Anime 54112 Zom 100 Zombie Ni Naru Made Ni Shitai 100 No Koto Reviews Sort Suggested Filter Check Filter Hide Preliminary On Spoiler Off P 2

BEST ROLLERCOASTER ANIME EVER as of right now

This anime is such a good roller coaster ride of emotions, you WILL find EVERY emotion watching this anime, and that's already proven from the first 3 episodes. This anime in general is just fantastic. You WILL enjoy it, I guarantee, but weather you want to stick to it and follow it through or not is one of the problem of this anime.

Lets get the pros out of the way first. One of the best thing this anime has is it production quality. The story is quite unique, and would be interesting to see this through. The art ... style is phenomenal and revolutionary, the level of unique, fresh, and revolutionaryness is very close to Bochi the rock, but still not that much (but still much more than a normal anime), you can enjoy it just from the beautiful refreshing art style for sure. The OST, Sound design, Vas is also top of the line of anime industry. The biggest thing this story sell you is the ridiculous mc, and how he do things, this is the big point and the most enjoyable thing by far.

Now, next of these can be either pro or con depends on you, so let see what they are:
1. Slow pacing / Not story heavy / unpredictable : This anime actually is quite slow pace and not much meaningful thing happen during each episode, the story is also not really straight and have no real core objectives to follow through ( sure completing the bucket list is the main objective, but we don't even know what the list is), and is just a chilling show that is always unpredictable. This can be turn off/on depends on what type you like.
2. Require patience to watch : Not just the pacing is slow, some characters in this animes will also come and go (as of writing this, I can see this as the direction), so meaningful developments can be slow, and you would need to be patience to see this pan out. Between episode also have on hook, and have no tease of what will happen next (cuz its unpredictable), so you could loose interest fast if you'rent patience with this show.

That's really all, in conclusion, the story aren't that heavy at all, is is an unpredictable story. The production quality is PEAK and is very refreshing and unique and fun for sure. You will enjoy this anime guarantee, but wether you want to follow it or not is up to you, since this style is not for everyone.

We've seen the zombie apocalypse genre done death (no pun intended) in recent years, so a light hearted comedic take was a welcome change from me. The characters all have lots of chemestry with eachother and the story seems mostly episodic with hints of a broader narrative which excites me for the long term while helping me stay invested in what the characters are doing

Ontop of all that it's very well animated with minimal use of 3D. All in all this is a great show if you're looking for something comedic or slice of lifey, and though there are moments of action, this is probably ... not the high stakes zombie survival thriller some people might be looking for (even if the opening theme is a certified banger).

Easy 9/10 so far. Hopefully we won't be waiting too long for the series to return from hiatus!

I love everything that has to do with zombies. I watched the korean show 'kingdom' day one I play just about any zombie game you can imagen, hell my first ever anime that got me into anime is High school of the dead. So to say I was hyped for this anime when I first read about it is an understatement. And boy did it not disappoint from the writing to the art it's all just amazing(except for the schedules they made xd). From the colorfoul blood to the comedic/serieus writing its amazing. The character design and development so far is a 10/10. Can't ... wait to see episode 10 when/if it comes out xd. Can't recommend enough

At the heart of this goofy, action-packed anime, lies a key message worth remembering long after the series ends:
"Live every day like it's your last"

Zom 100 perfectly tackles one of the most relevant issues impacting the lives of too many young adults. If you have ever worked yourself to the brink of exhaustion for some faraway goal you've long since forgotten, sold your happiness for hollow material gain, become too obsessed with maintaining the perfect life to actually enjoy it, or cut ties with every important person in your life to make room for "the grind", then this anime will speak to you on a ... fundamental emotional level previously not thought possible. Zom 100 is the perfect antidote to the drudge of everyday life. It teaches you to be defiantly upbeat when you have no right to be, to enjoy moments both big and small, to live fulfilled without any regrets, and above all, to take care of yourself.

Because hey, if the MC can find happiness during a zombie apocalypse, then why can't you?

Animation:
Zom 100 simply has no right being this gorgeous. The artstyle is unusually vibrant and expressive for a zombie anime, but adoringly fitting given the show's entire "party at the end of the world" theme. The colors and camera angles of each frame feels carefully crafted and thought-out to convey a particular feeling, like the very best of any critically acclaimed masterpiece. Shots are fluid, and lighting is bright. Oh, and I almost forgot. This show has some of the best character designs I have ever seen, period. Overall, Zom 100's animation is bursting with style and attitude, an absolute treat to the eyes.

