History Anime / ZombieLandSaga

** Saki stopping her bicycle shortly before crashing onto Korosuke bikes in Episode 8 replicate the iconic bike-stopping scene from ''{{Manga/Akira}}''.

A second season, ''Zombie Land Saga Revenge'' (''Zombie Land Saga R'', for short), was announced back in 2019, and premiered on April 8, 2021. Set just a few months after the first season, it follows the zombies' efforts at getting back on their feet from one EpicFail of a bomb that left them with a multi-million yen debt, [[HappyEndingOverride right on the heels of a smash performance]]. While digging deeper into the girls' relationship between each other, their manager, and their adoring fans, this season also unearths the [[OriginsEpisode origins]] of the zombie idol project itself--and the [[CerebusRetcon much graver consequences of failure]].

** In Episode 6, a search engine showing news on Ai's death shows a website called Ukipppdia, likely referencing {{Wiki/Wikipedia}}. The search engine itself uses Website/{{Google}}'s typeface.

** [[spoiler:Sakura tries to comfort Saki who's having a moment of CryCute after experiencing heartbreak towards her PrecociousCrush. [[MoodWhiplash Sakura then starts hilariously sobbing herself]].]]

The next thing she knows, Sakura awakens in an abandoned mansion in [[UsefulNotes/TheFortySevenPrefectures Saga Prefecture]] with no memory of who she is or how she got there. She quickly discovers six zombie girls from different eras of Japan's history lurking in the mansion, all gathered together by a shifty, shades-wearing stranger named Kotaro Tatsumi, who informs Sakura that [[TomatoInTheMirror she has been dead for ten years, and is now a zombie herself]]. But for what purpose has Kotaro brought these rotting, long-dead beauties back from the grave?

Its second season, titled ''Zombie Land Saga Revenge'' (or ''Zombie Land Saga R'', for short), was announced back in 2019, and premiered on April 8, 2021. Set just a few months after the first season, it follows the idols' efforts at getting back on their feet from one EpicFail of a bomb [[HappyEndingOverride right on the heels of a smash performance]] that left them with a multi-million yen debt.

The next thing she knows, Sakura awakens in an abandoned mansion in [[UsefulNotes/TheFortySevenPrefectures Saga Prefecture]] with no memory of who she is or how she got there. She quickly discovers six zombie girls from different eras of Japan's history lurking in the mansion, all gathered together by a shifty, shades-wearing stranger named Kotaro Tatsumi, who informs Sakura that [[TomatoInTheMirror she has been dead for ten years, and is now a zombie herself]]. But for what purpose has Kotaro brought these rotting, flesh-craving beauties back from the grave?

*** Taken UpToEleven in the first episode of its second season, where it starts and ends with the exact same shot of the bird flying through the sky.

* MurphysLaw: Most of Franchouchou's ventures never go according to plan, often having anything that can go wrong actually going wrong. [[spoiler:Eventually [[BornUnlucky Sakura]] tries to back out of the group after regaining her memories and believing herself to be the source of the group's misfortune, but the group convinces her to stay by reminding her that they are ''a whole group of unfortunates'' for having all died young. This resulted in their following concert in episode 12 taking the cake, with a heavy snowstorm breaking into the concert hall and the entire stage crashing down onto them, but despite this [[{{Determinator}} they persevered and managed to pull off a stellar performance]].]]
** Inverted [[spoiler:for the most part]] by Tae in ''Revenge'', where despite being the most obviously zombielike of the bunch she somehow manages to get the team’s groceries, meet up with a number of Season 1 side characters without issues, and even [[spoiler:win 20 million yen from a boat race betting ticket she sneezed random ink onto, erasing Franchouchou’s debts entirely. She even manages to avoid tipping off the reporter trailing her despite doing things like eating from her family’s ancestral grave...until her head comes off at the very end, but even that was mainly due to Sakura accidentally tripping than anything Tae did.]]
** In Episode 10 of ''Revenge'', [[spoiler:Saga's curse leads to a massive natural disaster before Franchouchou's revenge concert]]. Then in TheStinger of Episode 12, [[spoiler:despite the revenge concert going great, a UFO appears out of nowhere and blasts a remote location in Saga]].

