Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? (これはゾンビですか? Kore wa Zonbi Desu ka? Is this a Zombie?) is a light novel written by Shinichi Kimura, and  illustrated by Kobuichi and Muririn since 2009 and is ongoing. Like many longer-named series, this series has been abbreviated to  Korezom (これゾン ). In the same year, a drama CD was released by Marine Entertainment. A year later, this magical, action-packed story was adapted to manga (by Sacchi) and currently has three different manga adaptations to it. On January 10, 2011 (Monday @ 1:30 am), Studio Deen’s adaptation of the series was aired with a scheduled 12 episodes followed by an OVA as the 13th episode. Crunchyroll is simulcasting the anime. A second season aired from April 5, 2012 to June 7, 2012.

The opening and ending themes are:
1. “Leave-It-To-Me. Tonight” (魔・カ・セ・テ Tonight Ma-Ka-Se-Te Tonight) by Iori Nomizu
2.  “Realize, Mr. Zombie, I am your Classmate” (気づいてゾンビさま、私はクラスメイトです Kizuete Zonbi-sama, Watashi wa Kurasumeito Desu) by Rie Yamaguchi

Protagonist Aikawa Ayumu is a normal high school boy going about his own business until he is killed by a serial killer and resurrected by a necromancer Eucliwood Hellscythe. Proceeding to act as Eu’s servant, he unwittingly absorbs Haruna of her magic powers and is now not only a zombie but a forced magician in place of Haruna, while searching for his killer who is continuously terrorizing the neighborhood).

Aikawa Ayumu is a quiet student, who seems to only have one friend in school, Orito. Having never spoken to a member of the opposite sex, he revs up his courage to speak to a silver-haired beauty outside a convenient store one day. She doesn’t speak, but communicates with him through scribbling.  That night, he walks home with a sense of achievement, jubilation and relief from breaking out of his shell. However, during the trip he hears a scream in his neighborhood. Bucking up his non-existent courage, he walks into a house invited to seek out the source of the piercing cry. Curiosity kills the cat.

He is stabbed from behind as he falls into his pool of blood.

When he next awakens, he is in a graveyard with the silver-haired beauty sitting beside him that him that he has been revived as a slow-healing, pain-feeling zombie. Turns out, Eucliwood Hellscythe is a necromancer. Thereafter, she moves in with him, and as he searches for the unknown assailant who continues to terrorize the town. EU (or Yuu) continues to communicate with Ayumu through notes, but he seems to daydream of her speaking in cute voices while calling him oni-chan. He is mostly her guard, but she considers her servant, mainly to feed her.

One night, his search for the killer brings him into the cemetery where he bumps into a chainsaw-wielding self-proclaimed masou-shoujo, Haruna. Her battle against a demon bear is won after slicing the bear AND Ayumu in half – collateral damage (not knowing that he was a zombie then). In an attempt to erase his memories, her magic is absorbed by Ayumu instead. In a later attack by a lobster on school grounds, Ayumu is forced to use Haruna’s magic, thereby transforming him into  a cross-dresser of sorts – seen by the entire school.

Some time after the embarrassment dies down, a vampire ninja, Seraphim (Sera), appears at their dinner table. She requests for Yuu’s assistance, and pawns herself as a servant to Yuu. But she is immediately told that not only is Ayumu her ONLY servant, but Yuu wants Sera to leave. In a showdown where Sera challenges Ayumu in a duel, she not only loses her spot as a servant to Ayumu, but lowers her status to become a servant to the servant Ayumu. At this point, “lucky” Ayumu gains three female roomies: one a well-respected, non-speaking necromancer, one a self-proclaimed maso-shojo who no longer has her powers but loves cooking only eggs for Ayumu, and one a masochistic, buxom vampire ninja “servant” who calls her master a shit-head. At this point, a fight is due.

Haruna gets into a heated argument with Ayumu that ends telling him to die. Yuu slaps Haruna and write that death is not something to be taken lightly. Haruna immediately realizes her trespass and apologizes to her with her egg lunch meant for Ayumu.

Later, a Doberman Megalo and watchdog of the underworld, Kerberos Wansard, arrives on earth to retrieve Ayumu back to hell. But upon seeing the honorable Yuu, he backs away; if Ayumu is worth Yuu’s healing powers, he must be important and worth saving. It seems Yuu takes on the pain of the people she heals. Unfortunately, Kerberos is murdered by the serial killer while protecting Ayumu. He imparts this bit of knowledge before passing: the souls sacrificed grant immortality to the taker.

