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Is This A Zombie? Vol. #06 Manga Review

Is This A Zombie Volume 6

In which something almost happens, but then not really.

Creative Staff Story: Shinichi Kimura Art: Sacchi Translation: Christine Dashiell

What They Say Confronted by Chris, a super-powerful denizen of the magical realm who is intent on getting revenge on Ariel-sensei, Ayumu and the girls are pushed so far into a corner that they have to rely on Eu’s forbidden power of the word to get this new villain off their backs! But they aren’t able to do that before Chris steals Haruna’s newly restored magikewl girl powers. So now Ayumu must seek help in the bosom of Nene, an older babe from the Underworld, who wants a little something in return for her wisdom?!

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers): Apparently, thanks to the Queen of Villiers, Chris was cursed and lost both her powers and identity. It seems that she takes on the form of a man and poses as a teacher at the school, and when she gets drunk she turns back to normal. It’s with this teacher identity that she was able to give Haruna the push to create the magic absorption device. Together with the ring meant to keep Tomonori in check, she’s able to regain her powers. With her massive strength, she’s able to knock down our heroes with minimal effort, but thanks to Eu’s abilities they are able to escape before she can deal the finishing blow.

While looking for a way to deal with Chris, Ayumu finds himself invited to a conference of vampire ninjas by Saras. We soon find ourselves introduced to the chief of the vampire ninjas, a continuously sickly man. He explains that alongside Chris and Dai-sensei, he once attempted a coup d’état. As a result, he was cursed to perpetually die, while Chris got her identity stolen, and in addition was given the curse meant for Dai-sensei. Finally, Eu tells Ayumu that she knows an S-class Megalo named Nene with ungodly large breasts that may be able to help with Chris, and that she apparently lives in this world and makes doujinshi.

Unfortunately this plot thread doesn’t pack much potency, so instead we find ourselves treated to the vampire ninjas’ tendency to take toasting to the extreme, our heroes helping Nene with her doujinshi, and the group attending a party along with Dai-sensei.

In Summary Though it looks at the start of the volume like things are heating up, the story just keeps on sputtering along with rather bland silliness instead. The “gags” once more take up the bulk of the story, and new characters are introduced with powerful positions, but they don’t really do much of interest. To be fair, Nene’s interaction with Eu is probably the closest this volume comes to having a worthwhile scene, but her character doesn’t extend much beyond that. It’s also a little distracting that she’s designed with ridiculous looking breasts that are bigger than her head, taking her well to the other extreme compared to many of the awkwardly childlike designs in the series. Hopefully Chris will finally manage to something halfway interesting in the next volume, but for now this remains yet another bland, meandering book.

Content Grade: C Art Grade: B Package Rating: A- Text/Translation Rating: A-

Age Rating: 17+ Released by: Yen Press Release Date: October 29th, 2013 MSRP: $11.99