Sakura Minamoto dreams of becoming an idol. Unfortunately, reality hits her like a truck, and she dies in a sudden traffic accident. Ten years later, she wakes up in Saga Prefecture, only to find herself a zombie with no memory of her past. While still coming to terms with her demise, she meets a man named Koutarou Tatsumi, who explains that he has resurrected her and six other zombie girls from different eras for the purpose of economically revitalizing Saga by means of an idol group. Assuming the role of an abrasive manager, Koutarou begins scheduling events; the girls go along with it, eventually deciding to name their idol group Franchouchou.
An absurdly comedic take on the idol genre, Zombieland Saga tells the story of Franchouchou's heartwarming struggle to save Saga Prefecture while hiding their zombie identities and rediscovering their past lives.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Stark700
Doesn't it feel like in today’s world, there’s way too many horror media that does same things over and over again? I’m not solely talking about anime alone but the horror genre has gotten to a point where it feels like we’ve seen just about anything. One of the most iconic type of horror is the dead coming back to life. In this case, I’m referring to zombies. Franchises like Resident Evil and The Walking Dead are among just a few well-known ones that comes to mind. But what if I told you that Zombieland Saga manages to revitalize a bit of the horror genreinstead of falling to common cliches?
To be honest, Zombieland Saga isn’t really a horror show at all although the first episode’s opening suggests so with a cliché setting and a young girl facing a crisis between life and death. It manages to trick viewers through its opening and does a 180 degree turn after revealing the series’ real concept – a horror comedy that satirze Japanese idols with an absurd character cast. As a collaboration project by Cygames and Avex pictures (with studio MAPPA), they managed to keep this show a secret from the start.
Now that we got that out of the way, it’s time to realize what Zombieland Saga really offers. I watched plenty of zombie shows in the past and most of it attempts to do the same things over and over again – evoke a sense of fear. Zombieland Saga does the opposite and creates a sensation of genuine entertainment with its comedy elements. In fact, I’d say the show is self-aware enough to satirize the idol industry. In the first few episodes, protagonist Sakura Minamoto ends up dead after being hit a trick. But rather than awakening in some fantasy world, she is reborn as a zombie. It doesn’t take long for her to join a group with other zombie girls together. This group collectively is formed by a man named Kotaro Tatsumi with the purpose to save the Saga Prefecture. Say hello to Franchoucou.
Ideally, a show like this sounds like it took a big risk as it sounds like a dumb joke of itself. Watching Zombieland Saga does feel like the show plays with itself a bit too much but it didn’t take long for me to accept and grow attached to the main characters. That’s because each of them have a life of their own with colorful personalities. As an inspiring idol, Sakura’s dream became a reality when she steps onto the stage. Sakura’s friendly personality enables her to easily get along with everyone. That’s the opposite of delinquent yankee, Saki Nikaido. Unlike Sakura, she is difficult to get along with because of her tough personality. Deep down though, Saki isn’t a malevolent character and in fact manages to develop some deeper bonds with her idol comrades. We also meet Ai Mizuno, a girl who desire to make the best of her current life. Junko Konno, Lily Hoshikawa, and Tae Yamada make up the rest of the group after being reborn. Despite dying under different circumstances, they all serve the same purpose and that’s to make their group into a sensation.
You’re probably asking yourself if Franchoucou really is a sensation in their world. They didn’t start out with popularity and instead had to work their way up. Through hard work and motivation, the group does gain popularity as Sakura leads them to stardom. My interest for the show grew more and more as I wanted to see this group succeed. It also helped that the show constantly got me feel attached to the characters through effective storytelling. We learn of their past, their motivations, and what they hope to accomplish in the present. There are also some episodes that throws in some surprising plot twists and bittersweet ending moments. I’m not going to spoil it but it manages to become even emotional at times so prepare for some tissues.
As a horror/idol comedy, the show contains countless amount of humorous gags. Most of the humor revolves around the concept of zombies. Characters retain personalities from their past lives but sometimes finds themselves surprised by unnatural events. This often includes body parts coming off unintentionally that’s played with absurdity. The guiltiest member of the group that people will point fingers at would be Tae Yamada, the legendary title-less girl. Unlike the rest, she has yet to regain her personality and behaves like a zombie. She has an unhealthy appetite that seems to have a personality of a kid stuck in an adult’s body. The show constantly pokes fun at her character by showing what zombies can do. It’s the type of satirical humor that is aware of its intentions and seeks to make the audience laugh. And to be honest, it works.
So now what? Is this just a show of humor nonsense or is there something bigger that meets the eye? It honestly depends on how you approach this show. The more I watched Zombieland Saga, the more I felt compelled to see how different this anime is compared to other genres of similar nature. In fact, I’d say that Zombieland Saga offers an experience that is refreshing by mixing in comedy with musical themes. It’s not often you get to see these two mixed together in today’s world. The project creators managed to effectively create a fakeout of the show from the first episode while ultimately making this into a parody. Don’t get me wrong though. You’ll still occasionally see some “horror” content pop up but it satirizes to make it absurd as possible.
It should also be said that the voicing cast of this show deserves recognition for their talent. In particular, voice actress veteran Kotono Mitsuishi plays her role as Tae Yamada flawlessly. She’s able to step into the shoes of her character with the mindset of a zombie. Others such as Asami Tano is able to take on their character role as a yankee and her accent proves it. As a show about idols, you should also expect tons of catchy songs. While most of them relates to J-pop, there are occasional times when the show throws in a surprise or two such as a battle rap in one particular episode. The bottom line is, this is so much more than just a horror-idol comedy as it also manages to embrace its music culture.
Studio MAPPA did it again. They managed to create a show that not only surprised me but also give the zombie concept a breath of fresh air. Zombieland Saga manages to reinvent itself by stepping out of the comfort zone. It satirizes the idol industry by combining its self-aware humor and absurd character cast. Yet, it manages to deliver effective storytelling that is important for the overall direction of the show. As I learned more and more about the characters, it felt hard to let them to go when everything concluded. By accomplishing such a feat, this anime is definitely a sensation to take attention to. The secret is out now and it’s easy to say that I need more anime like Zombieland Saga in my life.
HellLyter
Zombieland Saga is unironically the best anime of 2018. Let me tell you a little story. Once Upon a Time, I got hooked on the idol genre, and descended into what is commonly referred to as idol hell. However, contrary to popular belief, I was able to snap out of my zombie like trance and escape from idol hell, and I can happily say that I’ve been clean for over two years. No longer having an interest in idol anime, I had no inclination to watch Zombieland Saga, and had planned on skipping it. What a sad, misguided fool the me before watching this anime was…anyway,I eventually got around to watching it thanks to my weak mind being influenced by Youtube videos that told me to give this anime a shot. In this review, I’ll explain to you why Zombieland Saga isn’t just great for it’s drop-dead hilarity and entertainment value, but for its unexpected complexity that you might just miss out on if you just skim the surface of this surprisingly great anime.
That’s right, this is actually going to be a somewhat intricate review since Zombieland Saga is totally worth analyzing. So if you don’t have much time and have to Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!, here’s a little tl;dr for you: I came for the quirky idol shenanigans + zombies combo, stayed for the amazing comedy, and left absolutely loving the diverse and both figuratively and literally fleshed out characters (Get it? Cuz they’re zombies?)
This anime really hits like a truck in how quickly it transitions from a seemingly typical idol anime opening sequence what with our heroine Sakura’s upbeat and energetic disposition to an intense and hilarious death scene backed by heavy metal music after like 30 seconds into the first episode. I was instantly hooked after this unique beginning, and the anime just got better from there.
It’s no spoiler to say that our protagonist is as dead as someone who, well, died. However, she is revived via necromancy by a sunglasses wearing manager dude named Koutarou who also brought back six other SUPER LEGENDARY girls from the dead all for the purpose of them forming an idol group with the monumental goal of saving a declining Saga.
If that sentence long synopsis doesn’t get you to tingle with excitement in anticipation to see where the heck this anime goes, then I don’t know what will.
It’s no secret to say that I didn’t watch this anime hoping to find something with a compelling narrative and developed characters and was instead looking for something that would make me smile in amusement. And I can happily say that Zombieland Saga made me die of laughter (Don’t worry about me though, I was brought back to life…Though sadly not as a LEGENDARY zombie idol) This is the funniest anime that I’ve seen all year. Each episode contains a plethora of comedic moments, and there was always something new and creative so it never felt like I was watching the same routine with each passing episode. Now if the good comedy was all Zombieland Saga had, I would have been perfectly content with the anime and left satisfied. However, there is so much more to this anime than that, and its greatest strengths revolve around the cast.
You really can’t go wrong when your characters are a bunch of LEGENDARY girls in an idol group called FranChouChou. Outside of Sakura, who suffers from memory loss, a typical anime trope that Zombieland Saga actually executes better than literally every other anime that utilizes memory loss, our girls include my personal favorite, the LEGENDARY Saki Nikaidou, a fiery, outgoing girl whose voice and character design are so hot that they make me catch on fire. Plus she’s a rapping biker girl who likes chicken and goes down in a blaze of glory TWICE. I guess the perfect girl does exist. We also have Ai Mizuno, a girl who was a successful idol in life who had a simply LEGENDARY death after giving one last electrifying performance. Let’s not forget the soft spoken yet powerhouse vocalist Junko Konno, whose LEGENDARY rise to stardom may have been cut short by an unexpected crash and burn, but she lives on in our hearts…and as a zombie. Lily Hoshikawa is a kawaii girl who was a LEGENDARY child actress who unfortunately ended up in a hairy situation that her little heart just couldn’t take. Still, she’s a true star, and her cuteness is infectious. Next, we have the ever enticing and LEGENDARY Yuugiri, who is the most experienced of the girls in more ways than one~
Finally, we have THE LEGENDARY TAE YAMADA, and thanks to her inclusion as the star of the show, I was practically mandated by the animu gods to bump up my score for this anime by a full point. So yeah, the girls in this anime are just so…Illustrious.
