Zombieland Saga

If there was a word to describe Studio MAPPA it would be disappointing. Being the spiritual successor for Studio Madhouse many of the shows least, in my opinion, fell flat in they face mainly because MAPPA loves the play the field spell card called style over substance where the writing for these shows seemed to fall by the side in favour of pretty colours and flashing scenes. Because of that I grown to dislike MAPPA as a whole as they seem to prioritised flashing visuals over storytelling. Zombieland Saga is, unfortunately, no exception to this as despite the show being advertised as a parody idol ... anime that had a lot of potential to be good. Unfortunately it the end it ended being another generic seasonal anime that you will easily forget once the anime season is over.

If I had two words to describe the story of Zombieland Saga it would be missed potential as the series had potential to be this fun parody of the idol genre as a whole would made me laugh for days. Unfortunately as the series progresses the series starts falling apart as it eventually showed it's true itself where it ended up being a generic idol anime that barely doesn't do anything different apart from the zombie-idol gimmick. Before I talk about the problems with Zombieland Saga I'm going to talk to quickly talk about the things that I liked about Zomebieland Saga.

The one thing that sold me watching Zombieland Saga is that it was a nice parody of the idol genre as it showcases all the tropes and elements that were using in the idol anime genre and no surprise the first 4 episodes actually did just that as it never took itself too seriously.

The best and most memorable part of Zombieland Saga was the rap battle in episode 2. Not only the rap battle was very hilarious and entertaining to watch from start to finish, but it was very well set up and timed narrative and visually

If only the rest of the series was as consistently good as the rap battle in episode 2 and with that said it's times to dive into this show problems.

Remember when I said that Zombieland is a nice parody of the idol genre. Well the second half did something that it should have not done and that is devolved into a generic copy and paste idol anime where not even the zombie idol gimmick can fully save it. Many character drama aspects in this show were copied and pasted from other anime of it's generic and the dialogue just became trying. It did have some story moments with Saki and Sakura but other than that the show complete loss of what it made it unique in the first as it sadly devolved into a generic idol anime.

The worst thing about Zombieland Saga is that simply not all that funny as many of the comedy comes in the form of characters doing dumb things and screaming. The comedy timing was terrible for the most part and many of the jokes ended up becoming forced and boring.
Overall, despite the show being a decent parody of the idol genre that has an interesting zombie gimmick it ultimately ended falling apart into this generic style over substance anime that lost a lot of charm.

The characters in Zombieland Saga were just okay. Not memorable but at the same time they are not bad.

This may come off as an unpopular opinion, but I don't like the producer Tasumi all that much. Yes, he had some cool moments every now and then but a lot of the time I found him pretty irritating especially when most of his dialogue is consistent screaming and screeching at set idol.
As for the zombie-idol girls themselves well I thought there was one note. Yes, there was 2 expectations being Saki and Sakura (which I will talk about in a bit) but other than that the zombie idol girls are nothing more but idol cliches on screen.

Saki was by far my favourite character in Zombieland Saga as well being the most entertaining. She may appear to a typical badass jerk at first especially to Sakura as the series progresses she slowly starts open up to Sakura after proving that she isn't as completely gutless. I really liked her character development in the series and it really shows in episode 9 where she meets up with her old best friend and biker gang.

She proves to Reiko daughter that if she contiines acting the way that Saki did when she was alive then she would end up falling in the same fate that caused Saki to die. 
What really made Saki my favourite character happens in episode 2 during the rap battle with Sakura " Who cares if you've got memories" "you won't get to see your friends and your Tamagotchi's long dead" We're done got it?!

Sakura herself was a pretty good character.
She as this typical idol protagonist archetype at first however as the series progresses she becomes more of an interesting and somewhat relatable character that we can relate. Her backstory in episode 11 was the prime example of this as perfectly showcases of what Sakura would have been as a person if she didn't get hit by truck kun and as a result, she starts going into heroic BSoD.

The visuals in Zombieland Saga are a mixed bag. While it had a solid colour art-style that fits well with the setting of the series I feel the animation especially the CGI moments hold the visuals back from being great. The models both the human, and zombies are nicely drawn appealing to look at. The background scenery was decent, and lighting was solid.

The animation itself ranged from pretty good to okay. That's about it really.

The only thing left I say about the show visuals is the use of CGI which was horrendous. I understand the show was meant to parody CGI in idol anime but there's a difference between actually parodying the CGI and actually making worse than thing that your parodying.

For a show that mainly focus of music I thought the soundtrack for Zombieland Saga to be underwhelming at best. It's not a soundtrack I consider to be awful, but it failed to impress me especially when many of the tracks in Zombleland Saga just comes off as generic background idol noise. While the soundtrack was lacking the insert songs completely make it up because they are actually pretty damm good. My favourite insert songs in the show would be Mezame Returner and Dance.

The opening theme Adabana Necromancy sung by zombie idols was a decent opening theme. While I really liked the opening visuals for it, I cannot say the same thing for the song itself which I found to be pretty forgetful.