* SuddenVideoGameMoment: In Episode 3 of ''Revenge'', Kotaro debriefs Franchouchou about Iron Frill's arrival while carrying a a water-gun rifle and acting like a soldier. Then it cuts to a POVCam where he starts shooting at the girls in a manner reminiscent of a FirstPersonShooter, complete with cross-hair on the screen and right-handed weapon view.

* SlowClap: Episode 12, started by Kotaro, sustained by the fans.

%%* AdultFear:
%%** Sakura dies mere moments after she runs out the door for school, and her last words are her calling out to whoever's in her house like any perfectly ordinary day.
%%** Lily's backstory death reveals this: [[spoiler:She had a bad argument with her father to the point of shutting herself in her room. She then discovered she was growing a piece of facial hair, and the shock led to her dying of a heart attack. By the time her father managed to barge into her room, she was already dead. Years later, he's still devastated by her death and he's even sworn off watching TV.]]
%%** Reiko, the former leader of Saki's biker gang Dorami, [[FormerTeenRebel is now a regular housewife]] who's dealing with her rebellious daughter Maria wanting to keep Dorami going. This is already worrying enough for her, but it gets even worse when Maria is challenged to a game of chicken by a rival gang on the slopes of Kagamiyama... where Saki fell off a ledge to her death 21 years ago.
%%** Most of the girls died in their teens and within living memory. Leaving out Saki, who doesn't seem to have blood relatives, Yugiri, who died over a century ago, and Tae, who is already a young adult, there's a good chance that Sakura, Ai and Junko have relatives who are no less grieving for them as much as Takeo, Lily's father, and Reiko, Saki's friend in life. [[spoiler:Considering his apparent history with Sakura, it's likely that ''Kotaro'', too, has mourned for her.]]

* AdultFear:
** Sakura dies mere moments after she runs out the door for school, and her last words are her calling out to whoever's in her house like any perfectly ordinary day.
** Lily's backstory death reveals this: [[spoiler:She had a bad argument with her father to the point of shutting herself in her room. She then discovered she was growing a piece of facial hair, and the shock led to her dying of a heart attack. By the time her father managed to barge into her room, she was already dead. Years later, he's still devastated by her death and he's even sworn off watching TV.]]
** Reiko, the former leader of Saki's biker gang Dorami, [[FormerTeenRebel is now a regular housewife]] who's dealing with her rebellious daughter Maria wanting to keep Dorami going. This is already worrying enough for her, but it gets even worse when Maria is challenged to a game of chicken by a rival gang on the slopes of Kagamiyama... where Saki fell off a ledge to her death 21 years ago.
** Most of the girls died in their teens and within living memory. Leaving out Saki, who doesn't seem to have blood relatives, Yugiri, who died over a century ago, and Tae, who is already a young adult, there's a good chance that Sakura, Ai and Junko have relatives who are no less grieving for them as much as Takeo, Lily's father, and Reiko, Saki's friend in life. [[spoiler:Considering his apparent history with Sakura, it's likely that ''Kotaro'', too, has mourned for her.]]

* AttractiveZombie: Despite being zombies, the girls of Franchouchou are just as cute when they're not in their prosthetic makeup as they are in it.

* BattleRapping: In Episode 2, Sakura and Saki's on-stage argument segues into a rap battle, with Kotaro and the other girls providing backing music and beatboxing to [[AllPartOfTheShow disguise it as part of the performance]].

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Zig-zagged; Light Oozura from "Little Bodda Bope Saga" is introduced as a friendly CheerfulChild, but he's quickly shown in private to be a bossy and ambitious prima donna. However, he's also a GracefulLoser, as while he wins the regionals for ''Japanese Got Performance'' he acknowledges that Lily's improvised performance made it a close race.
* BittersweetEnding: Episode 8 ends with [[spoiler:Lily being unable to fully reveal herself to, let alone reunite with, her father Takeo, who likewise remains unaware that "Number 6" is his long-dead, now-zombified daughter, lest Franchouchou blow their cover. Nevertheless, they part ways at peace with themselves: Lily contents herself with the knowledge that Takeo dearly loved her and deeply regretted overworking her to death, and that she still loves him back in spite of their unfortunate history; as for Takeo, Lily and her friends (including Kotaro) compose a special number obliquely directed at him at a street gig, expressing Lily's love and forgiveness, allowing him to finally move on with his life after wallowing in self-loathing for the last seven years. Sakura subsequently notes in Episode 10 that Takeo has started coming to Franchouchou's shows, which has given Lily a lot more energy, and he's in the audience at their concert in Episode 12.]]

