Zombieland Saga (Zombie Land Saga)

Sakura Minamoto dreams of becoming an idol. Unfortunately, reality hits her like a truck, and she dies in a sudden traffic accident. Ten years later, she wakes up in Saga Prefecture, only to find herself a zombie with no memory of her past. While still coming to terms with her demise, she meets a man named Koutarou Tatsumi, who explains that he has resurrected her and six other zombie girls from different eras for the purpose of economically revitalizing Saga by means of an idol group. Assuming the role of an abrasive manager, Koutarou begins scheduling events; the girls go along with it, eventually deciding to name their idol group Franchouchou.

An absurdly comedic take on the idol genre, Zombieland Saga tells the story of Franchouchou's heartwarming struggle to save Saga Prefecture while hiding their zombie identities and rediscovering their past lives.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Zombieland Saga is an original anime production announced by Cygames in collaboration with Avex Pictures and dugout, who are respectively producing the music and sound. The animation is done by studio MAPPA. Crunchyroll is simulcasting the episodes, while Funimation is simuldubbing them. Both the opening and ending theme songs ("Adabana Necromancy" and "Hikari e" respectively) are performed by Franchouchou.

On October 8, 2018, a manga adaptation was launched on Cygames' Cycomi website, which is being drawn by Megumu Soramichi (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry).

Zombieland Saga won the Animation of the Year award in the Television category at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival in 2019.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Zombieland Saga
Sequel:	Zombieland Saga Revenge
Other:	Curry Meshi x Zombieland Saga, Saga Incident

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Tatsumi, Koutarou

Main

Miyano, Mamoru
Japanese

Nikaidou, Saki

Main

Tano, Asami
Japanese

Mizuno, Ai

Main

Taneda, Risa
Japanese

Yamada, Tae

Main

Mitsuishi, Kotono
Japanese

Konno, Junko

Main

Kawase, Maki
Japanese

Minamoto, Sakura

Main

Hondo, Kaede
Japanese

Hoshikawa, Lily

Main

Tanaka, Minami
Japanese

Yuugiri

Main

Kinugawa, Rika
Japanese

Romero

Supporting

Takato, Yasuhiro
Japanese

Policeman A

Supporting

Yoshino, Hiroyuki
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Iizuka, Aya

Producer

Ootsuka, Manabu

Producer

Murakami, Takashi

Producer

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Opening Theme

"Adabana Necromancy (徒花ネクロマンシー)" by Fran Chou Chou (フランシュシュ) [Sakura Minamoto (Kaede Hondo), Saki Nikaidou (Asami Tano), Ai Mizuno (Risa Taneda), Junko Konno (Maki Kawase), Yuugiri (Rika Kinugawa), Lily Hoshikawa (Minami Ta

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Ending Theme

"Hikari e (光へ)" by Fran Chou Chou (フランシュシュ) [Sakura Minamoto (Kaede Hondo), Saki Nikaidou (Asami Tano), Ai Mizuno (Risa Taneda), Junko Konno (Maki Kawase), Yuugiri (Rika Kinugawa), Lily Hoshikawa (Minami Tanaka)]

Reviews

Dec 20, 2018

Stark700

Recommended

Doesn't it feel like in today’s world, there’s way too many horror media that does same things over and over again? I’m not solely talking about anime alone but the horror genre has gotten to a point where it feels like we’ve seen just about anything. One of the most iconic type of horror is the dead coming back to life. In this case, I’m referring to zombies. Franchises like Resident Evil and The Walking Dead are among just a few well-known ones that comes to mind. But what if I told you that Zombieland Saga manages to revitalize a bit of the horror genre ... instead of falling to common cliches?

To be honest, Zombieland Saga isn’t really a horror show at all although the first episode’s opening suggests so with a cliché setting and a young girl facing a crisis between life and death. It manages to trick viewers through its opening and does a 180 degree turn after revealing the series’ real concept – a horror comedy that satirze Japanese idols with an absurd character cast. As a collaboration project by Cygames and Avex pictures (with studio MAPPA), they managed to keep this show a secret from the start.

Now that we got that out of the way, it’s time to realize what Zombieland Saga really offers. I watched plenty of zombie shows in the past and most of it attempts to do the same things over and over again – evoke a sense of fear. Zombieland Saga does the opposite and creates a sensation of genuine entertainment with its comedy elements. In fact, I’d say the show is self-aware enough to satirize the idol industry. In the first few episodes, protagonist Sakura Minamoto ends up dead after being hit a trick. But rather than awakening in some fantasy world, she is reborn as a zombie. It doesn’t take long for her to join a group with other zombie girls together. This group collectively is formed by a man named Kotaro Tatsumi with the purpose to save the Saga Prefecture. Say hello to Franchoucou.

