The first half of the film highlights the bumbling idiots and their quest for jujitsu immortality as an army of zombies begins to throw a monkey wrench in their dreams. These idiots hardly take the zombies seriously, giving the impression that this is designed to be a buddy comedy, not a serious zombie movie. They think then can survive on potato chips, smokes, and of course jujitsu. There was even a scene where Fujio (Tadanobu Asano) was searching through a desk and didn't even bother to grab the gun and boxes of bullets in plain view. This guy is a certified dumbass for sure. Soon after, they meet up with a foul-mouthed shrew of a woman that constantly calls them dumbasses and idiots, which is harsh but accurate. After this, some zombie madness ensues and the film takes a turn for the worse.

Fujio and Mitsuo (Show Aikawa) get split up and the film fast-forwards five years to where the Tokyo survivors are crowded in a region blocked off from the zombies beyond. Fujio apparently developed a relationship with the shrew girl, resulting in a daughter who is mute. The woman is as nasty as before, as she constantly calls him idiot and dumbass while throwing bags of potato chips at him, cursing the shrine Fujio built for Mitsuo or the old bald guy.

The theme of the film changes drastically in the remaining half, as it takes a more serious approach and tries to highlight social problems and class differences while trying to remain funny, but most of the gags fall flat. I found myself losing interest as the film was moving along, hoping for a good ending. After a fairly weak 40 minutes, I must admit the final 10 were pretty funny. The little girl takes an important role and has a funny revelation that was undoubtedly influenced by her often critical mother. I recommend watching this scene with the English dub because the dubbing is hilarious.

"Tokyo Zombie" was a pretty entertaining buddy comedy and Tadanobu Asano and Show Aikawa exhibited great chemistry together. Unfortunately, the middle to end of the film felt awkward and out of place. For that reason alone I believe "Tokyo Zombie" is a good movie but far from great. This film often reminded me of Wilson Yip's Hong Kong film "Bio-Zombie", which also featured two buddies doing goofy hijinx with a large supporting cast of zombies.

Like "Bio-Zombie", "Tokyo Zombie" is an entertaining and often amusing lighthearted film that is recommended.

The relationship the pair has is very real, and the great chemistry between Asano and Aikawa really makes it click from the word go. The zombies aren't the main focus the movie, they almost seem like they're an annoyance like rain to the characters rather than the world-destroying horde they normally are in movies.

If you are looking for a typical zombie apocalypse movie you will be disappointed, because it is more about the characters than the zombies, like really good zombie movies often are. "Dawn Of The Dead" comes to mind where the zombies are just a background nuisance to the main drama of the characters.

As a buddy comedy it is definitely a cut above the usual buddy comedy fare. The humor is very good, coming in several big laugh moments (my favorite is the flashback to Aikawa's "cancer" diagnosis which had me rolling on the floor). What really makes this movie work as a sublime comedy is the characters. You care for all the main characters, even Asano's wife, who can be a bit a shrew, but I found she was the most lovable ballbuster in the history of film.

This film rises above both zombie movies and buddy comedies to be a really great movie, and it is great that after years of impatient waiting it finally made it to the US. Everyone should check this out. If you like to laugh, this movie will definitely make you do it.