ZOMBIE LAND SAGA

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ComedyZombie Land Saga
ANIME ComedyZombie Land Saga: Revenge
MUSICSaga Jihen
MANGA ActionZombie Land Saga Gaiden: The First Zombie
MANGA ComedyZombie Land Saga ANTHOLOGY
MUSICFollow Your Fantasy
ONA ComedyCurry Meshi × Zombie Land Saga

REVIEWS

• 

  CodeBlazeFate

  70/100
  It’s refreshing to have an anime run you over, screaming.

  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 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 we all 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

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• 

  BurnsyCEO

  90/100
  A genuinely funny and ingenious show which opens the gateway to a whole new genre.

  Every once in a while a show comes along that manages to break the shackles of it's genre and do something so new, so unexpected so unique that it opens the gateway to people who otherwise never would have been interested in the genre. And in my opinion this is the show that does it for the Idol genre. With it's brilliant mix of comedy, music, drama and characters, it's by far my favorite show of the season and most memorable one of the entire year. I'll even suggest not reading the rest of the review and just watch it blind to get the best experience.

  Zombieland saga is an original anime made by Avex pictures with a run time of 12 episodes. It starts off with a bang with one of the most random first episodes I've seen yet with our heroine dying in the first minute of the show and waking up as a zombie and forming an idol group to "save saga". The rest of the show is about how overcome the absurdity of what is happening, try to perform in public without blowing their cover, overcome their own personal short comings,growing and bonding together as a band and facing their ghosts of the past of when they were alive. 8/10 story.

  Zombieland saga wouldn't be half the show it is without it's cast. The chemistry between them is pure gold. You simply have to adore the main character Sakura who died an untimely death and finds new purpose in life (lol) with the group. And Saki, an ex biker gang member who is badass, funny and full of heart with the same being said for the rest of the characters who just add so much depth to the show, even yamada tae who has yet to awaken from her zombie state and and is perfect just the way she is.That along with mamoru miyano bringing his hyouin kyouma personality back for the manager is an easy 10/10 for characters.

  A very special mention to the music in this anime. An Idol show with bad music would be a sin but that is not a sin committed here. The onstage scenes are hype both because of the songs and the build up to said scenes.The only negative I've seen is that some of those scenes are done in CGI and they look wonky because they switch between hand drawn and CGI.
  Great OSTs as well that set the mood.There's one OST that never fails to get my mood up even though it only plays for 5 seconds and I can't find it either because they haven't released OSTs yet. That along with my favorite opening song of this year gets this anime a 9.5/10 for music.

  Special note on the opening and music.....They're all sung by Franchouchou which is a REAL band and the characters who are supposed to represent them are voiced by the group members themselves. This is a special kind of commitment to making a musical anime and I love it. Really considered giving it a 10.

  This show just oozes happiness and heart. I have already added it to my favorites list on anilist and that's a huge deal with me. It doesn't matter if you think you don't think you like Idol shows this will change your mind.

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• 

  Necokeniii

  90/100
  Zombie Land Saga is proof as long as genres try new things, we can get wacky and fun combos.

  I've always liked idol anime like love live and idolm@ster, but they are predictable and cliche sometimes. I've always wanted the idol genre to push its boundaries as much as they can. They all follow a predictable pattern, they are the underdogs trying to become popular or they are starting a group because one person wants to. I could go on, but let's focus on zombie land saga. Zombie land saga surprised me each and every week. You never knew what to expect week to week, even if you see the previews. There's tons of cool facts you can learn about saga just by watching the eye catchers, It inspired me to visit saga one day. I really like the combination of the zombie and idol genre,it kept me on my toes. I liked how they used the fact they are zombie not only as a plot device but a source of comedy relief.

  I really liked the main character sakura, she never failed to amaze me. She was interested in idols and the energy they give their fans, only to die in that meme we all saw the second the first episode dropped.I loved the discussion and ideas presented each week, one I really like is how idols interact with their fans. Should idols keep a distance from their fans and not do meet and greets? Should idols be accessible to their fans and give them the time of day? Depending on what era you come from determines what question is more appropriate. What I always found interesting about zombie land saga, it never tried to give us the typical there's a unified answer to what an idol should be like. It's refreshing to see a show with a diverse and interesting cast. You get to see how they handle the fame, struggles and frustration individually and collectively. I also liked how every backstory built up a character and caused them to change slowly but surely.

  The music and choreography were great, I found majority of the songs catchy and fun. I really liked the genres outside my comfort zone, they didn't feel cringey or out of place. The big appeal of any idol anime is the music and cute girls, which zombie land saga delivered in. I like how it started as awkward stumbles and movement to refined movement and confident vocals the more they practice. I especially enjoyed how the anime presented the obstacle of cooperation. Not everyone is going to get along or want to compromise even if they are part of a team. So in each episode, the relationships and conflict lead to unity and appreciation of each other's differences. I really liked how each individual part of zombie land saga contributed to my enjoyment, not one thing alone made me hate or enjoy the show less.

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