Now that the show has aired, let's take a look back at all the episodes! Review of all 12 episodes of the Spring 2021 anime "Zombieland Saga Revenge"! Akiba Research Institute's Writer's Choice: Anime Samurai Selection Extra Edition

The first episode of the first season of "Zombieland Saga" started with no one really knowing what kind of anime was about to begin. What started out as a refreshing anime was shocked when the heroine, Sakura Minamoto, was hit by a truck within one minute of the start of the episode!

Everyone must have realized that an extremely outlandish anime had just begun. Minamoto Sakura is resurrected as a zombie and forms an idol group called "Franchouche" with seven other girls who also lost their lives at a young age. The group, along with a mysterious producer named Kotaro Tatsumi (CV. Mamoru Miyano), has moved many people as they struggle desperately to stay alive despite their deaths.

The members of Franchouche were played by the following voice actresses: Kaede Motoi (played by Sakura Minamoto), Asami Tano (played by Saki Nikaido), Risa Taneda (played by Ai Mizuno), Maki Kawase (played by Junko Konno), Rika Korikawa (played by Yugiri), Mimi Tanaka (played by Lily Hoshikawa) and Kotono Mitsuishi (played by Tae Yamada). All six except Mitsuishi had real live performances and actually brought hope and inspiration to many people through their songs. However, the live concert scheduled for March 8, 2020, at the Makuhari Event Hall was cancelled due to the new coronavirus. However, as the OP theme of the first season, "To Overcome Harsh Fates and Push Forward Without a Pulse, That's Our Saga," states, "We will overcome fate and adversity," and in February of this year, the group held a very successful revenge live concert. The TV anime "Zombieland Saga: Revenge" started in April.

The reason why Franschou is an idol is because of the "Zombieland Saga Project" to save Saga, and while it was not clear what that was in the first season, in the second season, the whole project was somehow visible. Now that I have watched all 12 episodes, which ran at full speed in the style of the "Zombieland Saga" series, with its good music and gags that people in their late 30s would particularly enjoy, and continue to throw them at the younger generation, I would like to look back on them one by one. This is a spoiler-filled review, so only those who have seen the final episode should read it from here on.

Episode 1 Good Morning Returns SAGA

The second season begins with Franschou working part-time. With the special OP theme "Squid's Soul Won't Be Wasted - Kojima Foods Factory Co. company song" in the background, the scene of Franschouche members working part-time is played.

We don't know what happened in the short time between the first and second seasons, but Franschouche decided to hold a one-man live concert at the Ekimae Fudosan Stadium (EFS for short) and bombed with a 1.66% attendance rate of 500 people ...... in a capacity of 30,000 people, the worst situation The result was a huge loss for the company. Sakura's light-hearted narration explains that she is working part-time to pay the huge debt she has incurred as a result. This development that leaves everything behind is rather pleasant for those who experienced the first season, as it gives a sense of "I'm back! It is rather comfortable. We have become prepared to accept and tolerate anything that happens.

Kotaro Tatsumi is depressed and drunk. In the 11th episode of the first season, Sakura's memories of her life had returned and she was desperate because she was not doing well no matter what she did. Kotaro desperately pulls Sakura back to her feet, but this time Sakura tries to wake Kotaro up. From this, I could sense Sakura's self-awareness and growth as an idol.

It was also a heartwarming development to see Franchouche make a fresh start at the live house "GEILS," where they took the stage in the first episode of the first season. Kotaro gave Franschou, who was unable to perform as he wanted due to the trauma of the stadium concert and the fact that he was completely away from home, the courage to perform. If you are an idol, sing!　Shout! Fransch sings his new song, "REVENGE," in response to his exclamation, "If you're an idol, then sing!

Episode 2 "Radio SAGA

The new OP theme, "Oka yo Shiawase wo Nijirekite Ore ni Kudasarete (Cry with Me, Oka)" started playing in this episode, and not only was the music wonderful, but the OP animation created by Kamata was artistic and sophisticated as well.