Ayumu, feeling remorse for the death of Kerberos and through his encouragement, picks up his nerves to speak to Yuu. In order for her to remain in control of her magic, she is cannot express emotions or speak. Her words carry magic and she has no control over it. Even the gauntlet and armor that she wears is meant to suppress her powers. Her magic is so powerful that it will continue to work even after her death. She cries soon after, thinking that Ayumu will detest the monster that she is. “…because my emotions affect you the most,” she weeps to Ayumu. “You must hate me now.”

But this only endears her to him even more as he promises to stay by her side and protect her. “Laugh when you want to laugh,” he tells her.

Of course, living with three girls under one roof is something one should hide from one’s only friend. But the more you try to hide, the more the truth wants to free itself. Orito soon learns of Ayumu’s living arrangement, much to his excitement and chagrin. In turn, Orito takes Ayumu to visit the sole survivor, Kyoko, of the serial killer who is healing in Furumachi Hospital.  She thinks that the killer is not acting alone, but as a group. They all had beautiful blue eyes, and are probably her age – matching Yuu’s description to a tee. Could Yuu be behind the deaths? Whatever the case maybe, this will be the last time Ayumu sees the shy Kyoko as human.

When he next meets her at a graveyard, Kyoko reveals herself as not only the serial killer, but a masou-shoujo with the powers of a Megalo. She tries to off him, but Haruna and Seraphim arrive as back up. “How many times  must I kill you before you actually die?” However, the trio is still not enough to take Kyoko down. Yuu is forced to save her friends instead. During the battle with Kyoko, Yuu transforms into a masou-shoujo. Seeing this, Ayumu concludes that it was Yuu who actually absorbed Haruna’s magic in the first place, not him. Taking the battle elsewhere, Yuu kills Kyoko repeatedly (offing the souls that she absorbed) by muttering words but Kyoko rips off her eardrums and counters with an explosion that not only destroys Yuu’s protective armor, but knocks her out too. Ayumu, with the aid of the badly injured Seraphim and Haruna, quickly closes in on Kyoko and maims her. He tries to talk some sense into her, to turn over a new leaf, but she only sees immortality as the way to live. Calling up his reserves, he aims to kill but is stopped when Haruna’s Dai-sensei appears. She volunteers to reeducate Kyoko, her former student gone astray. Unfortunately, an evil soul repossesses Kyoko and takes off with her body. That soul, King of Night, was once a zombie that Yuu killed because it was consumed with malice.

(7) As things return to a routine, Ayumu puts in extra time and asks for Haruna’s help to avoid summer school. But during an exam, he is hurried because Haruna is being attacked by a lecherous horse Megalo. However, being under the torturous sun, Ayumu is quickly drained of his energy, seeing that he is really a zombie and not a human. Just as they are about to be beaten, they are saved by a delivery girl throwing Tonkotsu Ramen at the enemy (while Seraphim slowly makes her grand entrance). She is Maelstrom of the vampire ninja factory.

Haruna gets green-eyed and shoves Ayumu too hard, and he takes a tumble, landing onto Maelstrom and unintentionally kissing her. Unbeknown to the other two “humans,” when a vampire ninja kisses a person, that becomes a token and seal of marriage. With that, Maelstrom takes the group to their secret base that is able to eradicate the Megalos in case of an outbreak with their special soup formula. At school, it seems that Orito, Ayumu’s only friend, knows Maelstrom and calls her “Tomonori,” much to her dislike. What’s more, Dai-sensei, having taken a liking to Ayumu, presents him with a gift. X-Ray glasses. Blush!

(8) The lecherous idiot begins to walk around town with those glasses, but ends up in an accident just to save them. The glasses, as it turns out, was really meant for Sera: to read secret message/mails. Unfortunately, the note is an order from her clan to kill Yuu whom they believe is attracting Megalos with her magic.

Soon enough, Maelstrom aka Yuki aka Tonomori begins the assume the role as a wife to Ayumu. She learns that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Unfortunately, his lunches are already awesome, thanks to Haruna. Even worse, is her penchant for filling her food with a ton a condiments, which makes Ayumu sick. When Ayumu finally realizes what Tonomori is doing, he asks if they can be friends instead of a married couple. In the meantime, Ayumu wants to thank Haruna for helping him out with his exams and invites her on a date – that the entire harem ends up going together. That night, after the farce of a date, Haruna picks up her courage to ask Ayumu to kiss her.

