DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ActionZom 100: Zombie ni Naru Made ni Shitai 100 no Koto

REVIEWS

• 

  Ionliosite2

  20/100
  People don’t know what “dystopia” means anymore

  Zom 100: Zombie ni Naru made ni Shitai 100 no Koto has taught me that people don’t know what “dystopia” means anymore. For the last 5ish years, I’ve seen a lot of complains on why the generic isekai we get by the dozens are popular, but I find the answer to that question very obvious: escapism, as they provide an outlet for MC-kun to get free from the burdens of the real world, and enter a fantasy world where he can do whatever he wants, while the high school age viewers places themselves in his place. Zom 100 offers the same idea but for the working age viewer, with the zombie apocalypse replacing the travel to another world, showing our working-class MC-kun being able to do whatever he wants now that he’s free from his work so the overworked viewer can self-insert on him.

  As a direct result of its escapism angle, the series isn’t actually horror, having a lot of light hearted moments and comedy to make it look like this is a superior lifestyle, which backfires on it hard because the comedy in this series is atrocious, I’m talking about “going naked is funny” and “fart jokes” levels of bad comedy, I wanted to slam my head on a wall when they unironically showed a zombie farting as if it was a punchline. This same light tone also undermines all the serious moments, not helped by the fact the series suffers from “getting character development means you’ll die” syndrome, so you get a scene painted as tragic because a character we barely knew is a zombie followed by the cast laughing at silly jokes. I’m a big fan of the style of Hiroyuki Imaishi, and one thing his series manage is to strike a balance between the serious character moments and the absolute batshit insanity going on around them, but this series clearly has no idea how to do that, as the tonal whiplash here is so jarring even Code Geass and its constant back and forth between racial politics and waifus eating pizza feels more balanced.

  MC-kun, named Akira this time, is a self-insert character, as unlike any other person or even the other characters in the same show, he shows absolutely no horror or regret at the idea of the world ending in a zombie apocalypse, instead being happy that he doesn’t have to work anymore, obviously a tool to enable the escapism aspect of the premise. This behavior is just downright nonsensical, as we have no explanation or thematic point made by Akira acting like the death of most of humanity is his comfort catalyst, and in fact makes him come across as a sociopath rather than the sympathetic character the narrative tries to paint him as, something that’s very notorious in episode 3 where contrasted against his friend who has a far more logical reaction to seeing everyone around him turning into murderous monsters. A character acting in an extreme way CAN be done well, as shown by Shirou in Fate/stay night and Shu in Ima Soko ni Iru Boku, but only if said behavior is done to make a thematic or moral point, something that’s not the case here, as there’s really no clear reason for him to act like that beyond making it #SoRelatable to the viewers who also feel overworked. Also, what’s up with the fact he doesn’t even look like an adult? If you showed me his design with no context, I’d say he’s 15, and even watching the show he acts just like I’d expect an anime teen to do it.

  The other characters aren’t really much better. Kencho has no character at all beyond being the comic relief, and by that I mean that he’s an obnoxiously loud idiot who clearly doesn’t know how to deliver jokes, with getting naked seriously being the best he can come up with in terms of comedy, just to put into perspective how poor the overall comedy of this series is. While I think that Shizuka was passable, given she seems to be the only sensible person here, she’s mostly used as a strawman damsel in distress despite her supposed capabilities to highlight how cool our MC-kun is, leading her to be a fanservice source at best. Bea is a westerner obssessed with Japanese culture - that's her entire character, everything around her revolves around being a weeb, and once again she's just a tool to provide some extra fanservice.

