Genre(s): Music, Comedy, Supernatural
Age-Appropriateness: 13+ (Some violence, profanity)
Platforms: Crunchyroll, Funimation
Episodes: 12
TheAwersome Rating: 8.3 / 10 (Worth getting into)
Premise: In the year 2008, high school girl Sakura Minamoto is abruptly killed in a traffic accident while heading to school. 10 years later, Sakura, along with six “legendary” girls from various eras of Japan’s history, are brought back as zombies by a man named Kotaro Tatsumi, who seeks to save Saga Prefecture by putting together an all-zombie idol group. Sakura, however, has no memories of who she was before dying.
TheAwersome’s Thoughts: I’ve been sitting here for 20 minutes trying to figure out where to begin and so I’ll just say “Whaaaaaaat the what did I just watch?” Zombie Land runs you over with a van, backs up, throws you in the passenger seat, says “No time to explain!” and then floors it all the way to Billings, Montana. Kotaro’s VA won best performance of 2018 for this piece and it is DESERVED. The man is HYPE. This show is BANANAS, and I am HERE. FOR. IT.
In all seriousness, the absurd comedy of this seemingly dart-board-decided premise works wonderfully, while also being a very heart-warming and sweet idol anime. A few of the performance numbers will transition into 3D animation, with the girls’ dances looking like they were done with motion-capture. This oddly has both a “more human” vibe as well as feeling awkward to have 3D animation reduced to an anime framerate, but you get used to it. The bullet-train pace steadies out pretty quickly after the first four episodes or so, letting you catch your breath, get to know everyone, and become the road trip’s snack coordinator. Hope you like squid.
TLDR: Fantastic change of pace with wild comedy and warmest fuzzies.
A second season named Zombie Land Saga Revenge has been announced, and good thing too, because there’s a hefty pile of intriguing loose ends that need to be tied up.
Part of what made this show so interesting was the fact that all the hype and promotional material for it didn’t let on what the show was about. Like at all. This is the official trailer for the series.
What I really liked about Zombie Land Saga was that despite it having all the trappings of a Gag Anime, there was actual substance to it. While there is a plethora of jokes that center around the theme of “how would zombies work as an idol group,” and granted, they are hilarious, that isn’t what keeps this show afloat. The gag façade begins to crack as deeper characters and mystery start unfolding leaving you hungry for the intricacies of their brains.
At a Glance Anime 