* BrutalHonesty: In Episode 3, when Junko explains that she prefers solo performances over groups, Kotaro immediately calls her a "loner".

* CelebrityCrush: In "Saga of an Almost-Broken Radio", the girls suspect that Saki might have a bit of a crush on White Ryu, a former rock star and host of the radio show ''So Saga Can Be Saga''. This is seemingly confirmed when Saki confesses she loves White Ryu as he's leaving near the end of the episode.

* ColorCodedCharacters: Just like real idol groups, the girls are marketed with assigned colours (which makes it easy to cheer for your favourite at live events with the voice actresses if you've got an idol penlight): yellow for Lily, red for Yugiri, white/grey/lavender for Junko, blue for Ai, orange for Saki, pink for Sakura, and black/purple for Tae. [[spoiler:Maimai uses green (like her eyes) during her guest appearance.]]

* CrazyEnoughToWork: The show revels in this trope on every level. It was advertised as a straight horror, but quickly transitions into a bombastic HorrorComedy. Kotaro's big plan to save Saga with an idol group isn't too unreasonable, but having the performers be the undead really puts a mad spin on it, and all the girls are convinced from the start that it's doomed to fail. However, thanks to Kotaro and the girls' quick improvisations, they always manage to wow the audience one way or another.

* TheDeadCanDance: The girls can dance just fine as sentient idols, but when they hear death metal as mindless zombies, they instinctively begin to headbang like crazy. Tae as a shambling zombie tries to imitate Sakura's idol dance, but the best she can manage is to wave her arms above her head. Tae's dance moves do improve later, but she's mostly imitating others and gets distracted from time to time.

* EarlyBirdCameo: Maimai can be seen in multiple audience shots prior to her appearance in Episode 7 of ''Revenge''. Also lampshaded, as flashbacks to those shots are shown when she’s introduced to Franchouchou.
* EatTheCamera: In episode 5, the camera zooms in on Saki's mouth as she scolds the other girls for having never eaten at Drive-In Tori.

* FriendlyZombie: While the girls behave like your typical mindless zombies at first, after regaining their intelligence they act no different than ordinary teenagers.

* GhostAmnesia: Sakura doesn't remember much of her original life, which starts coming back to her in fragments after she performs for the first time. This becomes her primary motivator for continuing to perform.

* GrossUpCloseUp: Whenever people are scared of the zombies, they're portrayed with much more detail than usual. Episodes 1 and 4 are particularly notable examples.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: [[spoiler: Jofuku/Xu Fu, a Chinese alchemist who went to Japan in search of an elixir of immortality and never returned. Here, he's immortal, bound to Saga, and capable of raising the dead.]]

* IdenticalGrandson: In Part 1 of "The Saga Incident", which takes place in Meiji-era Saga, several women look almost ''exactly'' like the other members of Franchouchou (including a vendor who looks like Sakura, and a noblewoman who looks like Tae).
* IdenticalStranger: An InvokedTrope on the part of Kotaro. Due to being zombies, the girls are all documented as long having died, so he has them only be referred to as [[YouAreNumberSix numbers]] so no one tries to look them up and finds out they died. The {{subver|tedTrope}}sion comes in however with the fact that, of the girls, three of them were former celebrities, and one was a Saga native. Both Lily and Saki are recognized by people they knew when alive, their father and best friend respectively, and noted to act identical, the only thing stopping them from confirming they're one and the same being the idea they've been dead. [[spoiler:IntrepidReporter Okoba meanwhile first notices when he spots Junko, then slowly pieces together that something is up, culminating in the first season’s [[TheStinger stinger]] having him making connections between Franchouchou and the (thought to be) deceased Ai, Junko, and Lily. As of Episode 7 of ''Revenge'', he’s managed to piece together Tae, Saki, and Sakura’s past identities.]]

* IdolSinger: The seven main girls have all been revived by Kotaro to form a regional idol group, though only Ai and Junko have any experience as idols from when they were alive. The show as a whole tends to [[{{Satire}} satirize]] idol anime and the idol industry in general.

