Zekkyou Gakkyuu

I went into this expecting it to be ok at best, what I did not however expect was it to be GOOD and me wanting a full adaptation. I say full adaptation because sadly, it seems this is just telling a small part of 3 separate stories from the manga from what i could tell. Each one horror themed and each one good and very interesting. I am very sad we did not get a proper adaptation of this as I am by no means, into reading books, that includes manga so I have not read the manga nor do i plan too. Maybe somedaythis'll get a proper anime version; as it stands now use this as a means of gauging whether you'd like to read the manga and if you'd like to raise awareness for this series in hopes of a proper anime adaptation getting made someday, while unlikely, ya never know. As for the shorts themselves, I can't really talk about them beyond what I've said here because they are too short and will have spoilers if I do, but what I can say is, each horror story has its own theme. E.g. Be careful what you wish for, as one of the stories' themes. Lastly, the music is awesome, much better and fits perfectly for the anime than I was expecting. I'm not sure if the art is the same as the manga or not but I loved the art too and feel it also fits perfectly. I'd rate this anime a 7.0, don't be fooled by the low score at the top of the anime's page, its much better than it suggests and judging by the reviews for the manga and its score, seems the manga is as good if not better than these short 1 min and 30 sec each episodes suggest.

Zekkyou Gakkyuu is a fascinating little anime, and while it has genuinely fun ideas and story concepts, it doesn't really have any meat on its bones, and feels like little more than an ad for the manga. Beginning with this title's strongest aspect, the story, the viewer is treated to a few self-contained ghost stories, which feel appropriately spooky and give off a kind of lighthearted, Halloween type atmosphere. However, they do feel rushed, which robs these stories of their full potential. I also feel like the sequel, Zekkyou Gakkyuu: Tensei, is of a slightly higher quality in regards to its pacing and animation quality.This brings me to the art, of which there is little to say. While this title and its sequel that came years later both exhibit a playful sense of aesthetic identity, especially in regards to the snake-eyed girl at the start of every episode, they fail to stand out beyond the most basic standards of quality for their respective time periods. The sound is completely unremarkable, once again meeting the basic standards of quality in each case. The characters are, as expected, quite fleeting, but they fill their roles, even if they don't end up being especially memorable. Overall, this anime isn't terrible, and it even displays a kind of wry cleverness, but it is undeniable that it exists simply as an advertisement for a source material that is assuredly more satisfying than its animated adaptations thus far.

Merchandise

Links may contain affiliate references

Producers

Themes