Zombie Apocalypse: A Megacross Experiment

[Comartemis]

This one's another Plot Bunny that's up for adoption.

This fic idea is based on the concept presented in the manga series High School of the Dead; it's your basic zombie apocalypse premise (surprise surprise!) with a group of high school students trying to hook up with their parents and survive the onslaught, even as governments all over the world are dropping like flies and mass chaos is unleashed on the world.

What this fic does differently is focus on several groups of characters from other series who--had this situation taken place in their own universes--could be found in similar circumstances to the group of students in High School of the Dead, and track their attempts at survival as they pursue their own agendas, usually trying to get home or link up with loved ones or just plain survive the zombie onslaught.

The main problem with this is identifying groups of characters who would actually be able to survive in such a universe without also being able to blow right through a zombie hoard without breaking a sweat. Part of what makes the cast of HSotD so fun to watch is that each character (or most of them them, anyways) has a special skill that allows them to contribute something to the group's mutual survival. Saeko has her kenjutsu skills, Kohta has his mastery of marksmanship, Shizuka has her medical skills, etc etc. However I can't think of many groups of characters who are like this; they either lack the skills needed to survive (so Azumanga Daioh is out of the question) or they're way too powerful to make the conflict interesting (The Nerima Wrecking Crew, the Senshi, most of the main cast of ToLoveRu, etc).

Thus far there are two groups of characters I can identify on my own that would work well in this situation. The first is the cast of Full Metal Panic, or at least Sousuke if nobody else.

The second is the main cast of Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni, who come to Tokyo with Keiichi and his parents about a year after the end of Higurashi and get caught up in the chaos of the zombie uprising.

Part of the reason why I choose the Higurashi characters for this is because their mutual experiences bind them together into a powerful team that refuses to lay down and die after they fought so hard to break Hinamizawa's time loop, and partially because, like the cast of HSotD, each character has their own abilities to bring to the table. Keichii and Rena obviously have a fair amount of skill with their respective bats and cleavers, Mion has her pistol, Rika and Satoko can strategize and think their way out of most situations (never mind Satoko's skill with traps, which may find its' own way to be useful) and Hanyuu has a few abilities of her own according to Higurashi Daybreak, though that will require a bit more research before it can be used.

Does anyone have any other character groups they'd like to suggest for this?

[Heaven's Deamon]

Mai-Hime anime, post series. They lose all the actual HiME abilites at the end of the series, but between them there should be a good range of abilities to help them make due.

[Shadell]

Try sports manga. The cast of Eyeshield 21 for example, displays ability and strategy far above normal people, without having much that would make the zombies not a significant threat.

Hajime no Ippo could be interesting as well, though the cast is a bit older than the highschool age.

Also there are a good number of series where the cast loses most of their special abilities at the end such as Flame of Recca. That would leave experienced fighters attempting to battle without the aid of weapons or powers they tended to rely on before, though the characters from Recca might still be a bit overpowered without their weapons.

Detective Conan or Spiral could also provide interesting choices.