The ending theme Hikari e sung by the zombie idols was a pretty enjoyable ending that has a nice clamming song that contained good-looking visuals art.

The Seiyuus in the sub did a pretty good job with the roles that they were given. As much I don't like Tatsumi I thought Mamoru Miyano did a fantastic job voicing the character. Asami Tano as Saki was a also another great performance as she really made this hot headed badass girl come to life.
The dub, on the other hand, was pretty bad as it's filled with mediocre to bad performances that actually ruins key scenes in the anime. Not only that but the comedy in the dub version is pretty insufferable to listen. Also let's not forget how Funimation was incredibly lazy when they decided to do the rap battle episode 2 because frankly they didn't bother to dub at all.

Zombieland Saga is a bizarre series to judge. There were some strong areas that I really liked like Saki and Sakura, the rap battle in episode 2 and the idol parody stuff unfortunately the flaws in Zombieland Saga outweigh the good. Not only that but the same the series got to the second half the series devolved into this generic flashy idol anime that has a zombie gimmick that contains repetitive/forced comedy and underwhelming characters.

If the series actually stocked to of idol parody routes than this show would have been one of the better animes of 2018 but we ultimately didn't get that and what we got instead is a typical idol anime that could have been a lot better.

It's not a bad series by any means but at the same time it's not all that memorable outside the rap battle and Saki's character development.

Zombieland Saga is a comedy about a group of zombie girls being marketed as idols by a red suit-toting weirdo through unconventional and sometimes embarrassing means of gaining popularity.

Zombieland Saga is an idol drama about a group of zombie girls on a quest to become idols but are held back the the implications of their deaths, their past traumas, their memories and the era they lived in.


Zombieland Saga works great as either show.


Zombieland Saga doesn't work at all as both.

...
By trying to juggle these two ideas, it becomes a tangled up and comes short of fulfilling either of those premises satisfyingly. It's not that the show transitioning between these ideas are jarring (in fact, it does that just fine), but rather, by trying to keep the first half of episodes comedy then leaving all the heavier stuff for later kind of chokes the pacing of those. As a result, character arcs and story threads, while fine, leave so much to be desired, especially with regards to Sakura.

The animation is fine. I enjoyed a lot of the comedic storyboarding, the hilarious character acting and expressions in early episode (1-5), as well entire sequences of Tatsumi Kotarou's screentime and dialogue.

Music is kinda shit. I didn't remember a single track, much less the BGM, so not much comment there other than forgettable.

The voice actors did a splendid job and, again, a ton of the script from the comedy episodes were fantastic and the did a good job with those.

Overall, it's a fine show. It's freaking hilarious when it wants to be and the writing is pretty alright, if not really unsatisfying. I recommend it if you have the time. (6/10)

This is my first review, so please bear with me.

Although having not watched much if not any idol anime, it was intriguing to see a spin on this conventional genre. With a synopsis such as "The peace these seven girls experience will suddenly be destroyed. By the living dead... zombies," I couldn't help but check the show out. Unfortunately, by the end of it all, it just felt like it fell flat.

To get straight to the point and not waste any time, let's look at the positives of this show. Firstly, I'll admit that it was quite enjoyable for what it was at times. For ... example, our main girl getting hit by truck-kun was a nice addition to the amount of destruction he has already done throughout the entire history of anime, and he may never stop... Events such as the infamous rap battle, and the general interactions between the idols could be pretty funny at times.

Next, the character designs like of Saki and the rest of the group gave a unique style to each of the characters (exceptions being Junko and Ai, they look like copies of one another to an extent). Facial expressions were pretty nice, and to each of their own had a distinct sense of personality. The aforementioned Saki with her rough and daring ways of going about things, Lily being very ecstatic, and Yuugiri with her calm and collected tone made for characters that could stand on their own. It all may have felt pretty generic I might add, but for me it's at least worth mentioning as something it didn't completely fail on. However, it's nothing to write home about.

The opening theme was pretty cool with the visuals I guess.

However, the negatives of this show made for the biggest gripes.

The art was mixed. I had mentioned the character designs before as being fine, and the backgrounds and style of the show were pretty good and felt appropriate , but the consistent use of CGI dances however were absolutely horrendous.

The story, obviously being a parody, wasn't trying to take itself too seriously. This isn't a negative in in of itself, and is actually completely fine, however it seemed as if it couldn't hold that mentality together. Character development is fine and all, but serious overtones and unneeded drama was apparent throughout multiple parts of the story, and it almost felt like it was straying away from it's own purpose that it established from the beginning, as being a fun comedical straight forward show.

The music didn't catch on with me, and wasn't really engaging, just sounded pretty meh.

The manager could not manage himself. His loud and obnoxious yelling was not funny, and only set himself up as a failed comedian. Loud does not equal funny, and he should have either stuck to being mature as shown occasionally, or just a running gag. Combining the two just doesn't sit well (even if being voiced by Miyano Mamoru).

Talking about running gags, the whole policeman and sudden interaction between the Idols was just as equally as bad, but thankfully it wasn't so repetitive and recurring that I had to sit through it constantly like the manager.