Music:
Absolutely perfect. It's not something I can quite explain, but the anime's score somehow manages to capture the emotions of each scene so well. The triumphant tracks make epic moments hit twice as hard, while the OP and ED really manages to convey that rebelliously upbeat vibe the anime has got going.

Voice acting:
Whoever voices the MC should be given a raise. Every line felt real and visceral, like it came straight from the character. Nothing much else to add, but the voice acting across the board is great.

Really, I've got zero complaints

Nah, but this anime literally slaps.

Zom 100 offers a fresh take on the zombie apocalypse genre. Instead of focusing on survival and horror, it explores the idea of what happens when a regular office worker, Akira, decides to enjoy life and fulfill his bucket list in a world filled with zombies. This unique concept sets it apart from typical zombie-themed shows. Definitely the best zombie anime to watch out there.

Character Development: (9) Zom 100 delves into the personal growth and character development of its protagonist, Akira. As he faces various challenges and confronts his own fears, viewers can relate to his journey of self-discovery and ... transformation. He first had a shitty life working in the office, he then cured his depression that he no longer has to go to work due to a zombie outbreak.

Art Style: (10) The anime's art style is visually appealing, and the character designs are well-crafted. The animation quality enhances the overall viewing experience. Despite being a comedy anime, Zom 100 doesn't skimp on its zombie designs. The zombies are creatively crafted and still maintain a level of grotesque and eerie appearance, which is essential for the contrast between the comedic and horror elements.

Story: (10) This anime boasts a compelling story thanks to its innovative concept that reimagines the zombie apocalypse genre. It centers around Akira, who works like a typical npc office worker who then embarks on an extraordinary journey to fulfill his bucket list in a world overrun by zombies. This unique premise not only offers a refreshing twist on the traditional survival narrative but also explores themes of personal growth, self-discovery, and the pursuit of happiness in the face of adversity. The well-developed characters, balanced tone of humor and horror, and the underlying message of hope and resilience further enhance the storytelling, despite having zombies, the horror doesn't scare me at all. Nor is the main character too.

Positive Message: Despite the dire circumstances of a zombie-infested world, Zom 100 ultimately carries a positive message about finding happiness and purpose in unexpected places. It encourages viewers to pursue their dreams and live life to the fullest, even in challenging situations.

Overall, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead is a good anime to watch because of its unique concept, humor, relatable themes, character development, and the positive message it conveys. If you enjoy a mix of comedy and supernatural elements in an unconventional setting, you may find this anime highly enjoyable. I highly recommend!!! give it a watch!

The problem here was the hiatus, otherwise than that, this show is a masterpiece. The famous theme of "taking adavantage of being alive" is super relatable. The show has a pretty unique take on that topic and about a lot more. The other best one is the explotation of companies and how they literally make you forget you have a life other than working.
I repit, if it wasn't for the hiatus, this would have been a 10/10. For those who are going to watch it from the start at this point, I highly recommend to anyone who likesa good comedy-drama-postapocalyptic anime.
pd: the main characters ... my goooood. Akira, Kencho, Shisuka and Bea are so cute and funny together. I love them so much. Can't wait to see another season.

Before watching it, I really liked the pitch. I thought there was a lot of potential within this serie.
However, even so I really liked the first episodes, I was quite disappointed by the following ones, especially by the final ones.

The more the serie goes on, the more the characters ( especially the bad guys) seem empty, without any kind of depth. I was particularly disappointed by the frustrated evil group at the end. I was almost under the impression that they were embodying the lazy workers in order to emphasize « rightfull » meritocratic values.
A show can in my opinion only be ludicrous when it ... tries to moralize its watchers even though the content is extremely caricatural.. How then still take this serie seriously, when the directors are taking us for idiots ?

I recognize that I am quite harsh in this comment, especially given the way I rated this show. However, how not to be severe when the end of a relatively good show is so mediocre ?

Nonetheless, I still find that a second season could be promising given the last images.. Lets have hope:)

Behold, The anime which was delayed throughout most of 2023 but still managed to give us a satisfying finish. It got delayed a bunch of times (Some context for people who wonder why this show has mixed reviews and don't know about the delays).

