Kotaro: My name is Kotaro Tatsumi...I'm the man who's going to turn you into a pop idol!
— Kotaro Tatsumi, addressing to Sakura Minamotonote about the sudden genre shift.
The one where it all begins with our friendly neighborhood truck ramming down an innocent anime protagonist no less than a minute into the episode, which all comes down together in the end, where our (now undead) protagonist performs death metal alongside the other soon-to-be-befriended zombie idol performers.
Yeah, it's one of those anime series.
Full Recap
Our story begins in the year 2008. It's a bright, sunny morning for one Sakura Minamoto. She's applying to become an idol singer, and after getting ready while listening to her favorite idol group Iron Frill, she goes happily running out her front door... and right into an oncoming speeding truck. She then falls head-first to the ground, dead.
After a cut to black, Sakura wakes up in an old, decrepit mansion, and to further set the mood, it's in the middle of a dark, stormy night. She gets up and starts to wander around the place to better understand her situation. Suddenly, she is startled by a nun-looking zombie jumping through a glass window. Naturally, the frightened Sakura runs away as fast as she can, and escapes to another room... filled with five more zombies.
A closer look is given to the zombies, their hands reaching out to grab Sakura, with some of them drooling or ghastly moaning for attention. One of the zombies manages to grab Sakura by the leg. Luckily, she escapes from it by quickly stabbing it through the head with a nearby fireplace poker. Sakura eventually gets the hell out of the mansion, and sprints out into the rainy night.
After getting far enough away from the zombie-filled mansion, Sakura then checks a nearby landmark, which conveniently gives informs her that she's ended up in the small Japanese prefecture of Saga. A nearby policeman notices Sakura. As she tries to get help for the absurd situation she just experienced, the policeman begins to freaks out, falling off his bike and aiming his gun at the poor girl.
Panicking, Sakura looks up at a street mirror and sees her reflection come into light. She's one of the zombies from that mansion.
And just like that, Sakura is shot in the chest. But, because she's a zombie, it doesn't really do much to her. She does, however, fall onto the ground and begins to black out. Before the policeman can do anything about our main (zombie) character, he's knocked out cold by a shovel to the back of his head by a handsome man with very snazzy shades. Sakura only catches a glimpse of the man before she completely passes out.
Upon waking back up in the (now much more brighter looking) mansion, Sakura rushes towards a mirror and checks herself out. To her shock, she's still a zombie. And yes, that bullet hole is still there on her chest. But worst of all, she's forgotten everything that happened in her past life, thanks to the head-on collision with the truck that killed her.
Fortunately for Sakura, the handsome man (who is now holding a cute zombie dog named Romero) confirms to Sakura about her death (which happened ten years ago!), her resurrection as a zombie, and the fact that he is Kotaro Tatsumi...and he plans to use Sakura and the other zombies as idol singers to save Saga Prefecture from facing further obscurity. All of this is addressed to the audience, but Sakura is too oblivious in the moment to care, as she's more focused on the fact that Kotaro has dried squid in his shirt pocket.
The next morning, we see Sakura with the other mindless, brain-dead zombies in the mansion's basement. With a hearty "GOOD MORNING!" from Kotaro himself, he gives the group (or rather, just Sakura) his very first morning report. Sakura questions him about how she became a zombie, but to no avail as Kotaro yells at Sakura to not question him with such dumb logic. He does re-inform her about why she became a zombie, and that is because she will lead the others into becoming pop-idol sensations in the form of the "Zombie Land Saga Project". This project of Kotaro's was created due to the fact that regional-based idol groups are a thing of the past, and with the falling popularity of the Saga Prefecture as a whole, this gave him a good reason to make such an insane idea: using zombies as idols to save Saga.
Sakura then asks him about the purpose of every other zombie in the group, and Kotaro thankfully obliges. We are then properly introduced to the other zombies: The Legendary Biker Boss, Saki Nikado; The Legendary Showa-Period Idol, Junko Konno; The Legendary Courtesan, Yugiri; The Legendary Child Actress Prodigy, Lily Hoshikawa; The Legendary Heisei-Period Idol, Ai Mizuno...and The Legendary Tae Yamada.