Lastly, possible spoilers or not, but it was hinted at several times where a couple of guys were interested in finding more about these idols and their true identity so to say. However, absolutely nothing happened with this, and only seemed to waste time, falsely leading the viewer to expect something interesting and dramatic to happen.

Overall, this anime could have been better. If it had only stuck with what it set out to do, it could have been a pretty decent, or even good show. If you like the show and enjoy it despite my personal criticisms, that's totally fine, to each of their own. It was alright while it lasted, but again, ended falling flat with the issues I had with it. Thank you for taking the time to read my review, and if their is anything I can improve on, feel free to let me know!

This show is amazing in the first two episodes, if you haven't seen them give it a watch. The voice acting and the writing has some parts that left me laughing hysterically. I went into the show expecting nothing and by the end of the second episode I was ready to give it an extremely high score.

plus the opening is my aesthetic.

The sad thing is that it goes on to parody idol shows (I guess?) in the next episodes and really falls flat for me. Maybe I haven't seen enough idol shows to get the jokes but it really seems more like a copy than ... a parody. Don't get me wrong there are some funny parts and the writing isn't awful, it just starts to feel like a different show. It starts to be more slice of life and less full blown comedy. Since the first two episodes were so good this makes episode 3 and 4 feel more like filler.

Hoping they go back to their initial style in the coming episodes, still on the fence about this show.

[WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ONE PUNCH MAN, FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, ZOMBIELAND SAGA, AND YOUR LIE IN APRIL]

Yes, I know everyone and their dementia-ridden grandma has already reviewed this. So rather than just talking about what it is, we’re going to attempt to fix Zombieland Saga. This show had way too much potential to simply accept its failures and move on. That section will be at the very end before the conclusion.


Few things are more frustrating than wasted potential, and that phrase to me is quickly becoming synonymous with Zombieland Saga. This show had serious potential. From a parody perspective, ZLS had the potential to reach the ... holy grounds of One Punch Man. Its premise is THAT GOOD. But you can see the rating I gave it. You know how this is gonna go.

~Story/Writing~ (Contains light spoilers for One Punch Man and BIG SPOILERS for Zombieland Saga)

The premise of Zombieland Saga is simple: an absolute mad lad resurrects dead girls and turns them into zombie idols. Right off the bat, it’s important to note how that sentence makes you feel as an audience member. The premise should lead you to a single conclusion about what you’d expect: this will be a comedy/parody. However, the reason ZLS is so disappointing is because that assumption is correct. ZLS’ premise is that of a comedy or parody/satire. But ZLS the anime adaptation is only partially a comedy. At its heart, its an attempt at drama. And it fails spectacularly at being a drama.

The first 2-5 episodes are indeed based around comedy, and they are powder kegs of canned comedy. Seriously, the first 2 episodes of ZLS are incredible. They’re funny, satirical, and built entirely around the comedic structure of its premise. Here’s what I mean: (This will spoil episodes 1, 2, 4, and 5)

Episode 1- They win over the crowd due to a mental hiccup that occurs in the zombies that looks like headbanging. This hiccup was setup in the scene prior. Set-up and payoff!

Episode 2- They win over the crowd because Tae's limbs keep popping off. This was set-up by the scene prior, when Mizuno's arms popped off when she tried to climb the fence. Set-up and payoff!

In episode 4, Yuugiri makes a comment about the girls getting the opportunity to "wash away the decay from Franchouchou", prompting the other girls to check themselves to make sure they don't stink. This is not random, as the previous episode had a scene where they talked about how zombies smelled bad. Set-up and payoff!

Also in episode 4, the introduction sequence implies that it's going to be a hot springs episode. Once you as a viewer have settled into that fact, they change it up and tell the girls that none of them are going to the hot springs because they can't go outside without their make-up on. So that's a subversion based on the genre they’re parodying and the logic that forms the premise of the show! They do end up going later, but that ends when Sakura’s head pops off and floats to the surface of the water like a zombie movie. That’s funny! Plus, it was set-up in episode 2 that their heads popped off. Set-up and payoff!

Episode 5- The set-up here is they're going to compete in a mud race thing. So they do, but the twist on it is that once they're muddy, they can't rinse off because that would remove their makeup and everyone would see they're zombies. So, they have to stay muddy the entire time. That's funny! Then when they get Tae to tear off her muddy shirt to reveal the group t-shirt, she's still wearing the drive-in shirt from the first half of the episode. Set-up and payoff!

All throughout this, Mamoru Miyano’s performance as Koutarou drives the rest of the comedy. For the first 5 or so episodes, he is a firecracker of performance comedy that never failed to make me giggle when he’s on screen. It sounds like Miyano is dicking around in the studio and the outcome is glorious. It’s also paced out nicely, as him yelling in every scene would get old really fast.

There also good situational comedy like when they're in Ushino (spelling?) and they have Tae hold onto the rope at the shrine, which of course she mindlessly thrashes around which rings the bell! That's funny!