* LivingRelic: "Living" being in lieu of a better term as they are undead, a handful of Franchouchou's members hail from different eras of Japan's history: Saki comes from the mid-to-late 90s when Toys/{{Tamagotchi}} was all the rage, Junko represents the late Showa period (the 1980s) where idol groups had yet to hit their stride, and Yugiri represents the era between the end of the shogunate and the UsefulNotes/MeijiRestoration (the mid-19th century). Meanwhile, Sakura, Ai, and Lily hail from the late 2000s and early 2010s. [[spoiler:Tae is from 1989, and her story will be revealed in the ''Gaiden'' manga.]]

* LookBothWays: Sakura's demise right in the beginning of the show. She wakes up one sunny morning, listens to her favorite song, gets her idol application paperwork together, steps out the front door, and [[SurprisinglySuddenDeath promptly meets the business end of a speeding truck]].

* LosingYourHead: The girls can survive having their heads detached, being zombies and all. [[spoiler:During ''Revenge'', this happening to Tae is what clues off the IntrepidReporter that his colleague’s joking theory about Franchouchou being undead might actually be the case.]]

* {{Masquerade}}: Kotaro tries to keep the girls' true nature as zombies a secret from the public using top-of-the-line makeup to pass them off as living people. Their detachable body parts, and the fact the makeup washes off easily, make this a little difficult, though. As of ''Revenge'', [[spoiler:[[BrokenMasquerade at least two people outside Franchouchou know about their secret]]—a super fan who took it in stride (and even joined Franchouchou for an episode), and an IntrepidReporter who is currently looking into Franchouchou’s past identities.]]

* NinjaZombiePirateRobot: Cross-time Zombie {{Idol Singer}}s.
* NotGrowingUpSucks: Downplayed in episode 2 of ''Revenge'', when Saki starts crying as it sinks in that there are things she'll miss out on because she can no longer physically age.

* PassingTheTorch: In Episode 2 of ''Revenge'', when Saki learns that retired rock star White Ryu is planning to quit his radio show, she tries to convince him not to leave. Instead, Ryu announces that he thinks he's found the perfect replacement hosts in Saki and the other girls of Franchouchou.
* PeripheryDemographic: When they were starting out, Franchouchou's fanbase really couldn't be called traditional fans of pop idol groups, usually people or groups of people they interacted with up until the current episode at the time. And while they did pick up normal fans as their popularity grew, their biggest ones are still the oddballs. %%InUniverse.
-->'''Metalhead A''': "They've got a bunch of new weirdos in the crowd."\\
'''Metalhead B''': "That's what Fanchouchou is all about."

** A minor one, but in S1's Episode 12 before the concert, we see a flashback of Kotaro in high school as a girl picks up an idol CD from him; she thanks him with a bright smile, which clearly affects him. This girl was [[spoiler:Sakura Minamoto]], re-contextualizing the purpose behind the Zombie Land Saga plan, as it does [[spoiler:the way he regards Sakura, bluster or otherwise]].

* AWizardDidIt: It hasn't been made clear how Kotaro was able to resurrect Sakura and the other girls as zombies. He simply tells Sakura that they came back the same way zombies come to life in the movies, and that [[HandWave this is the only explanation you need]].
** In ''Revenge'', [[spoiler:after he panics and thinks that another girl died in front of him, he claims that he has the “zombie machine” ready to go for her. Since she never actually died (and in fact wakes up in front of everyone no worse for the wear after hitting her head), nothing else is mentioned about it.]]

* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: While most of the girls wouldn't have to worry about it, Lily is stuck as an 12-year-old and thus falls within the compulsory school age, meaning that Kotaro should've at least had visitors from either Truancy Officers or Social Services about why she wasn't in school despite her idol career. Why this hasn't happened yet is never explained.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Drive-in Tori, the fried chicken restaurant the girls help promote in Episode 5, is a [[http://www.drivein-tori.jp real-life restaurant]], and the jingle they perform is [[http://youtu.be/jCjUWps-Sxo the actual song]]. The same goes for the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashima_Gatalympics Kashima Gatalympics]] in the same episode.

** Hisanaka Pharmaceutical, which Kotaro attracted as a potential sponsor for Franchouchou in Episode 4, is based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hisamitsu_Pharmaceutical Hisamitsu]], a real-life Saga-based pharmaceutical company. In particular, their "Saganship Z" dermal patches are based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salonpas Salonpas]], their most famous brand.

