Highschool of the Dead/Headscratchers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • The not zombies are blind and can only detect ordinary people by sense of sound. In fact, their sense of hearing is so sensitive and their perception is so primitive that the sound of a tossed shoe or a wet towel hitting a wall can send them all into a frenzy. So why doesn't the footsteps of their fellow not-zombies cause them all to start feeding on one another?
    • They can smell hormones? When did zombies ever make sense?
    • At least in the anime, Hirano asks Saya whether they can detect heat or not. While they never had time to experiment with it, it could be that they can detect heat, which is why they only go after humans and not their dead comrades.
    • Notice how they're never set into a frenzy by the human characters WALKING. They don't respond to footsteps because they're used to each other's footsteps, but living humans make all sorts of noises. We don't know that if one of them tripped over a metal bar and landed on some bubble wrap that the others WOULDN'T go crazy.
  • How did Zeke did not become a zombie even though he bit one of "them"?
    • When he bit the zombie, maybe his teeth didn't punch through the fabric of the pants.
      • There is the possibility that the virus that created "them" doesn't affect animal-life and other non-human life-forms. If you remember in one of the earlier chapters, we saw a couple of alley-cats drinking what appeared to be a puddle of blood that might have been infected, and it looked as though they were perfectly fine. I could be wrong, but then again the walking dead aren't necessarily backed by logic.
        • A virus jumping between species is very dangerous to work into a story. People start talking about zombie mosquitoes or insect vectors in general and you realize survival is only possible in the arctic.
  • This is just a small thing, but the "Chairman" on Air Force One asks for an assisted suicide...and then crosses himself.
    • That actually makes sense. Wouldn't you do that if you knew you were about to die/on your deathbed? The only difference in this case is that when he dies, his body lives on as a flesh-eating monster. In his eyes, he's dying either way, but he doesn't want the latter to come to be and risk the infection of his comrades.
  • Okay, now this might sound like a very strange question but seriously, what's up with Saya Takagi's teeth? She's like a vampire. There are people with very prominent fangs in real life, but this is just absurd. Other characters rarely get to show anything except a white block for teeth, but this is fine because it's a part of the drawing style. But what does it mean when a character has fangs like that showing all the time? "Realistically", they must be pretty freaking huge to stick out like that. As in, she can probably bite Them to death if they ever come near her.
    • Probably just to show how biting Saya can be when she's in full bitch mode. Hopefully that pun also works in Japanese.
  • Saeko's high-heeled combat boots. As cool as they may be, who in their right mind would actually design such a thing?
    • Someone who's probably died already.
    • Military-esque stuff is already in fashion right now, including shoes. I've already found high-heel combat boots with a quick google search.
    • A lot of women (those that wear high heals a lot due to occupation or social surroundings) can walk in heals very easily. Saeko obviously fits into those social surroundings. There are also regular injections one can get to eliminate the pain that extended use might cause, made just for women like her.
  • Asami's Partner/sempai leaving the mall unarmed (as it seems as though both of them are traffic cops/meter maids). It definitely feels as though all the other ingrate mall residents kinda forced the pair to act even though they aren't adequately armed. Hirano had to arm Asami, for crying out loud.
  • The issue of the human mount aside, it bugs me how the importance of proper gun safety is stressed by Hirano, and then in episode 8 Takashi goes right ahead and shoots directly at Saeko. That was unique to the anime, but such a flagrant disregard of common sense and personal safety is just astounding.
    • That works both ways, considering it was Saeko who made the decision to dart across the line of fire.
    • The rifle he was using had a bayonet of it, that would make the bullet very inaccurate, Hirano should have known better to give Rei that weapon.
  • Did Saya ever mention being some sort of Gamer Chick? Because she makes quite a lot of remarks that would really only make sense for someone seriously into that kind of thing. ("What period is your character sheet from?!")
    • No. In fact, she seems to being trying to make it as clear as day that she hates nerds and anything else resembling them. Hm. On second thougght, that might be overcompensation to cover up her own geeky hobbies, who knows? I suspsect those references themselves were put in as a way to make her more appealing to the target audience.
  • Why exactly did the US EMP Japan? Okay, I can understand taking advantage of the crisis to blow away your enemies. But Japan isn't exactly the biggest threat to American national security.
    • An EMP is a side effect of all nuclear detonations, even for nukes that are destroyed mid-flight. Japanese & US Naval forces, independently of each other, succeeded in destroying the nuclear missiles using some kind of non-nuclear missile.
      • The missile that knocked out Japan's power wasn't fired by the U.S. It was one that the U.S missile defense system wasn't able to stop.