Saki's job is as a reporter for a TV program with the legendary rock star White Ryu (CV. White Ryu), who has been giving messages to young people on the radio for 30 years, and whom Saki admires.

During the taping of the TV program, Saki is told by White Dragon that he will no longer be on the radio. Saki recalls how she was struck by his words coming over the radio during her rough middle school days. She recalls how she was struck by Ryu's words on the radio when she was in a rough spot in junior high school: "In time, you will forget me. But I will never forget that I was able to meet you and that we were able to understand each other today. This is almost directly the opening line of Saki's solo song from the first season, "Suicide Attack DANCE ~DAWN OF THE BAD~," which shows how much Saki was influenced by Ryu. It was indeed a good trick to make the lyrics of the character songs more profound by knowing the story.

After that, Saki and Sakura stormed into the radio where White Ryu was, and he entrusted them with the program, and they were angered to carry on his will. On the way home, Saki confesses in a moment of desperation, "I love Ryu-san! but she replies, "Let's meet again when you guys grow up and become better women. Saki has always depicted the sadness of zombies who do not age, and here she feels it keenly. I couldn't watch the scene without tears.

Episode 3 Ai to Seishun no Acoustic Saga

Episode 4 Pure Electric Saga

Ai Mizuno, an idol of the Heisei era who has survived the 2000s idol warring age, and Junko Konno, an idol of the Showa era who sparked the idol boom of the 1980s. There was an episode of the two in the first season, and this will be another episode of the two. The fact that the two names are in the title is a neat touch. It will be interesting to follow Tae Yamada as she gradually develops her talent on the drums from episode 3 to 4.

Kotaro, seeing Franschoux relying on Ai Mizuno, who is not as talented as him, puts Franschoux in front of the top idol Iron Frill, who is coming to the opening live of the SAGA Arena, and he tells Ai Mizuno, the former legendary center of Iron Frill, not to perform at that live and to concentrate on her solo activities. Ai Mizuno, the former legendary center of Iron Frill, is not allowed to perform at the concert. However, Junko, who has been entrusted with Franchouche by Ai, is impatient because she is unable to organize the group.

The scene where Junko sings "50 and Four Forgotten Things," a song she sings when she wants to cheer up, with her acoustic guitar playing was impressive. It was the first important song for Junko to top the hit charts, and her emotional vocals were wonderful.

Afterwards, a troubled Junko is at cross purposes with Ai, and she is unable to communicate with him, so she becomes depressed. It was Kotaro who woke her up. Junko was finally able to get over her confusion, and she led the other members to perform "Gekko Survive" on stage, saying, "I now know what we should do at SAGA Arena.

Junko's performance was quite cool, starting with Tae's superb drum solo, then switching from acoustic guitar to electric guitar and singing enthusiastically. She then invited Ai to the stage and all of Franchouche sang "Awakening RETURNER (Electric Returner Type "R")" to close the show. Here, having been recognized by Iron Frill, Franschouche was declared to be their biggest rival in the TV broadcast, and I felt a tailwind was blowing for Franschouche from the previous decision to become a radio regular to this live performance.

Episode 5 Little Palappo SAGA

Lily decides to appear in the regional qualifying round of a nationwide audition program in order to make Fransch's name known nationwide.

The Lily episode in the first season was a touching episode with Puppy, but this time the spotlight is on Lily as a child prodigy. To express the extraordinary talent that "has achieved the feat of starring in primetime on all channels," the only way to do so is to put her up against her best rivals!　The one who appeared on the stage was Light Ozora (CV. Minami Takayama), a child prodigy of our time.

Light has two sides to her, and behind the scenes she gives orders to the manager using abusive language. Sakura witnesses this and tells Lily about it, but Lily is completely unfazed. Perhaps it was because Lily had also had a period of time in the past when she and Puppy, who was her manager, were at odds with each other. I think she knew that Wright had his own circumstances.

In the final direct confrontation, Lily, who had sung the song she was supposed to sing first, made a hasty decision and performed "Little Parappo" with a scat arrangement of the song. She showed her genius, but regrettably, she was defeated by Wright.