Of course, the last of the legendary zombies stick out to Sakura like mud, so she tries asking Kotaro about why Tae has been given such a role...only to be yelled at again for asking such an illogical question. With all that out of the way, Kotaro declares that the group shall be doing a stimulating performance tonight...at a death metal concert.
At the venue, Sakura is completely flabbergasted at the dumb idea that Kotaro managed to pull out of his ass, but he does his best to assure that she will be fine if she tries hard enough. Of course, this doesn't really work on Sakura due to her savvy attitude. Meanwhile, the other zombies (who are still void of thought) are hanging around backstage, and they manage to hear some heavy metal screamo coming from the main stage, through a megaphone. This somehow causes them to start headbanging, for whatever reason. After Sakura soothes them with dried squid, she and the other zombies are immediately forced by Kotaro to perform on stage under the group name "Death Musume (Title Pending)".
Upon getting up on the stage, Sakura begins nervously introducing themselves, which annoys the audience to the point where they would rather prefer someone else to perform in their place. However, Tae begins to do the unthinkable: jumping head first onto a random, fat metalhead (who reckons that Tae is just performing a stage-dive before they even start singing). This manages to freak him out, but Sakura intervenes and pulls Tae back onto the stage. The fat metalhead and his metalhead pal start to ponder about how 'brutal' the act was, and Sakura begins dreading the worst. This all culminates when a mindless Saki bumps into a megaphone, and when Sakura thinks to herself that this act was a complete utter failure...
"MUSIIIIC!! COME ONNN!!"
And with Kotaro yelling that phrase, loud death metal begins to play from the speakers...and the performance begins. The two metalheads decide that this isn't such a bad thing after all, and begin to cheer for the girls, so they can start singing. Unbeknownst to Sakura, Saki starts doing some screamo into the megaphone, with Tae following suit into her mic. The rest of the mindless zombies start headbanging in unison as the crowd begins cheering for them. Sakura is at the verge of losing her sanity, and ultimately gives in as she begins to scream at the top of her lungs, which impresses everyone.
As the zombie girls continue to head-bang (in which the two metalheads begin to think is unreal, given the zombies' necks seem to look broken), Sakura begins seeing a vision from the stage lights...could this be something she saw in her past? Regardless, the performance is a hit, and Sakura screams once more as she stagedives onto the crowd.
The next morning, we see Sakura sadly remembering the rest of that performance...which ended up with the audience members being attacked and assaulted by the mindless zombies. However, Sakura doesn't seem to give up hope, as she still wonders about that vision she saw during that night. Suddenly, a loud crash in the mansion is heard, which is followed by some girls screaming.
As Sakura enters the mansion, she notices that almost everyone is fully awake and conscious like she was. As Ai, Junko and Lily start to cower in fear from the still-feral Tae, we see Saki and Yugiri groggily waking up. The awakened zombies turn to Sakura, and as she attempts to think on what to do next...she just does the most logical thing to do in a situation like this. Yelling "GOOD MORNING" to them like her idol manager would.
And with a pan up to the sky, the story truly begins. The Zombie Land Saga Project is born.
After a cut to black, Sakura wakes up in an old, decrepit mansion, and to further set the mood, it's in the middle of a dark, stormy night. She gets up and starts to wander around the place to better understand her situation. Suddenly, she is startled by a nun-looking zombie jumping through a glass window. Naturally, the frightened Sakura runs away as fast as she can, and escapes to another room... filled with five more zombies.
A closer look is given to the zombies, their hands reaching out to grab Sakura, with some of them drooling or ghastly moaning for attention. One of the zombies manages to grab Sakura by the leg. Luckily, she escapes from it by quickly stabbing it through the head with a nearby fireplace poker. Sakura eventually gets the hell out of the mansion, and sprints out into the rainy night.
