History Characters / ZombieLandSagaFranchouchou

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: He specifically notes that he used to work in Hollywood, and while his pronunciation needs work he's quite good with his grammar. He's also good with his spelling, although he has trouble with the word "guerrilla".

* BackstoryHorror: An eyecatch and Episode 5 show her getting squemish as she rides a hot air balloon. Then you find out she died on an airplane.

* ContraltoOfDanger: ZigZagged. While Junko has the deepest singing voice of the group, she is also the most timid. In her element though she's easily one of the group's best performers and can carry the show, almost a complete turnaround from her normal anxious self.

* TerribleArtist: Despite being in charge of things like merchandising and creating promotional material, his art skills really suck. His morning briefings always feature crappy whiteboard art to flavor his presentation, and one of the first pieces of merchandise her makes for the group are a set of gaudy t-shirts. Ai is the only one who's seen Franchouchou's web page design, and she says it "would make them all want to die again".

* HiddenBuxom: Her normally baggy clothes hide a rather impressive bust that's second in size only to Yugiri, even beating out the visibly-stacked Sakura. Her idol outfit shows it off in full though.

** The girls are all playable units in a collaboration with ''VideoGame/GirlsFrontline'', complete with their own event "Faces on Snowy Waves".

* ShortHairWithTail: She has two locks of hair that reach past her back. They give her a lot of dynamism when performing.

->'''Born:''' [[spoiler:(c.1960)]]\\
'''Died:''' [[spoiler:(c.1989)]] (age 29)\\

!!Disclaimer: Due to volume, (almost) all tropes relating to Tae in ''Gaiden'' will be unmarked.

* YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead: Invoked and played with. The girls often bring up that they can get away with doing acts which would otherwise be fatal. In particular, Ai, Saki and [[spoiler:Sakura]] all experience anew the manner of their deaths and still make it out in one piece.

* ChummyMummy: {{Invoked}}. Ai is a zombie wrapped head to toe in bandages, giving the appearance of a BandageMummy. Nonetheless, she's very popular both before and after being resurrected. She's very kind to her fans and a strong mentor to her fellow idols.

* HopelessWithTech: {{Justified}}, given that she's from a time before things like desktop computers and social media were part of everyday life. She even turns off a PC by unplugging the main power chord.

* ThrowItIn: [[{{Invoked}} Enforced]] on his end. When the girls' concerts don't go exactly as planned, he'll improvise on the spot, especially during bad weather.

** While she remains TheUnintelligible, it's apparent she's able to understand her friends and follow instructions. [[Recap/ZombieLandSagaE012 Episode 12]] is the best indication of this, as she attempts [[spoiler:to raise Sakura's spirits by reenacting their dance moves and her rooster crow from the "Drive-In Tori" commercial, and also bringing her an article showcasing their idol group's success.]]

* WhipItGood: She uses a whip to intimidate Eikichi into complying with the Busters.

'''Cause of Death:''' [[spoiler:Merged with a Sagako that was, in actuality, her younger sister- permanently changing her mindset for the afterlife]]\\

* ActionGirl: She's not afraid to attack people if she thinks they pose a threat. She'll chase after mascots like Cocco thinking they're monsters, and fought a massive wild boar to protect Sakura. She was this in life as well, being [[spoiler: a demon hunter.]]
* AmbiguousSituation: How she died is unclear, as well as why her original memories have yet to be restored. [[spoiler: While the first question was solved thanks to Gaiden, the latter is still an unknown. The FusionDance she made with the Spider God Sagako might be the reason, but it's still unclear.]]

* BlueBlood: [[spoiler:A woman who looks just like her appears in Yugiri's flashbacks, riding around in a fancy wagon and having her photo taken in a elegant dress. This hints that Tae's ancestors were nobles of some kind.]]
* BoobsOfSteel: Is one of the bustiest members of Franchouchou along with Sakura and Yugiri, she's also very strong and can be an effective offensive force in dire situations like fighting a wild boar. [[spoiler:Human Tae takes it even further, being a BadassNormal demon hunter with extensive fighting knowledge.]]