You’ll notice that the girls all lived in different eras, so they obviously were exposed to different cultures based on the times that they lived in. A lesser anime would have glazed over this fact, but not Zombieland Saga, and this was the point that I realized that this anime was something special. Junko and Ai were to first to go through compelling character arcs, and their stories were pretty engaging, and set the stage for the upcoming character arcs. The episode dedicated to Lily was, to put it bluntly, LEGENDARY. Zombieland Saga had done it. It became the first anime I’ve ever seen to make me laugh hysterically AND be brought to the verge of tears thanks to an incredibly well produced character driven episode. I didn’t think anything could top the epicness of the rap battle, but the emotions I felt thanks to Lily’s story certainly did. I was trapped in a sea of emotions throughout the entire episode, and I could probably write an entire review just dedicated to that episode alone. Seriously though, I have never seen an anime handle Lily’s character type nearly as well as Zombieland Saga did, and at the end of the day, Lily is Lily.
And of course, it goes without saying that Saki’s episode was pure greatness. Saki is just that good.
A strong demonstration of camaraderie between characters is something that I rarely see sufficiently executed in anime. So imagine my shock when I realized that Zombieland Saga of all things was able to pull it off. The bonds that these characters have with each other grew from constant arguments and not being on the same page in the first few episodes into an in sync family who would do anything to help each other out. This is demonstrated the clearest near the end of the anime. I won’t spoil exactly what, but something happens to Sakura that causes a rift between her and her fellow zombies. The way that all of the girls try to get her back to her old self is extremely heartwarming, and it really goes to show how far these girls have come. And thanks to their positive relationship with one other, they’re able to put on some spectacular performances. And now we get to the other great part about this anime.
Its music is hella good.
For the past several weeks I’ve been listening to the opening theme song, Adabana Necromancy, constantly. I play it when I eat. I play it when I sleep. I’m playing it as I’m writing this review. It’s a pretty damn good song. And you know what else is good? Literally every insert song in this anime. I’ve already mentioned the rap battle, which was pretty off the chain. Lily’s song and Saki’s song are two personal favorites of mine, and every musical number in this show is just really catchy. If FranChouChou ever put on a show irl, you better believe I’d buy tickets to go and see them, and I would be screaming and crying at the awesomeness alongside those two heavy metal guys who’ve attended every show that the girls have put on. Seriously though, those two guys really are the unsung MVPs of this anime.
When it comes to the voice acting, as Phil from Hercules would say, I’ve got two words for ya: Frickin Miyano Mamoru! This boi is my favorite male seiyuu, and his performance as Koutarou is simply LEGENDARY. Some of the best comedy from this anime comes from the combination of Koutarou’s absurd lines plus Mamoru’s expert delivery of them. And of course, the ladies voicing our lovely zombie idols do an exceptional job. And they even got the LEGENDARY voice actress of Usagi from Sailor Moon to voice the LEGENDARY Tae Yamada. I didn't expect anything less.
Visually speaking, this anime is animated quite well. I love the character designs, and the fluidity of their movements during scenes like the rap battle and Lily’s song is very impressive. But there’s one glaring issue with the visuals, and I’m sure you know exactly what I’m referring to. You guessed it, I’m talking about none other than the CGI.
Which is an acronym that I made for Cute Girl Idols.
That’s right, as I said before, these cute girl idols are drawn to look pretty attractive, but they’re, you know, rotting corpses, and I don’t know about you, but I’m not into necrophilia. Yet the girls’ cutesy designs have consistently tempted me throughout the anime’s run time, which has been problematic since it’s called into question my morality and…Oh wait, you thought by CGI I meant the Computer Generated Imagery that this anime scarcely deploys? The CGI implemented during some of the dance sequences that is literally used for less then ten minutes of the entire anime’s run time and doesn’t look nearly as bad as people make it out to be? Well personally, I have absolutely no qualms with the CGI. There’s definitely worse out there, trust me.
Zombieland Saga impressed me. It put a fun twist on the idol genre that not only made it incredibly entertaining to watch, but also allowed it to develop some truly great and unique characters. I haven’t enjoyed watching an anime this much in a long time. And if you haven’t watched this anime yet, you really should Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! and watch it as soon as possible. It just isn’t right to miss out on such a LEGENDARY anime.
CodeBlazeFate
It’s pretty clear that in today’s society, anime seems to be churned out in droves. You bare witness to the regurgitation of carbon copies, causing the medium you hold dear to fade into the bleakest grey... And then Zombieland Saga busts in through the fucking window in a speeding minivan going 156 mph, shouting “FUCK YOU; GET IN” before flooring it faster than you can say “The Legendary TAE YAMADA!” It’s fun, it’s quirky, it’s loud as all hell, and most importantly, it’s as vivid as a sunset. Sure, your weeaboo mancave of a room is busted and your waifu collection is in pieces, but weall know you’ll replace that with a shrine dedicated to a bunch of zombie idols in no time. You’ll get used to it anyway.
We should probably get the most colorful, charming parts of this show out of the way. These visuals pop. The colors strike like God’s lightning, especially in both the opening and ending. These character designs are as bombastic as the personalities of the girls when they’re off doing weird hijinks. Their facial expressions and clothes are so glorious that it’s easy to forget that you only give a shit about like half the characters until their pasts get revealed. Sure, there are some fugly CGI idol models in a couple of dance sequences early on, but then we get oil paintings for menus and real-life footage. Studio MAPPA poured their blood, sweat, and tears into injecting nothing but style into this show.
Speaking of hijinks, there’s a ton of variety in these spectacles. Horror movie/game parodying, playing hot potato with Tae’s severed head, fucking chicken performances and rap battles?! How can anyone object to this?! This is a perfect venue for vibrant character chemistry, as evidenced by the two best characters in the show, Saki and The Legendary Tae Yamada! These two embody the best aspects of the show, with them getting a majority of the best gags. Saki’s loud and abrasive personality makes for perfect chemistry fodder with the rest of the cast, and the inner machinations of Tae Yamada’s mind are an enigma. She is a joy to witness.
The rest of the characters took a while to become even remotely interesting, and this is for a few reasons. For one, several of the main characters are often more drama focused. While this isn’t a bad thing on its own, not only are the personalities of characters such as Junko and Ai not very interesting, but given the limited time spent on drama in comparison to everything else in the first 4 episodes, the drama often feels like a detour. Admittedly, very few of these characters are that great when they aren’t dealing with absurd scenarios, but some are especially dull early on. The latter half thankfully has episodes designed around fleshing out the characters and giving them an emotional arc, but not every character gets this luxury. Granted, none of the main 7 idols are as grating as their manager Kotaro (cuz that guy can get fucked by a cactus more than half the time) but the show still has a hard time giving everyone the spotlight. Thankfully some of the side characters introduced in some of these character-centric mini-stories are written and explored efficiently. Without them, the drama-centered focus of the second half would have felt like an agonizing shift considering how lackluster the more serious portions of the show felt beforehand.
The only thing left to touch on is the music. The background tracks are catchy, with neat jingles to compliment the lighthearted and comedic moments. However, the real meat comes in the form of the songs by everyone in this idol group: Franchouchou. The OP "Adabana Necromancy” is as vivid as the visuals that it plays over, and the watercolor visuals really help sell the emotional ED "Hikari e”. As for the insert idol tracks, several of them are pretty nice to listen to as well, with the only real exception being the ear-piercing Vocaloid-esque song that plays at the end of the 7th episode. It would be rather ghastly if these performances sounded dead, so thank the maker this ain’t the case.
It’s refreshing to have an anime run you over, screaming. It calms down, and there are some growing pains, but I’m happy to see some life here. There’s a vivid pulse to this one, a wild and unique expression so charming and sincere that I nearly overlook how uneven and easy to break this show can be. With this performance now over, it’s your turn to take part in the saga. What are you waiting for? Do it while you’re still alive!
Also, Tae Yamada dabs in episode 7, so that’s an Easter egg to look out for.
Written/Edited by: CodeBlazeFate
Proofread by: Peregrine
TakaCode
If there was a word to describe Studio MAPPA it would be disappointing. Being the spiritual successor for Studio Madhouse many of the shows least, in my opinion, fell flat in they face mainly because MAPPA loves the play the field spell card called style over substance where the writing for these shows seemed to fall by the side in favour of pretty colours and flashing scenes. Because of that I grown to dislike MAPPA as a whole as they seem to prioritised flashing visuals over storytelling. Zombieland Saga is, unfortunately, no exception to this as despite the show being advertised as a parody idolanime that had a lot of potential to be good. Unfortunately it the end it ended being another generic seasonal anime that you will easily forget once the anime season is over.
If I had two words to describe the story of Zombieland Saga it would be missed potential as the series had potential to be this fun parody of the idol genre as a whole would made me laugh for days. Unfortunately as the series progresses the series starts falling apart as it eventually showed it's true itself where it ended up being a generic idol anime that barely doesn't do anything different apart from the zombie-idol gimmick. Before I talk about the problems with Zombieland Saga I'm going to talk to quickly talk about the things that I liked about Zomebieland Saga.
The one thing that sold me watching Zombieland Saga is that it was a nice parody of the idol genre as it showcases all the tropes and elements that were using in the idol anime genre and no surprise the first 4 episodes actually did just that as it never took itself too seriously.
The best and most memorable part of Zombieland Saga was the rap battle in episode 2. Not only the rap battle was very hilarious and entertaining to watch from start to finish, but it was very well set up and timed narrative and visually
If only the rest of the series was as consistently good as the rap battle in episode 2 and with that said it's times to dive into this show problems.
Remember when I said that Zombieland is a nice parody of the idol genre. Well the second half did something that it should have not done and that is devolved into a generic copy and paste idol anime where not even the zombie idol gimmick can fully save it. Many character drama aspects in this show were copied and pasted from other anime of it's generic and the dialogue just became trying. It did have some story moments with Saki and Sakura but other than that the show complete loss of what it made it unique in the first as it sadly devolved into a generic idol anime.
