Second Season of Zombie Land Saga
Genre(s): Music, Comedy, Supernatural
Age-Appropriateness: 13+ (Some violence, profanity)
Platforms: Crunchyroll, Funimation
Episodes: 12
TheAwersome Rating: 8.4 / 10 (A little deeper and better)
Premise: One month after Franchouchou’s show at Arpino, the group’s success plummets when their performance at the Ekimae Fudōsan Stadium disastrously bombs, leaving the group ¥20 million in debt. The girls spend the following months working at various jobs across Saga to cover expenses, while Kotaro abandons his efforts to save Saga and falls into a slump, despite the girls’ repeated attempts to motivate him. Will Franchouchou be able to recover from this disaster and revitalize the Saga prefecture?
TheAwersome’s Thoughts: The comedy in the second season remains perfectly on point, while leaning a bit less on the zombie gag aspect. We get very interesting explorations of the various girls, their histories, and some heart-warming, beautiful character growth for each of them. We really get to feel a connection like we’re part of the family here, and it was such a delightful experience. Not to mention that the songs are all total bops, especially Saga Jihen.
While we do get a lot of questions answered, and more (sometimes heart wrenching) backstory for a lot of characters, there are certainly plenty of new questions that we’re left to ponder at the season’s end. You might want to grab a few tissues for this season, because there are going to be both ends of the spectrum for crying this time around; tragic backstories aren’t only reserved for Shonen.
TLDR: A fantastic second season that improves on all fronts from the first.
It sets up for another season, but there hasn’t been any official word yet on Season 3.
This goes in the same category as Demon Slayer for me in regard to excellent examples of Honest Kind and Good protagonists that aren’t the least bit boring, bland, or foolish. Too often, especially in Shonen, protagonists will be uninterestingly positive, kind, and forgiving to the point that you start rooting against them. The viewers’ sense of justice doesn’t get appeased and eventually I often find myself (wow I just changed from second to third to first person, English teachers are clawing at me from their cringey Instagram accounts) hoping that letting the villain off the hook comes back to bite them sooner rather than later. Overall, it feels that the outcome didn’t help anyone: others aren’t protected from the villain, and the villain doesn’t change, so what was the point in it all?
Here, however, not only is the kindness, gentleness, and positivity interesting as opposed to being cliché and boring, but believably effective. In moments where I’d want nothing more for competition and antagonists to “get wrecked” one of the characters would (difficultly mind you) take things in an unexpected way that leaves you thinking about what it truly means to “be the bigger person.” And not in the all-too-common way of “let everyone walk all over you, take the path of least resistance and let abusers get their way” that is often portrayed and weaponized.
Nope, we just have some pure examples of hard-working girls who have had more than their share of hardships but have come together stronger and help one another be their best, and very different, selves. Even if that self is a zombie.
You’ll likely enjoy this if you enjoyed:
- The first season of Zombie Land Saga
- The strong team aspect of K-On!
- Solidly Good and Kind characters like in Demon Slayer
At a Glance Anime 