the metric system much.

        Anyway judging from the show they are paying about 4.50 a gallon. They have such a high standard of living…

        (1 gallon = approx 3.7 Liters X 105 YEN = 388.5 YEN/gal)
        (Current exchange rate 1 USD = 87 YEN)
        (388.5/87=4.46 USD)

        unlisted
  1. 50 story 50 recap i this episode is ok but i don’t enjoy recaps they are just a way to fill time. Also who ever wrote and who ever directed it have one thing in common. They Really like Tits.

    chaos
  2. I wonder if they will really stick with the whole one chapter per episodes thing? With only 13 episodes, please don’t tell me they’re aiming for an anime original ending? Well, that or the obligatory season two.

    Jaden
  3. When I saw that recap of the first episode, I was like “OH SHI-“. Kinda wondering if they had the time for that, especially with 13 episodes. Also, I thought the music really fit the scenes, especially the opera piece while they were riding through the city.

    Click
  4. Episode 4 and we got a recap… c’mon if it’s a 13 episode anime well then use the 7th for a recap (6 episodes+1 recap+6 episodes that’s pretty even)

    Ohhh and yes, the groping scene was indeed way too long

    They need to get some weapons and a few new characters like the little pink haired girl, his dog and miss nurse girlfriend

    mako
      1. yeah like i said in my 1st post, that im not to fond of recaps because i think its just a waste of time and its not like everyone want to see the same stuff that already happened again twice.

        Kiiragi have you seen the link that i posted?

        Itachizame
    1. Really? I mean Really?

      Generic_schoollife_comedy_moeblob is better than awesome_slice_of_zombieapocalypse_show_with_social_commentary for you ?….

      Oh well…Kids. they still do not know what is good for them.

      UnknownVoice
      1. I’m not sure; I’ve gotta agree that if this continues, this show is gunna go downhill.
        Look, Seitokai Yakuindomo’s thing is its potty humor and it plays on gags not seen before in Anime; points.

        HOTD, no matter how great the action is, is the more generic of the two.
        It has enough plot to have been written by a typical zombie-movie fan.

        Oh well… kids, they love stringing their biased words together rather than try to approach the subject while not being blinded by their opinions.

        Dullahan
    2. I agree as well. Seitokai Yakuindomo is not only fun to watch, it’s fun to say and write! 😀 lol But yeah. WAY more entertaining that this show. I’m not bashing or anything, I’m just saying I get more enjoyment out of comedies than action horrors. :]

      Shirt
    3. no no, seiyokai’s gag is getting repetitive. They shouldn’t always focus on things so sexual. I loved the first 2 episodes of seitokai but its getting “boringer” now…
      Same could be said for HOTD but I have higher hopes for it.

      Gufu
  5. I won’t be surprised if Shido gets the first dibs on these girls once the school bus becomes the Show Spoiler ▼

    Fricking bastard…

    YES! We’re gonna meet Shizuka’s friend next time!

    And hours after watching this episode, I happened to watch George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead on cable. Coincidence? Maybe… Anyway, the scene where a Japanese woman in a video stream is saying “Things are bad here in Tokyo” became rather…amusing as I imagined the HSOTD gang kicking zombie a** while those Diary of the Dead guys were watching that video stream.

    Incognito
    1. He’s too “Kami-sama” to do it with “lowly” humans.

      I detect heavy censors for the upcoming bus scenes; either that or we’re not gunna get it at all. 🙁

      Dullahan
  6. With this kind of pacing, the best outcome we could hope for is the cliffhanger at the Takagi estate arc for this (first?) season.

    Let’s just hope it’s not an original ending or send-off.

    Dullahan
  7. The whole recap sections were really surprising. I kept thinking I was watching something fan-made. But the new scenes mixed in made it a horrid reality check. It wasn’t so bad though. A little early but it’s all good. The end made up for it. ;9

    Shirt
  8. Heh, when I started watching, I thought I have downloaded the wrong show. or that someone went through the effort of making a troll episode.
    Overall I though it was a decent episode.

    Jo
  9. Recap really? too bad.

    I don’t know why they are comparing two totally different shows.

    “Watch School Rumble it is funnier than Death Note.”

    I hope they keep the manga and don’t try anything that can damage the canon.

    Lectro Volpi
  10. New pictures on the “wall” in the ED: a photo of what looks like Saeko sleeping and a photo of the bully washing his car while a little girl (his little sister most probably) looks on. As I mentioned in the comments for the last episode, each ED features not only a different song but adds 2-3 photos to the wall as well. Pretty neat idea, as it makes me wait til the end of the song so I don’t miss any extra bits that come after the ED and before the next episode preview.

    hikarub
  11. While the fanservice does get to be a bit much sometimes (I’m hoping they cut a particularly ridiculous scene from the estate part), here it actually made sense. The idea that some people will go sexually wild during a catastrophe like this is definitely plausible and the show may be saying that anyone who enjoyed the groping scene would be one of those crazy people.

    Also, baseball cap + bandana + teeth grillz + big pot pendant = American gang member?? What was he doing in Japan?

    caramel_cod
    1. I feel things will seem unpredictable with so little episodes what would make the anime something complete. This is madhouse though, I found disappointment the way they took Tenjou Tenge and left so much open.

      Bluance
  12. So far the people are acting as it would be expected except personally i would have taken the Mercedes. The boot could have been laded with food and water and the eclosed area provides more protection fo bein bittenthan a bike. However since using a bike allows travelling through narrow areas, its no a no brainer choice

    Zaku Fan
  13. the recap part is really annoying and boring, i dont want to see the part i saw already. ok ? the rest is perfect, zombie + boob + finally some weapon + combat airplane, finally some action. good.

    Justin2010
    1. I watch the AT-X broadcast, and I don’t really consider censored versions when I say there aren’t any “censors this episode.” If there’s an uncensored version that’s available to viewers out there, then it’s the only one that matters.

  14. I like T&A as much as the next guy but it sure don’t belong in the zombie-horror genre (unless they were being ironic but HOTD seems to try to take itself seriously most of the time). Just ruins the atmosphere. I read through the whole manga so far and the characterizations and action are fine to speak for themselves. That said, this recap ep was men. I mean, we’re only 4 episodes in and they already feel like they have to remind us of what happened? I could understand if we we’re half a season in or if there was a weeks-long hiatus, but this just seems like a way to cut corners in animation costs and just waste time.

    Raiju
  15. I was disappointed that Madhouse turned half of this episode into a recap. There was more than enough material in the manga to adapt. None the less the art in this episode was gorgeous. I loved the scenes of Tokyo at night. HSOTD is a guilt pleasure and is a good show which has the potential to become a fantastic show. I’m still glad Madhouse adapted the manga even if they screwed up this episode. Fingers crossed for a second season.

    Horrorfan213

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