The worst thing about Zombieland Saga is that simply not all that funny as many of the comedy comes in the form of characters doing dumb things and screaming. The comedy timing was terrible for the most part and many of the jokes ended up becoming forced and boring.
Overall, despite the show being a decent parody of the idol genre that has an interesting zombie gimmick it ultimately ended falling apart into this generic style over substance anime that lost a lot of charm.
The characters in Zombieland Saga were just okay. Not memorable but at the same time they are not bad.
This may come off as an unpopular opinion, but I don't like the producer Tasumi all that much. Yes, he had some cool moments every now and then but a lot of the time I found him pretty irritating especially when most of his dialogue is consistent screaming and screeching at set idol.
As for the zombie-idol girls themselves well I thought there was one note. Yes, there was 2 expectations being Saki and Sakura (which I will talk about in a bit) but other than that the zombie idol girls are nothing more but idol cliches on screen.
Saki was by far my favourite character in Zombieland Saga as well being the most entertaining. She may appear to a typical badass jerk at first especially to Sakura as the series progresses she slowly starts open up to Sakura after proving that she isn't as completely gutless. I really liked her character development in the series and it really shows in episode 9 where she meets up with her old best friend and biker gang.
She proves to Reiko daughter that if she contiines acting the way that Saki did when she was alive then she would end up falling in the same fate that caused Saki to die.
What really made Saki my favourite character happens in episode 2 during the rap battle with Sakura " Who cares if you've got memories" "you won't get to see your friends and your Tamagotchi's long dead" We're done got it?!
Sakura herself was a pretty good character.
She as this typical idol protagonist archetype at first however as the series progresses she becomes more of an interesting and somewhat relatable character that we can relate. Her backstory in episode 11 was the prime example of this as perfectly showcases of what Sakura would have been as a person if she didn't get hit by truck kun and as a result, she starts going into heroic BSoD.
The visuals in Zombieland Saga are a mixed bag. While it had a solid colour art-style that fits well with the setting of the series I feel the animation especially the CGI moments hold the visuals back from being great. The models both the human, and zombies are nicely drawn appealing to look at. The background scenery was decent, and lighting was solid.
The animation itself ranged from pretty good to okay. That's about it really.
The only thing left I say about the show visuals is the use of CGI which was horrendous. I understand the show was meant to parody CGI in idol anime but there's a difference between actually parodying the CGI and actually making worse than thing that your parodying.
For a show that mainly focus of music I thought the soundtrack for Zombieland Saga to be underwhelming at best. It's not a soundtrack I consider to be awful, but it failed to impress me especially when many of the tracks in Zombleland Saga just comes off as generic background idol noise. While the soundtrack was lacking the insert songs completely make it up because they are actually pretty damm good. My favourite insert songs in the show would be Mezame Returner and Dance.
The opening theme Adabana Necromancy sung by zombie idols was a decent opening theme. While I really liked the opening visuals for it, I cannot say the same thing for the song itself which I found to be pretty forgetful.
The ending theme Hikari e sung by the zombie idols was a pretty enjoyable ending that has a nice clamming song that contained good-looking visuals art.
The Seiyuus in the sub did a pretty good job with the roles that they were given. As much I don't like Tatsumi I thought Mamoru Miyano did a fantastic job voicing the character. Asami Tano as Saki was a also another great performance as she really made this hot headed badass girl come to life.
The dub, on the other hand, was pretty bad as it's filled with mediocre to bad performances that actually ruins key scenes in the anime. Not only that but the comedy in the dub version is pretty insufferable to listen. Also let's not forget how Funimation was incredibly lazy when they decided to do the rap battle episode 2 because frankly they didn't bother to dub at all.
Zombieland Saga is a bizarre series to judge. There were some strong areas that I really liked like Saki and Sakura, the rap battle in episode 2 and the idol parody stuff unfortunately the flaws in Zombieland Saga outweigh the good. Not only that but the same the series got to the second half the series devolved into this generic flashy idol anime that has a zombie gimmick that contains repetitive/forced comedy and underwhelming characters.
If the series actually stocked to of idol parody routes than this show would have been one of the better animes of 2018 but we ultimately didn't get that and what we got instead is a typical idol anime that could have been a lot better.
It's not a bad series by any means but at the same time it's not all that memorable outside the rap battle and Saki's character development.
MagicalMahou
Zombieland Saga is a comedy about a group of zombie girls being marketed as idols by a red suit-toting weirdo through unconventional and sometimes embarrassing means of gaining popularity. Zombieland Saga is an idol drama about a group of zombie girls on a quest to become idols but are held back the the implications of their deaths, their past traumas, their memories and the era they lived in. Zombieland Saga works great as either show. Zombieland Saga doesn't work at all as both.By trying to juggle these two ideas, it becomes a tangled up and comes short of fulfilling either of those premises satisfyingly. It's not that the show transitioning between these ideas are jarring (in fact, it does that just fine), but rather, by trying to keep the first half of episodes comedy then leaving all the heavier stuff for later kind of chokes the pacing of those. As a result, character arcs and story threads, while fine, leave so much to be desired, especially with regards to Sakura.
The animation is fine. I enjoyed a lot of the comedic storyboarding, the hilarious character acting and expressions in early episode (1-5), as well entire sequences of Tatsumi Kotarou's screentime and dialogue.
Music is kinda shit. I didn't remember a single track, much less the BGM, so not much comment there other than forgettable.
The voice actors did a splendid job and, again, a ton of the script from the comedy episodes were fantastic and the did a good job with those.
Overall, it's a fine show. It's freaking hilarious when it wants to be and the writing is pretty alright, if not really unsatisfying. I recommend it if you have the time. (6/10)
MainstreamBean
This is my first review, so please bear with me. Although having not watched much if not any idol anime, it was intriguing to see a spin on this conventional genre. With a synopsis such as "The peace these seven girls experience will suddenly be destroyed. By the living dead... zombies," I couldn't help but check the show out. Unfortunately, by the end of it all, it just felt like it fell flat. To get straight to the point and not waste any time, let's look at the positives of this show. Firstly, I'll admit that it was quite enjoyable for what it was at times. Forexample, our main girl getting hit by truck-kun was a nice addition to the amount of destruction he has already done throughout the entire history of anime, and he may never stop... Events such as the infamous rap battle, and the general interactions between the idols could be pretty funny at times.
Next, the character designs like of Saki and the rest of the group gave a unique style to each of the characters (exceptions being Junko and Ai, they look like copies of one another to an extent). Facial expressions were pretty nice, and to each of their own had a distinct sense of personality. The aforementioned Saki with her rough and daring ways of going about things, Lily being very ecstatic, and Yuugiri with her calm and collected tone made for characters that could stand on their own. It all may have felt pretty generic I might add, but for me it's at least worth mentioning as something it didn't completely fail on. However, it's nothing to write home about.
The opening theme was pretty cool with the visuals I guess.
However, the negatives of this show made for the biggest gripes.
The art was mixed. I had mentioned the character designs before as being fine, and the backgrounds and style of the show were pretty good and felt appropriate , but the consistent use of CGI dances however were absolutely horrendous.
The story, obviously being a parody, wasn't trying to take itself too seriously. This isn't a negative in in of itself, and is actually completely fine, however it seemed as if it couldn't hold that mentality together. Character development is fine and all, but serious overtones and unneeded drama was apparent throughout multiple parts of the story, and it almost felt like it was straying away from it's own purpose that it established from the beginning, as being a fun comedical straight forward show.
The music didn't catch on with me, and wasn't really engaging, just sounded pretty meh.
The manager could not manage himself. His loud and obnoxious yelling was not funny, and only set himself up as a failed comedian. Loud does not equal funny, and he should have either stuck to being mature as shown occasionally, or just a running gag. Combining the two just doesn't sit well (even if being voiced by Miyano Mamoru).
Talking about running gags, the whole policeman and sudden interaction between the Idols was just as equally as bad, but thankfully it wasn't so repetitive and recurring that I had to sit through it constantly like the manager.
Lastly, possible spoilers or not, but it was hinted at several times where a couple of guys were interested in finding more about these idols and their true identity so to say. However, absolutely nothing happened with this, and only seemed to waste time, falsely leading the viewer to expect something interesting and dramatic to happen.
Overall, this anime could have been better. If it had only stuck with what it set out to do, it could have been a pretty decent, or even good show. If you like the show and enjoy it despite my personal criticisms, that's totally fine, to each of their own. It was alright while it lasted, but again, ended falling flat with the issues I had with it. Thank you for taking the time to read my review, and if their is anything I can improve on, feel free to let me know!
Snapshot426
Zombies and idols. Both are oversaturated in their respective parts of the world with zombies in the west and idols in the east. I'm pretty sure that we are fed up of both and don't take interest in watching them and just look for something else to watch. I imagine it is going to take a lot to get people into watching an idol or zombie show. But along comes this show. This show which combines these two together into one caught many people off guard and provided us with something we did not expect. So why, I ask, did I keep watching this showto the end while knowing what kind of show it is?
Sit back, relax and bow down to THE LEGENDARY YAMADA TAE!!! as I present to you the anime review for Zombieland Saga. Lets begin.
Story: 8/10
Our story begins with Sakura Minamoto looking forward to what she thinks will be the best day of life. She gets dressed; rushes down the stairs; out the front door; looking into the sun with a smile on her face and then gets immediately hit by a truck (that's right, TRUCK-KUN STRIKES AGAIN!). She finds herself awakening in a seemly abandoned old mansion crawling with Zombies. She then finds out she is also a zombie and has been for 10 years. Under their charismatic but self-absorbed leader Koutaro Tatsumi, she joins several other girls who are considered legendary in their own time with one goal in mind. To become the ultimate idol group in order to save Saga, the location where these girls will perform and revive the idol industry there.
The way this show was built up before its airing was interesting. We pretty much had no idea what it was going to be. Going from the trailer and the poster, it looked like it was going to be an over the top, zombie slaying action series. When the show aired its first few episodes, I think the show just went ahead and said:
"Oh you thought this was a zombie action series? Well PSYKE, it's an idol show. Except PSYKE, it's not really an idol show but rather a parody of the idol industry. Except PSYKE, it's an genuine idol show but you don't care because you are already invested."