The exchange between Wright and Lily was also moving, as Wright acknowledged his defeat as an expressive person after seeing Lily on stage. The contrast between Wright, who has a dream of going on Broadway, looking beyond child acting, and Lily, who will never grow old and never wanted to grow up in the first place (since she is a man) before she was born. So he said, "Light-kun, you have something that No. 6 (meaning Lily) will never have. So, ......, show me your dream," as if entrusting it to him, was deeply moving, and the idea of doing it in the men's restroom!

I still felt that this was not just a zombie anime in the sense of how much information they packed into this little exchange.

Episode 6 Walking Bet SAGA

Franchouche is on the upswing, but there's still the fundamental problem of the debt from EFS Live ......, and the more they become more well-known, the more they look like dead people, don't they? The sixth episode of the series simultaneously tackled the story of another problem: "The more you are known, the more you look like someone who is dead, right?

Hajimete no Otsukai! Tae Yamada goes out on a field trip and is followed by Okoba, the editor of "SAGAZINE," who suspects that Frans Chouche is already dead.

When Tae eats the offerings at the graves on the way, she is surprised to see that the graves shown on the screen are the "Tomb of the Minamoto Family" and the "Tomb of the Yamada Family for generations". The fact that they come up with new mysteries even in such a place is a sign that they are not to be underestimated.

In this episode, Tae by chance won the prize money at a dance battle in which she participated, and somehow used it at an auto race track to win a boat ticket worth about 7,000 times the price, winning 20 million yen and paying off all her debts. It was interesting to see the characters who appeared in the first season.

The second season's characters were all familiar faces, such as the hostess of the Gatarinpic, Hisanaka Pharmaceutical, Kokko-kun, and Misa, the leader of the "Korosuke" (women who kill).

In the last scene, Okoba, who was following her, took a picture of Tae with her head removed. Will the zombies finally be exposed? We will continue with the next episode.

Episode 7 My My Revolution SAGA

Episode 7, which could have been the first episode. A new character, YUZURIHA Maizuru (CV. Hanazawa Kana), appeared in this episode. The composition of the scene where she enters the men's bath mistaking it for the women's bath, slips on Kotaro's soap, and falls head first was exactly the same as that of Sakura at the beginning of the first episode of the first season, so it could have been the first episode.

Koutarou, who thought Maiya was dead and brought her back home, is actually alive at all, and it is revealed that Franschou is a zombie. Incidentally, Maiya was a big fan of Franschou, who had been coming to the show since episode 8, and was recognized by the audience as "the girl with glasses who is definitely at the show.

Because of being exposed, Maira joined Franchouche as a new member, No. 7. Then, Franschouche was to perform at her school's festival. The day before the festival, the scene of the conversation between Sakura and Maïzu in the classroom was very moving. Sakura's recollection of practicing dance in the classroom, yearning for the love of iron frills. Cut to Kotaro looking at the empty classroom sandwiched in there. He must have been watching Sakura practicing dance from the shadows like that. Kotaro's expression here was very sad. And Maiya realizes the difference between Franchouche and herself in Sakura's words, who is dead but desperately alive.

After the eight members performed "Bukkake for you" at the cultural festival, Saki announced that Maiya had joined the group. However, in her speech right after that, Maïna declares that she is graduating from Franchouche, and sings the last song "Hikari He (with No.7 ver.)" to really graduate.

In the end, it was very impressive that she clearly mentioned why she decided to graduate and why Franschouche is shining.

Also, the cast in episode 7 was gorgeous, with Tamura Yukari and Horie Yui playing two of Maizo's friends, Fujiko (from the manga club) and Komako (from the chess club), and Shimono Hiro playing the committee chairman.

Episode 8 Saga Incident #1

Episode 9 Saga Incident #2

The stage is set in 1881, leaving the mystery of whether or not Frans Chouche is a zombie. This is the episode that reveals the past of the legendary flower courtesan Yugiri, who remained a mystery in the first season. From the title, we knew that the episode was connected to the already released famous song "Saga Jihen," and since Yugiri has a scar on her neck, we also knew that the episode would end with her beheading.

