If there's one thing worse than dumb, plotless shows, it's ones that try to act all fancy and high-concept but just come out a mess. Sankarea falls into the latter category with its attempt at supernatural affairs.

The main character is Chihiro, a boy whose life takes a tragic turn when his pet cat Babu is run over. However, Chihiro also happens to be a zombie enthusiast who believes that a certain arcane ritual could bring Babu back to life.

Is this ridiculous enough yet? Oh, keep reading, it gets better.

While preparing for the ritual in an abandoned building one night, Chihiro crosses paths with Sanka Rea, a student from the local all-girls school. Apparently Sanka is trying to invoke the powers of a nearby wishing well, but when she meets Chihiro, she gets roped into his scheme, and Chihiro asks if she would consider "dying and being reborn as someone else".

Creepy much?

This entire episode is a dogpile of conflicting messages--is it taking a tongue-in-cheek jab at the genre, or is it trying to put a supernatural spin on school life, or is it simply going for straight-out horror? One thing's for sure, it fails at the last one because it's so all over the place, and besides, Another set the standard for that already. Trying to understand Chihiro's motives is a lost cause, because he acts like an ordinary schoolboy one moment and then a total weirdo the next. If you can't get a hang of one single character, what hope is there of understanding the plot? The muted colours, flashes of occult imagery and stabs of creepy music try to reinforce the serious tone, but again, the jumbled subject matter doesn't always fit with the presentation. Unimaginative directing also hurts the animation, as we see too many shots of people looking directly ahead or to the side, and the character designs don't show any creativity.

Whatever it's trying to be, Sankarea fails.