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Zombie-Loan (ゾンビローン, Zonbi Rōn?, romanized as ZOMBIE-LOAN in Japan) is a manga series created by Peach-Pit; Banri Sendo and Shibuko Ebara. It is published by Enix and is serialized in the Japanese shōnen manga magazine GFantasy. The series is licensed in the United States by Yen Press.

An anime adaptation produced by XEBEC M2 was announced and started broadcast on the Japanese network TV Asahi on July 3, 2007. It contained a total of eleven episodes with the final broadcast on September 11, 2007.

Characters

Main characters

Michiru Kita
(紀多 みちる, Kita Michiru?), seiyū: Houko Kuwashima

* Birthday: February 22
* Height: 158.5 cm
* Weight: 46kg
* Blood type: A
* Nicknames: "500-yen", "Gopher", and "Chiru-chiru"
* Status: Human

Michiru possesses Shinigami Eyes, which allows her to see a ring on a person's neck, indicating their impending death. However, she has hated her gift ever since she saw dark rings around her parents' necks, who died in an accident after the rings turned jet black. She now wears glasses that can subdue her gift, allowing her to live her life normally. Although, since the death of her parents, she has felt a numb complacency with life, living it out, but having no will to achieve anything or even care if she dies or not, an attitude which disgusts Shito.

Michiru first meets Chika and Shito in the hallways of her school, accidentally tripping over Chika's hand. After she ends up finding out their secret, they initially think of killing her, but when they find out that she has Shinigami Eyes, they instead inform her that she will be using her powers to help them fight zombies, despite her protests. After various failures and meeting other members of the Z-Loan office, Michiru comes to accept her new job.

She often takes the brunt of Chika's abuse and is initially called '500-yen' by him, due to the fact that he believes she owes him ¥500. He later begins to call her a "gopher" since she often does what other people ask of her without question.

Chika Akatsuki
(赤月 知佳, Akatsuki Chika?), seiyū: Kenichi Suzumura

* Birthday: March 23
* Height: 175.5 cm
* Weight: 66kg
* Blood type: B
* Nickname: "Boy B" or "B" ("B-san")
* Status: Zombie

Chika is referred to as "Boy B" or simply "B" ("B-san"), titles which greatly irritates him, after surviving an accident with Shito, known as "Boy-A", six months prior to the start of the series. His attitude is rather lively, but he is also short-tempered; he is often seen beating Michiru for her various failures.

Chika is linked with Shito by a spiritual chain, which cannot be seen by normal people. This chain allows them to switch their right hands with each other; due to the terms of their contract, their real right hands, which they both lost in the accident, were switched when they were revived by the Zombie-Loan. With Shito's right hand, which is actually Chika's original right hand, Chika has the ability to generate a katana possessing Shinigami abilities. With the katana, Chika is able to perform spiritual memorials for zombies they defeat. Though often seen with a short temper, Chika has a genuine care for those he defeats and often performs their memorial with great sympathy. Though they have free will and emotions, both Chika and Shito are still considered zombies, so their ultimate goal is to regain their lives once again.

Surprisingly, Chika has a very cheery family, though he does not live with them since he lives in the special dorms with the others. His father turns out to be a doting cross dresser who annoys Chika constantly, and his sister tends to pay more attention to her cellphone and is basically indifferent to what is going on around her. Ironically, Chika dotes on her and wants her affection.

Shito Tachibana
(橘 思徒, Tachibana Shito?), seiyū: Takahiro Sakurai

* Birthday: January 21
* Height: 176 cm
* Weight: 64kg
* Blood type: AB
* Nickname: "Boy A" or "A" ("A-san")
* Status: Zombie

Shito is referred to as "Boy A" or simply "A" ("A-san") by most students in his school. Due to his looks and attitude, he is seen as an idol by the female students, though he seems to not care. He is generally a much more approachable person than Chika, but certain situations and people cause him to act cold and indifferent; when Michiru first told him that she had no real will to live, he told her how disgusted that made him feel, going on to say that he believes she does not deserve the right to live.