** Her [[ADayInTheLimelight focus episode]] in ''Revenge'' shows how she unwittingly gets involved in a series of events that leads her to [[spoiler:winning enough money to clear Franchouchou's debt]].

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Tae spends much of the series inadvertently tormenting [[TheChewToy poor Junko]], chasing her and biting her constantly. [[spoiler:After their disastrous concert at EFS though, the two of them comfort each other on the roof of the mansion.]]

* BewareTheSillyOnes: Tae's antics as a zombie and her WomanChild behavior is often a source of comedy. However, in [[Recap/ZombieLandSagaE012 Episode 12]], [[spoiler:when depression-blinded Sakura vehemently pushes her away too many times, Tae reaches her RageBreakingPoint and shows that even if she's ultimately a harmless zombie, she can actually be quite terrifying when she's genuinely angry.]]

* BiteOfAffection: While she starts out simply biting anything she can get her mouth on out of mindless-zombie habit, as her intelligence grows she starts biting things more rarely and intentionally. One reason for doing so is out of happiness and affection, such as her happily nibbling on Sakura's head after she [[spoiler:gets her memories in the Season 1 finale back after performing a successful big performance]].

* CameBackWrong: For some mysterious reason, Tae isn't restored to consciousness by death metal like the other zombies, and remains a feral blank slate. She gets slightly better over time, but she's still not even close to firing on all cylinders.

** Come Episode 11, she's emotionally aware enough that Sakura's current situation hits her hard, sending her into a CornerOfWoe; in the following episode [[spoiler:she's shown to remember their past moments and tries speaking to Sakura to make her remember them.]]
* CornerOfWoe: Assumes this position after [[spoiler:failing to get through to Sakura]].

* ADayInTheLimelight: Episode 6 of ''Revenge'' focuses on her running errands and getting sidetracked, all while being followed by Okoba, entering and winning a breakdancing contest, and ending with her [[spoiler:betting and winning on a speedboat race, officially clearing Franchouchou's debt in the process]].

** [[Recap/ZombieLandSagaE012 Episode 12]]: She goes out of her way [[spoiler:to help Sakura remember their successes. Sakura had previously acted as her caretaker so she didn't end up biting people, and had also taught her how to pay attention and dance, earning her UndyingLoyalty. So when Sakura sulks in the attic, Tae goes out of her way to crash into the attic and drag her all the way to the dancing studio to try and jog her memories. Once Sakura's memories return and mix in with her past memories, Tae happily noms on her head.]]
* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: She, of all people, pulls this on Sakura in the season one finale [[spoiler: after Sakura regains her memories and goes into depression, locking herself in the attic. Tae, having enough of this, ''busts through the window'' and drags her out. In the dub Tae even vaguely tells Sakura to “Get it together!”.]]

** This is best demonstrated in the last two episodes of Season 1, in which Tae is the one keeping watch over Sakura [[spoiler:after she got hit by a truck and lost her memory. Her speech is garbled as usual, but her facial expressions and the way she holds Sakura's shoulders clearly show concern. She also spends the first half of [[Recap/ZombieLandSagaE012 Episode 12]] trying to lift Sakura's spirits by doing dance moves and showing her the article about their performance at the Saga Rock Festival. Eventually she gets so fed up with Sakura's neglect that she drags her back into the dance studio and tries to reenact a training lesson that Sakura once gave her. Even though Tae can't speak properly, she obviously remembers their interactions, and the frustration in her eyes is clear.]]