** Another from Episode 6: Franchouchou's official website, described by Ai as "so lame you'll want to die. Even if we're zombies already", is so old-fashioned looking it looks almost like it came straight out of the 1990s. Appropriately enough, the website is hosted on "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!_GeoCities Geocitys]]".

* CrypticBackgroundReference: In Episode 11, Kotaro is at a bar, having a conversation with the bartender, [[spoiler:who is fully aware of Kotaro's Zombie Land Saga Project, briefly confuses Saga with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizen_Province Hizen Province]], and has a history with Yugiri, apparently as far back as her living days. Kotaro ribs him about always talking about the good old days, to which he says, "That's rich, coming from you." A potential clue is provided by the bar's name, New Jofuku, "Jofuku" being the Japanese name of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu_Fu Xu Fu]], a legendary court sorcerer of UsefulNotes/QinShiHuangdi, the first emperor of a unified China, who never returned from his quest for an elixir of immortality. The bartender is confirmed to be Jofuku in the credits of ''Revenge'' Episode 8, and confirmed to be immortal and tied to Saga in ''Revenge'' Episode 10.]]

** The anime has pointed things to say about the idol industry's concern with having its stars [[ContractualPurity maintain a public image of "purity"]], firstly by having its idols be corpses, which are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegare about as impure as you can get]], then by forcing them to hide the truth about themselves lest they risk alienation. However, it also allows the anime to make a stand for inclusion with Yugiri and Lily, neither of whom would normally be accepted as idols by the industry--the former having been a HighClassCallGirl, the latter [[spoiler:a transgender girl]]--but who are valued bandmates to the other members of Franchouchou, and whom Kotaro recruited anyways despite their background.[[invoked]]

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Kotaro threatening to shave Sakura's head if she exposes the group a second time is a reference to a well-publicized incident in 2013, when Music/AKB48's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minami_Minegishi Minami Minegishi]] had to practically shave her head in penance for supposedly breaking the love ban.[[note]]She ''supposedly'' cut it herself in shock at being in the tabloids, but it's widely suspected to have been pressure from her agency, who also demoted her all the way down to trainee for seven months.[[/note]] It caused a great deal of controversy and exposed much of the dark side of idol culture, which the show tends to play with.

* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: While most of the girls wouldn't have to worry about it, Lily is stuck as an 11-year-old and thus falls within the compulsory school age meaning that Kotaro should've at least had visitors from either Truancy Officers or Social Services about why she wasn't in school despite her idol career. Why this hasn't happened - yet - is never explained.

* WorldOfTechnicolorHair: As an AffectionateParody of idol anime, there's a lot of variety in out-there hair colors. The main characters for example have Sakura (pinkish-red hair), Ai (dark-blue hair), Junko (white hair), Lily (cyan hair), and Tae (black-purple hair). A lot of side characters follow similar design cues.

** In Episode 7 shows that while as zombies that girls don't physically need sleep, it's still important for their mental health as Ai starts to hullicnate after going a month without it.
** In Episode 8, the girls acknowledge that people will recognize the similarities they have to who they were prior to becoming zombies after meeting with [[spoiler:Lily's father, who says that Number 6 bears a resemblance to his daughter. By first season's end, the reporters who were covering the group likewise notice the similarities between Ai, Junko, and Lily's past and present selves.]] This continues in the second season in which people do comment on the fact Ai resembles herself.

* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: The very begining of the anime - Sakura wakes up one sunny morning, listens to her favorite song, gets her idol application paperwork together, steps out the front door, and [[LookBothWays promptly meets the business end of a speeding truck]]. And it's [[BlackComedy depicted in grotesque detail]] just for the laughs.

A web manga adaptation that focuses on Kotaro's side of the story up until Season Two began its run in October 2018 and ended in May 2021. A manga anthology was released in April 2021. A spinoff manga titled ''[[Manga/ZombieLandSagaGaidenTheFirstZombie Zombie Land Saga Gaiden: The First Zombie]]'' began in May 2021, focusing on the backstory of Tae Yamada/Number Zero.

* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: While most of the girls wouldn't have to worry about it, Lily is stuck as an 11-year-old and thus falls within the compulsory school age meaning that Kotaro should've at least had visitors from either Truancy Officers or Social Services about why she wasn't in school despite her idol career. Why this hasn't happened - yet - is never explained.