Zom 100- Bucket List of the Dead Season 1 Thoughts.

“When there’s no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth.”

 George A. Romero, 1940-2017 

Hey everyone- with spooky season upon us, it’s finally time to address an anime I’ve been wanting to a while. The premise is what sold me- for most people, a zombie apocalypse would be a waking nightmare. For overworked salaryman ad executive Akira Tendo, it’s a dream come true. Now that I’ve finally seen the entire first season (and begun reading the manga); here are my thoughts on Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead.

Much as how previous works in this subgenre of horror have put a darkly humorous spin on society’s flaws against.this backdrop; this is no exception. Even before the dead walk the earth, the story acts as a savage takedown of corporate culture and overwork in particular. Viral pandemic aside, it’s all too common that people find themselves in a workplace that takes advantage of their ambitions; functionally locking them into a vicious cycle of exploitation that isn’t found out until literal years of their life go by. Suffice to say, the scene where Akira tells off his (now-zombified) boss before tackling him out the window is indeed satisfying. Also, said boss had a female coworker as his (also now-zombified) mistress, because of course he did.

Even the three-part finale manages to find a way to justify a human antagonist in the form of Higurashi and his followers. I’m typically not a huge fan of human villains in these stories, considering what role the zombies play; but this anime makes it work, and their fates incredibly gruesome and karmic. I won’t be spoiling them here, which should give you an idea of how graphic yet satisfying their ends are. That, and it differs between the anime and manga.

The UK has Shaun of the Dead, the US has the Zombieland, and now Japan has their own darkly humorous zombie work to call their own. It has also managed to fill the void left by High School of the Dead, since any chance of that getting a proper ending died with Daisuke Sato. This will not be the only anime I will be celebrating Halloween with; and my crates of Mountain Dew Voodoo (flavor this year is a citrus cotton candy blend, in case you were wondering) will be at my right hand watching. That will be all for now, and enjoy yourself any way you can.