The year was 1882, the year Yugiri came to Saga to take care of his family. As a punishment for the Saga War of 1874, Saga was divided and ruled by two prefectures, Misuma and Nagasaki, and disappeared from the map in 1876 (as per historical fact). Kiichi (CV. Mamoru Miyano) struggles to revive Saga, and his friend Ito (CV. Koki Uchiyama) casually watches over him. When these two meet with Yugiri, their destiny is set in motion.

With Yugiri's support, Kiichi's movement, which had been settled at the level of a joke, becomes full-fledged, and despite Kiichi's desire to revive the saga through discussion, the temperamental aspirants take action.

Ito's real job is to watch for rebels and deal with them if they cross the line. Just as Ito follows orders and gestures to cut Kiichi off, Yugiri saves him and uses her connections to help him escape. Yugiri cuts Ito in pursuit (Ito dares to be cut) and is finally caught and beheaded, but in 1881, Saga Prefecture became independent from Nagasaki Prefecture through a petition by volunteers in the prefecture.

Back in the present day, Yugiri puts down the comb Kiichi gave her and goes on stage as Franchouche to sing "Saga Incident," which ends with the song "Saga Incident" playing in the background. The cut between Kiichi and Ito as "Saga Incident" is played is truly a tear-jerking moment in the two episodes.

We also learn the depth of meaning of the lyrics of "Saga Jihen": "Mise-toge, Tawarazaka (cross) hell, even hell, come to see me. The escape route indicated by Yugiri was to go from Mise Pass to Nagasaki. From there, the song could be taken to mean that I might not be there when he comes to see me again after crossing Tawarazaka, which completely changed the impression of the song.

And Xufu and Romero lived from this time. I am Saga. No, Saga is me," Xu Fu's mysterious words were very interesting.

Episode 10 How the Zombies Take Revenge SAGA

January 18, 2019. Time goes back to before the EFS live in the first episode. Here, it is depicted why Kotaro decided to go ahead with the EFS live. A new fact is then revealed that the first episode's bombing was only on the day of the show, with no advance tickets sold. Kotaro is devastated immediately after the concert, and Franchouche realizes that they had been relying on Kotaro and starts a part-time job in order to move forward on their own. We must not forget that Sakura was at the center of the group.

Then, the time returns to the present, and Kotaro declares that he is going to do EFS live again. He admits his mistake and emphatically tells them that he will do everything he can this time. The second season often depicts scenes between Kotaro and Sakura after the first season, and Sakura's expression as she looks at Kotaro is always good, so please try to imagine how Sakura feels at that moment.

Furthermore, Okoba, a reporter for "Sagazin" meets Kotaro and reveals that he holds the secret of Franchouche and warns him, "Stop exposing the dead!" He warns him, "Stop exposing the dead! At this point, the mascot falls to the spot where Kotaro was. Does this mean that Kotaro is still "the man who has it"?

In the subsequent conversation between Xu Fu and Kotaro, it is said that when Sakura was sinking after her death, she met Xu Fu and learned the art of reviving the dead, and that in order to prevent the crisis of the destruction of the saga that will occur at the beginning of 2025, she will raise an existence = Franchouche that will be forever etched in people's memories. The story is told that it is the "Zombieland Saga Project. The reason why Kotaro was in such a hurry to perform the EFS live in the first episode may be because the danger of the destruction of the saga was approaching. Other stories include "The girls who were supposed to bring prosperity to the saga, but died due to a curse. Xu Fu's words, "We will gather these girls and form an idol group," and other important conversations took place here.

In the midst of this conversation, Saga is hit by a catastrophe caused by heavy rains. The city is without power, and the house where Franschoux lives is washed away by the sea.