  An aspect for which I wanted to give this series points, however, is the visuals. We live in an age of seasonal shows that all are filled with so much cost cutting like CloverWorks works being filled with blurriness, and the idea of what good animation is has been reduced to just “flashy visuals” rather than having any appreciation for the technical aspects with MAPPA churning out disaster after disaster that isn’t well animated to anyone who knows of animation but looks flashy so it gets called “good animation” by those who don’t know, making Zom 100 a show that stands out in this landscape because it actually tried. The first episode didn't have the generic simple shots made to save money, it had an actual visual identity, something that’s such a rarity in modern anime that I can see why people act as if this was groundbreaking, even if in reality it’s more of a minimum to look good, at least when they don’t use CGI, that still looks bad even here. However, this “carried by the animation” angle was only at first, as each episode got uglier and uglier to the point it got rid of much of the praise points I could give it, as it looked like any other anime by its later half, which very likely relates to its now infamous troubled production and grueling working crunch. Given that from what I read, this new studio BUG FILMS was created by people who felt overworked on their previous work at OLM, and the evils of overwork being the main theme of the series, the fact this new studio now perfectly reflects the very type of company the anime criticizes is incredibly hypocritical.

  Overall, this series is just a failure all around, it fails at being entertaining, it feels at giving social commentary on Japanese work culture, it fails at being funny, it fails at building actual characters, and most importantly, it fails as an anime production, with its terrible development hell that postponed the last batch of episodes for months being a perfect example of the terrible state the anime industry is in nowadays.

  Thank you for reading

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• 

  Sakuraplant

  90/100
  Zom 100 Review of the Dead

  Zom 100 was one of the most hyped anime for the summer season, created by the minds of Haro Aso and Koutaro Takata. I was really excited about this anime and read the manga.

  About:

  

  So, what is this anime about? Zom 100 is about a guy named Akira Tendo. He gets his dream job at a production company. He develops a crush on a cute girl, and things seem to be going well. It’s not only that he eventually realizes that the company he is working for is exploitative. He works long shifts, barely gets any rest, and his boss is a complete asshole. Akira suffers for three years of his life until one day, he wakes up in a zombie apocalypse. However, instead of being scared for his life, he’s happy because he no longer has to work. He then decides to make a list of 100 things he wants to do before becoming a zombie.

  

  This anime takes on a more positive POV of people going through a zombie apocalypse, completely different from what’s shown in the first few seconds of the first episode when Akira is watching a zombie movie. It’s a very interesting concept. We get to meet many interesting characters like Kencho, Shizuka, and Beatrix throughout the series. As he continues to gather more of the gang, he goes on a lot of adventures and does fun activities like surf yoga, dining at a sushi restaurant, and taking a nice dip in a hot spring. There’s also character some character development between the group, especially for Shizuka.

  

  Art + animation + Music

  

  The art in this anime is amazing. You can tell right off the bat that Bug Studios put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into animating this. I like how they use black and white when showing feelings of sadness, frustration, and misery. It then switches back to using colors when things start to get exciting. The use of colors, little transitions in between scenes, and special effects were awesome. The animation was very good, and so was the music. It was like watching a movie at the cinema.

  Cons

  

  The only thing I dislike about this anime ( and I think many will agree with me on this ) is the delays. This series has gone through multiple delays and an indefinite hiatus due to production issues. It sucks seeing an anime you were so excited for suddenly have delayed episodes and lose its hype. Regardless, we must remember that this is a completely new studio. Unless you want the animators to go through what Akira did, they aren’t robots and deserve breaks. I think it’s also better to prioritize quality over quantity. I’d rather have delayed, high-quality episodes than have a studio produce crappy ones weekly.

  In conclusion, this anime is very enjoyable. A fun horror comedy that will get you on the edge of your seat and, at the same time, laugh your socks off.

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• 

  SoloWingGreekie

  90/100
  A love letter to freedom, liberation, and escapism, in all it's purities and impurities.

  I honestly forgot about this show after Summer, probably in no small effort of the delay that only ended until a few days ago.

  While I do think the delays the show suffered from hindered it's popularity, I won't be using those delays as a con for the inherent qualities of the show, as it doesn't really hold any inherent reason for the quality of the show.

  Being honest though, even if I were to count it as a con it would hardly matter because this is one of the best seasonals to date.

  If there is one word, one theme, that defines this show, it's Freedom. Not the kind that's preached about by Attack on Titan, but pure, unadulterated freedom to do what you want, when you want.