I went into this anime with absolutely zero expectations and was genuinely mindblown by the first episode and was watching it on a weekly basis until the delays started and then they finally dropped the last 3 episodes.

Animation : Top notch really, nothing to say.
Story : Passable I guess, its your run of the mill Zombie story but what separates this from ... other entries in the ever expanding Zombie franchises is the nature of the main character itself. Akira Tendou is unlike your run of the mill protagonists, He defies logic quite literally and there are some moments when you'll be like what the actual.. But trust me its fun for what it is.

Characters : The characters are what make this different from the plethora of existing zombie franchises. Akira our main character is just hopelessly optimistic, the groups goals are different but they all stick together. Good chemistry among them. The main character Akira's personality can be annoying for some but it reminds me of my childhood when I could dream about being this or doing that. It teaches me that it's never too late to start doing stuff because we will all die someday soon So it's better to live without regrets than with them. That's the message I got from the main character and maybe the author was trying to convey that.

Unfortunately this anime suffered from being stuck in production hell which is ironic considering the premise of the show. So this anime lost a lot of it's popularity and traction since it got delayed for a couple of months but they did deliver on the final batch of episodes. Kudos to the staff and everyone involved. A delayed but completed product is better than a rushed incomplete product.
Enjoyment : It's mostly a fun to watch show depicting a post apocalyptic zombie world which is fun and over the top. Realism went out the window once zombies were mentioned so who cares about that anyway lol. Overall this was a pretty good one and I hope we don't have to wait too long for another season because it definitely deserves one.
I'll recommend this to any fans of the Zombie or end of the world genre , it's a pretty overused idea for sure but it actually reminded me of High school of the dead (which unfortunately we will never get more of). Even someone who has seen Last of us or played the game will probably like this Show, although keep in mind the world isn't as bleak and gorey as depicted in other zombie shows. The show has it's comedic moments and the chemistry between the main group of characters is something charming too.

Thanks for reading!

Is there anything good about this show? Other than good animation, what can be said positively about it? It's just straight up garbage. First off is the whole flashback and pilot episode that we get. Yes, I understand that the show is kind of just going through the motions, but that doesn't make it any more bearable how predictably garbage and boring everything is. What's the point of fabricating a backstory for a main character when it's the most soulless and generic backstory ever? Shocking I know, but I kind of figured what was going to happen for the next 15 minutes in the first ... minute. How crazy, right?

Of course, this is permissible if the show delivers on what it tries to create: comedy. Is this show funny? Absolutely not. Our main character Akira Tendou "lacking common sense" isn't funny. Just because someone does some random crap doesn't make it funny. It's just cringe. Him confessing to his crush when she's zombified as a bucket list isn't cute, funny, or relatable. It just...happened. Why? What was the purpose? To show him that he's unhinged?
But...we just had a flashback arc that completely contradicts his character. He doesn't quit the company because he doesn't want his coworkers to pick up his work when he's gone. He doesn't want to become homeless so he keeps his job. And he's too weak-willed to just quit and look for another. In fact, he needs a damn zombie apocalypse for him to "become free." You know you could basically just walk out the damn door and quit your job if you wanted that to happen. It just doesn't make sense. Not only is his backstory boring, generic, and garbage, it also just doesn't fit with his character profile later on. But somehow, we're supposed to believe that Akira Tendou is a cool guy that is unhinged, lacks common sense, and "funny." Yeah....no.

Ladies and gentlemen I present you the snowboarding track of this season. This show goes up and down and up and down in terms of interesting locations and things to do... but at the same time it's always going downhill. Episode eight jumped the shark for me and I am finally degrading initial score I gave it to a one closer to average, because that's all it is... just average. World building and setting might be different and initial premise was interesting but it completely devolved into "happy go lucky I hope to find a girlfriend lets visit hot springs together" kind of show. We ... could have expected it to become something of an adventure, but they literally did nothing with the premise. Zombies are nothing more than an obstacle to overcome so writers can come to this episode's expected content. Take zombies out of the equation and you get your average story of guy giving up on exploitative work and goes to live his life.