Unfortunately for me (because I loved the first 5 episodes) and everyone else, ZLS implodes after episode 5. It stops trying to be funny and parodical and settles for drama. And it DOES NOT WORK. Story/Writing 5/10

~Characters~ (Contains spoilers for Zombieland Saga, Fullmetal Alchemist, and maybe spoilers for Your Lie in April?)

The first misstep that kicks it in motion is the introduction of character backstories. Now before I say anything else, I have no problem with the writers including these backstories. They’re plenty funny and would be great sources of satirical comedy. The problem is, the writers don’t seem to understand that they’re satirical.

Mizuno's backstory is played to be sad but having her die by getting struck by lightning on-stage is a really silly death to attach to a sad subplot. This is especially true after they show her burnt, crispy body still standing there on stage with her finger in the air, covered in black. That’s a comedic set-up (like the ones I mentioned above) that’s played straight, which cannot work because it's just too over-the-top to function as a serious plot point.

The same goes for all the other backstories too. Part of Sakura’s backstory is that she was delayed getting to her big exam because she had to help too many grannies. Lily died because she had a heart attack that was a result of her finding a wayward hair on her chin. She’s also revealed to be male in the scene. You see what I mean? Those are comedy set-ups. But they play it straight, and it makes no sense. If you're going for comedy or satire there, you play the ensuing scene where Lily and her dad meet for laughs. You don't make it a tear-jerker. That doesn't make any sense because the way Lily died was so stupid and absurd it cannot be played straight. ZLS seems to want to have its cake and eat it too. In that, I mean it wants to have stupid silly deaths the audience will laugh it but still try to make them tragic too. It doesn't work, it's too silly to work as tragedy.

Ultimately, mixing comedy and tragedy is a risky move. In most cases, it backfires or doesn't have a good balance, resulting in a murky grey area between comedy and drama that just doesn't mix well enough to function as either. On one end of that spectrum, you could have a really good drama that's weighed down by ill-advised attempts at comedy. We'll call this the "Your Lie in April" tier. The biggest mistake you can make in this tier is placing the comedy in scenes they aren't appropriate in, which ruins the drama and the mood. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is a good example of how to do this right, as its comedy was not only good, but placed in narrative openings that would work with comedy. At the end of the reveal about what the dog/human chimera is, Winry doesn't bust in and throw a wrench at someone's head. Because obviously, that would be stupid and ruin the moment. Your Lie in April apparently missed the memo on that because it tries to be funny at the end of fantastic character moments.

On the other end of that spectrum, you have Zombieland Saga. There's a bit too much drama that isn't interesting in ZLS, but its comedy scenes (first 5 episodes) are hilarious. They would have been better served scaling back the boring drama and focusing on comedy, because that's what ZLS is good at. It isn't good at being dramatic or sad. Its attempts at that are boring. That's what makes the shift in tone after episode 5 so disappointing. The first 5 episodes are powder kegs of comedy, yet for some reason they decide to shove in drama and it just doesn't work. It's important to have a nice mix of comedy and drama if you're going to try to mix the 2, but ZLS blows it by banking too much on its weak drama when it would function perfectly as a pure comedy. Zombies + idols is a set-up that screams comedy! That should be the focus!


Getting back to characters; as it turns out, Miyano's schtick wears off about half way through the show, mostly because they stopped mixing up his antics. Him yelling wasn't going to work on its own as a comedy pillar through the whole season and they should've known that. The real reason Miyano's schitck grows tired though is because they stop building comedic scenes around the other aspects of the show, which leaves Miyano as the main source of comedy. That was never going to work; it was a guarantee to get old once the other sources of comedy dried up.

And then there’s the pacing debacle that occurs during episodes 10 and 11. They go back to the initial incident where Sakura was hit by a car and turned into a zombie, which is just as confusing in the show as it sounds. Initially, I thought she got hit by ANOTHER car. I couldn’t believe they were going back to the events of the first episode right before the finale. For anyone who doesn’t know, it is generally not a good idea to stop everything that’s happening and introduce a new sub-plot right before the finale. The episodes leading up to a finale are supposed to be putting all the pieces the plot has introduced into place and building tension for the final episode. Going back to episode 1 and going “hey actually this happened so now Sakura is feeling this” is garbage writing. But the real problem is where in the story its placed. Why is it placed near the finale? This is a confused mess. These events take place at the very start of the show. Why isn't it placed there? I'll tell you why. Because the writers were like "wait we need to focus on Sakura right before the last episode so it seems like we're adhering to the second act of the 3-arc story structure where the main character is at their lowest". It's so transparent it's despicable. Characters 4/10

~Music/Sound~

All the vocal performances are great, too. Obviously Mamoru steals the show, but all of the idol characters are voiced well, too. Every character sounds like what you would expect them to sound like, with enough personal flair to make them feel memorable. You might think that is rather useless praise, but I just finished Naruto Shipudden and they used the same adult actors for characters like Shino and Shikamaru during flashbacks. That means 7-year old Shino has the same voice as 17-year old Shino. So yeah, good voice work is something to be appreciated and this is some good shit. Sound 9/10

~Art/Animation~

Visually, ZLS is solid. In terms of hand-drawn animation, art, color palette, character designs, and background art, it’s great. The character designs in particular are extremely well done. If you look at any one character without context, you could probably determine what they’re like based off their appearance and how they’re drawn. To me, that’s the mark of great character designs.

