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「 史上最大の SAGA」 (Shijou Saidai no SAGA)
“The Greatest SAGA in History”
In the season finale for Zombie Land Saga Revenge, their big concert is finally able to happen as a charity concert that would eventually gather up support from their entire prefecture and beyond. But right when you think things will be wrapped up with a nicely tied bow, the series leaves you with a number of curveballs that might have you clamoring for an explanation.
While the Kyushu disaster is an odd place to insert Franchouchou’s big concert, it makes sense given how the turnout is largely due to the band wanting to unify the prefecture during a time of strife. Because of this, the outpour of support for Franchouchou’s efforts is very touching given how everyone in town did their part to make the stadium usable and perfect for the charity concert. It was also sweet that they ended up giving props to the two metalheads who were major supporters of theirs since the beginning.
Three songs might’ve been overkill for the second half of the episode, but it did help to set the scene for the girls to reflect on their experiences. Seeing Sakura give a heartfelt speech about remaining confident in their talents was effective enough to make Kotaro cry. The highlight of the concert in my eyes is Yamada Tae’s performance since she had that hilarious moment where she tried to do the audience call-and-response that Freddie Mercury did during Live Aid ‘85.
If I’m to be honest, it is frustrating that the last half of the episode had major bombshells that might not be tackled until a possible sequel or film is in the works. Kotaro trying to cover up blood he spat up being one of the massive developments that is wedged in between the second and third songs. We did see the bartender weakened by the weather changes as well, so seeing him and Kotaro going through these dire health situations has got to be something more than a throwaway to hedge your bets on it being answered sometime in the distant future.
Similarly, the last 10 seconds of the anime decide it’ll prove the existence of aliens in this universe with a massive UFO dropping a laser on top of Saga. I suppose there’d be little to no outrage if Franchouchou were exposed as zombies during an alien invasion. But switching over to a story where now the town is obliterated would end up transforming the show into a story where Franchouchou will spend most of the story have to worry about escaping from aliens. If they end up going full-hog on the next installment being about the alien invasion, trying to tie up the loose ends involving Kotaro, the bartender, or zombification will be near impossible.
Final Impressions
While it’s pleasant to revisit the girls of Franchouchou and shed more light on otherwise neglected characters like Tae and Yugiri, Zombie Land Saga Revenge, unfortunately, lacks much of the charm or intrigue that the first season had. With how much of this season focused on getting “revenge” for a concert that Kotaro mistakenly made in between the two seasons, Revenge plays out no differently than your standard boilerplate idol anime sequel with very few traces of the emotional peaks or horror-comedy that helped Zombie Land Saga stand out.
Because the premise is centered around making enough money to recoup the costs of a disastrous concert and then get prepared for another massive concert, the show drags its feet through episodes focused on gaining enough popularity to pack seats. It also ends up making any episodes about the girls less about them maneuvering around their past lives and more about how far they’ve come since the first season. It ends up making for dull scenes where the girls will just remember the events of the first season and smile that they’re where they’re at now when they come across otherwise minute obstacles.
That’s not to say it was bad at all. A majority of the musical performances were memorable this season, and the songs the cap off the Lily, Yugiri, Saki, and Ai/Junko episodes were notably great. The added tidbits about Iron Frill are interesting as well because of how they still have a hard time letting go of Ai and would do anything to have her back.
I also have to give kudos for the moments we have with Yugiri. Yugiri’s much-needed backstory didn’t disappoint as we learn of the events that went down that led to her untimely demise and how storied her short life had been. It gave us connections to the present day too with the bartender being a distant relative of Kotaro who was connected to how zombification became a possible reality in this world.
Similarly, Okoba’s investigation added tension that should’ve been more front-and-center with his investigation into Franchouchou paying off with his conclusion that they’re all zombified. It adds an extra emotional layer to the series because he’s an outsider who is only horrified because Kotaro decided to create a side-show with deceased girls. We’re only comfy with it because we’ve followed their story, but to anybody else, it would feel like you’re disrespecting them and their family by playing Weekend at Bernie’s with their reanimated corpses all for a ploy to boost Saga’s tourism.
Zombie Land Saga Revenge does what it can to add to the first season’s story, but the revenge plot that is anchored to this season weighs down many of the opportunities it could have had to explore some of the lore behind zombification or dive further into the girls’ pasts. Additionally, learning that a prequel manga will be released to explain Yamada Tae’s backstory ended up making this season sting even harder because it would’ve been cooler to adapt something like that alongside the Yugiri backstory and Okoba’s investigation. I guess it loses many of the past season’s attempts to obscure the show’s status as an idol anime whilst this season embraces more of the idol anime tropes to make it feel like most of Revenge was padded out. Hopefully, we’ll get to revisit Franchouchou at some point in the horizon, and that the Yamada Tae manga will have some interesting details in-store.
I am guessing the downside of reviving that many zombies for so long is that the user will eventually die. That means Kotaro is giving up his life to make Sakura’s dream come true.
Why couldn’t they just animate the tae backstory for this season? That would have me S2 so much better
There is a Manga for Tae’s backstory, that is very much “Buffy the vampire slayer” in feel. Hard to find and I can’t remember the link either. Maybe there will be a “Gaiden” style set of an episode or special in development?