Remaining parts of the show are done very competently so they skillfully mask what is otherwise told to boredom story which you've seen many times by now. Even then it would have been possible to make such a story interesting but main characters lack even characteristics they were introduced to us with. Shizuka is suppose to be calculated and survival-focused person obsessed with gaining statistical advantages... that goes out of window after some episodes. Ken is just there as poor comedy-relief and only thing authors think is funny that he does is gets naked, which you never see but you are suppose to think is funny. Main character on the other hand is just an airhead who does whatever and somehow he always manages to survive, be it from his friends' help or act of god or some other plot convenience. Basically he has the thickest plot armor you've seen yet backed by a healthy dose of ADD. He will see something shiny and drop whatever he was doing at the moment and go do the other thing.

And that's it. Main characters are introduced at a steady pace, you can see those from the MAL page. They all go from point to point and do nothing of note. Story is never developed, you never get to learn about world and how it became like that. So I can't really say this is spoiler because there's nothing to spoil. I stopped watching the very moment Beatrix is introduced and they all collectively decide to go to hot springs. For no reason and out of the blue. That's the moment I feel show has jumped the shark and have stopped watching. Story is at this point beyond redemption.

And trust me, I am more disappointed at this development than most. It hurts me that they decided to ruin interesting and otherwise very competently done show. This season was so lacking of things to watch. But it had to be done, I had to say something and if you ask me, I wouldn't recommend it to people but some may find it entertaining enough. All in all this show is not at the same level as Akira or Death Parade or some other anime of note as it is currently rated at.

An anime that contains many logical errors and has a main character who is still a teenager despite graduating from university. An attempt was made to fill the gaps in the script by focusing on the comedy element, but I can't say it was very successful. Okay, the first few chapters were fluent, although they had their shortcomings. However, after episode 8, I changed my mind. It would have been possible to have a different end of the world instead of the zombie element, considering the characters. For example, a very deadly epidemic. There are places where it is successful, but it is not enough. ... Its value varies between 6.5/7 depending on your current mood.

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.

10/10 - good show, this shit like Zombieland (2009), if you like Zombieland watch this show

This show gets a 10/10 because it does everything I expect a High School of the Dead clone to basically do. It's a simple premise but that's the charm of it. Even though the studio had issues with production delays and deadline/postponed episodes, they still nailed it out of the park with this one!!!

Everyone complaining about this show is asking for a Walking Dead clone written by Martin Scorsese himself and don't know how to appreciate light hearted shows - like this shit got Dead Rising combo weapons, psychopath bosses, ... etc.

You watch this show for the fun factor, not to be esoteric and philosophical - at that point go read a book.

Just wanted to write a short paragraph, cause a lot of people are giving unfair reviews that basically boil down to "this show isn't what I wanted it to be, it sucks, 0/10". Here's the thing, if you're looking for a show about zombies, this isn't it. Yes, I know, it literally says "zombie" in its title, but this is not actually meant to be a serious show about surviving a zombie apocalypse.

The whole point of this show is that its social commentary about just how fucked our modern society (and particularly japanese working culture) is, and how it messes people up. How japanese salarymen ... were basically already zombies before the apocalypse even started, endlessly wagecucking for companies that don't give a shit about them. How meaningless and dull adult life can end up being. It approaches the subject in a very lighthearted manner though, and its not exactly subtle, so if you're looking for deep/sophisticated commentary, you won't find what you're looking for either. If you want that, go watch "Welcome to the NHK" instead.

I liked this anime. There is something very satisfying about seeing the MC and his group of friends finally being able to do what they really want, and while the lowbrow humor was a bit hit & miss for me, I still found it quite entertaining (for the most part). Oh, and it also looks and sounds great, which is a nice bonus. Its definitely not a masterpiece, but I would recommend this anime.

Everything from an adapting standpoint, a creative standpoint, and portraying as an anime standpoint is the best it could get. The adaptation/animation staff not only adapted it but built upon it by using their creativity. This whole series felt like it was made with a lot of passion and it gave a refreshing vibe from its dialogue to its song and music and its eye-pleasingly beautiful color palate just like the story intended. It might have lost its increasing craze because of it being delayed but BUG FILMS gave it the best adaptation treatment possible and I feel grateful they gave an output they could ... be proud of rather than giving up on quality like MAPPA. BUG FILMS have a few problems to fix but their future looks promising. I wish them all the best.

the tantalizing allure of the zombie apocalypse—a realm where the mundane meets the macabre, and survival takes center stage in a dance of wit and whimsy.

