Trivia / Highschool of the Dead

• Banned in China: For extensive sexual content plus some graphic violence.
• Creator Breakdown: Due to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Daisuke Satou didn't want to continue writing Highschool of the Dead which he felt was inappropriate considering what was happening in Japan.
• Creator Cameo: Both Daisuke Satou and Shouji Sato appear as Okada and zombie voices in episodes 2 and 8, respectively
• Died During Production: Daisuke Satou died of ischemic heart disease in May 2017, putting the series on hold indefinitely.
• No Export for You: The series wasn't released in China due to its graphic violence.
• Quietly Cancelled: The series entered a hiatus around 2011. The artist, Shouji Sato, went on to do another series in the interim and the writer, Daisuke Sato, just went mum completely. The series did return briefly for one more chapter in 2013 before going back into hiatus again. This went on until Sato's sudden death in 2017 resultantly led to the series being quietly put to rest.
• Schedule Slip: Daisuke and Shouji's regular schedule in Dragon Age Magazine began to slip after the 20th chapter or so, monthly break followed by monthly break, eventually going for a hiatus after Chapter 29.
• Series Hiatus: Chapter 29 marked the longest break the mangaka duo ever took for their series, Kadokawa Shoten accordingly put the series on hiatus, taking their time with rereleasing the first 4 volumes in full color; meanwhile artist Shouji Sato has since worked on Triage X, and still works on what made him rise to stardom in the first place. Chapter 30 was eventually published in April 2013, over four years before Daisuke Sato succumbed to heart disease in 2017.
• She Also Did: Rei Miyamoto's voice actress also plays Armin Arlert from Attack on Titan, another anime Tetsurō Araki would later direct.
• What Could Have Been: The end of Volume 6 showcased a few designs and ideas that didn't make the final series:
  • Takashi was designed to be more "hero-like".
  • Rei was originally designed with shorter hair and her famous hair style not present.
  • Hisashi was going to mill around a bit after getting zombiefied.
  • Saeko was going to be younger and have a different personality.
  • Shizuka was originally a clinical nurse, as well as older and more composed than her current character.
  • Hirano was named "Nagumo" and was originally modeled after Ed from Shaun of the Dead.
  • Saya didn't originally wear glasses and was meant to just be an overbearing character.
  • And finally, an unused character named Tomoe Arise, who was meant to fill the "bespectacled genius" role. Since her personality was already settled on before she was cut, the creators just gave it to Saya.
  • Kadokawa Shoten and Shouji Sato were interested in continuing the series during the second hiatus, even putting out an ad for an artist to join the project and help Shouji. There was also an announcement that the series would return under the name Highschool of The Dead: Apocalypse. But Daisuke Satou's sudden death put all those plans on hold indefinitely. Shouji has since placed all efforts on Triage X with HOTD ultimately being quietly shelved.
• Working Title: The working title for the series was School Zombie! KILL! KILL!

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