Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Episode 6

Man, it's a real shame that the future of Zom 100's production schedule is so shaky since the series seems to be hitting a stride. Ironically, a lot of that is because of regressions in the development of a certain superhero guy that we all know and love, but that's exactly what gives the current phase of the show's story its zombie horror bona fides. It's a rule of the genre at this point that every single zombie story worth its salt must, in some form or another, interrogate whether the surviving humans are any better than the monsters they spend all day and night outrunning and outgunning. As poor Akira is forced to remember this week, sometimes the only way to survive in a world fueled by the pain and suffering of the masses is to become the worst kind of inhuman creature imaginable: A mediocre supervisor with delusions of grandeur.

It's not all doom and gloom, though. Akira and Kencho's quest for an RV is the signature kind of goofy time that Zom 100 has become known for, especially since it once again (and permanently, this time) reintroduces Shizuka into the core cast. As we come to see with the ever-so-tantalizing glimpses of her backstory that we catch later on, when the gang is held hostage at Kosugi's compound, Shizuka brings just as much to the proceedings when things get serious as when she's balancing out The Two Stooges' usual shtick. I wonder when that blond samurai lady is going to finally make her grand debut…

Either way, it seems like the crew is going to have to deal with a legitimately evil threat for the first time before things can go back to being fun again. Sure, hordes of undead zombies (and Zombie Sharks (with Feet!)) are plenty dangerous enough, but their menace is not malicious. The pathetic creatures can't control their cravings any more than could an exhausted anime critic who wakes up at three in the morning and finds a perfectly uneaten half of a pizza just calling out his name. Kosugi, though, is just a right bastard, through and through, and all too happy to bring his particular brand of dehumanizing slave-driving to his post-apocalyptic slave compound. I have a feeling that our heroes are going to have a hard time getting out of this one without at least one living human dying a horrible (but possibly very deserved) death.

If anything, I need to see Kosugi bite the big one just so we don't have to watch Akira suffer from his crippling PTSD anymore. We've spent so many weeks watching the guy conquer the literal armies of the damned with nothing but the power of pure positivity (and precision-engineered aquatic wear), so it's genuinely upsetting to watch his newly rebuilt sense of self-worth just completely collapse in the face of such a dreaded specter from his past. It makes for great storytelling, to be sure, but that doesn't mean that my heart can handle watching these two lovely idiots (and Shizuka) suffer for much longer.

Unfortunately, unless this storyline will be resolved next week, it might be a while until The Greatest Zombie Road Trip Ever can resume. After Episode 7, we're set for a recap, a couple more episodes, and then who-knows-how-long of a wait until the remainder of the series gets to air. After the NieR:Automata Ver. 1.1a debacle, I can't help but feel like I am some kind of walking curse on anime production schedules. If that is the case, I am sorry. Hopefully, we won't have to wait until the year 2024 to see Zom 100 through to the end…

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Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead is currently streaming on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Netflix.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.