Enter Zom 100, a delightful romp through the ruins of civilization, where one man's misfortune becomes the catalyst for a comedic odyssey unlike any other.

Picture this: a man, lost in the labyrinth of life's monotony, finds himself thrust into the chaos of a world overrun by the undead—a turn of events that grants him the ultimate freedom to pursue his wildest dreams before succumbing to the zombified fate that awaits.

Zom 100 is a carnival of absurdity, a riotous celebration of ... the human spirit in the face of impending doom—a testament to the resilience of the human heart and the power of laughter to defy even the darkest of nights.

The artistry of Zom 100 is a feast for the eyes, a kaleidoscope of colors that breathe life into a world teetering on the brink of oblivion. It's a visual treat, a veritable symphony of hues that delights and enchants with every frame.

As for the characters, they dance upon the stage of comedy with a certain one-dimensional charm—a delightful cacophony of quirks and idiosyncrasies that, while lacking in depth, serve as the perfect foil to the absurdity unfolding around them.

And let us not forget the music—a melodic tapestry woven with care and precision, a harmonious companion to the whimsical journey that unfolds before us.

Yet, amidst the laughter and merriment, Zom 100 is not without its flaws. Some parts may lag, leaving us yearning for more, but such is the nature of comedy—a delicate balance between anticipation and payoff.

In conclusion, dear friends, Zom 100 may not be a masterpiece, but it is a shining beacon of originality and quality—a testament to the boundless creativity of the human imagination. So, gather round and immerse yourselves in this undead delight, for in the world of Zom 100, laughter reigns supreme, and the journey is its own reward.

Overall from starting to the end of the series i,m not bored.and it's very awesome so, please watch this anime i will recommend you it,s very nice😁it,s a comedy,thriller and zombie apocalypse anime🙂 with that of that of the story it is predictable and unusually it,s nice and i,m enjoyed it a lot and every character was designed very well and vibe of the anime is have persistence and every situation in the series was awesome we can say.and you will definitely enjoy this one so take your head phones and watch this series 🥰 it's a rare one and we can not find a ... one like this so watch it please🥰

*Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead* is a series that, at least in the beginning, seemed to have its finger on a bizarre pulse that had laid dormant for some time. Romping through its *Splatoon!*-colored zombie-fied “end of the world” setting, it decided that character depth and important intrigue would be abandoned in favor of giving its setting the excuse to go full-fledged indulgent into the stupid. Why concern yourself with hunkering down and fighting blood, sweat, and tears to survive when you could be more concerned about getting beer at the konbini instead, despite the clear and present danger? Why take the time ... to probe the deepest depths of human emotion when you can deliberately be silly instead?

There was something refreshing about that. After all, we had already experienced the glut of zombie fiction in the late 2000s and early 2010’s from things like *The Walking Dead*, and recently saw *The Last of Us* assert itself as well. Given how stories sometimes try to justify its characters “having a deep purpose” for everything or insisting at some “deeper meaning” thematically within the material, *Zom 100* seemed to be a reminder that there is indeed a place for the wild and belligerent (if not also pig-headed) in entertainment. The show’s start seemed to celebrate the kind of B-grade joy that only this brand of slop (I use that term affectionately) could provide – lean into the joy of what you are, celebrate your liberation from important expectation, and go ham. Don’t concern yourself with having a point or a central argument to tie it all together. Embrace chaos and run with it!

And for Tendou Akira, he seemed to get that memo immediately. Having been nearly choked to death by his job and his boss, wrung dry from every ounce of life fluid within him, Akira nearly became another type of zombie himself. However, upon waking up and realizing that the world has changed with zombies running rampant both in the streets and his own apartment, he could not be happier! With his job at ~~OLM~~ his company effectively over, he sets out to do the things that he wants to do with the newfound sense of freedom. What other way could you celebrate than running like a madman, laughing at the change of fortune?

But naturally, it’s a zombie-infected country, so danger is just around the corner. Akira’s carefree and can-do attitude might be his MO, but it doesn’t quite translate to the most intuitive survival skills. It’s only after an encounter with Mikazuki Shizuka that involves just barely avoiding a rather painful greeting with a zombie-driven truck that he realizes that if he’s going to make the most of the time that he has left, he’ll need a list of things that he wants to do, even if it ends with his eventual infection. In the midst of this new understanding, he has a path ahead – and it involves more fun and crazy times.

