Is This a Zombie?, Vol. 1 - manga (Kore wa Zombie Desu-ka?, 1) Paperback – July 22, 2014

Is This A Zombie was a recommended purchase for me, so I immediately bought the first three volumes on a whim. I have not seen the anime, nor have I read the light novels. This is one of the strangest manga I have ever read.The story revolves around a school kid named Ayumu who is murdered, and brought back to life by a Necromancer named Eu. Eu doesn't speak, instead she writes her thoughts and responses on paper for Ayumu; this is because Eu's words become reality and anything she says may change the fate of the person she is speaking too.Ayumu, while walking home from school, has a girl named Haruna fall on top of him out of the sky. Haruna is a 'Magikewl Girl' (even Ayumu thinks the name is stupid) from another world, here to destroy monsters known as 'Megalo'. As it turns out, Ayumu somehow managed to sap the magical energy from Haruna and she can no longer fight Megalo or return to her own world.There's also another girl who appears named Seraphim, and is looking to take Eu back to her world to resurrect her tribe leader. When Eu refuses to go with her, she decides to stay with Eu, Ayumu, and Haruna.The story has a lot of angles to follow, but never really goes anywhere past Ayumu looking for the person who killed him. The rest is typical harem scenes and situations. Many of the jokes that have been translated do not make sense in English, and should have notes added to describe why the sentence is a joke. Overall, it turns some of the conversations into complete incoherent ramblings. Some of the jokes refer to other anime, especially the Gundam series.Is This A Zombie carries a parental advisory warning, but never shows any nudity and the language barely falls above a Teen or PG-13 rating. I'm not sure if the warning is there because of all the upskirt and panty shots; but every time there is someone naked, they are either covered or not detailed. Things that could have easily been changed to be deserving of the rating, or simply edited to not need it at all.The first six pages of the manga are all full-color and glossy. The book came shrink wrapped (probably because of the Parental Advisory. The cover is a little light and bends easily, so be careful when reading. The pages are also slightly underweight and should be handled with caution (for anyone who likes a pristine collection). The book is inked well, and there wasn't any real examples of unused space between panels. It is fairly average quality manga.Overall it will be interesting to see where the series goes from here, I am looking forward to reading Volume 2. If you are looking for something that just tries to be fun, look no further; if you are looking for something serious you will probably want to look elsewhere. I knocked a couple stars off from 5. One was for the overall quality of the manga is not worthy of anything more than average rating; the other was for the difficulty in following the manga at times. There are instances where a major part of the story is going on, and then it seemingly drops that part of the story and moves on without any closure or warning.

For those who have seen the anime, this is not the original story the anime was based on. Kore wa Zombie desuka is originally a Light Novel, with the anime and this manga following for people who are especially fond of pictures, dislike words, or are generally lacking in imagination.So you've already seen the anime why buy this instead of sending Yen Press a letter insisting they do the right and bring over the real book instead of making money off of stupid people that don't like paying for words? The artwork is nice. That is to say, if you've wanted to see all your favorite characters drawn in a different much cuter style, here you go. I personally like the way it's drawn, but you may not.Was it a particularly good adaptation? Well the author of the manga readily admits there is much content in the original story that regrettably could not make it into the manga.Manga Author: "Due to the limited number of pages there is much we had to edit or cut out, so I would appreciate it if you followed along in the novel as well." (From the afterward)Reader: "What did you have to cut out?"Manga Author: "The fight scenes."Reader: "Which one?"Manga Author: "All of them."Reader: ".... really?"Manga Author: "Just kidding! We left one."The problem here is half the the plot development happens during the fight scenes. On the other hand, there never was much plot to be developed so it doesn't affect the continuity of said "plot." What this means exactly is that most of the fight scenes were removed so more time could be spent drawing the girls being cute. At least it focuses on doing one thing well instead of a bunch of things poorly, as is the case with most manga adaptatison I've read. This is, again, not intended to replace the original."Giving fans of the original who can't get enough something else to buy" pretty much sums up my opinion of why manga adaptions exist, so ultimately I went in with low expectations and was neither impressed nor disappointed. I like the original enough to want something related to it on my bookshelf. With money to spend and no light novels to spend it on, I'll probably continue to buy volumes of this during lull months in between release of the LNs I prefer read. Perhaps one day the real will be able to join them.

First off, I'd like to say that I'm a big fan of the KoreZom anime and light novels and that this manga adaptation is both funny and true to the original, at least thus far.The story is hilariously absurd and follows one Ayumu Aikawa, a teenage boy turned zombie longing to find his murderer after having been brought back to life by a necromancer, but don't let the serious sounding plot fool you, while there is action and mystery this manga is most of all a comedy. The 3 main female characters are all memorable and begin to make Ayumu's life even more stressful as he gets sucked deeper into the world of magic and monsters. The art style is cute and fits perfectly, and while the fight scenes are cut down I've always felt that this series was more about comedy than fights. If you want longer fights you can always watch the anime, which, unlike the light novels, has been licensed and the first season should be released in English later this year. I recommend this series to anyone who liked the Anime or who wants a good laugh.As one final note, know that the "zombie" in this manga isn't your typical George Romero zombie, but rather a resurrected corpse more the style of a Haitian zombie. So for those of you looking for a zombie apocalypse manga, look elsewhere like towards HighSchool of the Dead.

Is This a Zombie? is very creative and original twist on the mahou shojo genre. The series has very unique characters which provide lots of entertainment. It's funny and certainly doesn't take itself too seriously. The story itself is unrealistic set in a world with the main character is a zombie and a magikewl girl despite being a boy.The art is well done and there are a few fanservice moments too.The characters are varied and all of have their own unique charms so you become attached to them throughout the series.There is a bit of romance but this is only a small part of the manga it's mainly used as a backdrop for comedic situations that the characters find themselves in.I recommend this series for who likes comedy.

Really disappointed I couldn't get into this, I managed about 6 pages before I had to give up. Found it very difficult to follow compared to other reads

Is this a zombie? Volume 1 (Also known as Kore wa zombie desu ka?) Is based off the Japanese light novel series under the same name which was written by Kimura Shinichi.Here is a quick summary for you who don't know about this series.Aikawa Ayumu is a normal high school boy. One day he is killed by a serial killer and revived as a zombie by a necromancer Eucliwood Hellscythe. He starts to serve Eu as her guard but he happens to deprive a maho shojo (Magikewl girl) Haruna of her magic power. Haruna orders Ayumu to fight against anti-mahou shojo system "Megalo" in her place.From the start of the book to the end you will not be able to put this volume down. Just imagine around the first 4 episodes of the anime in manga form and this is what you get. Very hilarious dialogue between the main character and the girls and very funny action scenes is why alot of people tend to like this series and it's very clear why. The first 4 pages of this volume are in colour which is a nice added bonus but you should expect things like that from yen press. All the speech bubbles are very easy to read compared to some yen press releases like High School of the dead where the speech bubbles tend to go into the spine but you will not get that problem here. If you're a fan of the anime then you have to pick this volume up. And if you're new to it then I recommend you give it a try.

I already saw the anime 3 times the first season and 2 times the second season.And i decided to buy the manga (btw this was my first manga) the best is a lot like the anime .10/10

having wahched the dvd of this i looked forward to the paperbook coming out and i have not been disapointed it is just has funny and easy to read please buy it