** About the only hints available are that her profile lists her hobby as visiting different travel agencies, that her death's on record, and that she is probably not someone from the entertainment industry, as [[spoiler:Okoba's investigation into Franchouchou only identifies Junko, Ai and Lily by their backgrounds as performers.]]
** [[spoiler:The site of her ancestral gravestone is next to Sakura's]].
** [[https://old.reddit.com/r/ZombielandSaga/comments/aadeqz/abstract_of_interview_with_takenaka_nobuhi_head/ Word of God]] is apparently that while she ''does'' have a pre-mortem backstory, they kept it a mystery because they felt there was no reason to reveal it. [[spoiler:Which is kept up in Episode 7 of ''Revenge'', as when Okoba tries to put the pieces together regarding Franchouchou's past, [[TheUnreveal it only focuses on her picture and not the news report, if any, that accompanies it.]]]]

* RageBreakingPoint: Tae showing any kind of emotion is rare, but when she gets angry, ''RedEyesTakeWarning''. [[spoiler:She crashes into the attic after being fed up with Sakura neglecting everyone.]]

* SuperWindowJump: Actually introduced this way in the first episode when she crashes through a window out of the blue back into the manor, being the first zombie Sakura runs into. [[spoiler:She does it again in Episode 11, and while it makes her appear monstrous to Sakura (who has regained the memories of her life at the cost of her memories as a zombie), it’s clear to the audience that Tae is actually ''deeply concerned'' for her.]]

* UndyingLoyalty: [[AccidentalPun Pun aside]], Episodes 11 and [[Recap/ZombieLandSagaE012 12]] cement her dedication and loyalty to Sakura. With Sakura having been taking care of her and trying to make sure she wouldn't just randomly bite anyone, Tae is the one who gets hit the hardest [[spoiler:after Sakura's original memories return, but not her undead memories, and after being rejected too many times, Tae reinforces her loyalty by crashing into the attic just to drag her into the studio, and have her remember what Sakura taught her. After Sakura has all of her pre and post-mortem memories, she happily noms on her head]]. For a zombie who has a bit of humanity, this really speaks volumes.

** In [[Recap/ZombieLandSagaE012 Episode 12]], when, after having had enough of [[spoiler:Sakura ignoring her and the others due to depression, she drags her to their rehearsal room and lets out an angry growl that sounds vaguely like "Get it together!"[[note]]“''Shikkari shite!''”[[/note]]]]

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Her death ends up being [[spoiler:that she fuses with the spider Sagako that turned out to be her younger sister that her parents created through the use of science. While this doesn't outright change Tae physically, it damaged her body enough that it manages to kill her. For better or for worse, it also makes it so that her mentality undergoes a permenent change, as her younger sister now inhabits Tae's body throughout the afterlife]].

* DeathOfPersonality: PlayedWith [[spoiler:and also played straight]]. Tae's human consciousness has yet to be restored, meaning her original personality is currently inactive. She develops a new personality largely from scratch as a zombie, but it is very different from the person she was originally. One wonders how Tae would react to both her role in Franchouchou and her zombie antics on- and offstage, should she ever “awaken” fully (especially given she struggled with customer service in life). However, it is heavily implied by the end of ''Gaiden'' that [[spoiler:after merging with the spider Sagako, aka her sister (yes, you read that correctly), Tae's human mindset- and by extension, her identity, is replaced by her sister's instead]], which is why Tae acts childish and animal-like throughout her afterlife.

* HeroicSacrifice: By the climax of ''Gaiden'', she ends up pulling this off to [[spoiler:save everyone from the threat of the spider Sagako, who turns out to be Tae's younger sister. Unfortunately, it required her to fuse herself with said Sagako in order to defeat it- resulting in her death, as well as the fact that unlike the rest of Franchouchou, she stays "dead"; her sister ends up inhabiting her body in place upon revival]].

* KilledOffForReal: Downplayed, surprisingly- Tae is the ''only'' member of Franchouchou that [[spoiler:didn't get revived]], in a way. As in, [[spoiler:the original Tae was truly killed off by the end of Gaiden, as she fused with her younger sister- said sibling takes over the original Tae even beyond death]].