Ideally, a show like this sounds like it took a big risk as it sounds like a dumb joke of itself. Watching Zombieland Saga does feel like the show plays with itself a bit too much but it didn’t take long for me to accept and grow attached to the main characters. That’s because each of them have a life of their own with colorful personalities. As an inspiring idol, Sakura’s dream became a reality when she steps onto the stage. Sakura’s friendly personality enables her to easily get along with everyone. That’s the opposite of delinquent yankee, Saki Nikaido. Unlike Sakura, she is difficult to get along with because of her tough personality. Deep down though, Saki isn’t a malevolent character and in fact manages to develop some deeper bonds with her idol comrades. We also meet Ai Mizuno, a girl who desire to make the best of her current life. Junko Konno, Lily Hoshikawa, and Tae Yamada make up the rest of the group after being reborn. Despite dying under different circumstances, they all serve the same purpose and that’s to make their group into a sensation.

You’re probably asking yourself if Franchoucou really is a sensation in their world. They didn’t start out with popularity and instead had to work their way up. Through hard work and motivation, the group does gain popularity as Sakura leads them to stardom. My interest for the show grew more and more as I wanted to see this group succeed. It also helped that the show constantly got me feel attached to the characters through effective storytelling. We learn of their past, their motivations, and what they hope to accomplish in the present. There are also some episodes that throws in some surprising plot twists and bittersweet ending moments. I’m not going to spoil it but it manages to become even emotional at times so prepare for some tissues.

As a horror/idol comedy, the show contains countless amount of humorous gags. Most of the humor revolves around the concept of zombies. Characters retain personalities from their past lives but sometimes finds themselves surprised by unnatural events. This often includes body parts coming off unintentionally that’s played with absurdity. The guiltiest member of the group that people will point fingers at would be Tae Yamada, the legendary title-less girl. Unlike the rest, she has yet to regain her personality and behaves like a zombie. She has an unhealthy appetite that seems to have a personality of a kid stuck in an adult’s body. The show constantly pokes fun at her character by showing what zombies can do. It’s the type of satirical humor that is aware of its intentions and seeks to make the audience laugh. And to be honest, it works.

So now what? Is this just a show of humor nonsense or is there something bigger that meets the eye? It honestly depends on how you approach this show. The more I watched Zombieland Saga, the more I felt compelled to see how different this anime is compared to other genres of similar nature. In fact, I’d say that Zombieland Saga offers an experience that is refreshing by mixing in comedy with musical themes. It’s not often you get to see these two mixed together in today’s world. The project creators managed to effectively create a fakeout of the show from the first episode while ultimately making this into a parody. Don’t get me wrong though. You’ll still occasionally see some “horror” content pop up but it satirizes to make it absurd as possible.

It should also be said that the voicing cast of this show deserves recognition for their talent. In particular, voice actress veteran Kotono Mitsuishi plays her role as Tae Yamada flawlessly. She’s able to step into the shoes of her character with the mindset of a zombie. Others such as Asami Tano is able to take on their character role as a yankee and her accent proves it. As a show about idols, you should also expect tons of catchy songs. While most of them relates to J-pop, there are occasional times when the show throws in a surprise or two such as a battle rap in one particular episode. The bottom line is, this is so much more than just a horror-idol comedy as it also manages to embrace its music culture.

Studio MAPPA did it again. They managed to create a show that not only surprised me but also give the zombie concept a breath of fresh air. Zombieland Saga manages to reinvent itself by stepping out of the comfort zone. It satirizes the idol industry by combining its self-aware humor and absurd character cast. Yet, it manages to deliver effective storytelling that is important for the overall direction of the show. As I learned more and more about the characters, it felt hard to let them to go when everything concluded. By accomplishing such a feat, this anime is definitely a sensation to take attention to. The secret is out now and it’s easy to say that I need more anime like Zombieland Saga in my life.

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Dec 20, 2018

TakaCode

Mixed Feelings

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 ...

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Dec 31, 2018

Dante012

Not Recommended

Zombieland Saga was a huge disappointment to me. What started off as a brillant slap in japanimation clichés quickly became a huge cliché itself: an average idol anime.

STORY
A guy who somehow can revive people decides to use dead girls to make an idol group and make his town popular. Now that's an awesome plot! They try to mix up zombie stuff with idol stuff. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, here is what could go wrong:
- the series could try to take itself too seriously.
- Or it could simply give up on that inappropriate mix to become a classic idol series as there are plenty others.
- ...

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Poll: Zombieland Saga Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Dec 20, 2018	293 replies	by Niveen_Sleem »» Apr 5, 4:29 PM
Poll: Zombieland Saga Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Dec 13, 2018	138 replies	by Niveen_Sleem »» Apr 5, 3:56 PM
Poll: Zombieland Saga Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Dec 6, 2018	117 replies	by Niveen_Sleem »» Apr 5, 3:27 PM
Poll: Zombieland Saga Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Nov 22, 2018	378 replies	by Niveen_Sleem »» Apr 5, 12:18 PM
Poll: Zombieland Saga Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Nov 15, 2018	171 replies	by Niveen_Sleem »» Apr 5, 11:19 AM

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