After getting far enough away from the zombie-filled mansion, Sakura then checks a nearby landmark, which conveniently gives informs her that she's ended up in the small Japanese prefecture of Saga. A nearby policeman notices Sakura. As she tries to get help for the absurd situation she just experienced, the policeman begins to freaks out, falling off his bike and aiming his gun at the poor girl.
Panicking, Sakura looks up at a street mirror and sees her reflection come into light. She's one of the zombies from that mansion.
And just like that, Sakura is shot in the chest. But, because she's a zombie, it doesn't really do much to her. She does, however, fall onto the ground and begins to black out. Before the policeman can do anything about our main (zombie) character, he's knocked out cold by a shovel to the back of his head by a handsome man with very snazzy shades. Sakura only catches a glimpse of the man before she completely passes out.
Upon waking back up in the (now much more brighter looking) mansion, Sakura rushes towards a mirror and checks herself out. To her shock, she's still a zombie. And yes, that bullet hole is still there on her chest. But worst of all, she's forgotten everything that happened in her past life, thanks to the head-on collision with the truck that killed her.
Fortunately for Sakura, the handsome man (who is now holding a cute zombie dog named Romero) confirms to Sakura about her death (which happened ten years ago!), her resurrection as a zombie, and the fact that he is Kotaro Tatsumi...and he plans to use Sakura and the other zombies as idol singers to save Saga Prefecture from facing further obscurity. All of this is addressed to the audience, but Sakura is too oblivious in the moment to care, as she's more focused on the fact that Kotaro has dried squid in his shirt pocket.
The next morning, we see Sakura with the other mindless, brain-dead zombies in the mansion's basement. With a hearty "GOOD MORNING!" from Kotaro himself, he gives the group (or rather, just Sakura) his very first morning report. Sakura questions him about how she became a zombie, but to no avail as Kotaro yells at Sakura to not question him with such dumb logic. He does re-inform her about why she became a zombie, and that is because she will lead the others into becoming pop-idol sensations in the form of the "Zombie Land Saga Project". This project of Kotaro's was created due to the fact that regional-based idol groups are a thing of the past, and with the falling popularity of the Saga Prefecture as a whole, this gave him a good reason to make such an insane idea: using zombies as idols to save Saga.
Sakura then asks him about the purpose of every other zombie in the group, and Kotaro thankfully obliges. We are then properly introduced to the other zombies: The Legendary Biker Boss, Saki Nikado; The Legendary Showa-Period Idol, Junko Konno; The Legendary Courtesan, Yugiri; The Legendary Child Actress Prodigy, Lily Hoshikawa; The Legendary Heisei-Period Idol, Ai Mizuno...and The Legendary Tae Yamada.
Of course, the last of the legendary zombies stick out to Sakura like mud, so she tries asking Kotaro about why Tae has been given such a role...only to be yelled at again for asking such an illogical question. With all that out of the way, Kotaro declares that the group shall be doing a stimulating performance tonight...at a death metal concert.
At the venue, Sakura is completely flabbergasted at the dumb idea that Kotaro managed to pull out of his ass, but he does his best to assure that she will be fine if she tries hard enough. Of course, this doesn't really work on Sakura due to her savvy attitude. Meanwhile, the other zombies (who are still void of thought) are hanging around backstage, and they manage to hear some heavy metal screamo coming from the main stage, through a megaphone. This somehow causes them to start headbanging, for whatever reason. After Sakura soothes them with dried squid, she and the other zombies are immediately forced by Kotaro to perform on stage under the group name "Death Musume (Title Pending)".
Upon getting up on the stage, Sakura begins nervously introducing themselves, which annoys the audience to the point where they would rather prefer someone else to perform in their place. However, Tae begins to do the unthinkable: jumping head first onto a random, fat metalhead (who reckons that Tae is just performing a stage-dive before they even start singing). This manages to freak him out, but Sakura intervenes and pulls Tae back onto the stage. The fat metalhead and his metalhead pal start to ponder about how 'brutal' the act was, and Sakura begins dreading the worst. This all culminates when a mindless Saki bumps into a megaphone, and when Sakura thinks to herself that this act was a complete utter failure...