Not much is known about Shito, and his personal history is also shrouded in mystery. However, what is known is that holds a very high status as heir to the notorious Xu Fu Mafia. He is acquainted with a Mafia member, who views him as a monster, yet also an important asset. Also, it is later revealed that Shito did not die on the same day as Chika, but was already a zombie before the accident. Shito's mother was a zombie, and through the Corpse Release Spell, Shito was actually born a zombie out of a 7 year pregnancy.

Shito is linked with Chika by a spiritual chain. When he attaches Chika's right hand, or rather Shito's original right hand, he can generate a 9½ inch revolver, which has the power to harm zombies with its spiritual bullets using his own ectoplasm. As with Chika, Shito's goal is to regain his life once again so that he may live as a normal human. Though they are always together, Chika and Shito are far from friends; they are only close together because if they are apart, their hands (the ones that are chained) will begin to rot.

At the end of the anime, Chika is able to have Shito break out of his shell and call him by his first name, and without thinking calls Michiru by her first name as well. Shito also shows his more humane side when he grows to care for a golem, realizing that they are not just walking corpses but beings with lives.

Z-Loan office

Yuuta
(由詩, Yuuta?), seiyū: Chiwa Saito

* Birthday: October 1
* Height: 155 cm
* Weight: 40 kg
* Blood type: A
* Status: Zombie

Yuuta is the Z-Loan office assistant, who has the unique ability to heal. His job mostly consists of data-gathering, medical treatments, answering phones, and making tea. He likes to joke around and often pretends that his hands, which he named Ken Ken and Kon Kon, can talk. He is a zombie-loaner as well.

Bekkō
(鼈甲, Bekkō?), seiyū: Toshiyuki Morikawa

Bekkō is the manager of the Z-Loan office and a Ferryman (Watashimori); he is the one who gives people their loans. Although he appears to be greedy, Bekkō is not stingy when it comes to giving proper burials for the zombies they have come in contact with or giving money to the zombies' families. He is shown to be quite good at ping pong defeating Shito in episode 7 without letting Shito even taking a point off him.

Otsu Sawatari
(沢渡 乙, Sawatari Otsu?), seiyū: Takanori Hoshino

Otsu is another zombie who uses his real job as a medical graduate student to investigate autopsies and other zombie-related cases. Often mistaken for a Yakuza from his crew cut, sunglasses, smart casual dress and demeanour, he actually is one of the brightest in his class. He is shown fighting by using ectoplasmic flames that surround his hands.


Akashic Record Reform Commitee

Carmella
(カルメラ, Karumera?), seiyū: Satsuki Yukino

A mysterious woman who works for the Akashic Record Reform Commitee (ARRC). She has contacted Doctor (an illegal-zombie creator) numerous times. Although shrouded in mystery, she indicates that the ARRC know important events in the future, by telling Doctor that his survival is not guaranteed in the nearby future.

Miscellaneous

Koyomi Yoimachi
(宵町 暦, Yoimachi Koyomi?), seiyū: Kana Ueda

* Birthday: May 25
* Height: 166 cm
* Weight: 51 kg
* Blood type: O
* Status: Human

Koyomi is a resident of the same dormitory Michiru resides in. She is a very cheerful girl, but she also has a double personality. Unlike Koyomi's innocent and sweet exterior, her other personality, is without reserves and is usually fondling Michiru. It appears that Michiru is the only person able to awaken this alter ego of Koyomi's, merely by kissing her or simply calling her by name, "Yomi". While Yomi seems dislike everyone other than Michiru, Koyomi seems to have a slight crush on Sotetsu Asō. Yomi also has a special ability called the "Dead Man's Tongue", which allows her to channel dead people's words.

Shimotsuki Kuze
(久世 霜月, Kuze Shimotsuki?), seiyū: Saori Goto

* Birthday: November 11
* Height: 129 cm
* Weight: 30 kg
* Blood type: B
* Status: Human

Kuze is the director of the dormitory Michiru resides in. She is also fond of detective games. Despite her obvious young age, she is quite intelligent and usually speaks in an adult manner.