And you know what? I was invested. The way this show is structured is very well done. It starts off with something so abrupt, it is absolutely hilarious and sets the tone pretty well. It follows up with some unconventional music that doesn't really associate with idols. It then gives us actual idol s**t when we are invested into the show and when we get invested into the characters, we learn more about them. The show knows when it is a good time to change the focus of the show and then develop on it in order to keep it fresh, making the show's pace very well executed.
Now, since this show's idols are also zombies. It leaves a question that it asks us. Does the zombie aspect add anything to Zombielad saga or are they mainly used for comedy? Well yes, they do add something. Considering that these girls have all been resurrected from different time periods, they also bring their backgrounds, ideals and personalities from that time period with them. This creates some conflict between the characters as their ideals are different from one another. Creating tension and also character building. Of course, them being zombies also means that some people will start catching on that these girls who are supposed to be dead have started to walk around again and are performing as an idol group.
Characters: 8.5/10
Each of our main cast of female characters are rather distinct from one another and each have their own personality. It is important that each character has their own personality in this case in order to stand out in their own way. Whether it is Saki's brash nature or lily's love for everything cute, they all have their own quirks that all make them stand out in their own way. Sakura is the only character I have some gripes with due to being a blank slate character due to her having amnesia. But I can forgive that because she really comes into her own near the end of the show.
Each get some development as well and and we get some insight of what their lives were like before they became zombies. Well maybe except Yuugiri and THE LEGENDARY YAMADA TAE!!! They don't get as fair of development than the rest of the cast. I can forgive THE LEGENDARY YAMADA TAE!!! due to her actions speaking for herself. But Yuugiri, not so much. Either way, the characters are enjoyable, likeable and their deaths are hilarious.
However, the best character in this show is definitely their manager, Koutaro Tatsumi. Basically, he's as if Houoiun Kyouma decided to ditch the mad scientist gimmick and decided to become a manager instead. He's loud, he's brash, he has no sense of personal space, loves the sound of his own voice and is a complete idiot. He's basically a parody of the standard idol manager considering he has little interest in the girls' feelings or health whatsoever and will do his own thing while the girls have to practice. He's pretty much is looking to advance his own fame rather than the girls because they are zombies and everyone would want to kill them if they find out. Thankfully, he does get his s**t kicked in at times by Saki and Ai at different points of the show due to his idiocy. He is where the comedy is at its best due to Mamoru Miyano's performance and delivery (and we will get to that) but he is genuinely funny and is definitely the highlight of the show.
Animation: 9.5/10
MAAPA has done a good job here animating this show. Everything about the animation of this show feels vibrant with the colour especially feeling lively or when the cinematography changes like whenever Koutaro shouts at people or saying "MUSIC, COME ON!!!" It really is a nice treat for the eyes. The character designs as well are well done, especially with the girls' zombie aspects. Each character is designed in correlation to how they died. This includes bandages, stitches and scars. It's that nice attention to detail that makes the animation quality that much better. Also, those faces. Whether it is from getting shocked, their scary zombie face or Saki's smug face on episode 4, they add to the comedy which is especially important as body language can also make the scene more humorous.
Now there is also CGI used in this show when the girls start performing actual idol performances. At this point I've come to the belief that CGI is to anime what microtransactions are to video games. You don't want it to be there, but you'll know it will be there. Thankfully, it doesn't look bad as the CGI doesn't look stiff and doesn't look too out of place.
Sound: 9.5/10
This being an idol show, the music must take high priority. Otherwise, what's the point? The soundtrack used is very catchy and enjoyable to listen to. Very diverse as well with different types of songs and music across the entire show to hammer it home that this is an unconventional idol anime. The rap battle sequence from episode 2 ALONE deserves a point as it is so well done, so catchy and so f***ing funny that it was the highlight of the show for me. Of course it can take itself seriously as well. The song played at the end of episode 8 is a heartwrencher that made me shed one single tear when I watched it.
The opening "Adabana Necromancy" that is performed by the main cast of girls is also very well done. It just has so much style and character to it as it looks like the opening is just trying to have some fun. Power ranger idols, a zombie dance number and Koutaro showing off his moves. It just relates to the unconventional nature of the show. The music as well is done well with bombastic trumpets and trombones combining well with the drums and violins. Combine this with the sound effects to make a fast paced, well done opening altogether. In fact, the sound effects are so crucial that when I listened to a version of the opening without the sound effects. It felt off as if the opening lost a key part to it.
The ending sequence is a standard calm down ending where after the events of the episode, you need to listen to something that will calm you down and make you feel relaxed as you reflect upon the episode you just saw. So yeah, pretty standard.
Now I was curious as to how the english dub would be handled. Mamoru Miyano's performance as Koutaro Tatsumi is absolutely brilliant with him constantly changing the tone of his voice and shouting at the top of his lungs. It was like Koutaro was made specifically for him. It sounded like he was having so much fun with the role. So I was interested to see how the English dub would compare. And you know what? Ricco Fajardo did a damn good job as Koutaro as he also brings a charismatic and bombastic performance that is also enjoyable. The rest of the cast also does a good job with each of their respective roles. But considering Mamoru Miyano's performance and the fact that the idol performances have not been dubbed and are still in Japanese. I would still choose the sub over the dub. But if you want to watch the dub, go right ahead.
Conclusion:
I didn't know what to expect from Zombieland Saga and after watching the entire series, I was surprised as to how I managed to watch an idol show without considering on dropping it altogether. But I would say it earns that right of being an idol show by giving us something different to start with before giving us all that idol crap while still realising its roots. Its characters are likeable and enjoyable for the most part, its animation is great and the opening is something I will remember for years. It has cute zombie girls, Truck-Kun, Mamoru Miyano, a rap battle, more Truck-Kun and a whole lot of comedy. I would even call this the surprise show of the season. Some people may argue Bunny Girl Sempai or that Isekai slime show, but at least you got some idea of what you were getting. This being many peoples' first idol show that they have watched (myself included), it caught everyone off guard as to how enjoyable it was.
If you are looking for your first idol to watch, this is a great starting point as it does something different before it does the idol stuff and is a show I highly recommend you watch.
My personal enjoyment: 10/10
Overall score: 9.1/10 Recommendation: Go f***ing watch it
Raggadish
MAPPA, you genius. Had someone told me a year ago that I would watch an idol show featuring zombie girls nonetheless, and whole heartedly enjoy it, I would´ve laughed said person straight up in the face. Honestly, I´ve never seen an idol anime before Zombieland Saga (ZS) and will probably never see one again. Because ZS came and rocked my world (yes, pun intended), with what doubtlessly is mostly a great grand parody of the idol genre. MAPPA has gone and done it again, and this time with genres that I for my life never thought I would ever appreciate. So why is ZS theonly idol anime you ever need to watch? I will tell you right now.
And since the synopsis nowhere near doing the show justice, I will elaborate it a bit.
The fabulous and self-proclaimed zombie girl idol producer Koutarou Tatsumi has a mission, and one mission only - to save the district Saga. Saga´s population is declining; especially young people is leaving to find their luck elsewhere. Koutarou-kun want to fix this ASAP, and what better way to do it then with a Saga idol group, right? And if you can´t find living young girls who´s up for the task, what better way is there than revive a bunch of dead ones and create an idol group of zombie girls?!
You might wonder how the hell Koutarou-kun made them into zombies? To cite the grand man himself when asked; “A little bit of this, a little bit of that and bang, you´re out of the grave, right?! Isn´t that all you really need for zombies?!” So, there you have it.
Sakura were in her teenage prime, with big dreams of becoming an idol. But one day when she is running in excitement with her song-CD to the mail-box, a truck hits her and bang! Sakura is dead, and no more idol dreams for her. At least until Koutarou-kun revives her 10 years later and informs her that she now is Zombie nr 1 and is going to be an idol together his little group of zombie girls to save Saga. Only one problem for Sakura though, she has lost her memories!
What follows is the groups hilarious strive to be THE idol group everyone talks about to save Saga, in an era where the concept of idols is almost extinct. As you can guess, they have to start at the bottom, with all kinds of odd jobs. And all the while they have to hide the fact that they are zombies, which often leads up to violently comical situations. Even if I haven´t watched any idol/music anime, I expected an endless succession of disgustingly sweet love songs and girly group dances. Boy was I wrong. Ok, there are such later on, but the texts and songs actually have personal meaning for the girls, which made it kind of cool, but let´s get to the point. Their first gig is on a local freaking heavy metal event. Has Koutarou-kun prepared his zombie girls for such an event. Hell no. That scene set the bar for the rest of the show for me, and it did not disappoint. I laughed my ass of multiple times during most episode, and I´m no easy to entertain with comedy. Brilliant.
Sure, there is a little more serious moments with what I only can guess is the classic idol show concepts of a striving group towards success and for filling a dream, and of course the girls’ personal issues. But such scenes didn´t ruin the all over mood of the show at all, they just gave more filling to the story and the characters.
Speaking of the characters, such a great bunch of zombie girls!❤️Saki the hardcore ex biker gang boss, Yuugiri the elegant ex courtesan, Lily the sweet little ex child actress, Sakura the kind and positive ex idol-dreamer, Ai and Junko the only revived ex-idols, and let us not forget the LENGEDARY Tae Yamada! No ex- before legendary here, Tae were and is the one and only legendary Tae Yamada. No explanations needed. All the girls get some nice backgrounds and episodes dedicated to them, which explores there past, cause of death and personalities, which often was really entertaining. Koutarou-kun is the best producer, often screaming in the girls faces when asked stupid questions (or often highly relevant questions, but whatever), throwing the group into situations they have no clue how to handle, and is a master at body make-up. He also has a super awesome seductive move, which works on women and men, both living and the dead. Who could´ve asked for more! It´s music on its own to hear him screaming “Ohayōgozaimasu!!!”, “GO GO GO GO GO GO GO!!!”, “YOU STUPID ASS ZOMBIES!!!” or “COME ON!!!” on the top of his lungs.