  The 1st episode is by far the best indicator of that. The episode spends most of the time badgering and destroying Akira through the toxic corpo environment of Japan, shackling him and imprisoning him through the hellish work ethics and quotas, his habits and supportive crutches slowly being stripped away to the point where he's just a cog in a machine fueled by blood, sweat, and tears, a common thing in the country. By the time the zombie pandemic hits, Akira finds the strength to unshackle every chain that held him down to the mundane and menial life he in order to experience the freedom to do whatever he wants and enjoy life to the fullest, starting small, and getting ever higher with his ambitions.

  The visuals, animation and sound at the first episode more than the serve that purpose too. The vivid focus of color, the bombastic and frantic animation through multiple camera perspectives and how dynamic it all feels, all while supported with a high energy score alongside the catharsis of not having to go through the hell that was his job anymore. It's an immensely satisfactory first impression and thankfully it carries that same energy throughout the rest of the season. While the animation hasn't technically reached the same heights in later episodes, it still holds extremely well and it's hardly a con to be against the show.

  The characters and story are fairly great too, Akira himself is super endearing, and you can see how infectious his personality and will to live life with no regrets not just with Kencho and Shizuka, but with every character he comes across. While he's not perfect, his qualities stand in contrast to the general mood a zombie apocalypse typically brings and it shows. He's an optimist in a world full of pessimists, and through his personality, he helps people change their perspective of the world, and help them pursue what they truly want in life. Beatrix is a bit of an outlier, given she joined a bit too late in the season, but from what limited screetime she had, she too has somewhat the same development as the others.

  It's not as though there isn't any antagonistic force however, Akira finds himself subjugated by past demons, and through the friends and support he nourished along the way, he was able to overcome then, just like how he supported his friends and helped them overcome their troubles to live life to the fullest.

  Then, we move on to the final episodes, where the main characters not only fight off the seemingly thematic parallel versions of themselves, but in the sides, a battle of Freedoms, specifically, Positive vs Negative Freedom, is being waged. And it makes a lot of sense, especially once the main characters entered the village. Through the characters sense of community and support, they were able to deter Higurashi, his cronies, and the zombies that came to ravage the village.

  Kencho won against the worst husband of the year because unlike him, he knows how to treat people correctly, and not expect anything in return, as seen in his cabaret days and now with the girl he tried to save. Shizuka won against the fatty because he wasn't willing to work with others, or even commit to learning anything about his work, while she had devoted herself to working with the community, and in turn the community helped her. Beatrix won against Toko because she respects the people and their differing ways of doing things, unlike her, who tried to project her perfect way of doing everything.

  And finally, Akira won against Higurashi, because unlike Higurashi, Akira had the support of his family and community to support him and his dreams. Higurashi was the embodiment of negative freedom, acting in a way that harmed others, serving only himself, while Akira was the embodiment of positive freedom, acting in a limited manner, but never harming others, and serving himself and the people he cares about. In the end, he is defeated because he's alone, and his self-serving actions amounted to nothing, and it never satisfied him. While the show does do the annoying thing like Demon Slayer where they do give him a sob story in an effort to sympathize with him, they never explicitly treat him like a person that was wronged. All of it was his fault, and he recognized it all too late.

  Beyond that, I don't think I have any major gripes with the show. Besides the fact Kana-Boon sung the op (I don't like them, blame Silhouette for that), lorebuilding regarding other survivors make it seem like that outside the main characters, antagonists, and the village characters, the people in the city are deemed like idiots in an apocalypse, and maybe you can be a bit pissy to the fact they pulled a bait and switch regarding Akira's dad, then honestly, it's a near perfect show.

  I don't think zombie shows will ever outheal the damage Hollywood caused on the genre back in the early 2000s-2010s, as it stands it's still a really bloated genre with too many awful picks overshadowing any genuinely good stuff. But Zom 100 is one of those good ones. It takes the ironic memes about how weebs and gamers would survive the zombie apocalypse and revels in it, wrapped tightly in a neat bow about how your personal freedoms are the most important thing, and you shouldn't let trivialities like society or a zombie apocalypse stop you from doing the things you want to do.

  It's an amazingly fun piece, and I hope despite the delays it had, it gets picked up to get another season.

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