The real problem with ZLS visually is the CG idol performances. The frame rate on their dancing is too slow and makes it look choppy. It was somewhat distracting when Love Live did it, but in those shows it was pretty smooth. Here, it’s too rough to not be distracting. Art/Animation 8/10

~Enjoyment~

I don’t really grade for enjoyment. How much you enjoy something is determined by the product of your experiences in life and what you consider to be a quality production, which are different for every single person. As such, attempting to grade something inherently subjective with an objective grading metric is a paradox. I will leave this score blank.


~FIXING ZOMBIE LAND SAGA~

There are 2 routes you could take to fix ZLS:

1. Make it a pure comedy. That means cutting out the bland drama and focusing on creative ways to build scenes around the characters being zombie idols. This is what the first 2 episodes were.

2. Go for parody/satire. That means keeping the goofy backstories, but keeping the tongue planted firmly in cheek. One Punch Man is a great example of sincere satire, in that One Punch Man parodied the dumber aspects of superpower shounens while embracing what makes them fun. Take for example the scene where Mumen Rider is fighting the Deep Sea King in OPM season 1. The dialogue and structure of the scene indicate it's doing that "the people believe in me and that gives me the strength to win!" bullshit that runs rampant in a lot of other shounens. But instead of that actually giving Mumen Rider the ability to defeat the Deep Sea King, he just keeps getting annihilated. This is hilarious, as they keep building up to the moment where you expect Rider to win out, but instead he keeps getting knocked on his ass. It's a bait-and-switch based on the genre, and it's what made One Punch Man season 1 work as a comedy. This comedic structure is a good foundation to build a sincere satire with given ZLS' premise.

The source material already appears to be satirizing idol and zombie tropes, so flipping the switch from drama to satire would be the easiest path to fixing it.

Outside of those 2 options, there are ways to improve it if you wanted to keep it a drama (I don’t know why you would but I digress):

3. You could go for more of a gray area approach, although it wouldn’t work as well for a comedic premise. You’d still have to sprinkle in light bits of character drama, but I think it could still work. I’d also want to iron out the cliché narrative items for the plot, as they would drag the show down regardless of approach.

The "we need each other”, and "the group isn't the same without you" tropes became clichés right around when Love Live came out, so that particular plot point should have been avoided. Instead, it comes in during episode 3 and it is just lame as it always is.

They could've gone in a much more interesting direction by having one or both girls that were having doubts actually leave for good. Maybe they could have instead made one of them proficient in their past life at something else, making them able to go out on their own and try their hand at whatever that thing is. They could've done a Perfect Blue thing where they end up questioning their decision to pursue other interests and it drives them insane while the group takes off without them. That would have been the more career-oriented twist they could have done.

They also could have gone the Mawaru Penguindrum route and have the same thing happen, but make the girl feel guilty for abandoning their friends, even though the group in question has become massively popular. Or they could have gone gray area and shown her doing whatever she thinks is her purpose in her second life at certain parts of the story, and then maybe she shows up at the final concert to root them on? Anything other than the cliché "oh yay they came back!".

Those routes would work well to fix 2 big problems that reared their heads as soon as they went the drama route: the girls go along with becoming zombie idols far too easily, and no one suffers severe emotional distress from realizing they’re dead. For some of them, everyone they’ve ever known is dead. Don't you think it might mess someone up pretty bad if they woke up and you told them everyone they know has been dead for decades? But ZLS elects to ignore that. This isn’t an issue if it’s a comedy because it doesn’t impact the narrative that much and it wouldn’t be compatible with comedy. After all, it’s hard to write good comedy if you insist on explaining every single detail of what’s happening. But if you’re going to make it a drama, that issue has to be addressed. The more seriously you take your story, the more seriously your plot will be looked it and examined, as the story is what drives any drama.

The other issue that could be solved by having a character branch off on their own path is motivation. It’s odd that none of the girls already have dreams and aspirations they still wanted to pursue. If they did, it wouldn’t necessarily be impossible to achieve just because they’re zombies. Could none of those dreams be similarly reached using make-up and maybe perfume? It isn't a big deal but it annoys me considering the plot shifts to drama and then ignores the obvious dramatic conflicts that would arise from its premise. Even worse, it ignores these so it can indulge in the trappings of idol anime.

Lastly, if they wanted to keep this a drama, they should have made Saga more of a focus in the narrative. If it had jettisoned the silly backstories and used those 3-4 episodes to expand on Saga and why Koutarou wanted to revitalize it, it could’ve done wonders to flesh out his characters as well as give the audience more reason to care. As it stands, Koutarou is a purely comedic character with little to humanize him. Again, that works in a comedy but it’s strange in a drama. If you want to make a good drama, you have to give the audience a reason to care about the drama. Zombie Land Saga failed to do that.