As expected by MAPPA at this point, they have put their unique touch to ZS. Their trade mark is, unlike many other studies that make all their works looks similar, giving each project their own exclusive look and feeling. In ZS case they used bright and vivid colours, with lots of red, yellow, orange, pink and purple. Great and memorable character designs, with Saki being extra cool. Per usual they play with alternative angles, facial expressions and motion pacing’s, and per usual hit the jackpot. I even found their use of CG pretty inventive.
Since it actually is an idol show, of course it’s a lot of music. As I said mentioned before, the music they performed was a very mixed bag with everything from heavy metal, rap to ridiculous commercial songs. I´m freaking loved the rap battle, Sakura & Co owned it! If not watch the show, I highly recommend you to look up at least that part. Even if the music performance goes more toward what maybe I would´ve expected from a regular idol anime along the way, most of the songs and dances have clever texts and choreography. And the OP is in a league on its own -> LOOK IT UP. The VA´s (Japanese) very all more than perfect for the roles, so arigato gozaimasu!
Since I´ve never ventured into the genre only anime could come up with before, I had almost no expectations. And I was blown away. MAPPA once again has proven that they can do something different, and not only get away with it, but shining while doing it. I had a blast this fall watching the legendary Zombieland Saga and is proud to say that this is and likely will be my only idol anime. Because this is probably completely different from your regular idol show. I can highly recommend ZS to all you good and fine people out there. Take part of the legend!
KuroiKizu
Well normally I don’t write Reviews anymore since there are enough of them. But this f*cking LEGENDARY Anime worths it! When I started to watch I was like "Just some episodes now, then playing PS4 and the rest of this show after going to sleep." But Damn was I wrong! There was no other option than watching the whole thing in one run without pauses! It’s new, It’s fresh and It’s LEGENDARY as Hell or better LEGENDARY as the LEGENDARY TAE YAMADA!! [absolute favourite of every Anime concerning Zombies I watched til now] Just watch it yourself and get LEGENDARED!!! (If you want specific information about story, artand so on, just read some of the other reviews. For me everything is at least 10 out of 10!)
Discord02
I'm really impressed by the quality standard of this anime season, really good works, Zombie Land Saga stands out for its simplicity of story, in a genre that is not very well known for quality overall. delivering a good story, with charismatic characters even in the background, great songs and a design quite colorful and beautiful to accompany, with a simple enough humor that still captivates. This anime will make you confused not knowing if you laugh or cry about the girls' deaths, it's just incredible. Maybe I'm just pretty excited after a great final, but for me it's a 10.
frachma99
I've never seen any idol anime before. Quite great, and worth-it to watch! the graphic is quite great tho, and i love its story; fun, light, colorful but still, have its own drama; and 'safe' (no sexual and harem comedy detected as far as i see). But, one thing that makes me sad : the story is hanging. is there any second season for this anime? no information about that :'( oh man! I love all of its character's development. they have strong and different background among others. Minamoto Sakura, who always unlucky in entire her life and a fan of Mizuno Ai because she is inspiredby her. Mizuno Ai, legendary heisei idol, inspiring Sakura, and always thinks that showing mistakes is a good part -of an idol- to make us developed. Junko Konno, legendary showa idol who has an opposite thoughts through Mizuno Ai. Junko, with her conservative thoughts that "idol is always perfect. makes mistake is strongly prohibited" (you know that Junko and Ai is from the different era) gives a little drama for this story. I love Junko. if i am a man, i will make her as my waifu lol
Saki Nikaido, is a legendary boss from motorcycle gang who become an Idol with Franchouchou (hey, why she is becoming an idol, tho? but i admire her character; cool!). Yugiri, a legendary courtesan who looks graceful and being onee-san of Franchouchou. Lily Hoshikawa, a cutie imouto who dead silly caused by a piece of hair grown on her chin (or cheek? or between them??). she didn't want to grow older, and that grown hair makes her afraid if she will become older.
And.... the last character : Tae Yamada! an unawakened zombie who always impulsively acting. she is caring about Sakura at the end. Ah.. I love Tae's Seiyuu : Mitsuishi Kotono who is being a Senior Seiyuu among five of them. (actually, the zombie dog's seiyuu is a senior too). Oh yeah.. i'm a big fan of Mitsuishi Kotono!
KANLen09
Ah...Zombieland Saga. The one idol anime series that pays omages to past idol series and whacks them out of proportion with parodies and such, AND I LOVE IT. I'm not into idol anime, but much like Revue Starlight, this is super entertaining, at least to opinionated agreement. Going into this series, MAPPA is telling us: "If you think we're here to create some generic idol anime, Truck-kun will deal you heavy damage and subvert your expectations to the insane degree!" And that's what they did, and whether you feel it succeeded or failed is up to debates, but none can deny that for what it wasgoing for: Zombieland Saga cuts to the chase, make some questionable decisions, and then hands down (what I think) deliver on its originality.
Let us start with the bad, and we can end this on a good note, starting with the art and animation. MAPPA has been known for creating a lot of slick animation to boot, but the character designs, original as they may be and easy to differentiate the cast of Franchouchou as a whole, it leaves a lot to be desired. Even more is the very subjective animation, which I assume is for pretty much the parody of idol anime. Weird 3D models and whatnot, and I get it, the fact that this model exists is just for show, and many people will feel off-putting. As for myself, it's plentiful and does its job, decent at best.
The good-but-not-great part, the music. Created by the one and only Yasuharu Takanashi of Naruto: Shippuden and Fairy Tail fame, this was honestly the biggest standout to me, as the OST contained within this series is truly another great work that adds to his name. The next-level OP visuals with sound effects (something that's ultra rare in anime) that always pulls off excellently, to the calm ED, both songs sang by none other than Franchouchou. Simply just brilliant.
For most people however, its the simple story and backgrounds of the characters themselves that will earn praise over why this series is super popular now. Let's start with the man in question: Franchouchou's agent-cum-director/driver/counsellor AIO Kotarou Tatsumi. He has been the male elicit of the girls in whatever situations, and has outgrown and outshined himself as the main go-to parody, not caring what the girls' opinions are (until it gets serious like Sakura's). But like them, he has a dream to make Franchouchou known around the dead city that is Saga.
Now, with the girls.
Sakura Minamoto has been always looked upon as the MC girl ever since the beginning and recurrence of Truck-kun, and is always the person of ridicule when faced with Kotarou's whims, but ever since Day 1 when she wanted to be an idol, in a snap, she lost all hope as she not only got smashed dead by Truck-kun, but questions her intent and place in the unit, only to have these worries recitified to enjoy what has the new zombie life has in store for her.
Saki Nikaidou, the group's bad-ass leader and former gang leader. Nothing short of the finest in life. She has that bad-ass attitude, and doesn't even spare that to Kotarou and his crazy antics, making sure that everything goes her way, and doesn't back out of a fight...that is until her untimely death when facing off another rival gang. For reference, please refer to Episode 2's crazily awesome rap. A gung-ho girl that everyone relies on heavily to get things going, I'd say she is someone you wouldn't try to mess with her wrong side.
Lily Hoshikawa, the youngest in the group, and an established idol well in her early years. Her dead-come-alive story is simple: transgender, died after that simple growing of puberty adolescence. But nonetheless, she has what she always had from the beginning: the support from her father-cum-former manager (And it's not easy for parents to guide their own children who have become idols, so to speak).
Ai Mizuno and Junko Konno are two separate humans, yet two separate entities which has come alive through lightning exposure and death from a plane crash. It's easy to see how both Ai and Junko are similar to one another, yet have different views when it comes to interaction with their own idols. Granted, Ai is modern (Iron Frill, 2008) and Junko is traditional (80s Showa era), but despite their bickering, sometimes (or much rather) they come together as one to give the performances that people need, and it is well worth it.
It's sad that Yuugiri and "legendary" BEST GIRL Tae Yamada hasn't has their backstories, but given the time frame of the series, they could have done much more into expanding on these two characters, best of the best and legendary status' girls. *ah-chou* Franchouchou is born! And come on, even the calefare Policeman had his moments!
Zombieland Saga is parody, satirical, and a slap in the face to the archetypes we've come to know and love/hate, and how it manages to do all that, it does so brilliantly at its very best. All we know, there'll never be anything like it ever again on the face of this Earth, and so I must and shall say, it's a "die, die must watch" kinda feeling. It puts a smile on my face every episode whether good or hilariously bad, and farewell, hasta la vista to these zombie-fied girls which punch a good heartbeat into this series. Well done, MAPPA, CyGames and Avex Pictures (which this series is a collab! Suckerpunch!)!
Buuubbblesss
[WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ONE PUNCH MAN, FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, ZOMBIELAND SAGA, AND YOUR LIE IN APRIL] Yes, I know everyone and their dementia-ridden grandma has already reviewed this. So rather than just talking about what it is, we’re going to attempt to fix Zombieland Saga. This show had way too much potential to simply accept its failures and move on. That section will be at the very end before the conclusion. Few things are more frustrating than wasted potential, and that phrase to me is quickly becoming synonymous with Zombieland Saga. This show had serious potential. From a parody perspective, ZLS had the potential to reach theholy grounds of One Punch Man. Its premise is THAT GOOD. But you can see the rating I gave it. You know how this is gonna go.
~Story/Writing~ (Contains light spoilers for One Punch Man and BIG SPOILERS for Zombieland Saga)
The premise of Zombieland Saga is simple: an absolute mad lad resurrects dead girls and turns them into zombie idols. Right off the bat, it’s important to note how that sentence makes you feel as an audience member. The premise should lead you to a single conclusion about what you’d expect: this will be a comedy/parody. However, the reason ZLS is so disappointing is because that assumption is correct. ZLS’ premise is that of a comedy or parody/satire. But ZLS the anime adaptation is only partially a comedy. At its heart, its an attempt at drama. And it fails spectacularly at being a drama.