Episode 11 Just by Being with You, SAGA

February 18, less than a month before the revenge live performance at EFS. When Franschoux wakes up, the entire foundation of the house has been washed out to sea. The house washed ashore again in Saga, but collapsed. Franschu arrives at a large shelter. There, Franschou worked for everyone and, as an idol, sang a cappella to cheer up the survivors. Seeing this, Okoba begins to think that Kotaro may not have been manipulating the dead for personal gain.

Kotaro was in Xufu's bar at the time of the disaster, and after his life was saved, he ran around the city looking for Franchouche, and the song playing in the background was "Never ending saga," which Kotaro sang. “よかよかよか♪”と曲を作っていた幸太郎が本気で歌ったら、歌がうますぎて逆に面白い、という謎の感動シーンになっていた。

In Kotaro's absence, Frans Chouche continued to encourage the survivors, despite the threat of being exposed as a zombie. When Kotaro finally arrived at the scene, he asked Okoba for a favor and proceeded to prepare for the revenge live performance on March 8.

In this scene, Kotaro applies special makeup to each of Franschoux one by one. I really liked Franschou's trusting expression here. The last scene was the conversation between Sakura and Kotaro on the stairs. I think that was what Kotaro wanted to hear the most, "Kotaro-san ...... thank you very much for making me an idol ......." For a moment, Kotaro felt like he was back in the dry days when he was Sakura's classmate. But Kotaro, being Kotaro, replies, "Your dream is to become the world's best and eternal idol! He replied, "Your dream is to be the best idol in the world forever! It is not clear whether Kotaro's words reminded Sakura of Inui, but it was a very touching scene.

Episode 12 The Greatest SAGA in History

The final episode was aired for 27 minutes without a commercial break.

Episode 12 depicts Kotaro's move to do everything he can until the March 8 revenge (charity) live performance. He calls the governor and asks Okoba to promote the event. Frans Chouche also called on the radio, asking people to come to the live concerts in March and August. The expressions on the faces of those who had been involved with Frans Chouche listening to him were beautiful, but I could only sympathize with Saki, who spoke passionately about why entertainment was necessary.

Then came the day of the concert. Franschoux heads to EFS as promised to Kotaro. It looked as if no one would show up at the stadium in the heavily damaged Saga Prefecture, but even in such a situation, Sakura did not give up and shouted, "We will keep on revenge until everything that bothers us, even if it is God or the devil, will give up their roots. This is the same as Kotaro's resolution in episode 11 when he revived Sakura: "No matter who holds a grudge against me, whether it be God or the devil, I'll do it! and it is clear that their hearts are already in tune with each other.

The crowd that had gathered at the stadium a year earlier had swelled from only 500 people to a full stadium.

The live performance started with a full three minutes of "REVENGE. The performance was tremendous, with no recollections or other scenes interspersed, just the live performance. Tae's call and response was just like Queen's in "Live Aid".

Then came "Shine" a cappella by Sakura, followed by "REVENGE" by CG. The CG expressions on Fransch's face were divine, and there was almost no difference between the CG expressions and the hand-drawn expressions that were interspersed throughout the song. It was a great live performance scene that made the audience feel that Franchouche was "alive" on stage.

Kotaro's crying before the encore was also very moving, but after the usual "GOGOGOGOGO," the audience was a little disturbed to hear that Kotaro was vomiting blood. After a slightly disconcerting interlude, Franchouche performed their best idol song, "Tailwind Travelers". Finally, Sakura did the coolest fake and closed out the best revenge live at ......, which was the best of the best... but the disaster was not the end of the saga!

Starting with the stadium concert that bombed, Franschouche had a great revenge performance at the same venue at the end. They are already dead, but it was truly moving to see how these girls lived, sparkling because they were dead.

And while it was supposed to end with the greatest emotion, it also ended with the greatest "? It is also typical of "Zombieland Saga" that it ended with the biggest "? The aftermath of the story still lingers, but for now, we look forward to Frans Chouche's solo live concert to be held at Makuhari Messe on October 16 (Sat.) and 17 (Sun.).

(Text by Junichi Tsukagoshi)