Sankarea

Sankarea: Undying Love  is a romantic comedy manga, written and illustrated by Mitsuru Hattori,
about a deceased girl who becomes a zombie. The manga was serialized in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine between December 2009 and September 2014 and compiled in eleven tankōbon volumes. The series has been licensed and is published in North America by Kodansha USA. An anime television adaptation by Studio Deen aired in Japan from April 5 to June 28, 2012. A novel adaptation by Ryō Suzukaze was published by Kodansha in July 2012.

Plot

Chihiro Furuya is a male high school student with a keen interest in zombies, collecting zombie-related videogames, film and manga, and even to the point of desiring to "kiss a zombie girl". Following the death of his pet cat, Babu, he attempts to revive it using an old manuscript, which describes the process of creating a potion for resurrection. At this time, he encounters a girl named Rea Sanka, who has run away from home. In an attempt to commit suicide, she drinks a sample of the "resurrection" potion which is created from the poisonous Hydrangea macrophylla flower, although this fails to kill her. Following an argument with her father, she falls from a cliff by accident and dies. However, as a result of the potion, she becomes a zombie who eats hydrangea leaves to survive. The story follows the life of Chihiro and his new 'zombie girlfriend'.

Characters

Main characters

Rea Sanka (散華 礼弥 Sanka Rea)
Voiced by: Maaya Uchida (Japanese); Tia Ballard (English)
Rea is the heroine title character of the story who steals and drinks a zombie potion made by Chihiro in an attempt to commit suicide because of years of abuse by her father. Although he hadn't had sex with her (although it might have been leading up to that) he had touched her in a manner that made her uncomfortable, took nude pictures of her on her birthday "to note her growth", had her watched and photographed constantly, fired any maid who acted 'inappropriately' (like letting Rea play with a stray cat), and he forced the family of the one friend she had confided in about his behavior to move away. The potion wasn't enough to kill her, but she was resurrected as a zombie after her father accidentally knocked her off a cliff (the fall would not have killed her, except that she encountered a tree stump on the way down which tore into her stomach). As a zombie, she lives together with Chihiro in order to know how it feels to become free from her father's control. In chapter 12, she calls Mero "Mero-chan", similar to how Mrs. Furuya was remembered by Mero. Rea likes Chihiro and feels that she is interfering in Chihiro and Ranko's relationship, although Ranko later encourages her to try harder, which she does, albeit with embarrassment. She seems to understand Bābu and is the only zombie that Jogorō and Darin have seen able to defy her instincts at the 2nd stage of zombification, possibly due to her having drunk the potion before dying (which Darin suggests no other zombie has done). She's also physically strong, since her body is no longer restrained by her brain as a result of her death. (There are several 'governors' in the brain and body which limits action to prevent moving faster and stronger than the flesh can endure. So, while Rea could punch a hole in a steel door, the action would severely damage her arm.) In the arc in which they visit "Zoma" she suffers from memory loss due to the removal of her brain cells. Although she can only remember very few of her buried, yet etched memories, her memories of Chihiro remain vague and unclear. She gains her memories back when she eats Chihiro's heart.

Chihiro Furuya (降谷 千紘 Furuya Chihiro)
Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese); Aaron Dismuke (English)
Chihiro is the protagonist of the story who has a zombie obsession/fetish. He finds an old manuscript and follows the directions to make a "resurrection" potion to bring his dead cat back to life as a zombie. He performs his research into zombies in the old abandoned building and he sometimes sees Rea at the well near the building, lamenting her life. He promises Rea that he'll take responsibility if she becomes a zombie. After Rea moves into his residence, he conducts research on preserving Rea's body in a tent in his own room. He wants his first kiss to be given by a female zombie, which later he experiences firsthand when Rea kisses him. He also experiences becoming a half-zombie, after he is stabbed by Dan'ichirō with a fencing sword. In the Anime this was due to Rea licking clean a wound that he acquired after she saved him from being hit by a car (although the effects were only temporary). In the Manga she had bitten his lip when she 'kissed' him. Chihiro enjoys seeing Rea dressed as a Bunny Girl or a Nurse. Despite the fact that he's not interested in living girls, he fell in love with Rea when she was still alive, which he confesses to her while Rea is trying to devour him, which brings her to her senses. He tries to approach her afterwards but has difficulties given the incident and Rea's own embarrassment. In the Manga it's hinted that his interest in zombies may be due to his mother having been turned into a zombie. She had apparently died in a car accident and was brought back for a short period (by Jogorō) before becoming permanently dead. In the end of the manga, Chihiro's heart was eaten by Rea, but he was given an artificial heart to survive.

Ranko Saōji (左王子 蘭子 Saōji Ranko)
Voiced by: Sayuri Yahagi (Japanese); Jamie Marchi (English)
Ranko is the first cousin of Chihiro. Often called Wanko by Chihiro, at times she says that Chihiro should use "-san" after her name. Ranko has liked Chihiro for some time (Since he saved her from a dog when she was about 6 years old. But, unknown to her, he was only trying to protect the DVD with which she was shielding herself) and develops a rivalry with Rea although she also likes to tease them. She eventually confesses to Chihiro, but realizes before he can answer that he loves Rea. She has accepted that her love is unrequited for now, but hasn't given up and occasionally does something reckless such as ingesting a bottle of Resurrection Pills to turn herself into a zombie. Fortunately this failed since Darin was too lazy to change the bottle label and she merely passed out from a minor allergic reaction.

Mero Furuya (降谷 萌路 Furuya Mero)
Voiced by: Yuka Iguchi (Japanese); Felecia Angelle (English)
Mero is the younger sister of Chihiro. She's named after George Romero. Unlike Chihiro, she is obsessed with ghosts. She doesn't remember much about her mother except for the fact that her hands were wrapped in bandages. In some of her memories of her mother, she remembered her mother asking about her fever, stating that she had forgotten that she can't tell temperature. She sees her mother's image in Rea, subconsciously calling her mother.