  • So, in twelve episodes of the anime they've managed to reach the home of exactly one of the characters. They've been shown crossing a river and driving on highways for quite a bit. Even taking into account that they probably aren't taking the shortest possible route, just how freaking far from home do these kids go to school anyway?
    • They mention dorms a couple of times in the manga, so apparently it's a boarding school.
  • Why does Takashi use Rei as a human mount while firing her rifle? The recoil so close to her chest was clearly causing her a considerable amount of pain.
    • Maybe because he thought that if he couldn't shoot reliably they'd die? Eh.
    • The whatever-is-called was tied to Rei, the alternative was to get eaten.
    • Also, rule of fanservice.
  • "Alright, we've established that the zombies primarily track their prey by sound. Therefore we should be as quiet as possible and not shoot unless strictly necessary -- BUT LET'S CONSTANTLY SHOUT AT THE TOP OF OUR LUNGS! EVEN WHEN WE'RE NOT FIGHTING OR TRYING TO COMMUNICATE IN AN EMERGENCY SITUATION! LET'S ALSO DRAMATICALLY SHOOT AT A ZOMBIE MULTIPLE TIMES FOR NO GOOD REASON!" *facepalm*
    • How often does their arguing actually attract zombies? I remember maybe 2 scenes where they weren't already screwed and zombies appeared while they were talking, and even those scenes didn't seem to be showing zombies attracted to their speaking. I think it's just to set up drama, so we don't have to watch people yell at each other in whispers.
    • It should also be noted that the shouting was in intense emotional moments. They are usually pretty good about that when they are calm.
  • So in Episode 8 of the anime (not sure if the manga is the same, but I think it is) why do they act like death is unavoidable once the Humvee's crashed into the wire barrier and they've ran out ammo? Couldn't they all just climb over/through the barrier instead of just Alice? The only one who looks like she'd be unable to do it would be Rei with her back problem, but even then the others could have carried her over/through.
    • They wouldn't have even had to bother with carrying her. The gaps in between the wires looked big enough to crawl through. That fence must have been the least obstructive obstruction in animated history.
  • What is up with volume 3 of the manga? They all get to Saya's house, and then it gets confusing. What is the right-wing party and why are they so violent? Why is there conflict between everyone now, including the main characters? It just seems like they started feeling angry with each other for no reason.
    • Saya's father political group, department-wide. They're violent to preserve the discipline of a military-like organization, necessary to survive in the new hostile environment, and usually to the taste of right-wings. Everyone is in conflict because they have time for that: no immediate pressure anymore, the adults are keeping watch and temporarily feed them. Sayu is upset her parents did not try to save them, Kohta is afraid he'll lose his guns and his Rambo status with them, Kohta wishes Takashi and Sayu would be less intimate, Rei wishes Takashi would talk to Saeko less and commit to his relationship with her instead, Rei just wants some kinship apparently, Saeko Saya Kohta and Shizuka are upset Takashi doesn't understand anything, Shizuka apparently would have wanted to confide something to Takashi, but she cannot for various reasons, one being Takashi does not understand. And they all understand at the end of the day that's quite petty given what they just lived together, so it gets on their nerves that it gets on their nerves. They need to shoot things.
  • It's been like half a year since the last chapter. WTF?
  • Given his stated martial art experience, Hisashi made some really dumb decisions when he was fighting that first zombie. First, grabbing onto the opponent. I figured a striker would go for the back of the neck, rather than grapple. Second, holding onto the zombie, and not doing anything. Why? Hit it, darn you.
    • We're never told which martial art he took. If you assume the took one that focuses on grappling rather than strikes (eg judo), and that he was expecting the first zombie to be about as strong as an average human (trying to move something that won't move looks a lot like holding on and doing nothing), all the problems you stated go away.
      • I reread. It was karate
        • I actually had this convo before. If you look at the way Hisashi is holding that first Zombie, his got one hand under his chin, and the other arm in a hold. Now I'm no expert on Martial Arts, but this looks like a hold that would be tough to break for a normal person. Hell, said Zombie had to turn itself around while in his grip to bite him despite there being an arm right near it's mouth, because the way Hisashi had it positioned made biting difficult (Zombies tend to go for the closest limb when the opportunity arises). Had the damn thing not broken it's own neck (or whatever it did to get him) he might have eventually tossed it aside once he was sure Rei was safe.
  • Why the hell did Russia join in America’s panicked and seemingly random nuclear first strike against China and North Korea?
  • So, around episode three of the Anime, one of the students on the Pre-Orgybus kept going on about how he hated Takashi. Did they ever say what his problem with him was, or did Shidou put him up to starting a fight?
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