An electrifying performance.
What They Say:
Episode #7: “But It’s Zombiemental SAGA”
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Junko doesn’t think she can be a modern day idol. The fame that the girls seek has taken down the walls between the audience at the performers, and it makes her uncomfortable. Junko locks herself in a room and sits as the days pass and the rest of the girls’ practice. Mushrooms grow on her decomposing flesh. The others keep practicing.
The manager, Kotaro, has been mostly an obnoxious presence up until this episode. Effective, but ultimately he hasn’t been a voice of encouragement. That changes in this episode as he eventually crashes his way into Junko’s room and sits down to have a heart to heart. He understands why she’s upset, and he tells her it’s all right. However, he wants her to support the others and if she doesn’t want to meet with fans that’s okay, that’s her prerogative. Then he tells her to fix the broken door and leaves. It honestly changed my opinion of Kotaro, maybe he isn’t a complete idiot.
The girls head off to the concert, and the new costumes are introduced. Ai’s old idol group still exists, with a newer generation of singers, and they get a performance which isn’t CG. Of course, with all of the foreshadowing the weather grows dark, the crowds thin, and a diminished yet still excited group of music fans await the show.
The terrible robotic CG dancing returns, which still makes very little sense to me. The other idol group doesn’t get a shoddy CG dance routine. Amusingly, one concert-goer comments at the beginning of their performance that the girls seem stiff. That was a bit on the nose, and perhaps not intentionally. I still wish they’d just traditionally animated the performance, because it’s honestly distracting from the music.
Something that did surprise me about the music is that Junko’s singing voice is surprisingly deep and sultry compared to her speaking tone. She does come to Ai’s rescue when she can’t focus because of the lightning. The performance takes a truly strange turn when lightning does strike. The girls and fans are fine, but the stage and equipment are affected. Their signing switches to sounding autotuned, they glow, they strut. The one suspicious writer watching their rise to fame is growing more suspicious by the day.
The performance is a massive hit though, and the girls take their bows with rousing applause.
In Summary:
A surprisingly touching episode of Zombie Land Saga has Junko resolve to help her fellow zombies at their big change to make it big. The actual concert borders on disaster but the unique indestructibility of the girls keeps them on their feet in true the show must go on fashion. Franchochou has really come into their own. Now, where do the girls go from here?
Episode Grade: B +
Streamed by: Crunchyroll & Funimation