~CONCLUSION~

Everything that’s wrong with ZLS can be traced back to one problem: it is a comedy/parody that’s played like a drama. You just can’t take a parody and force it to be a drama. If they wanted this to be a drama, the characters' motivations to revitalize Saga as idols would have to be expanded far more. That detail literally doesn't matter at all if it's a comedy or satire. It would be a detriment. But you can't change a comedy into a drama and keep the same story structure! That makes no sense!

The comedy side of this show is fantastic, but the drama-based idol aspect of this show sucks. It's good in the first 2 episodes because it's driven by the premise, but after that it starts falling into all the trappings of Love Live. When it tries, the comedy is gold. So how do you grade something that's half good, half bland, and a general mishandling of a premise with great potential? That's a textbook 6.

Zombieland Saga gets a 6/10.

Zombieland saga is a unique parody of an idol show with zombies instead of high school girls as the main group of idols. It excels at certain parts, but also fails at certain parts, though it was still an enjoyable watch nonetheless.

Let's start with the good parts. The show has a great focus on its characters, which is something you rarely see in shows with a huge female cast, such as idol, CGDCT, SOL shows etc. The first few episodes introduces us to the bizarre cast of characters, all with different backgrounds and even from different time periods. The best character though is hands down ... the manager of the group of idols. From the first few episodes I was already in love with the chaotic energy from him, yet you can still feel his strong determination to help the idol group achieve success. The first few episodes did a great job introducing the characters, and later on during the show there are also individual episodes focusing on the episodes, adding a lot more depth to the characters in a genre full of copy and paste cute girls with no personality. Zombieland saga does a great job at being a parody, while still keeping the soul of this girls-support-girls genre.

However, while this show does a good job at exploring its characters, it is also lacking in one of the most important elements in idol anime - the dance scenes/performances. The 3d animation is more than just rough around the edges and I was honestly surprised it was made by MAPPA. The 3d models look very different from the actual 2d characters, which accentuated the problem when they decided to keep switching from 2d and 3d during the performances. The dance sequences and performances were also quite repetitive and didn't really stand out to me, which was quite disappointing. Still, this is the only huge flaw I can think of for this show.

Overall, this show was still a fun watch and a solid 7/10

A high school girl with a big dreams is going to be cute... BANG, dead, death metal, house of horrors, zombies, Saga, stage, "Music, COME ON!!!!".

Episode 1:
Story - 10
Art - 10
Sound - 10
Character - 10
Enjoyment - 10

The rest:
... Story - 4
Art - 8
Sound - 8
Character - 7
Enjoyment - 6

This anime has the most hilarious first episode ever. If you think you will not like the anime, go watch the first episode only. It is hilarious, ridiculous and the best parody there is. First 2 minutes and I was already amazed and laughing out over the black humor development. It is WTF?! all the way in. The pace is amazing and keeps you amazed, so I will not spoil anything about the first episode in this review.

Well, if all episode were like the first, we would have the best parody, the most ridiculous and funny idol anime out there. The change of environment, the self-irony of how small the Saga prefecture is (I do not know if that's true, it is what the anime makes fun of) are superb. But then someone from the staff decided that this won't be a parody, but rather comedic idol anime... When the anime take the more serious tone of how the life (or in this case the zombie life) of an idol can be, it lost its appeal and become fairly average anime. There is a glimpse of zombie jokes here and there, but now it gets a little bit boring from time to time. Instead of addressing problems of the small prefecture, the idol life and the difficulties in ironic way, it addresses them literally in the story as a slice of life (or slice of zombie life) in this case.

What kills the anime though, is the fact that it seriously include in the story the result of the ridiculous events in the first episode. If those idols weren't zombies the story will go in different direction. This means, that the story the anime tells, when serious, is supposed to imagine how difficult is to be an idol, but only if you are zombie. Sorry, it seems the living audience might not have a chance to properly relate to that...

Art: The art is what you can expect from 2018. It is not outstanding, though. Anime like "Sound! Euphonium" easily beat the art within the same year.

Music: Well, the music is definitely not bad. Some songs are even amazing, and it is rarely to hear death metal genre in anime. While I am not a fan of death metal, it was hilarious choice for the first episode OP. The situation combined with the music clearly stated, that you cannot take what you see seriously. The other songs are catchy, but not so amazing, except maybe "Mezame returner", which kind of have proper rhythm and rhyme to enjoy, even when you do not understand the text at all (although some parts are strange). If you watch this for the music, episode 3, 7, and 12 near the end are worth it.

Characters: In the first episode Tatsumi is pretty funny, and during all episodes the quirks of each characters will make some funny situations, which will cause occasional laugh of otherwise the boring story. The police officer (apparently the only one in the whole Saga prefecture) scenes are the craziest one, he is my favorite side character. Otherwise, the stories of each individual past is kind of BORING, except maybe Saki, which is super cool.

