SEOUL STATION (2016) ***

I dug Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan, so I decided to check out his animated prequel.  I’m usually not much for these anime things, but Seoul Station went down surprisingly smooth.  The realistic animation style was a big plus.  If they tried to stylize the zombie attacks and scenes of mass carnage, it wouldn’t have worked.  Doing it this way heightens the suspense.  Yes, parts of this are suspenseful.  I can’t remember the last time I saw a suspenseful cartoon.  That alone should be enough of a recommendation.

It begins innocently enough with a sick old homeless man.  Before long, he turns into a zombie and bites several other people, which spreads the zombie virus throughout the city.  During the chaos, a concerned man, desperately looking for his prostitute daughter, joins forces with her nerdy pimp to find her.

Train to Busan had an interesting class struggle in the midst of the zombie apocalypse.  Seoul Station’s metaphor is a bit more on-the-nose, but that’s kind of what makes it work.  (You can get away with symbolism and shit when you’re making a cartoon.)  Since the first survivors of the zombie plague are either homeless or prostitutes, they aren’t believed by the middle-class authority figures in charge.  Even when it becomes apparent what is going on, they aren’t trusted because of their low-ranking social status.

My only gripe is that the zombie stuff is a bit too dry.  Most of the attacks leave people with nothing more than a bite mark or two.  It really needed some juicy gore to put it over the top.  Other than that minor reservation, this is probably the best zombie cartoon I’ve ever seen.