The first 2-5 episodes are indeed based around comedy, and they are powder kegs of canned comedy. Seriously, the first 2 episodes of ZLS are incredible. They’re funny, satirical, and built entirely around the comedic structure of its premise. Here’s what I mean: (This will spoil episodes 1, 2, 4, and 5)
Episode 1- They win over the crowd due to a mental hiccup that occurs in the zombies that looks like headbanging. This hiccup was setup in the scene prior. Set-up and payoff!
Episode 2- They win over the crowd because Tae's limbs keep popping off. This was set-up by the scene prior, when Mizuno's arms popped off when she tried to climb the fence. Set-up and payoff!
In episode 4, Yuugiri makes a comment about the girls getting the opportunity to "wash away the decay from Franchouchou", prompting the other girls to check themselves to make sure they don't stink. This is not random, as the previous episode had a scene where they talked about how zombies smelled bad. Set-up and payoff!
Also in episode 4, the introduction sequence implies that it's going to be a hot springs episode. Once you as a viewer have settled into that fact, they change it up and tell the girls that none of them are going to the hot springs because they can't go outside without their make-up on. So that's a subversion based on the genre they’re parodying and the logic that forms the premise of the show! They do end up going later, but that ends when Sakura’s head pops off and floats to the surface of the water like a zombie movie. That’s funny! Plus, it was set-up in episode 2 that their heads popped off. Set-up and payoff!
Episode 5- The set-up here is they're going to compete in a mud race thing. So they do, but the twist on it is that once they're muddy, they can't rinse off because that would remove their makeup and everyone would see they're zombies. So, they have to stay muddy the entire time. That's funny! Then when they get Tae to tear off her muddy shirt to reveal the group t-shirt, she's still wearing the drive-in shirt from the first half of the episode. Set-up and payoff!
All throughout this, Mamoru Miyano’s performance as Koutarou drives the rest of the comedy. For the first 5 or so episodes, he is a firecracker of performance comedy that never failed to make me giggle when he’s on screen. It sounds like Miyano is dicking around in the studio and the outcome is glorious. It’s also paced out nicely, as him yelling in every scene would get old really fast.
There also good situational comedy like when they're in Ushino (spelling?) and they have Tae hold onto the rope at the shrine, which of course she mindlessly thrashes around which rings the bell! That's funny!
Unfortunately for me (because I loved the first 5 episodes) and everyone else, ZLS implodes after episode 5. It stops trying to be funny and parodical and settles for drama. And it DOES NOT WORK. Story/Writing 5/10
~Characters~ (Contains spoilers for Zombieland Saga, Fullmetal Alchemist, and maybe spoilers for Your Lie in April?)
The first misstep that kicks it in motion is the introduction of character backstories. Now before I say anything else, I have no problem with the writers including these backstories. They’re plenty funny and would be great sources of satirical comedy. The problem is, the writers don’t seem to understand that they’re satirical.
Mizuno's backstory is played to be sad but having her die by getting struck by lightning on-stage is a really silly death to attach to a sad subplot. This is especially true after they show her burnt, crispy body still standing there on stage with her finger in the air, covered in black. That’s a comedic set-up (like the ones I mentioned above) that’s played straight, which cannot work because it's just too over-the-top to function as a serious plot point.
The same goes for all the other backstories too. Part of Sakura’s backstory is that she was delayed getting to her big exam because she had to help too many grannies. Lily died because she had a heart attack that was a result of her finding a wayward hair on her chin. She’s also revealed to be male in the scene. You see what I mean? Those are comedy set-ups. But they play it straight, and it makes no sense. If you're going for comedy or satire there, you play the ensuing scene where Lily and her dad meet for laughs. You don't make it a tear-jerker. That doesn't make any sense because the way Lily died was so stupid and absurd it cannot be played straight. ZLS seems to want to have its cake and eat it too. In that, I mean it wants to have stupid silly deaths the audience will laugh it but still try to make them tragic too. It doesn't work, it's too silly to work as tragedy.
Ultimately, mixing comedy and tragedy is a risky move. In most cases, it backfires or doesn't have a good balance, resulting in a murky grey area between comedy and drama that just doesn't mix well enough to function as either. On one end of that spectrum, you could have a really good drama that's weighed down by ill-advised attempts at comedy. We'll call this the "Your Lie in April" tier. The biggest mistake you can make in this tier is placing the comedy in scenes they aren't appropriate in, which ruins the drama and the mood. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is a good example of how to do this right, as its comedy was not only good, but placed in narrative openings that would work with comedy. At the end of the reveal about what the dog/human chimera is, Winry doesn't bust in and throw a wrench at someone's head. Because obviously, that would be stupid and ruin the moment. Your Lie in April apparently missed the memo on that because it tries to be funny at the end of fantastic character moments.
On the other end of that spectrum, you have Zombieland Saga. There's a bit too much drama that isn't interesting in ZLS, but its comedy scenes (first 5 episodes) are hilarious. They would have been better served scaling back the boring drama and focusing on comedy, because that's what ZLS is good at. It isn't good at being dramatic or sad. Its attempts at that are boring. That's what makes the shift in tone after episode 5 so disappointing. The first 5 episodes are powder kegs of comedy, yet for some reason they decide to shove in drama and it just doesn't work. It's important to have a nice mix of comedy and drama if you're going to try to mix the 2, but ZLS blows it by banking too much on its weak drama when it would function perfectly as a pure comedy. Zombies + idols is a set-up that screams comedy! That should be the focus!
Getting back to characters; as it turns out, Miyano's schtick wears off about half way through the show, mostly because they stopped mixing up his antics. Him yelling wasn't going to work on its own as a comedy pillar through the whole season and they should've known that. The real reason Miyano's schitck grows tired though is because they stop building comedic scenes around the other aspects of the show, which leaves Miyano as the main source of comedy. That was never going to work; it was a guarantee to get old once the other sources of comedy dried up.
And then there’s the pacing debacle that occurs during episodes 10 and 11. They go back to the initial incident where Sakura was hit by a car and turned into a zombie, which is just as confusing in the show as it sounds. Initially, I thought she got hit by ANOTHER car. I couldn’t believe they were going back to the events of the first episode right before the finale. For anyone who doesn’t know, it is generally not a good idea to stop everything that’s happening and introduce a new sub-plot right before the finale. The episodes leading up to a finale are supposed to be putting all the pieces the plot has introduced into place and building tension for the final episode. Going back to episode 1 and going “hey actually this happened so now Sakura is feeling this” is garbage writing. But the real problem is where in the story its placed. Why is it placed near the finale? This is a confused mess. These events take place at the very start of the show. Why isn't it placed there? I'll tell you why. Because the writers were like "wait we need to focus on Sakura right before the last episode so it seems like we're adhering to the second act of the 3-arc story structure where the main character is at their lowest". It's so transparent it's despicable. Characters 4/10
~Music/Sound~
All the vocal performances are great, too. Obviously Mamoru steals the show, but all of the idol characters are voiced well, too. Every character sounds like what you would expect them to sound like, with enough personal flair to make them feel memorable. You might think that is rather useless praise, but I just finished Naruto Shipudden and they used the same adult actors for characters like Shino and Shikamaru during flashbacks. That means 7-year old Shino has the same voice as 17-year old Shino. So yeah, good voice work is something to be appreciated and this is some good shit. Sound 9/10
~Art/Animation~
Visually, ZLS is solid. In terms of hand-drawn animation, art, color palette, character designs, and background art, it’s great. The character designs in particular are extremely well done. If you look at any one character without context, you could probably determine what they’re like based off their appearance and how they’re drawn. To me, that’s the mark of great character designs.
The real problem with ZLS visually is the CG idol performances. The frame rate on their dancing is too slow and makes it look choppy. It was somewhat distracting when Love Live did it, but in those shows it was pretty smooth. Here, it’s too rough to not be distracting. Art/Animation 8/10
~Enjoyment~
I don’t really grade for enjoyment. How much you enjoy something is determined by the product of your experiences in life and what you consider to be a quality production, which are different for every single person. As such, attempting to grade something inherently subjective with an objective grading metric is a paradox. I will leave this score blank.
~FIXING ZOMBIE LAND SAGA~
There are 2 routes you could take to fix ZLS:
1. Make it a pure comedy. That means cutting out the bland drama and focusing on creative ways to build scenes around the characters being zombie idols. This is what the first 2 episodes were.
2. Go for parody/satire. That means keeping the goofy backstories, but keeping the tongue planted firmly in cheek. One Punch Man is a great example of sincere satire, in that One Punch Man parodied the dumber aspects of superpower shounens while embracing what makes them fun. Take for example the scene where Mumen Rider is fighting the Deep Sea King in OPM season 1. The dialogue and structure of the scene indicate it's doing that "the people believe in me and that gives me the strength to win!" bullshit that runs rampant in a lot of other shounens. But instead of that actually giving Mumen Rider the ability to defeat the Deep Sea King, he just keeps getting annihilated. This is hilarious, as they keep building up to the moment where you expect Rider to win out, but instead he keeps getting knocked on his ass. It's a bait-and-switch based on the genre, and it's what made One Punch Man season 1 work as a comedy. This comedic structure is a good foundation to build a sincere satire with given ZLS' premise.
The source material already appears to be satirizing idol and zombie tropes, so flipping the switch from drama to satire would be the easiest path to fixing it.
Outside of those 2 options, there are ways to improve it if you wanted to keep it a drama (I don’t know why you would but I digress):
3. You could go for more of a gray area approach, although it wouldn’t work as well for a comedic premise. You’d still have to sprinkle in light bits of character drama, but I think it could still work. I’d also want to iron out the cliché narrative items for the plot, as they would drag the show down regardless of approach.
The "we need each other”, and "the group isn't the same without you" tropes became clichés right around when Love Live came out, so that particular plot point should have been avoided. Instead, it comes in during episode 3 and it is just lame as it always is.