** She looks jealous when Ai and Saki are having a private conversation on the mansion balcony.

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Averted. All of Franchouchou remember their past lives upon awakening, and react to it in various ways in their undeath. Sakura plays this straight due to her cause of death being a head injury, which first makes her forget her memories before her revival, and then makes her forget her memories ''after'' her revival. Eventually, she gets all of them back. Ai also implies she remembers on some level what happened before she awakened, freaking out when Sakura was dangerously close to impaling her again out of panic.

* TownGirls: The first three members easily fit; Sakura being the meek GirlyGirl is the Femme, Saki being the athletic, {{tomboyish}} BadassBiker is the Butch, and Ai is the Neither, since she's not as meek as the former neither as brash as the latter.

* FamedInStory: This is true of most of the girls due to them all being celebrities of some kind, but Ai's name and legacy are relatively much fresher in people's minds. Several characters like Sakura and Shiori still [[HeroWorhshipper idolize her]] and see her as the standard of idol-hood to aspire to, and her death was much more publicized than the other zombies due to how recent and [[AccidentalPun shocking]] it was. She's even [[EarlyBirdCameo introduced to the series]] through Sakura watching one of her recorded performances. How the setting and characters interact with her takes on new meaning through this context of prestige around her.

* LonerTurnedFriend: Ai begins the series as cynical and standoffish, courtesy of going from an musical star to dead to revived as a zombie, and refuses to have anything to do with the Zombie Land Saga project. As she gets to know the other members though and see their resolve to make something of their undeath, she begins to shed her prior attitude. And overtime she becomes yet another trusted and beloved member of the main cast.

* RedOniBlueOni: The Blue Oni to Sakura's Red Oni once her true nature begins returning. While both are passionate and skilled performers, Sakura's nerves and single-mindedness tend to get the best of her, while Ai's able to be a lot more calm under pressure.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: She immediately tries to leave the group for Tokyo after having one conversation with Kotaro and learning about his ridiculous zombie idol project. She only returns once she's resigned herself to the fact that she can't rejoin the living.

* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: This is revealed as the reason for Franchouchou's debt in Season 2. [[spoiler: Feeling as though time was running out to revive Saga before the curse's disaster would strike, he attempted to ride the rising hype of Franchouchou to book the [=EFS=] concert and sell tickets the very ''day'' it was happening. This, of course, only resulted in a mass failure and crippling debt due to rushing through such a big event.]]

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Kotaro gives one to Ai and Junko by pointing out the {{irony}} that both of them are professional idols who won't even make an effort to practice for their guerrilla performance, unlike the rest of the girls who are trying their best even though they weren't idols in the first place. He later ends his statement with this:
--> "A zombie that doesn't dance is just a regular zombie. Those girls are trying to live. Are you just going to carry on rotting?"

* BigDamnHeroes: When the girls' revival concert at Geil's is about to go south, Kotaro is able to help the girls finish their concert by riling up their fans to cheer for them, all while getting the crap kicked out of him by an angry crowd of metal fans.
--> '''"[[{{Catchphrase}} MUSIC C'MON!!!]]"'''

* DynamicEntry: Kotaro blasts away Junko's barricade (and her) with a single kick after he gets fed up with her sulking.

* GoodIsNotNice: For all of his dickish MeanBoss attitude and BrutalHonesty, he does have a good heart deep down to revive numerous zombie girls so they can have another chance at (un)life, along with his goal being to save Saga.

* HumiliationConga: PlayedForLaughs in ''Revenge'' episode 5. Poor Kotaro has all of his thunder stolen throughout the episode.
** Lily, a ''twelve-year-old girl'', decides to take over the morning briefing for a change, completely sapping away all of his authority. He can do nothing but sadly take a seat and watch.
** His talent show performance is absolutely miserable, landing him a low score with the judges.

* InkSuitActor: He's essentially an animated version of Creator/MamoruMiyano, who has made live appearances in-character as him.

* MeanBoss: Most of his interaction with the girls is him screaming at them and calling them names for being zombies. He once openly stated that as zombies, he can work them as hard as he wants and they can't die from overwork. However, this is merely [[JerkassFacade an act]] he puts on as a producer, with numerous actions hinting that his real self is a withdrawn individual.