Reiichirō Shiba
(芝 怜一朗, Shiba Reiichirō?), seiyū: Junichi Suwabe

* Birthday: June 9
* Height: 183 cm
* Weight: 67 kg
* Blood type: AB
* Status: Zombie

An illegal zombie, known as the "Butterfly", and an old acquaintance of Chika's. Shiba appears to be a calm, cool, agreeable, highly intellectual person, and never seems to ask too many questions. Despite this, Shiba gains the great dislike of Shito due to his suspicious vast amount of knowledge on the Butterfly case. He and Chika get along fairly well since they were best friends in middle school. He is easily bored, but with Chika in his life, things were never dull until they parted ways when they entered high school. It is revealed that he killed himself by jumping off the roof, simply because he was bored of the monotonous life he had. He is the first zombie in the series to be reaped by the grim reaper instead of a member of the Zombie Loan. He initially fought by projecting and controlling an ectoplasmic knife, but by volume 8, he is shown to be using a scythe.

Sotetsu Asō
(麻生 蘇鉄, Asō Sotetsu?), seiyū: Kentarō Itō

* Nickname: "Dub King"
* Status: Zombie

Sotetsu is a resident of the same dormitory that Michiru lives in, however, he is an "adventurous epicurean" (as he calls himself in episode 9), traveling from country to country. Since he is also a zombie-loaner, he only comes back from his trips when his loan extends. Sotetsu is referred to as the "Dub King", the school's "living legend". His weapon takes form of an European-like axe, which comes out of his right hand.

The Grim Reaper

An entity that reaps souls. His core (or body) is later stolen by a human. Since he does not have a body, he is forced to reside in a chibi-like state that Michiru is fond of. He is known by some to be Zarame-sama and has the ability to generate a scythe at will.

Episodes

01 "Shinigami Eyes" "Shinigami no Me" (死神の目) July 3, 2007

When Michiru Kita sees two black rings on the necks of two boys from her school, she ends up fainting as it is an omen of death. Upon waking up, she runs into the two, Chika Akatsuki and Shito Tachibana, who, to her dismay, each removes one of their hands, exchanges them with each other and generates weapons. In order to keep their secret, they think of killing her, but after finding out that she has Shinigami Eyes, they realize she is of greater value if kept alive. They then take her to a mysterious business, Zombie Loan. Later, when she goes home, she is horrified to see that a gray ring has started to form around her neck.

02 "Are You Gonna Die?" "Ittoku?" (逝っとく?) July 10, 2007

Recently, people have been disappearing in Michiru's school, so Shito and Chika investigate the incident. They ask Michiru to help them, but she is more concerned about the ring that she saw around her neck. However, when Michiru finds out that her friend has gone missing, she decides to look for her friend at the school. Later, in the midst of Chika and Shito's battle with the zombie responsible for the disappearances, Michiru is fatally wounded. She wakes up at the Zombie Loan office and finds that her ring his gone, to which Bekkō informs her that Shito and Chika has incurred additional debt in exchange for saving her life.

03 "Dead Man's Tongue" "Shisha no Shita" (死者の舌) July 17, 2007

Now that Michiru works for the Zombie-Loan office, she moves out of her relatives' place by using her deceased parents' estate to pay off any favors rather than letting her aunt and uncle usurp her inheritance. Shimotsuki Kuze introduces Michiru to the dormitory she is to live in, as she satisfies the special criteria for residence. Chika, who is still claiming to be using her for her Shinigami Eyes, introduces her to the various strange people who work at Zombie Loan and they throw a welcoming party for Michiru. The next day, when she ends up going on assignment with Chika, they meet an old acquaintance of his.

04 "The Sound of a Butterfly" "Chō no Haoto" (蝶の羽音) July 24, 2007

Chika's old acquaintance, Reiichirou Shiba, helps Chika and Michiru out of a jam. Shiba then tags along with the two to the Z-Loan office, where Shito instantly points his gun at him. Chika, who also seems to dislike Shiba, convinces everyone that he is of no harm. Meanwhile, a new addition to the office is introduced, in order to help them with their upcoming job.