"MUSIIIIC!! COME ONNN!!"
And with Kotaro yelling that phrase, loud death metal begins to play from the speakers...and the performance begins. The two metalheads decide that this isn't such a bad thing after all, and begin to cheer for the girls, so they can start singing. Unbeknownst to Sakura, Saki starts doing some screamo into the megaphone, with Tae following suit into her mic. The rest of the mindless zombies start headbanging in unison as the crowd begins cheering for them. Sakura is at the verge of losing her sanity, and ultimately gives in as she begins to scream at the top of her lungs, which impresses everyone.
As the zombie girls continue to head-bang (in which the two metalheads begin to think is unreal, given the zombies' necks seem to look broken), Sakura begins seeing a vision from the stage lights...could this be something she saw in her past? Regardless, the performance is a hit, and Sakura screams once more as she stagedives onto the crowd.
The next morning, we see Sakura sadly remembering the rest of that performance...which ended up with the audience members being attacked and assaulted by the mindless zombies. However, Sakura doesn't seem to give up hope, as she still wonders about that vision she saw during that night. Suddenly, a loud crash in the mansion is heard, which is followed by some girls screaming.
As Sakura enters the mansion, she notices that almost everyone is fully awake and conscious like she was. As Ai, Junko and Lily start to cower in fear from the still-feral Tae, we see Saki and Yugiri groggily waking up. The awakened zombies turn to Sakura, and as she attempts to think on what to do next...she just does the most logical thing to do in a situation like this. Yelling "GOOD MORNING" to them like her idol manager would.
And with a pan up to the sky, the story truly begins. The Zombie Land Saga Project is born.
Tropes:
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Played up in the first few minutes of the episode. Sakura doesn't realize she too is undead until after fleeing the house from the other zombie girls. Only finding out when the officer she runs into recoils in fear and she spots herself in a traffic mirror.
- Body Horror: The zombies can contort their bodies in impossible ways and survive all manner of fatal injuries.
- Bait-and-Switch: The first few minutes play out like a typical zombie horror story. After Sakura realizes she's a zombie herself and taken back to the manor, the tone changes to be more comedic.
- Cathartic Scream: The metal performance gives Sakura the perfect chance to let out one of these as the pressure of her situation finally becomes to much to hold onto.
- Crush Blush: It appears Sakura is blushing at Kotaro as he holds her chin his hand, then it's revealed she's looking in confusion at the squid in his shirt pocket.
- Death Metal: The zombies' first performance is for a crowd of death metal fans at a small open venue. The crowd isn't particularly thrilled at the idea of idols performing for them, but Kotaro prepared a song for them that caters to their taste in metal.
- Déjà Vu: The excitement of the performance triggers a flashback for Sakura of her watching Iron Frill's performance years ago, the memory of which lingers on her long after the performance ends.
- Do Not Try This at Home: After Kotaro feeds Romero some dried squid, large disclaimer reminds viewers not to give dogs dried squid note
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Sakura is introduced singing and dancing to her favorite idol group while giving an optimistic monologue on fulfilling her dream to become an idol herself. She then runs in front of a moving truck and dies.
- Tae is the first zombie Sakura meets, and she's the only one who remains in that same mindless state.
- ''Policeman A'' sleazily walks up to distressed Sakura, complaining that he needs to get out of the rain and head home. Horrified by her zombified appearance, he pulls out a gun and shoots her, all before being knocked out by a shovel.
- Tatsumi Kotaro:
- In his first speaking appearance, he calmly explains to Sakura that she's a zombie and must "save Saga Prefecture". He's not very reassuring though."As long you follow my instructions exactly, I promise you'll *probably* be fine."
- Much of his dialogue as he's briefing Sakura on the idol project is all delivered at the top of his lungs. He also doesn't bother explaining ''how'' he revived the girls. He just expects Sakura to roll with it.
