Zombieland Saga is a confusing show to me. It’s been on a decline since episode 3 which it chucked out it’s rather unpredictable but beautifully chaotic nature for what seems to be a formula closer and more sincere of an idol show. It’s jumping between modes wherein the show can be wacky and surreal yet wants you to take it seriously. Mizuno was struck by lightning while performing, which is absurd yet the story treats her trauma regarding lightning very seriously. Miyu is a trap who died from shock after finding a chin hair, yet the anime treats his death with absolute genuine heartbreak with it even hinting that while his/her death may be silly the circumstances of overwork and mental stress leading up to it most certainly were not. Meanwhile Saki died from playing a game of chicken and driving off a cliff yet the effect on her best friend appears to be a deep rooted trauma. These elements cannot coexist as they just clash too much for it’s hard to truly feel the sadness of the situation when the nercomanager can just pop in and Hououin Kyouma it up to high heaven.
I miss the freestyle performances and while the lightning giving them magic autotune was rather novel, I just find these idol performances to be poor replacements for the creativity of the first two episodes. The only saving grace is that they have appeared to abandon CGI for 2D performances which may be less animated but at least don’t detract from the experience. I am disappointed that Zombieland ultimately went the route of glorifying the idol industry while ignoring it’s dirty underbelly of exploitation. They made one joke about how the girls being undead meant that they can literally be worked to death without worry but other than that it’s been the usual piel of idols giving people hopes and dreams with all the sugar coated nonsense. I thought the girls encountering old relations would bring some new interest to the series but sadly they have decided to have the girls keep things secret and pretend to be unrelated. I still advocate that the show isn’t bad but if the beginning episodes were a 9/10 then we have dropped down to a 6/10.
At this point the zombie thing has become a bit of a gimmick while the show has more or less begun to follow idol show formula of having an individual episode on each girl coupled with a character song. Sure in this case the girls episodes generally have to due with their untimely passing but overall the episodic nature has made the show more predictable. We know that manager is going to have a scene where he pep talks the team, we know there’s going to be an idol song, we know that each episode is going to focus on a specific girl. At this point the only things keeping this show going is the small jokes it nails and the mystery regarding just what Tatsumi’s goal or motives are in all this. And I have to say that I am not quite interested enough in those things to be heavily invested here.
Yeah it’s a shame. Still somehow the show some charm left.
However it’s weird how aimless this series is. It’s kinda like in Angel Beats it kinda lost the point at the end. Focusing on telling as much tropes as they could think but most if not all of them not mattering at the end.
The main issue is “if your point is being pointless, look for a better point”.
‘Miyu is a trap who died from shock after finding a chin hair’ Best turn of phrase ever!
Font you think you are being too critical? Just enjoy the ride. If the show gets a second season (fingers cross), it might delve into deeper story arcs and themes, but for now, it is just having fun and developing the cast. I mean what exactly were you expecting from a zombie idol anime?
I think the expectation of this show was not being another Idol anime. Be it a parody, comedy or anything else. I think the expectation was for it not to fall into similar restrictive tropes like the established type of music these shows put out.
I found out two things:
1. Lily is confirmed to be a male-to-female transgender, not a trap.
2. The creators mentioned somewhere that the girls’ death scenes had intentionally ridiculous elements added to them so they wouldn’t detract too much from the show’s comedy. Whether they really worked or not, I can’t say, because I only got to episode 5 so far.
“Lily is confirmed to be a male-to-female transgender, not a trap.”
Nope, nothing is confirmed. There is some pretty strong cases laid out but is mainly down to interpretation. Lily could be trans or otokonoko but the show makes no solid definitive answer. From what I remember of the show it felt like Lily was more concerned over being seen as macho when they wanted to be seen as cute.
A second season could say otherwise though I fully admit.