They could've gone in a much more interesting direction by having one or both girls that were having doubts actually leave for good. Maybe they could have instead made one of them proficient in their past life at something else, making them able to go out on their own and try their hand at whatever that thing is. They could've done a Perfect Blue thing where they end up questioning their decision to pursue other interests and it drives them insane while the group takes off without them. That would have been the more career-oriented twist they could have done.
They also could have gone the Mawaru Penguindrum route and have the same thing happen, but make the girl feel guilty for abandoning their friends, even though the group in question has become massively popular. Or they could have gone gray area and shown her doing whatever she thinks is her purpose in her second life at certain parts of the story, and then maybe she shows up at the final concert to root them on? Anything other than the cliché "oh yay they came back!".
Those routes would work well to fix 2 big problems that reared their heads as soon as they went the drama route: the girls go along with becoming zombie idols far too easily, and no one suffers severe emotional distress from realizing they’re dead. For some of them, everyone they’ve ever known is dead. Don't you think it might mess someone up pretty bad if they woke up and you told them everyone they know has been dead for decades? But ZLS elects to ignore that. This isn’t an issue if it’s a comedy because it doesn’t impact the narrative that much and it wouldn’t be compatible with comedy. After all, it’s hard to write good comedy if you insist on explaining every single detail of what’s happening. But if you’re going to make it a drama, that issue has to be addressed. The more seriously you take your story, the more seriously your plot will be looked it and examined, as the story is what drives any drama.
The other issue that could be solved by having a character branch off on their own path is motivation. It’s odd that none of the girls already have dreams and aspirations they still wanted to pursue. If they did, it wouldn’t necessarily be impossible to achieve just because they’re zombies. Could none of those dreams be similarly reached using make-up and maybe perfume? It isn't a big deal but it annoys me considering the plot shifts to drama and then ignores the obvious dramatic conflicts that would arise from its premise. Even worse, it ignores these so it can indulge in the trappings of idol anime.
Lastly, if they wanted to keep this a drama, they should have made Saga more of a focus in the narrative. If it had jettisoned the silly backstories and used those 3-4 episodes to expand on Saga and why Koutarou wanted to revitalize it, it could’ve done wonders to flesh out his characters as well as give the audience more reason to care. As it stands, Koutarou is a purely comedic character with little to humanize him. Again, that works in a comedy but it’s strange in a drama. If you want to make a good drama, you have to give the audience a reason to care about the drama. Zombie Land Saga failed to do that.
~CONCLUSION~
Everything that’s wrong with ZLS can be traced back to one problem: it is a comedy/parody that’s played like a drama. You just can’t take a parody and force it to be a drama. If they wanted this to be a drama, the characters' motivations to revitalize Saga as idols would have to be expanded far more. That detail literally doesn't matter at all if it's a comedy or satire. It would be a detriment. But you can't change a comedy into a drama and keep the same story structure! That makes no sense!
The comedy side of this show is fantastic, but the drama-based idol aspect of this show sucks. It's good in the first 2 episodes because it's driven by the premise, but after that it starts falling into all the trappings of Love Live. When it tries, the comedy is gold. So how do you grade something that's half good, half bland, and a general mishandling of a premise with great potential? That's a textbook 6.
Zombieland Saga gets a 6/10.
ShadowBlah
This show should be called "Why Have You Not Had This Conversation Yet?: The Anime". When putting characters together from different time periods you will naturally, in Episode 2 at the latest, have "This Conversation" that I referenced before - that being the realization that their lives as they knew them are over, uncertainty about the time they find themselves in and their futures, and so much more (such as actually getting to know each other before each girl's designated episode). There would be immediate drama, conflict, and wonder. What does the girl from 1870ish think about the modern era? Does she find everyone's manner ofspeech too casual and slangy? Perhaps she thinks modern outfits are unnecessarily revealing and dishonorable. These are just some of the conversations that should be had IMMEDIATELY because they are immediately relevant to that character. They would be the first things on her mind. And EACH girl should have her own concerns.
Instead they all seem to adjust to their new existence in less than a single scene, with only a few quirks reminding us they're from different times. Really, there are other problems I have with the show, but they pale in comparison to this one. It overshadows everything and renders the characters invalid. The girl from the Meiji Restoration (more than any other character shown) is a lie. Her entire character is a lie. How can I get invested in the characters when I can see the writer moving them around from scene to scene? They're like puppets on strings that we're simply TOLD are from different time periods, without being sufficiently shown right from the start.
And it isn't like it has to be all drama either. This is a comedy after all. With a premise like this, the jokes write themselves! Imagine, they're talking about taking pictures, and the one girl is flabbergasted and makes a huge deal out of not having to sit still for as much as 30 minutes for each one. That would probably be hilarious, but we won't know because the writers decided to go the blandest, most cliche route instead, with repetitive, unfunny gags, the delinquent girl being insufferable, and their producer shouting, being lol-so-random, and being oddly mean to the girls under his care. Oh, and one of the girls not regaining her humanity and being a brain-hungry zombie. Peak comedy, that right there.
As a side note, despite the constant jokes about them being undead, it's hard to actually tell. Why can a zombie sleep? Why can they feel touch? Why can they taste? Why do they smoke? Do they really need to eat? And since they do eat, do they need to use the bathroom? Zombies? Using the bathroom? Madness! Just like the characters themselves, their status as zombies is a lie. There's almost nothing differentiating them from any other living, human girls living in 2018 anime-Japan.
Peach_Main
"I don't think mistakes or failures are a bad thing because they always end up helping with whatever happens next. I believe I'll only be the best version of me once I overcome it all." - Ai Mizuno Where have you been all my life? Zombie Land Saga is the first case in anime I find to be an underrated gem. When you first look at the name, you may be expecting this to be just another horror show, but then you jump into the first episode and see that the zombies are the protagonists of this anime. First, I really love the word play with this title.Saga is a synonym for story, but it's also the name of a prefecture in the Kyushu region of Japan, which is where Zombie Land Saga takes place in. The story is centered around seven girls, who have met an unfortunate demise, resurrected as zombies by an idol producer, whose intention is to revitalize the prefecture. I am fully aware that lots of people are not fans of the idol / show business theme when it comes to anime. I personally never go out of my way to get into it, but the second I feast my eyes on the banger that is the opening scene, I just know I'm going to have fun with this anime. When it's said that the idol producer's intention is to revitalize Saga, he really means it. The prefecture just seems to appear to not have anything outstanding and its existence is on the verge of fading from memory. Zombie Land Saga isn't just about these girls becoming popular idols in Saga. It's an epic quest to save the prefecture.
The characters are a strong highlight for me. The seven girls all came from different eras and have different backstories creating a fun and diverse cast to watch and listen to. First, we have Sakura Minamoto. She may be somewhat clumsy, but she is very optimistic and cares for the other girls. Second, there is Saki Nikaido, who was a member of a girls-only biker gang that successfully took over Saga during the 1990s. First impressions of her may be scary, but she's actually a polite person on the inside. Third, my favorite character who I quoted at the beginning of this review, Ai Mizuno. She was once a member of the idol group Iron Frill ten years ago, making her the most experienced of the zombies. I also like the fact that out of all the zombie appearances the girls have, Ai appears to be almost completely covered in bandages making her look more like a mummy. The fourth character is Junko Konno, an idol from the 1980s. Back then, fans' accessibility to meet up with their favorite idols up close in-person was not a thing, and Junko intends to stick to that old tradition. Our fifth character is Yuguri, who is said to be a legendary courtesan from one hundred fifty years before the events of Zombie Land Saga. Unlike Junko, Yuguri is quick to adapt to the modern era. Next is Lily Hoshikawa, a child prodigy actress from seven years ago. She is extremely happy to have become a zombie because she views it as a means to never get older. Finally, we have the legendary Tae Yamada. What's her backstory? We don't know, but we do know for a fact that she stands out as the only zombie to not fully regain consciousness. While she is still in the state of a brainless zombie, she does have some amount of awareness of her surroundings. It's also worth mentioning that Tae's voice actress is Kotono Mitsuishi. It's truly astounding that the person known for saying "In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!" is the one making all these incomprehensible zombie noises for Tae.
Together, these seven girls make up the idol group called Franchouchou. To reduce the chances of anybody recognizing them, they go by numbers instead of their actual names, with Tae being Number Zero for some reason. Before going out in public, their idol producer, Kotaro Tatsumi, utilizes a special make-up on them to make them look perfectly like regular living humans because zombies don't have a place in society. Kotaro is just freaking hilarious. He is voiced by the same man who voiced Rintaro Okabe from Steins;Gate. He also voiced Light Yagami from Death Note, but the voice for Light doesn't even come close to either Rintaro nor Kotaro. Oh... I just realized Rintaro and Kotaro rhyme with each other as I'm typing this trivial information. Well, back to talking about Kotaro. He comes off being very strict towards the girls, but he actually does care for their well-being, especially towards Sakura. I've seen some people not like him, but how could you not enjoy some of the lines he says such as "Music, come on!" or "Nice bird!" or my personal favorite: "Kicky blammo!" Just for clarification, he doesn't actually say the last one in English. I just laughed so hard when I first read it in the subtitles. Throughout the whole anime, Kotaro never ceased to entertain me.
Since Zombie Land Saga is categorized as an idol anime, that means there are going to be a lot of songs in it. While Franchouchou isn't my go-to choice to listen to all the time, they have plenty of good songs under their name. Their most common song that's inserted into the anime is called Awaken Returner. It's a good song, and I don't mind it being the most performed song. Franchouchou also sings the opening and ending songs. The opening song, Fruitless Necromancy captures the allusion of Zombie Land Saga sounding like a horror anime before gradually changing its tone to fit an idol anime. The ending song, Into the Light is one of the most calm and peaceful themes I have ever listened to. It really does tell the viewer that despite the fact that the girls are now zombies, they are enjoying their second chance to the fullest.
So far, I've come to enjoy the story, the characters, some of their voice actors, and the music. What exactly made Zombie Land Saga an underrated gem? It all comes down to the animation studio that created this anime: MAPPA.
