Awesome / Zombie Land Saga

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♫ YOU...CAN...RISE AGAAAAAAAAAIN...! ♫

These aren't your typical mindless zombies. These are Full-Blown Zombie Divas, and they deserve your respect!

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Season One

Episode 2 - I ♥ Hip Hop Saga

• After spending most of the episode being insulted by Saki and having her advice ignored by Ai and Junko, Sakura finally reaches her limit, slaps away Tae's head off from Saki's hand and starts an impromptu rap battle just to tell those three exactly why they suck. This is seen as totally awesome In-Universe by Saki as well, who makes a 180 in her behavior around Sakura out of respect for her guts.
  • Special props to Yugiri for, while having no time to prepare and being a Fish out of Temporal Water (thus having barely any concept of what a rap battle even is), managing to improvise one of the sickest rap battle-backing tracks ever on the spot - purely based off the rhythm of Sakura/Saki's words and Kotaro's beat-boxing - all while looking like it comes to her as naturally as breathing.

Episode 3 - Warming Dead Saga

• Kotaro is once again mocking the zombies at the beginning of the episode... and Saki gut-punches him hard enough for his shades to fall off. It says a lot about how much of his shit she won't take.

Episode 5 - The Nice Bird Saga In Your Heart

• Kotaro is again on the receiving end of Saki's annoyance in Episode 5, this time with a baseball that she throws into his leg HARD after he goes too far. Later, Kotaro smacks Ai over the head with a baguette, and she in turn disarms Kotaro (with alarming efficiency), knocks him off balance and snaps the baguette clean off his jaw. That iron frill has an iron will.
• Kotaro gets his own moment of awesome in the Kashima Gatalympics, managing to bike through the mud course without getting a scrap of dirt on his suit—and popping a wheely at the end. What makes this even more impressive is that the bikes in the actual Gatalympics have no brakes and the track ends in the mud, meaning they're designed so people wind up getting Covered in Mud whether they win or lose.
• The Legendary Yamada Tae proves her worth, earning first place in the rope swinging event!

Episode 6 - Because It's Sentimental Saga

• While still tragic, Ai's death via a massive lightning strike in the middle of a concert is a truly epic way to die.
  Saki: (after hearing Ai's story) Holy crap, girl... That's actually legendary!

Episode 7 - But It's Zombiemental Saga

• After getting hit with a truck by Kotaro (by accident), Junko finally lets go of the trauma and stands up on her own while having a Badass Boast.
• During their performance at the Saga Rock Festival, the stage gets hit by lightning in the middle of their performance, destroying almost the entire stage in the process while also electrifying the girls, giving them an unnatural glow that somehow also lets them fire laser beams from their fingers and autotune their voices. Yes, it's as awesome as it sounds.

Episode 8 - Go Go Neverland Saga

• Though it turned out to be unnecessary, Saki kicking a man with more muscle than a body builder five times her size across the room is undeniably badass.

Episode 9 - Though My Life May Have Ended Once by Some Twist of Fate I Have Risen, and If Song and Dance Are to Be My Fate, Then Carrying the Memories of My Comrades in My Heart As I Sally Forth Shall Be My Saga

• Nearly the entirety of Episode 9 is just Saki proving that she really is every bit as badass as she built herself up to be early on. Gangsters in the present seem to be able to pick up on, and are overwhelmed by, her danger level via sheer, primal instinct.
  • We start off the episode with a flashback to her biker gang days, where she's casually chatting with fellow gang member Reiko. She boasts that neither she nor her tamagotchi will die... and we zoom out to the pure carnage of the last fight with their rival gang, broken bats and bent crowbars amongst a crowd of groaning people on the ground.
  • Back in the present, Saki sees Maria surrounded by rival bikers. Her immediate reaction is to open the door of a moving van in highway traffic and roll out down a hill. She gets back up, snaps her head into place, and strolls calmly past a girl with a chainsaw to the two biker gang leaders to defuse the situation with one well placed glare.
  • The finale is just one grand crescendo of awesome for the girl. She manages to pull off a Big Entrance on a child's bike, bamboozles and terrifies everyone into letting her take Maria's place in the chicken challenge (on Reiko's motorcycle, no less!), bursts through the railing at crazy speeds, and casually climbs out of an explosion almost identical to the one that killed her. Even getting slugged by her old friend doesn't faze her; she just uses the chance to get Maria to respect her mother, and spins the impressed reactions of the rival gang to make them into new fans of Franchouchou. Kotaro, master of awesomeness himself, looks on the scene with pride.
• Reiko herself pulls one hell of a big entrance on her old motorbike, popping wheelies and skidding to a stop in front of the biker gang. And then she punches Saki after her Unflinching Walk, chewing her out for risking her life. Anger Born of Worry it might be, but it is one fiery anger indeed. No wonder she and Saki ran the gang...
• The performance at the end is rad as hell! The girls rock some sweet new hairstyles and bozosoku gear. The song is rife with biker-themed lyrics, quite different from their usual idol flair. It feels like this is when Saki's personality truly shines through her music. Franchouchou proves once again that they are as versatile as they were in the beginning, a fact that the metalheads cheer upon.