This oscillation between the inherent over-the-top nature of the setting or situations and the tiny doses of cold reality gives *Zom 100* its life. The result is a strange kind of literally and metaphorically colorful funkiness to the whole, leaving the question behind of what type of preposterous happening will occur next. Akira is kept sober enough to realize that sometimes you cannot just go do whatever the heck you want, but not so sober that he doesn’t get preoccupied with his own vain desires and wants. Contrasted with Shizuka’s pragmatism, their dynamic (punctuated by Ryuuzaki Kenichirou and Beatrix Amerhausen) offers a steady string of collisions to roll the eyes and provide a chuckle. *Zom 100* doesn’t always manage to strike the balance perfectly, but it happens well enough to give the push the material needs to get on its merry way.

However, as the world expands beyond Akira’s gaze and intersects with the others around him, the material at times decides that pleasantries and laughter must be put on ice in exchange for rumination about life. In a manner that feels wholly antithetical to how it conducted itself at first, we take the time to get to know, or be reintroduced, to brief characters that are likewise trying to live their own lives in the midst of the zombie world. Yet, each of these encounters MUST tie into the historical past or the past / present anxieties of a main character like Akira or Shizuka, which screech the established tone to a halt. The sense of B-grade fun and kinetic energy that comes with the knowing wink that you should “just go with it” is thus replaced with something meant to be taken more seriously.

*Zom 100* is a series that, in one episode, will have the characters trying to stop a gigantic zombie shark from eating everyone, and then one episode later involves a dive into a character's darker psychological trauma and torments. It will ask you to buckle your seatbelt when Akira runs like a crazy person out of his apartment exalted at the new reality before him, then try to endear a one-off flight attendant character to "convey a message" to make you stop and appreciate the melancholy of it all. It handles lunacy far better than drama. *Zom 100* essentially employs whiplash as a deliberate storytelling tool between its episodes, but does not wield it effectively enough since it cannot fully commit to either tone it’s aiming for, leaving the material in an odd in-between suspension about what it really wants to do.

This in-betweenness also makes its way into the colorful aesthetic that was a central attraction before. It’s become well-known that the series, like several others released this year, fell victim to production delays due to either overambitiousness or an inability to get everything finished properly, if not occasionally both. Just a few days after episode one aired, Sakugablog already published an article expressing ambivalence about the production and whether it could even survive the seemingly-impossible standard that had already been set. The manifestation of such problems was already coming before the delay inevitably hit – the show’s visual identity was phased out in exchange for something markedly more run-of-the-mill, as though the shift to “more mature” storytelling accompanied the resulting change. It was not a wholesale replacement, but compared to what came before, it felt less like the absurd romp it once was.

The delays however are only the touch of bold print. Regardless of whether the delay happened or not, at the end of it all, *Zom 100* couldn’t uphold its own sense of hammy freneticism and wackiness because that somehow wasn’t enough for it materially. It slammed on the gas pedal with reckless abandon, then eased up while deciding to admire the scenery, and then thought to stop and take the time to dramatically ask what it all means for a character traumatized by their past. It didn’t need to be something that has a meaning; it just needed to be. But by trying to find meaning and pathos, it got greedy and textually collapsed in the process.

I miss the zombie shark.

While this felt mostly like a season filler it was still fun to watch. It's a neat concept that's just enough over the top to be interesting. The art direction in this is really great with the blood being all kinds of different colors and just the world popping makes it a joy to watch. It has some good characters and some really good moments between them and easy to relate to. While it never gets serious enough for me to enjoy it seriously its a good anime to kill time with and it can be a lot of fun.

it should have been a one-episode OVA. The first episode was pretty good and set up an interesting premise. It quickly went downhill after that. All the character are thin and underdeveloped. They all get one or two traits and that's it. I couldn't tell you much about the main character besides the fact that he hated his job. The story is predictable and ends on schmaltzy bullshit about connections with other people being good and following your dreams, as if you haven't heard that a million times before. There were some good action scenes and creative moments, but the premise and characters are too ... thin to carry an entire series. You'd be better off simply watching a bunch of zombie movies (the good ones, I mean).