%%* ActionGirl

** Tae wears purple.

** Yugiri and Lily: While they weren't idols, they were experienced entertainers in life, with Yugiri being an ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oiran oiran]]'' and Lily a famous child actress. However, their backgrounds--the former, a HighClassCallGirl; the latter, a trans girl -- would normally make them anathema in the idol industry except for the highly-unorthodox Kotaro, who knew their histories and still revived them regardless. In terms of time period, Yugiri is the earliest and Lily the most recent. They are also the least bothered by their new lease of (un)life, with Yugiri being the calm and mature [[CoolBigSis older sister]] of the group and Lily the energetic and cheerful [[TheBabyOfTheBunch child]]. While Yugiri has moments of joining the other five in the insanity, Lily has moments of maturity.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: You've got a BornUnlucky [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy Ridiculously Average Girl]], a BadassBiker JapaneseDelinquent, the former lead IdolSinger for a famous group, a ShrinkingViolet solo IdolSinger, a [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold legendary courtesan]] [[FishOutOfTemporalWater from the late-1800s]], a UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} ChildPopstar, and [[spoiler: the former head of a DemonSlaying organisation who hasn't broken out completely from her zombification.]] [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Oh, and they're all zombies.]] They're also temporarily joined by a [[spoiler:contemporary, Reiwa-era high school girl who knows they’re zombies but doesn’t care]].

* ActionGirl: She is one of the most physically abled of all the girls, able to knock down Takeo, an 8-foot-tall giant of a man, and in the past fought off twenty or so rival bikers alongside Reiko without much of a scratch. She also has a really good fastball, as seen when she throws a baseball at Kotaro when he provokes her.

* AngerBornOfWorry: [[spoiler:When Sakura's depression strikes with a vengeance, Saki tries and fails to [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan get her back into action]] in a very forward and aggressive manner. When this fails, she goes to bed cursing herself out in frustration.]]

* TheBigGal: The muscle of Franchouchou. Saki may not have the others' wits or strategies, but she's incredibly loyal, protective, and unendingly enthusiastic. She's also [[PintsizedPowerhouse freakishly strong for a girl her size]]. Ironically, Lily is the only one that's shorter than her.

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Ai has a dizzying array of knowledge about the idol business, dance choreography, musical theory, PR... it's obvious to see why she was the leader of Iron Frill. Unfortunately, this comes with the LogicalWeakness that she's often stubborn about her own point of view, and she gets along the worst with their ''actual'' manager, Kotaro. She's also the only member of Franchouchou able to discern [[spoiler:Sakura's recent memory-swap for what it was in Episode 11.]]

* FamedInStory: This is true of most of the girls due to them all being celebrities of some kind, but Ai's name and legacy are relatively much fresher in people's minds. Several characters like Sakura and Shiori still idolize her and see her as a standard of idol-hood to aspire to, and her death was much more publicized than the other zombies due to how recent and [[AccidentalPun shocking]] it was. How the setting and characters interact with her takes on new meaning through this context of prestige she has around her. There's also the [[LogicalWeakness big downside]] of being the easiest to identify of the girls due to how closely her performances line up to the ones from being alive.

* FearOfThunder: She freezes up at the very sound of lightning, which is understandable, given it killed her.

* FamedInStory: This is true of most of the girls due to them all being celebrities of some kind, but Ai's name and legacy are relatively much fresher in people's minds. Several characters like Sakura and Shiori still idolize her and see her as a standard of idol-hood to aspire to, and her death was much more publicized than the other zombies due to how recent and [[AccidentalPun shocking]] it was. How the setting and characters interact with her takes on new meaning through this context of prestige she has around her.

* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal]]: Downplayed, surprisingly- Tae is the ''only'' member of Franchouchou that [[spoiler:didn't get revived]], in a way. As in, [[spoiler:the original Tae was truly killed off by the end of Gaiden, as she fused with her younger sister- said sibling takes over the original Tae even beyond death]].