If anyone asks what’s so good about the idol genre… I’d point them to these 5
– Chihaya Kisaragi’s coming to terms with her past and her powerful Yakusoku performance in ep 20
– Love Live Muse split at the station
– Love Live Aqours sending off Muse
– Yugiri’s story
– And this
Ah, but we’ve seen the girls piloting fighter jets in the OP all season. Everyone knows, that to take down a huge alien ship, you hit their primary weapon with a rocket (or a Stearman), just before they fire it!
Well, so ends my favourite show of the season. Its story wasn’t as coherent as the first season’s but I quite enjoyed it. Junko’s astounding performance of Gekikou Survival back in episode 4 is the highlight of year for me. Kudos to the creators of the song and its presentation, which were great all around. Without thinking about it, it’s probably the best insert song performance since Haruhi subbed in at the North High festival. And especially to Kawase Maki, her seiyuu, who needs to get more good roles. I do wish they hadn’t autotuned the voices for the following ‘electric’ rendition of Mezame Returner though.
I’ll have to look back at the first season’s early episodes and compare the stage animation with what we saw here. My feeling is that it’s improved a lot. I wonder if the studio is gonna use what they’ve been learning in other shows.
Anyway, while it looks like the girls are at peace with being zombies, it may be too soon to rest on their laurels. I’m looking forward to whatever comes next.
Sometimes, I wonder if humanity has regressed as a species if it takes a group of fictional zombie idols to bring out some basic decency and humanity. Honestly, seeing humans being bros is a breath of fresh air from the usual display (and sometimes bearing the brunt) of humans being douchey IRL–online and off. (And I swear, douchey people really drain a person’s empathy.)
*Sighs* Welp, since I’ve been a day behind (or worse) watching each new episode of Zombie Land Saga Revenge, I’m just gonna post what I loved most about the season:
– I’m glad MAPPA didn’t forget about that subplot about the reporter investigating Franchouchou. And while he does find out that the Franchouchou girls are zombies, the reporter gets a change of heart upon seeing them perform for the evacuees after that flood. (Though he still has reservations about reviving dead idols for entertainment, of course.)
– Nice to see Yuugiri’s backstory, which included the possibility of Yamada Tae (Or one of her ancestors?) being alive during Yuugiri’s time. (As well as the possibility that Kotaro is a descendant of Kiichi, the person Yuugiri managed to save.) T’was certainly my most favorite story arc of the season.
These next two things, not so much:
– I’m not so fond of the ending stinger… (A giant alien ship suddenly destroying Saga a-la Independence Day? What the FAQ?!) Reminds me too much of the (Gainax) ending of Panty and Stocking (and I doubt that series will get a new season). Hope that’s just the MAPPA guys messing around and not an actual sequel hook, since the ending was satisfying enough.
– Also, I would have loved to see Tae’s (legendary) adventures before her demise and revival, but it’ll be a while before that manga spinoff gets to the “usual places” (if it ever does). Plus, I gotta imagine Kotono Mitsuishi using her normal voice for Tae.
I could also sense that the flood that happened in the previous episode may have been inspired by the 2018 Japan floods*. Mainly because I vividly remember watching the local TV news at the Hearton Hotel in Osaka (during my visit to Japan back in the same year) and seeing images/footage of the aftermath. And also because I still have memories of the unpleasant, firsthand experience of Typhoon Ketsana (a.k.a.: Ondoy).
Talk and concerns of increasingly freaky weather aside, seeing Franchouchou give hope and a much-needed morale boost to the people of Saga did make for one hell of a finale. And while one could wish it was under better circumstances, Franchouchou finally got to hold the dream concert they’ve always wanted and redeem themselves from their failed concert at the same venue earlier in the season. Quite a fitting book-end.
(* – Though if the showrunners wanna joss that or dismiss it as coincidence, I’m fine with it.)
P.S.: I reckon I’ll be seeing this expression from Tatsunokos/Kiryu-Kai after July 1st.
With the excuse of the zombie stuff for shits and giggles, I ended watching an idol anime and liking it. I never thought I would.
I was expecting it to be an idol anime, since season 2.
The only way I could see that alien invasion working out is if everyone knew they were coming and evacuated first. I just can’t imagine a show like this killing off scores of people.
I know this post is old but, for me Season 2 was so much fun compared to Season 1. Mainly because a lot of personal differences were smoothed out in the first season and Fran Chou Chou are more, how do I say it…homogeneous.
What made the Season more fun for me was seeing a day in the life of Tae, Lily being the better performer (by far), The Saga incident where we saw how Yuugiri met her end, no one cared if Fran Chou Chou were ZomZoms and all this lead up to a major spectacticle.
The very end were a flying saucer appeared and destroying Saga was kind of a page out of “Family Guy” seriously. Saga and the residence were all in the process of recovery and just like that we the audience get to see Saga end in a D-Day (Government in ZombieLand Saga Revenge must be having a field day with this news…)
The show literally bombed, even in sales.
That is why they nuked it to oblivion in the end.
It has been a good watch.