Hibiki Mamiya is a big car mechanic who calls himself the world's stubbornest man. There's going to be a zombie holocaust and he'll get trapped in a tunnel, but don't worry. He has convenient archery skills and a cute girlfriend to look for (Kurumi Ogasawara). Is she dead? Don't be silly! That possibility does not exist! He's a nice guy in a bad world. Hibiki and Kurumi were a lovely couple before the zombies came and he'd been about to propose to her.

Now, though, everything's different. He'll see panic, fear and selfishness. Idiots will be determined to believe the worst of him, even when it doesn't make sense. It's as if being a twat was a survival criterion. The dickhead count sometimes goes through the roof, especially with the military taking orders from a mad scientist played by Kenichi Takitou. He says he can produce a vaccine. That's a powerful tool for making people obey you, but we know he's insane. He did the worst thing it's possible to do in this genre. His ultimate fate isn't horrible enough.

Besides, there are also the zombies. This is an action/horror series, with zombies that are a serious threat. Season 1 was the show's most impressive on a zombie action level, with the show clearly having a proper budget. Altogether, the show has five seasons with 32 episodes, two specials and a "FINAL" movie. This was a strong opening... but it's leaning heavily on familiar tropes. Hibiki and Kurumi are separated by both distance and script contrivance. "I'll never forgive that person," they'll say. "I swear I'll kill them." Yeah, yeah. You'll see it all coming. This season is ultimately a love story (plus zombies), so it's all about the obstacles between the lovebirds. Will they overcome them? Inevitably, yes, but not before they've been given reasons to hate each other. There's also a conversation where Hibiki's pointing his bow at Kurumi's back and she does none of the obvious things like turning around or saying "it's me". Well, until it's too late and he's fired. What an idiot.

That said, though, there's electricity in the scenes when each thinks the other hates them. We've been sighing as the script contrivances creak into place, but they're still capable of being powerful.

Other characters get thematically related story material. Lots of people have siblings, wives, children, etc. There's unrequited love and idiots vowing vengeance against people just like them. The latter gets a bit overdone. I stopped believing it.

This is a good show, though, and I've since watched it all. Ryoma Takeuchi is extremely likeable as Hibiki, even if he does shout "oi" in a deserted city. He doesn't know about the zombies yet. Similarly, I've always rated Ayami Nakajo (Kurumi), even if I was starting to lose patience with her character towards the end of the season. The show holds it together, though. It's easy to empathise with these people, even when they're objecting to saving lives because of a perceived risk to themselves. Besides, there are always those zombies (or "golems" as everyone calls them). This would be the show's most zombie-heavy season... although even here, they're scarier in the earlier episodes, before our heroes have started finding their feet.

I was happy to keep watching. If nothing else, I was sure the show's narrative would evolve drastically as time went on and characters got killed off. (I was right.)