Sankarea is as weird as the main character. It feels impressive and mediocre at the same time. This series is one of the ‘unique’ romantic-comedies of this season, aside from Tasogare Otome X Amnesia. Still, this one deserves the five-episode probation with the cliché flags I’ve detected on the first episode. Good thing it’s not as bad as those in Ano Natsu de Matteru.

Complemented by the quirky premise, this series’ visual look and feel is excellent. Character designs are very good and probably the most unique thing in the visual presentation. The rest in the art, and animation feels like the ones from SHAFT’s adaptation of Nishio Issin’s masterpiece, Bakemonogatari, no thanks to the quirkily funny story and bizarre setting. Voice acting is conservatively good, though. I’ll have to hear more of this before I can finally put a good estimate on this aspect of the the presentation.

The first episode provides us a good narration of what’s happening and gives us the weird premise of the zombie-loving main character and his craving of having an undead girlfriend. His friends were shocked when he told this “fetish” of him. When his pet cat dies, an idea to resurrect it with a ‘reviving potion’ came to his mind. He hid this plan from his family and friends. A day after he’s working with his plan, a friend rants about not being able to join the female students of a nearby all-girls’ highschool in walking their way into their respective schools. One of the girls is Rea, the daughter of the school principal, who chanced upon him when she cried her heart out in a well near the place where our main character is doing his ‘secret.’

The writing doesn’t show mediocrity on the first episode, although some of the character interactions and elements in the premise get some clichés in their ranks. Not bad, although I have to put this in the five-episode probation whether I would put this in the archives or finally drop it.

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