Enjoyment: I do not feel I have wasted my time watching this. It is fairly enjoyable and forgettable lighthearted show. The only thing I am regretting is that it take so much time to realize only the first episode was worth it. I feel like I clicked a click-bait. Something can be ridiculously funny and good at the same time (see KonoSuba). This anime had this potential, but I have no idea what happened. At least it has happy semi-ending, suggesting possibility of second season.

Zombieland Saga is a pretty entertaining mid-tier anime effort that doesn't quite hit any notable marks, but is a solid time throughout. The kind of show that, if you know enough Japanese, is a really good anime to half-pay-attention to while you're doing the dishes or something.

The whole thing veers pretty wildly between a ridiculous satire of idol culture, literally resurrecting dead people to churn out a new idol group for some publicity, and then a legitimately emotional and sappy idol zero-to-hero series. The two sides don't mesh that well and the whole show ends up being a bit schizophrenic as a result, but there'll ... be something for you to latch on no matter your sensibilities, unless your sensibilities include realistic characters with good character arcs.

The characters are all very strong, though only about half of them get much of a story arc and none of them change personality much through the series (besides some spoiler elements). You'll probably end up really liking one or two of them, but overall it's a pretty standard lineup of quirky characters.

Lots of funny moments throughout the series, even if the plot sticks to exactly what you'd expect out of a series featuring an idol group starting in the middle of the boonies. The zombie element allows for a lot more brutal violence against already-undead people, and the hijinks of hiding their zombie nature creates some really good moments. The comedy is by far the best part of the show.

However, the idol stuff is pretty middling. All of the idol performances, except for one, are rendered in terrible CGI. I thought that was part of the joke at first, but by the end it was pretty clear it was a cost-saving measure and a really ugly one at that. None of the songs were memorable either, definitely not compared to the very good OP and ED. There aren't that many performances in the show, maybe six or seven, but you'll usually be spacing out when they happen because they take away from the comedic elements.

Of course, there's also some drama and sappy teambuilding efforts. The drama, ramped up in a couple key episodes in the second half, is generally very good, dealing with some sensitive topics and delving deep into a couple of these undead characters in ways that hit hard-- one specific episode actually got me tearing up and it was a bit embarrassing. But the drama is always undercut by the formulaic "Let's Ganbatte!" stuff with the idol group working together as a team to pass the obstacles before them. Because of the parody elements, and because of the legitimate dramatic elements, the idol teamwork stuff is really boring and takes away from the rest.

So Zombieland Saga is a real mixed bag. Chances are, there's something in there for you to enjoy, no matter your taste. However, there'll also be plenty of things for you to dislike as well. It won't stand the test of time, but it was a good enough show that I'd say I enjoyed watching it. Which is good enough for me.

I really toiled with the rating for this show. I've been in a slump with work, and so I only was able to watch about 4 shows at a time rather than my usual 8 that I whittle down. As a result, I dropped less shows but kept with ones that I would have dropped otherwise. Overall, I'm not sure if it was a show I would have dropped or not, and I'm torn enough I wish I could give it a 6.5.

Off the bat I have to admit my bias. I've never watched an idol show before this. I've been aware of them and ... their effect on merchandising, but I've never participated in them. For me, that's the strength in this show. It's the first idol show that's grasped me and kept me interested, even if only as a minor participant. I'll just organize this into story, animation, character, and sound.

Story: The story is pretty simplistic in itself. Not many answers are given as to why they're brought back, but I have a heavy feeling that this is because it's a "go read the manga" type of show. This isn't bad in itself (I'm waiting with baited breath for the Kaguya anime, but I'm expecting the same treatment), however, the story then had to revolve around a minor arc for each of the starts of the show. I'll be honest, this was the strongest part of the show. A lot of these girls arcs are heartfelt and honest, and give a great insight to who they were before they died and who they are now. Almost everyone dies with regrets, and they were some of the lucky few who got to try and rectify these regrets on their own. There is obviously and overarching story related to the manager, however it's unclear if a S2 will come to carry this along.

Animation: I'll be blunt, the animation/art will get a fair rating from me due to the use of CGI. Honestly, if this anime just had the story going for it, it would be a non-issue. However the non-CGI animations of this show were absolutely phenomenal. I could only top it this year with the animations I saw from Slow Start for a fairly mundane show about "cute girls doing cute things". These crisp animations were then brought down by most of the performances they did when CGI was brought into the picture. It's sad too, because in and idol show I feel the actual performances are a crucial part to nail. If they do a S2 and remove that portion, it could easily be a 7 or 8 overall ranking for me. The CGI was the biggest turn off for me in the show, because once you reach these crucial crux's of each characters arc you have to deal with these lumbering and unnatural movements of animation that completely takes you out of the show.

Character: This intertwines with story, but, I really enjoyed most of the characters of this show. I don't want to go into too much detail due to spoilers, however each character has a fleshed out personality, voice, and even time period from which they hail. Some seem there for comic relief, but then show they are very dedicated to the group as a whole. Others are consistently the "rocks" of the group that many go to for support. Even the accents and dialogue they put forth are related to their identity as idols.

