Zombieland Saga Revenge

(this is a review of both Zombieland saga and revenge as I watched both very close to each other)

I came to Zombieland Saga because I heard it had some trans rep in Lily (number 6) and as a trans woman I want more of that in my shows and media that I am consuming. What I got was meh trans rep and a new show to add to the list of my favorite anime. This is first and foremost an idol show, think K-on, every single plot point and character arc is related to the fact they are idols. because you know thats what the ... show is about I am going to shift this review to be about Lily and the trans rep in her because that is a very specific part of the show I came to it for and that I am sure other people like me will as well.
Lily is a kind of representation where by her words and by the story she is trans but it doesn't really effect her character in any meaningful way. because her character is so young we never see her deal with her dysphoria in a major way (the one time it is addressed its sort of treated as a joke, but not really I cant really tell the tone of the scene). And outside of her one episode in season one the fact she is trans is never brought up again. Don't take this wrong Lily is awesome, her episode in revenge is one of my favorite episodes in the show. It really lets her shine, unfortunately she gets noticeably less lines then a lot of the other cast, she is a character I desperately want more from but they way they have written her so far is disappointing in that I font think there is much else to get from her transness. I hope the movie and any possible future seasons proves me wrong with this (I have not read any manga or other material that this might be based on so i font know if this is the end or not, from the show it doesn't feel like it wants to end yet but who knows.)

Zombieland Saga Revenge is a disappointment to say the least. After a very solid first season, this season doesn't do anything special, and fails to answer the questions presented in the first.

The overall pacing is rather bad, it either lingers on nothing, or speeds through events. Out of nowhere, two episodes are interspersed between a slight cliff hanger— the kicker being these two episodes don't actually explain the specific things you'd want to know from the first season— it focuses on the historical background about couple of characters, one who barely has a personality during these episodes. There's no character development of any kind ... throughout this season, nor any conflicts from their past lives— which was a big reason why the first season was so enjoyable.

Animation has taken an utter nosedive— the first show by no means had amazing animation, but when you don't have story or characterization to draw away attention, it just looks that much worse. Music isn't very good this season either. Everything is very same-y, with the first song in the first episode being by far the best (and it's not even from Franchouchou).

All in all, it just makes me confused that people are rating this as highly as the first season. Did we watch the same thing?

Very poorly executed and lost sight of itself.

Season 2 of ZLS attempts to make more plot without committing and more spotlight on new supporting characters.

After a very strong start ZLS 2's episodes lose structure and meander constantly while taking out the main characters almost completely. A great example is the biker gang episode with Yamada where she kind of just shows up around the supporting characters and doesn't do anything. Compared to the yakitori episode from season 1 the execution is devoid of stakes, compelling characterization, humor, setup+payoff and the horror references they liked to play around with. The only reason the episode even feels ... like it was worth it was a throwaway scene showing a grave with possibly Yamada's ancestor that goes on to mean nothing. This goes double for the Yuugiri flashback two parter where they spend two episodes shoving a plot you don't care about down your throat but making her completely passive. As the most underutilized character in the show, for 40 minutes of anime to do nothing for the character both moving forward and in hindsight is unacceptable.

Artwise ZLS 2 is also a big downgrade from its predecessor. The opening is Mappa saving budget with minimalist premiere pro graphics and again we pretty much never get extensive horror segments like the bathhouse section of season 1. The animation gets choppy and the CG doesn't innovate much either. As for music we also downgrade to poppy crap. The season 1 rap wasn't even attempted to be topped as ZLSR settled into a comfortable bubble.

This is a great show if you have no experience with good idol shows like Idolmaster and Idolmaster Cinderella Girls or Super Sonico and can tolerate the CG but if you have the time just rewatch season 1.