- In his first speaking appearance, he calmly explains to Sakura that she's a zombie and must "save Saga Prefecture". He's not very reassuring though.
- Romero first appears as nothing more than cutely-rendered zombie dog. Then Kotaro gives him some dried squid as a treat, and Romero suddenly shifts into a horrifyingly rendered monster and shreds the squid.
- Unlike Ai, Junko, and Lily who wake up screaming at the sight of a zombified Tae, Yugiri and Saki wake up only mildly inconvenienced at their predicament.
- First-Episode Resurrection: Sakura starts the series about to head off to her idol audtion, full of optimisim and vigor... and promptly gets hit by a truck as she leaving her house. She suddenly wakes up in a manor apparently normal. Only after fleeing the house in the rainstorm from the other zombie girls that she realizes she's a zombie too.
- Foreshadowing:
- The music video Sakura's watching features Ai Mizuno, whom is later introduced as a zombie like her.
- Sakura before The Reveal has bandages on exposed parts of her body, hinting at her true nature.
- She also seems to shrug off most pain thrown her way.
- Saki takes an interest in a nearby megaphone at the concert. She keeps it with in later episodes to hype up the crowd one the idols have their act together.
- Genre Shift: The series starts looking like an ordinary idol anime. It then shifts into a zombie horror before finally settling on a mashup parody of the two.
- Identity Amnesia: Due to the head trauma caused by her death, Sakura has completely lost any memory of her past life.
- Lightning Reveal: Sakura when she realizes she’s a zombie.
- Metal Scream: The girls utilize this during their metal performance. Saki and Tae somehow take to it naturally despite not being awakened. Sakura joins soon after.
- Nightmare Face: The pre-awakened zombies all sport this when they move towards Sakura in the mansion early on. Special mention goes to Yugiri and Lily for having drool dripping down from their mouths.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Sakura dies barely a minute into the beginning of the episode. She then wakes up again only to soon realize she's now a zombie.
- Rousing Speech: Kotaro gives one to Sakura before the show to ease her worries, complete with swelling strings.Kotaro: "The good news is, this crowd doesn't know you, so the expectations are so small, they're basically non-existent. Same goes for me. I fully expect you to blow it."Sakura: "Then why-"Kotaro: "LET ME FINISH!! That's why you have to surprise us. You can turn Saga, no, the entire world upside down if you give it everything you got.Sakura: "Really? You think so?"Kotaro: "Have faith. You'll do fine."Sakura: "Oh Kotaro, I... (Music cuts out) Can't do it."(Beat)Kotaro: "Okay then! It's go time!"
- Running Gag: Kotaro's habit of gently holding people by the chin and making them blush is introduced.
- Slow-Motion Fall: Sakura is flung into the air after being hit by an oncoming truck, and the scene slows down right as she's about to come falling to the ground, dead.
- The Stinger: Sakura hears screaming and commotion coming from the mansion's living room. She then rushes in to find that all the other zombies, except for Tae, have fully awakened.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Sakura has to perform at a live venue with no rehearsal time, no knowledge of the song she's performing, and all of her bandmates stuck as mindless zombies trying to bite everyone. It goes as well as one could expect.
- Title Drop: Kotaro's idol project."Welcome to the Zombie Land Saga Project BABY!!"
- Tomato in the Mirror: Sakura spends several minutes running for her life through a mansion of mindless zombies. Only once she gets outside, her makeup washes off, and she looks at her reflection to realize that she too is a zombie.
- Wham Shot: The moment where Sakura looks up at a street mirror, and we are treated to Sakura's zombie looks for the very first time, complete with a dramatic zoom-in shot and lightning.
- You Wake Up in a Room: Sakura awakens in an unfamiliar mansion, having no idea she died and was brought back as a zombie.
- You're Insane!: Sakura lets out an "Are you stupid?!" to Kotaro's face. Given that he was putting six mindless zombies (and one fully aware zombie) onto the stage of a Death Metal concert as the first step toward making them idol singers, it's pretty clear she wasn't exactly questioning his intelligence...
