A Love Letter to Zombie Land Saga

Fair warning - this will not be a rant, but me gushing about a show I never thought I needed until recently. So, expect a ton of spoilers. I do recommend watching the show before reading this, although some may need convincing first. If that's the case, read this first and then watch the show.

We good? Good.

Dear MAPPA,

Zombie Land Saga is the best industry-based idol anime since The iDOLM@STER original TV series.

Zombie Land Saga may be the best interpretation of idols since Love Live! and it's sequel Love Love! Sunshine!!

Zombie Land Saga makes me want to binge-watch the entire thing again, and then a third time through with the simulcast dub. This anime makes me want to read fan created stories about the show; write my own stories expanding on the show's characters, interactions, and universe; take the time to analyze each of the main characters through their personalities, nuances, quirks, motivations, history, and character design because I utterly love - LOVE - this show and its characters.

I haven't been this emotionally invested in an anime since January 2018's A Place Further Than The Universe (or Yorimoi, the abbreviated Japanese title). Just like Yorimoi, Zombie Land Saga feels like a brilliantly directed cartoon, live-action, or a Netflix series that just happens to be an anime.

Usually, I am immensely critical of anime as a medium. I have frequent discussions with my brother about anime, as well as with other forms of entertainment media. It's why I started this blog in the first place; to get my poorly-constructed thoughts out there. So, for the couple of days that I sat down with my brother to binge through the entire show, I was utterly engrossed.

The writing terrifically weds witty dialogue with pop-culture references. The pacing allows enough breathing room between comedic and emotional beats as to not intrude on character progression. The direction ensures that every character is given the appropriate amount of screen-time relative to the episode's plot.

I cried twice throughout this show. Anime rarely makes me cry, it almost never happens. I can count on one hand every animated show that made me tear up, and do you know why this was one of them? The characters. As I mentioned in the beginning, I love the characters; I love them because they're all larger-than-life yet, still nuanced and grounded enough to not seem like gimmicky caricatures.

I love that that the choice to make them zombies end up being a surprising change of pace. They all come from different time periods, thus resulting in intergenerational friendships and conflicts. It's a setup I have not seen happening anywhere else in the industry (at least not without some hackneyed time travel plot). No, our zombie protagonists are forced to collaborate and cohabit in our current time. It is only through understanding and accepting their differences are they able to form the idol group Franchouchou.

It's difficult to express so briefly what I adore about Franchouchou.

I would love to talk about how Sakura Minamoto's optimism always pulls the team through (awful luck aside).

I could go on about what a cool and responsible leader Saki Nikaidou is, despite her lack of idol knowledge. She misses her Tamagotchi, though.*

I'd want to write a whole piece about Ai Mizuno and Junko Konno, and how their pride can both fuel and interfere with Franchouchou's success.

Or how The Legendary Tae Yamada probably has the greatest development I've seen from a non-verbal character yet.

And for Arceus' sake, you crazies over at MAPPA managed to write the sweetest friendship between Yuugiri, a courtesan from the Meiji era, and Lily Hoshikawa, a child actress born 136 years later! And Lily is what, a twelve-year-old transgirl?

(By the way, did I already mention Lily is trans? God bless you, MAPPA.)

My point is, these young women are absolutely wonderful, I really can't stress that enough. Over 12 episodes, I grew so attached to them that I wanted to see them succeed. I wanted them to be loved, to be happy, and to lead fulfilling lives. They have so much to offer the world, and I would've liked the chance to see these characters grow into incredible adults.

Then I remember that they're all zombies. I remember how they all died.

An airplane crash took Junko's life. Ai was struck down by lighting. Lily never got to reconcile with her Pappy. Saki promised her best friend she wouldn't die and friggin' died anyway. Who knows what happened to Yuugiri and Tae. And Sakura, oh Sakura... Having lived her previous life wracked with depression and self-loathing, she worked harder than anyone to achieve something - anything! Only to be met with constant failure, misfortune, and an abrupt death by truck-chan.

It's unfair. These women should've continued living to see a bright or better future, but those chances were robbed from them.

But somehow, these wonderful women choose to remain optimistic. They choose to live on despite being undead.

They choose to wake up every morning to put on the same makeup, put on same outfits, and greet the same world they know may ostracize them one day.

Despite everything that could go wrong did so in the worst possible ways, these wonderful women still choose to remain idols.

That determination was what initially captivated me. Even now, I'm still inspired by their individual, unconventional tales about turning pain and loss into something positive. That is something I'm sure anyone can relate to on some level because, if I'm being frank, the world can fucking suck.

