Sgathaich: Zombieland Saga

Ok, First if you are thinking I’m reviewing the movie Zombieland, wrong place I don’t tend to review modern films, that’s for other people. Second, you may want to go into this series blind (no stop, I didn’t mean poke your eyes out, I meant go in without further knowledge on the show) as with the unexpected events play into the humour and enjoyment of the series. But if you really want to know let’s drive our small truck in.

We open up 10 years ago in 2008 with Sakura Minamoto as she watches her favourite idol group having filled out a form to try out to be an idol herself and rushes out the door to be hit by a small truck (ooooh…. ok wrong choice of vehicle) and this is in the first 3 minutes. She then finds herself in a large abandoned building when she is suddenly attacked by zombies one of which looks familiar not that she remembers, she has no memory of who she was. Escaping the house and the 6 zombies and approaches a policeman for aid only for him to freak out and shoot her, looking into a mirror she sees her own green skinned form  as an individual smacks the policeman with a shovel, and then Sakura was a zombie (ok she already was at the start of the bit in the house just wanted to make a reference, figure it out and get a pat on the back)

The man Kotaro Tatsumi reveals his plan to save the Japanese region of Saga by creating an all Zombie idol group from legendary figures from the past.  The Legendary Saki Nikaido who was in charge of a biker gang, The legendary Ai Mizuno former head of the idol group in 2008 Sakura liked, The legendary Junko Konno an idol from the 80s, the legendary Yugiri  a courtesan from the 19th century, The legendary Lily Hoshikawa a child actress and finally the legendary Yamada Tae (yeah that’s all you learn about her) Also Kotaro Tatsumi is rather… loud and enthusiastic, of course the other girls bar Sakura are all kind of… mentally zombies and he’s already booked their first performance.

By the end of the first episode all the other girls bar Tae have woken up and so the fun begins. What continues is a mix of Idol anime and comedy as Kotaro’s plan to save Saga with his zombie idol group continues and the girls all get to know each other, and well one of them was biker gang member and things go rather nuts, not to mention the still very zombie Tae openly biting people (don’t worry she’s not infectious).

The show goes on with the group coming together and we learn a lot about the girls including how many of them died, rather an interesting concept with one of them developing fears and motives based on how they died and were remembered.

That’s not to say the show is without its issues. When the girls all get up for idol scenes with dancing it moves to very noticeable CG that really does not look too good compared to the animation they use out of it.

But back to the positives, the later half of the series has a small end of series plot that was actually clever in hindsight as an event potentially damages their preparations for their first ever stand alone concert, I won’t spoil it cause I feel I’ve spoiled enough but it made me go, ooh that’s clever.

The series is 12 episodes long and became one of the surprise hits of last year and voted one of the best series in the last anime season which is good cause a lot of people are hoping for a sequel, we still have many unanswered questions, like how are they zombies? how did Kotaro make them zombies? Who is the legendary Yamada Tae? But even then the show doesn’t feel incomplete, Sakura’s story does feel complete by the end of the 12th episode.

I don’t ever really watch idol anime but this with its zombie twist had a lot of people enjoying it and found it went in directions no one expected. So sit back and enjoy for once not a tale of zombies whipping out mankind in a depressing done a million times story, but instead a unique tale of zombies rising up, and being forced to form an idol group, watch the show and comment your best girl below, mine is the legendary Yamada Tae.

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