05 "Sacrifice" "Nie" (贄) July 31, 2007

When the office investigates a mysterious "butterfly" group, Koyomi and Michiru get mistaken as two of its members due to the butterfly symbols on their shirts. However, they get found out after Michiru tells them how bad it is to kill people, so Yomi comes to Michiru's rescue when they attack her. When Shito, Chika, and Shiba arrive, they follow the leader of the group and kills him, but it is later revealed that the zombie they killed was not the real leader.

06 "Longing for Freedom" "Jiyū e no Katsubō" (自由への渇望) August 7, 2007

As Shito and Chika battle Shiba, a flashback is shown to show how Shiba became a zombie. During the flashback, Shiba was tired with the same monotonous life he has, so he commits suicide. However, he meets with an unknown figure promising an "unboring" existence that leads to becoming "free" of his previous, dull life. Wanting to be free, Shiba agreed to work for the person who made him a zombie. Meanwhile, as Shiba is about to fall off the roof, Chika takes hold of his hand, but as Shiba falls, a shinigami comes to take him away. After the situation with Shiba, the others ponder about what happens after zombies die.

07 "A Wandering Heart" "Samayō Kokoro" (彷徨う心) August 14, 2007

The Zombie-Loan group ends up going to a hot spring. There, Michiru finds out the pricing for zombies: the more dangerous, the more money. Also, Shito and Michiru end up being attacked by a wolf-like creature, which they believe to be a zombie. However, they later meet the wolf once again, but this time, they realize that it is actually a man, and rather than a being a zombie, he is actually a werewolf.

08 "Fracture" "Danretsu" (断裂) August 21, 2007

Two unexpected guests bump into Michiru, Chika's father and sister, Yuri and Momoka, respectively. What surprises Michiru more is that Chika's family is actually a very cheery bunch. Meanwhile, Shito meets up with a man whom he seems to dislike. This person calls him a monster, and tells him that he should not be making friends. Later, Michiru, Chika, and Shito are given a mission to hunt a zombie, but while they are searching, Michiru brings up something that she found in Shito's room. Because of this, Shito gets angry, which is when the two boys get into a fist fight. Shito leaves them, and soon after, a chainsaw suddenly pierces through his stomach.

09 "Living Corpse" "Ikita Shikabane" (生きた屍) August 28, 2007

The man who calls Shito a monster comes into the Zombie-Loan office and introduces himself as Toho and also as a member of the mafia. He tells them that Shito has been abducted, and that he will take on the task of retrieving Shito himself, since Shito is an important asset to him. Also, Bekkō tells the office some info on Shito's past. Later, another old acquaintance of Chika's show up and decide to help him in his search. Meanwhile, Shito is revealed to be restrained in the enemy's hideout.

10 "The Corpse Release Spell" "Shikai no Hō" (尸解の法) September 4, 2007

Michiru, Chika and Sotetsu arrive late at night at a closed JRail station which is rumored to be haunted. Their aim is to seek out the Grim Reaper who like the master of the black rings, knows of all souls passing through the dimensions. Preparing to engage the reaper for information on Shito's whereabouts, they are surprised that he has turned into a chibi state, as a result of losing his Astral power core as thus, his body. Having a soft spot for such cute characters, Michiru takes the reaper along in their investigation. Meanwhile, Otsu follows his own leads on a suspicious mortician at his workplace as the groups end up together to confront the mastermind of Shito's kidnapping.

11 "Life and Death" "Inochi to, Shi to" (命と、死と) September 11, 2007

Chika finds Shito and they reunite to fight the twisted doctor Yoshizimi, who is absorbed into his ultimate golem creation. Otsu saves the day by putting an agent that Nogi created into Yoshizimi, causing him to to fall apart. Shito saves the girl golem, but she ends up dying when Nogi shoots it in the head as part of "cleaning up". Shito then beats up Nogi and gives her a proper human burial.

i like peach-pit's stuff

this seems a bit out of their usual, i'll have to check it out 3nodding