No, I've never been struck by lightning. I don't have gender dysphoria like Lily. But I do suffer from anxiety and self-loathing. I struggle everyday to find a job. My financial situation is unstable. My youngest sibling moved out, and my brother is in a crisis. At one point, I thought I lost my best friend forever. And I feel this constant pressure to succeed. My life is hardly the worst, but it hurts all the same, as life does for so many others out there.**

Sometimes, I feel like nothing I do ever amounts to much. Sometimes, I feel like giving up.

But the idols of Franchouchou never give up. Rather than wallow in self-pity, they keep going in spite of their circumstances and their differences. Even when faced with failure, humiliation, or both, they've always got each other's backs. Even when they are literally falling apart by the seams, they learn to pick up the pieces and try again. Every day, these zombies continue to find new reasons to keep living.

So, what's our excuse? What reason do we have to give up on anything when these undead idols simply refuse to?

What's my excuse?

Yes, it's within our nature to feel fear, depression, or frustration when life goes wrong. It's normal to be afraid of failure, of making mistakes. But it's what we choose to do with that pain that defines us.

The members of Franchouchou chose to transform their pain into songs and dances. Songs that can heal the hearts of people; to make pain easier to live with. More importantly, their songs and dances can inspire us to live better and more fulfilling lives. They inspire me as someone who's still alive.

Try we might, but we can never be Goku. No human can fly or shoot laser beams.

But we can aspire to be Lily. We can learn not to live recklessly, like Saki. We can be true to ourselves without needing to conform, like Junko.

We can try to turn our pain into something good.

So, that's what I'll do. I've already been doing a bunch of volunteering, but now I'm determined to do so not simply for my own sake. Rather than allow my worries and angst to drag me down, I want to be able to transform those negative feelings into something more inspiring. To cultivate my love for stories, morals, and witticisms into something the children, teens, and young adults I work with can look up to. Being a mentor and a big brother figure excites me now, all because of your group of wacky zombie idols! Never before in my life have I thought those words would ever exit my keyboard! You guys did this to me! You folks over at MAPPA wrote this stupidly sincere show, and now I want to mend the constant dissatisfaction I face with my life. Or at least take the next steps. I feel like I can have hope again, and that is what good art does! It makes you feel! And I felt every ounce of passion the production staff and seiyuu put into this darn project. That is why Zombie Land Saga is incredible when common sense dictates it shouldn't be.

Now, don't get me wrong. This show is far from perfect. The premise is inaccessible and nonsensical to a general audience. Koutarou is outright abusive; his sudden shift in character feels unearned. Lily being undead has unfortunate implications regarding her trans identity. Yuugiri does not have her own episode. The CGI dancing is awfully rendered.

But the characters are still good. They're good enough people that I want to be like them. I may never understand the desperation of Love Live!'s characters to save their school,*** but I can picture myself rising through the remains of a collapsed stage just as Franchouchou did. Even with the world figuratively (and sometimes literally) falling apart around me, I too wish to inspire others nonetheless; to also reward others for their dedication.

Zombie Land Saga really speaks to my current self, more than even Yorimoi did, because it is ultimately a celebration of life. Even though these characters are walking, rotting corpses, this show takes time to celebrate their lives that have been, are, and will continue to be worth living, regardless of their undead circumstances.

So MAPPA, if by any chance you stumble upon this letter... if by some miracle you are reading this, on this meager, barren blog site...

Thank you, Munehisa Sakai (Director, Sound director); Shigeru Murakoshi (Series Composition); Yasuharu Takanashi (Music); and everyone else on the production staff.

Thank you, Kaede Hondo (Sakura); Asami Tano (Saki); Kotono Mitsuishi (Tae); Minami Tanaka (Lily); Rika Kinugawa (Yuugiri); Maki Kawase (Junko); Risa Taneda (Ai); Mamoru Miyano (Koutarou); and all the other seiyuu.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much for bringing this show and its wonderful cast of characters to life. Thank you for bringing back the spark in this cold heart of mine.

Sincerely,

ナムファン

* I relate to this so much, dammit! I also lost my beloved Tamagotchi, which was a gift from back in Elementary School. WHERE THE FUCK DID IT GO?

** Yea, now y'all know why I haven't written anything since November. Happy New Year.

*** Not that I dislike the premise of Love Live!, but stories revolving entirely around high school don't lend themselves to much variety.