The artstyle is fine and the animation outside of some performances are done correctly. Mind you... I said outside of some performances. Things like the funny rap battle between Sakura and Saki and the cute little commercial for Drive-In Tori are well animated. It's the concert performances where haters like to bully Zombie Land Saga over. We can all collectively agree that MAPPA is not good at utilizing Computer Graphics Imagery (CGI). The song Awaken Returner was introduced in the third episode where the girls do a guerilla performance. This is the first instance we see the slow and clunky choreography because of the bad CGI, and this does happen quite a few more times throughout the anime. That being said, it's literally the one and only flaw with Zombie Land Saga and yet, just that one flaw is why there is a faction of people who think negatively of the anime to an extreme extent. I can understand if they are also not fans of other elements. If you don't have any other problems besides the CGI, then that's just a -1 at best and a fall to the Mixed Feelings range at worst. Not an instant 1/10. By the way, I'm not talking about the negative reviews on MyAnimeList. I'm actually talking about the comments I've seen on websites where I watch anime on.
If MAPPA had some members experienced at making good CGI, Zombie Land Saga could've reached a perfect score. Other than that, people focus way too much on this one element over the several other elements I personally find the anime to do just right. Zombie Land Saga did a good job demonstrating how these zombie idols live their lives and the importance of not getting exposed as zombies. As said at the end of the previous paragraph, the bad CGI is at best only a -1 penalty to my rating, so that means it's a 9/10.
To end off, I really love Ai Mizuno's philosophy on how to improve. That quote of hers I put at the beginning of this review is worthy of a pure platinum metal. Well, that settle it. Ai Mizuno is officially one of my favorite characters. Man, it's about time I finally add a second character onto my list on my profile page after half a year of just having Princess Euphemia from Code Geass. I'm sure she's happy to have some company now.
Ethan_07
Zombieland Saga is entertaining. And that's a fact. Zombieland Saga, preys on your attention with its well-timed editing. It feeds on it. Whenever there are events unraveling, you'll notice how one action can completely flip the mood of the situations. These comedic moments can envelop the show because of the reaction shots on the characters whenever something came up. A look at their facial expressions and another look at the situation. That's all you need to evoke emotions. The right pace. The art is also done so well that it can mimic the reactions that can make you laugh. Of course, no one can forget the variousrole-playing and voice intonation switching by the voice actor of the manager. He can light up the mood, tense up the situation and pretty much do anything with the silliness bestowed on his character. A close-up on his face and high-pitched voice are his charm and a precious gem that blend well the show.
By still keeping his absurdity going, little by little, the studio pulls you in closer to the characters. It hooks you back to reality, taking you face to face to see what they are looking at. As it goes on, more and more little stories unravel to tickle your bone and warm your heart. Rolling heads, undead bodies, awkward CGI dancing animation are all its embodiment that take you a step closer into their zombie world.
In the end, Zombieland Saga has introduced an idol group known as Franchouchou to the world. A group of zombie girls fighting to take every chance and every breath they can, to save Saga and tell the world that they are - alive.
LifuLifu
Alright, let's get one thing straight: I usually sidestep idol anime like it's hot lava in a childhood game of "the floor is lava". But this one? Totally caught me off-guard. Combine idol girls with a sprinkle of undead, toss them in a blender from different eras, and voila! A concoction I never knew I needed. Hesitantly, I clicked expecting the usual sugar-coated idol performances. Instead, I found myself in a whirlwind of undead hilarity, mishaps that made me spit out my drink, and a manager whose energy is... let's say otherworldly. The animation? Top-tier. Concert scenes? Actually fire. The music? Catchy with a twist, and notthe generic type either. It has layers, just like the decomposing characters who sing it.
Beyond the comedic value, the show pulls at your heartstrings. It’s not just about the laughs or music; it’s about the stories these characters carry with them. Before I knew it, I was rooting for them, not just as performers, but as individuals trying to reclaim a lost purpose.
If, like me, you've got reservations about the idol genre, consider giving this unexpected gem a try. It may not turn you into an idol superfan, but it’ll surely get you cheering, laughing, and perhaps shedding a tear or two. And for the record, I'm only slightly tempted to buy a lightstick now. Just a tiny bit.
MoishiKoishi
I want to clarify this anime wasn't my first ride into the Idol Genre...This anime brought back the life in me to scream out lyrics and the want to wave a glow stick for girls. Heck I had shown this idol anime to non-idol fans and they have converted into idol hell just for the sheer amount of heart behind this production. Everything down to the voice acting, style, and writing is so amazing and filled with so much love. And those who are worried for the songs, DON'T YOU WORRY MY HOMIE MAPPA HAS YOU COVERED! MAPPA time and time again has proven themselves tobe a wonderful studio, from hajime no ippo to kakegururi to banana fish. The studio behind this masterpiece of comedy, drama, and idol love really hit it out of the ball park again. Every character is truly someone to love in some shape or form, and heck the god himself KOTARO TASUMI (the manager of the idol group) must be an elder god from the sheer amount of personality he exudes...the man is the true legend (sorry Tae fans).
I would highly recommend anyone from non-idol fans to idol fangirls/boys to sit down and dedicate time to watch this show. To quote a friend- "I trust MAPPA with my life" and you should to...
Good songs, morals, characters, designs, writing, voice acting, and love.
AngeVGC
Zombieland Saga is your stereotypical horror show with zombies.Nah,of course not,I'm just pulling a leg here.But,that is actually what MAL portrayed the show to be in its initial stage and with very little information,low expectations were immediately setted for the show.However,those very expectations will soon be exceeded.Let's start the actual review.Zombieland Saga is an anime about a group of undead zombies forming an idol group under the brilliant leadership of their manager,Kotarou,in their quest to accomplish Kotarou's goal of saving the Japanese prefacture,Saga.(I feel like this may be the show's way ofmaking a parody of idol anime settings like Love Live that requires the groupto save the school.)This general plot was whipped straight at the viewers after the 1st episode which disguised itself as the stereotypical zombie horror show that it isn't.I got to say that it was pretty good publicity as this is the first "horror" anime that anime fans will see in Fall 2018 and will watch this show purely to see whether this "horror anime" will turn out great.To generally summarise this anime,this is a comedy idol show that throws a lot of ridiculous moments and a huge meme on its own while it is also able to get serious when the show requires it to be.Now,I'll start discussing on the various parts of the anime that made me give it a score of 8.(There will be spoilers in this review as examples to substantiate certain points.)
The story in its own is of course,ridiculously simple.Our main protagonist,Sakura,gets whacked by a van,just normal everyday problems,and became a zombie,gets pulled in the idol group under Kotarou and the story continues to show the exploits of our zombie friends.The story is not particularly amazing but it is pretty good as compared to other "idol" shows due to its innovative ways of presenting the idol genre through the funny and interesting perspective of our zombie friends.
The Art of this show is not particularly noteworthy in general.But,there are a few instances where the aesthetics of the show shines.For example,the show uses CGI during the earlier episodes to highlight how awkward and bad our Zombie idol group was when it comes to performing while simultaneously making a joke out of how other idol anime uses the CGI effect on a daily basis.The show then contrast this with using 2D animation when the group starts improving to show the visual improvement of the group,something that is lacking in most idol anime.The animation is also pretty fluid when the characters make over the top actions which made the scene extra hilarious.Therefore,although the general artstyle is mediocre,the way they animated the show is brilliant and innovative and is something other idol anime can learn from.
Let us move on to the audio aspect of the show.The OST is ok,nothing praiseworthy but good noneoftheless.The idol songs are surprisingly good,I enjoyed every single one of them.They are generally on par with other idol anime in terms of its good quality.However,the most noteworthy thing about the audio of this show is the intro.The way the absolutely mind-boggling visuals were complemented by the equally ridiculous intro song made the intro a must-watch,this brilliant masterpiece should not be skipped.Lastly,the ending isn't as good as the opening but it is a good reminder that the show is not pure comedy and does have serious elements to it.(Backstory of some of our zombie friends and their respective arcs)
Let us talk about the characters now.With a huge of 7 zombie girls and our godly manager,there will definitely be good and bad points about the characters of the show.On one hand,characters like Yugiri(lily to a smaller extent,outside her own arc) are certaintly neglected and feels like the cast may have expanded too much and have filler characters.But,the show still manages to add colour to the rest of the main cast,even though some of these characters have little screen time.Firstly,THE LEGENARY YAMADA TAE,an all-time favourite among fans of the show,certaintly lives up to her legendary status.Even though Tae doesn't talk in the show and little is known about her past self,she still manages to captivate the hearts of the viewers with her hilarious and insane stunts.Next,out idol pair,Ai and Junko,although not as amazing as Tae,are still essential to the show as a whole in providing serious analysis on the generation gap and their conflicting ideals on how an idol should act.Lily,although a weak character outside her arc,has shed light on how someone could lose their initial vision after acquiring fame and fortune,hurting their child unknowingly.Her arc is pretty good and is one of the most emotional episodes of the anime.Sakura,our main main girl,is actually not particularly amazing but is often the "sane" one of the group,though this is not the case for some of the episodes.The last of the zombie girls,Saki,is a reckless biker gangster whose own undoing is her own recklessness,she is also the leader of the group though she does not act like one well,which actually adds to the comedy aspect of the show.Lastly,we have the wise yet most ridiculous character of the show,Kotarou.Do I even need to spell it out?This man's weird antics never fails to make me laugh and on top of that,he is like a father figure of the group who is helping the zombie girls during difficult times under the guise of his crazy persona,this man is a godsend,best character of the show easily.
Overall,this show is pretty enjoyable,there will be WTF moments initially but once the show gets going after their whole publicity stunt,it gets really good and will sure to bring smiles to you.If you expect a horror anime,this is not the show for you,but if you want to watch a comedy show that will help you get through tough times and bring you a smile after your busy day at work,then this is the show for you.This show,in my opinion,is a revolutionary idol anime that brings a whole new option to the idol genre,therefore,this show is also easily one of the top idol anime out there and imo,is better than even Love Live and the other top idol anime.