In the mean time, Yuu is stopped and kidnapped by the zombie who she once thought was killed. He threatens to harm her new-found friends, which causes her uncertainty. In the thick of the moment, Yuu summons a large kappa doll which unfortunately lands on Haruna and crushes her. Dai-sensei arrives in time to rid off the kappa, only for it to land on Yuki instead, but Ayumu is there to save her. Afraid that she may do further harm to her friends, Yuu decides to leave her friends.

With Yuu gone, things go into chaos. Seraphim is attacked by her own fellow ninjas for disobeying direct orders. Soon enough, another zombie, Yoruno, emerges and tries to kill the three in an attempt to lure Yuu back. Ayumu is immobilized by his amputated limbs, Seraphim is chained, and Haruna is about to be killed. But Yuki arrives with her legion of vampires who forces Yoruno back. As the crew returns home to lick their wounds, Seraphim goes on a search for the missing Yuu. The next day, Ayumu learns the location of Yoruno, just as Yuu returns home. But before she enters, Seraphim, returning from her search, is maimed by Yoruno approaching from the back. To stop the bloodshed, Yuu goes off with the very powerful zombie, but not before feeding Seraphim some of her blood.

As Ayumu and Haruna prepare to head out to Yoruno’s place, they find an unconscious Seraphim lying in her own pool of blood. Angered, Ayumu finally barges into Yoruno’s place, with Haruna in tow. They are greeted by a nonchalant Yoruno, who just finished  making lunch. Feeding them, he pretends like nothing happened, while Ayumu asks for Yuu’s return (as she sits quietly). Things take a nosedive when the vampires appear. Yoruno leaves, but not before attaching an explosion on Haruna. Ayumu hurries after them, reaching for Yuu’s hand. She reciprocates, but at the last moment, pulls back. Unable to diffuse the bomb, Ayumu flies out of the apartment building with the bomb in hand.

The girls are left picking up the literal pieces of Ayumu. Even after all the pieces are found and joined, Ayumu continues in his slumber, most likely because he has lost his reason to awaken with Yuu gone. Unconsciously, he fears that it was his weakness that caused Yuu’s departure. Haruna, with the aid of Dai Sensei, goes into Ayumu’s unconscious and begs for his return. At his reluctance to leave, Haruna scolds him and tells him to remain in his vegetative state. Haruna awakens from her slumber, just as Ayumu too finally stirs.

A recovered Ayumu and Haruna head to the Tokyo Towers, where Yoruno and Yuu are. A megalo of epic proportion is summoned by Yuu in the chaos. Ayumu stands up for the misguided and confused Yuu, who he knows is incapable of hurting her friends, no matter how Yoruno forces her hand. Haruna and Ayumu transforms simultaneously, and use the last of their powers to throws off Yoruno. Injured, Yoruno finally begs Yuu to end his life. She finishes him by uttering a single word.

Meanwhile, Saraswati meets Sera. Since she is partook of Yuu’s blood, Sera is now the only person capable of sealing hell’s gate – opened by Yuu’s summon of the megalo.  Sera then plays the melody of death with the vampire clan coming to her aid to end things.

After the dust settles, Ayumu begs Yuu to remain with him. “I understand,” she speaks! “I will be with you forever. Will you do something about my fate?”

Season 2

This sequel of Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? continues with Aikawa Ayumu, the zombie high-schooler, getting into more trouble with his live-in harem Eucliwood Hellscythe (a necromancer), Haruna (the masou shoujo), Sera (the vampire ninja) and one purported wife: Mael Strom/Tomonori (a vampire ninja).Even Saras (Sera’s superior) begins to fall for Ayumu, or more precisely his posterior.

His new nemesis comes in the form of Chris/Takeshi Kurisu, the strongest masou shoujo and Ariel’s mentor (Haruna’ teacher).

Opening & Ending Themes are:

1. “***Passionato” (***パショナート ***Pashonāto) by Iori Nomizu
2. “I’m a Beginner at Love (T_T)” (恋のビギナーなんです（T_T） Koi no Beginā Nan Desu (T_T)) by Rie Yamaguchi.

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