Sound: This will be the part where I'm the least knowledgeable. I thought the songs were decent (from what I can tell from subtitles), yet I am also not an idol follower. The songs might have also been tainted for me from the CGI animations (another gripe at it), which brings what could have been very emotional scenes down for me. Still, I did find them somewhat catchy, and I enjoyed when they delved into other styles that weren't really "pop" music.

Overall, this show is probably worth the time for someone who does watch idol shows. However, I'm not confident in all aspects I've put forth. As far as character development and animation, I can confidently say the majority is great and worth your time. To say the entire show is perfect though, would overlook many issues I had with the CGI and the pretty shoestring story which seems like an obvious manga advertisement.

Gonna try to make this as spoiler-free as possible!

After finishing Zombie Land Saga, I'm pretty disappointed. What had potential to be a fun, well-paced chaotic comedy show parodying the idol genre completely did a 180 and ended up turning into the shows it was trying to parody in the first place. The beginning of this show had me pretty hooked, which hasn't really happened for me with many shows from the last couple of years, and I was really excited to see where it was going. In early high school I was a pretty big fan of the idol genre, especially Love Live, and the ... way that this show made silly jokes about idol tropes was really entertaining, especially because they aren't really taking themselves seriously. I really liked that they weren't trying too hard to throw in "inspirational" moments because there's only so many times you can watch an idol MC give an impassioned speech about doing your best and still feel effected by it. It felt like a breath of fresh air that this show put the comedy at the forefront, but sadly, by the halfway point, Zombie Land Saga falls right into the same tired idol clichés that it's poking fun at other shows for having.

The first couple of concerts are really funny and manage to throw off your expectations, putting more thought into comedic moments and trying to flip idol tropes on their head. The first half of this show is about attempting to get their idol group off the ground by taking odd jobs, doing street performances, rap battles, and local commercials. This was when I was really enjoying the show the most. The jokes were hitting pretty well for me with some laugh out loud moments, and the energy felt like a faster paced chaotic comedy. Tatsumi may have been grating for some people but I honestly thought he was hilarious and that his VA did such a good job. I don't know why you would even want to watch the dub for this when you could watch the original seiyuu scream in awkward english. The girls worked off each other well and it was okay that they were the same idol archetypes that we see all the time because it still felt like a parody. Plus, Tae Yamada. It was around when the individual girls started getting their own episodes & the group started gaining popularity that I felt like it started to fall off and lean too heavily into idol melodrama and by the last couple of episodes it feels like there is no comedy to be found really. Just crying angsty idol girls. Pretty much becoming a cookie cutter idol show aside, this show sets you up to not take anything too seriously and then by the end expects you to be invested wholeheartedly in the overdramatic and extremely predictable idol plot. What a let down.

The music was nothing to write home about, both the ost and the idol music. In the first episode they really had me thinking that they were going to be a metal idol group before I realized that they were just going to be singing generic idol songs, which was kind of disappointing. Like, zombie idols that sing metal but are also cute? They had the potential to reach both the idol crowd and people that are into metal or dark comedy. I think that's my biggest problem with the show, that this anime had so much potential to be a zany idol comedy with interesting elements that made it unique, and instead of delivering it just fell flat, like they ran out of jokes to tell and just decided to cop out and write a boring safe idol drama.

Still, if you're a fan of the idol genre, you may be into this one. I would be lying if I said that this show didn't have some heart, so I wouldn't say avoid it entirely, but if you get to the midway point and are just waiting to see if it gets funny again, you'll probably be just as disappointed by the ending as I was.

The show embraces its macabre premise by infusing typical anime humor and lightheartedness, though it doesn't shy away from more emotional or heartfelt episodes dedicated to individual struggles that the members of the pop group may have.The protagonist has an interesting development in the eleventh hour given what her role in the group is until that point, and the lives of the other characters loan themselves to speculation fairly well.

Given the premise of the show, it was very important to have music that was believably pop enough to sell that this group took off. What I was pleasantly surprised by was how much they dabbled ... in different genres. On the subject of sound, there were small details in the sound design that stood out; when zombies turned their necks, for example, there would be small "cricks" that would be audible, and it showed an attentiveness to detail.

No life-changing revelations will likely come out of watching this, though that's not to say this isn't a worthwhile watch. The show is fairly engaging and it does not cater too much to fanservice or anime nonsense.

The only true mark against it are the characters Ai and Junko, whom I really can't differentiate between and forget constantly, mentally cordoning them off as just "those other two" while all the others have a gimmick or distinct personality that sets them apart.

"Not sure what the audience is but fun to watch"

So this anime is definitely a more unique one in the last few years in my opinion, it is one of those where the audience honestly is really unclear to me. With that said, that's what makes this anime fun to watch. Legit, the synopsis really is the anime, so you can expect the musical, zombie, slice of life elements described. Watching this idk if it was made for kids, or thirteen year old girls, or adults, but I think you can get a kick out of it at whatever age and identity you are--if you ... don't think about it too hard. I'd recommend to watch if you want to try something new and watch just for its own sake!