Zombie-Loan [TV]

By judging the darkness of a ring around a person’s neck which only she can see, Michiru Kita knows how close a person is to their death. She notices that two of her classmates: Chika Akatsuki and Shito Tachibana, that both already have gravely dark rings around their necks. In an attempt to warn her classmates of the impending doom, she discovers their secrets instead – they are already dead.

They are kept alive by a contract with Zombie-Loan. In exchange for keeping their lives, Chika and Shito must hunt down zombies, and desire to use Michiru’s ability to assist them in their task.

About the Show

Zombie-Loan is an anime adaptation of the action, romance, supernatural manga under the same name, written by Pitch-Pit and published by Square Enix. Produced by studio Xebec M2, the anime series aired a total of 13 episodes between July 3, 2007 and September 11, 2007.

Characters

Michiru Kita
Michiru Kita is a young girl endowed with the Shinigami’s Eyes, which enables her to identify people who are close to death, by judging the ring’s color around their necks. After witnessing her parent’s rings turn pitch black, which was shortly followed by their deaths, Michiru hated her ability, and tried to suppress it with the help of special eyeglasses. Since then, she lost all her motivation and will to live.

Chika Akatsuki
An energetic and lively guy, Chika Akatsuki is a zombie kept alive by a contract with Zombie-Loan. He met an accident together with Shito 6 months prior, and was brought back to life, thus he and Shito are both zombies. Chika has a spiritual chain connected to Shito, which allows them to switch their right hands at will. His right hand is capable of generating a katana that possesses Shinigami abilities. With it, he can guide the zombies they defeat to Heaven.

Shito Tachibana
Shito is good-looking but cold, a demeanor that makes him quite popular with the girls. His spiritual chain allows him to switch right hands with Chika, which in turns enable him to generate a revolver. In contrast with Chika’s ability to guide souls to Heaven, Shito guides the souls they defeat to Hell.

Sneak Peek

Episode 1: Grim Reaper Eyes
Michiru notices that two of her classmates have pitch black rings around their necks, a sign that they will die very soon. After trying to warn them, she accidentally discovers that they are no longer alive, but are zombies instead. Due to a contract with Zombie-Loan, Chika and Shito hunt down zombies in exchange for keeping their selves alive. They then try to use Michiru’s abilities to help them in their endeavor. Later that night, Michiru notices that a ring has appeared around her own neck.

Episode 2: Want to Die?
After several suspicious disappearances in Michiru’s school, Chika and Shito decide to investigate the situation. They ask for Michiru for help, who was still bothered about the ring she saw around her neck. Michiru agrees to help after she learns that her friend is also missing. Later, Chika and Shito discover the zombies responsible for the disappearances and they engage in battle. However, Michiru is fatally wounded amidst the battle. She wakes up at the Zombie-Loan office without the ring on her neck, and Bekkou informs her that Chika and Shito were penalized with additional debt in exchange to save her life.

Episode 3: Dead Man’s Tongue
Rather than letting her aunt and uncle slowly take over her inheritance, Michiru decides to finally use her deceased parent’s estate. Michiru is later given a welcome party by the Zombie-Loan office workers.

Episode 4: Butterfly Flutter
Reiichirou Shiba, helps Chika and Michiru out of a pinch. Shiba then goes with Chika and Michiru to the Z-Loan office, only to be welcomed by Shito’s revolver. Chika tries to reduce the tension by introducing Shiba as an old acquaintance, and that he is of no harm. Later, a new office member is introduced, someone that will accompany them in their next task.

Episode 5: Sacrifice
The Z-loan office investigates the “butterfly” group. Due to the butterfly prints on their shirts, Koyomi and Michiru are mistakenly identified as members of the notorious group, but were later found out after Michiru expresses how killing people is bad. Chika, Shito, Yomi, and Shiba arrives and kills the leader. Later, they learn that the zombie they killed was just a decoy.

Episode 6: Longing for Freedom
Shiba is revealed to be the enemy. In a flashback, Shiba decides to commit suicide after living a monotonous life. Before killing himself, a mysterious entity appears before him, and promises an entertaining life. Wanting to be free, Shiba agrees and is made into a zombie. Shito and Chika later defeats him.

Episode 7: A Wandering Heart
The Z-Loan office decides to relax and spend a day at a hot spring.

Episode 8: Fracture
Michiru meets Chika’s father and sister, who as cheerful and energetic as Chika. Later, Michiru, Shito, and Chika are tasked to hunt a zombie down. However, Michiru makes Shito upset after asking him about something he found at Shito’s room. Shito then decides to proceed the mission alone. He is then abducted.

Episode 9: Living Corpse
A man arrives at the Z-Loan office and informs them of Shito’s situation. After stating that Shito is an important asset to him, he declares that he will rescue Shito himself. Later, another of Chika’s old acquaintance arrive to help.

Episode 10: The Corpse Release Spell
Michiru, Chika, and Sotetsu embark on a search for the legendary Grim Reaper. They then discover that the Grim Reaper had lost his powers, and was reduced to a tiny creature. Michiru takes him with her.

Episode 11: Life and Death
Chika finally finds Shito, and they are both engaged in a fight against Dr. Yoshizumi, who was inside his ultimate golem creation.

Episode 12: Wheel of Destiny
The Z-Loan office celebrates Shito’s return.

Episode 13: We Want to Protect
The Z-Loan and A-Loan fight in a competition, where the first office to gather 10,000,000 yen will be declared winner.