Episode 10 - No Zombie No Life Saga

• All being civilized, teenage girls, it's pretty awesome when Yugiri, Lily, Junko and Ai all prove to be quite capable of fending for themselves in a wilderness survival situation. Yugiri handles foraging for flora/mushrooms (though admits some might be toxic to humans), Lily expertly creates a bonfire (possibly without a lighter or other source of fire), while Junko and Ai somehow craft functioning fishing and hunting gear from scratch, Minecraft-style. Ai's feat in particular, coupled with decent technique and Super-Senses, comes across as hilariously improbable (yet awesome.)
• And then Tae solos a hulking boar with her face.

Episode 11 - One-of-a-Kind Saga

• Ai's Wise Beyond Their Years tendency continues. She is the first to accurately deduce the likely meaning of Sakura's sudden change in behavior, and in a later flashback, delivers an insightful Determinator message to her fans in an interview that just so happened to have been the first spark of Sakura's dream of becoming an idol.
• Kotaro scores a pinpoint headshot on Policeman A with Romero, pitching from dozens of meters away, in the dark, with his shades still on.

Episode 12 - Good Morning Again Saga

• We learn that not only did Junko adequately fix the door Kotaro kicked down in Episode 7 but reinforced it such that Tae can't break it down. Pretty crafty girl there.
  • When Tae can't get in, she becomes truly fed up with Sakura constantly pushing her and the other girls away. She then proceeds to break in another way: through the attic window (who knows how high up) and drag Sakura downstairs by the head, with her teeth. And while doing so, she bursts the door open by sheer force.
• A few very effective instances of Tough Love from the group's Team Mom and Team Dad show up that prove to be extremely pivotal both in rousing Sakura from her inaction, and spurring her back to her feet when the stage at Arpino collapses due to bad weather. Each instance counts equally as awesome and heartwarming.
  • First, co-Team Mom Yugiri's Get A Hold Of Yourself Man slap was finally aimed at someone genuinely in despair, and while it was far from a perfect solution, her words contributed greatly to restoring Sakura's motivation. Also, what a slap it was! It's likely that nothing short of Truck-kun itself has ever hit Sakura harder!
  • In the same vein we have Ai. In the previous episode, Ai was the only one of the girls who chose not to leave the bedroom and pester Sakura late at night, a gentle treatment she continued for most of this episode having indicated that she believed Sakura would come around on her own. Finally resuming her usual Team Dad role when her passivity proved not to be working, she sternly reaffirms the very words that roused Sakura's spirits in life and makes several additional points that at last cause Sakura's guard to visibly drop. When Sakura begins viewing the mirror cracking in front of her as vindication of her defeatism, the group gives her yet another collective Rousing Speech that ends again with Ai's words causing Sakura to tighten her grip in determination. Sakura seems to really have faith in that girl.
  • A small one for Saki as well. When the mirror cracks and Sakura's mood begins to turn, she is the first to respond by punching it. As more cracks spread and Saki grins, the message is clear; no matter what fate throws at them, they'll take it and make it their own.
    Saki: Now who's got bad luck?
• A record setting snowfall descends on Saga right as the girls are to take the stage at Arpino. It's heavy enough to cause parts of the building, most importantly the stage, to collapse on the girls, who keep the show going strong even with the stage falling apart around them.
  • Ai even looks to have somehow known that the floor beneath her was moments away from giving out; she merely leans in with a smile and subtle "back away" motion to a group of girls who were practically hugging the stage and just holds an epic note until it caves in.
  • The stage finally completely collapses, taking the whole band and sound system down with it. The audience is stunned and clearly worried for the girls' safety but suddenly a Slow Clap can be heard from Kotaro in the background. Soon after, Ai, noticeably struggling, forces herself back to her feet to carry on singing, and one by one the other girls follow suit, climaxing with Sakura's big She's Back moment as she sings the title of the song itself (if you're listening to the subbed version, that is); rising once more, seen in the page image above.
  • This concert will be even more legendary in-universe: as far as everyone else knows, Franchouchou are just normal people who happen to be amazing idol singers. Half a building suddenly falls on top of them, and then they get back up and keep singing.
• One that might have gone unnoticed by many is that "Yomigaere", the first song Franchouchou performs in the concert, is the song they were supposed to perform in Episode 2 before it got derailed into Saki and Sakura's rap battle. It really goes to show how far these girls have come.

Season Two

Episode 4 - Pure-Hearted Electric Saga

• The concert near the end has some cool moments:
  • The Legendary Yamada Tae can play the drum set so well, she's even the opening act! We saw some brief moments of her practicing with a smaller drum, but never anything of this level!
  • Following Tae's beats, we see Junko rocking out with Kotaro's electric guitar. While Kotaro did give her his own "axe", it's still unexpected because the previous episode gave us a flashback of her playing a calm song with an acoustic guitar. Even the two Metalhead fans in the audience are surprised at the girls performing rock.
  • After smashing Kotaro's guitar, Junko takes advantage of an exposed electric wire and electrifies herself and her bandmates, leading to them performing an epic remix of "Mezame Returner (Electric Ver.)"
• The episode ends with the members of Iron Frill admitting that Franchouchou's performance was probably the most memorable part of their tour, and that the group is one to watch out for.

Episode 5 - Little Bodda Bope Saga

• In the few minutes it takes Light to finish singing, Lily manages to almost completely change her routine for the final. While still technically the same song, Lily changes the tone to be much lighter while adding some improvised Scat calling to jazz it up. And even though Light won, he felt his victory was hollow, because her ability to improvise that new arrangement in such a short time is something he never could've done... and afterward, Lily's version was so catchy that it instantly caught on with many fans, of all ages.
  • In a more minor moment beforehand, Light mentions that if she keeps up her "cute act", people will think it's sad in two years. Without any change in her cheerful tone or smile, Lily counters that it's the same for him too, which gets under Light's skin.

Episode 6 - Walking Bet Saga

• When at the boat race, Tae put in a bet without any thought as to who/why, as you might expect. At the end though, after Maria's rival gang leader Misa pulls off a legendary move to win, Maria looks at Tae's ticket to see her results. It turns out that Tae bet on Misa, who had the odds massively stacked against her because of previous repeat failures... and won 20 million yen! Franchouchou can finally get out of their debt, thanks to the Legendary Tae Yamada!

Episode 8 - Saga Incident, Part I

• Yugiri proves that she knows her stuff as a legendary courtesan, not just in her professional skills, but also in being able to take care of herself. The moment she seemed about to be run over by a speeding cart, with Kichi trying to save her, she dodged out of the way (causing Kichi to fall into the river) and made it look effortless - and later when she senses a presence sneaking up on her, she instantly attempts to stab the "intruder" with chopsticks, which turns out to be Itou (who to his credit, caught the stab on his folding fan without batting an eye).

Episode 9 - Saga Incident, Part II

• A dark kind of awesome, but Itou faces off against the dozen-strong rebel samurai by himself... and destroys them without so much as a single scratch on himself.
• Yugiri's Action Girl chops explode in this episode, not only with her saving Kiichi from Itou - revealing that her shamisen conceals a sword - but calmly waiting for Itou after Kiichi gets away, to ensure the latter pursues his dream of restoring Saga. She asks if he's heard of the "Sheathed Kichiemon", and Itou is unnerved, realizing that she's the fabled Demon of Hiyasu, an opponent who can't be taken lightly. Not just a legendary courtesan, but a legendary swordswoman as well.
  • After felling Itou and intentionally being taken prisoner - taking all the blame for the uprising - she accepts her fate without fear, simply smiling and saying farewell.

Episode 11 - All It Takes Is For You To Be There Saga

• Kotaro and the bartender's bar are swamped by a tidal wave, yet by sheer luck, it only swallows up the place enough to keep a modest air pocket near the ceiling. Kotaro manages to get his old friend above water on a floating frame, yet he doesn't have as much luck, as we later see him submerged in water from the neck down while holding onto a ceiling beam... and they've been stuck in that flooded bar for three days, without food or sleep most likely. The one to save them is Policeman A.
  Kotaro: I'm not dying here...
  • Then as if that weren't enough, after getting his old friend some help, Kotaro runs all over Saga trying to locate Franchouchou - he even seemed prepared to swim across a flooded area before he noticed Misa on her speedboat and got her attention. He doesn't care about, or even notice the effort it would take to continue after such an ordeal; Kotaro is getting to his girls, come hell or literal high water.
    • For context, Bar New Jofuku is located in Saga City, Saga's prefectural capital and the mansion where Franchouchou lives in is located in Karatsu. A quick online map search can tell you that under the most favorable vehicle conditions, it's still a trip that takes a little over an hour to make, so just imagine doing that on foot with little food, water or rest.

Episode 12 - The Greatest SAGA In History

• While at the stadium, Takeo Go takes a giant piece of stone debris roughly the same size as himself, and throws it away from a doorway just so people can get in easier... and he's not even tired from this feat. Given his construction worker hat, then and later while rebuilding a new mansion for Franchouchou, the man's muscular frame isn't just for show!
• Thanks to the combined efforts of Kotaro, various celebrities like Iron Frill, and more, Franchouchou's revenge concert at EPS is virtually sold out, with people absolutely packed into the stands and the field.