Manga 148820 Zombie Sagashitemasu

Katsuwo, the author of this series, has had some highly rated works like Hitori Bocchi and Mitsuboshi Colors. However, at the time of writing this series is the author’s most recent series as well as his lowest rated one on MAL. Therefore, I became curious why this was the case and started reading, and I quickly could tell why this manga isn’t for everyone.

So, the story is itself quite short and simple, following 5 people surviving in a zombie apocalypse and looking for the father of one of the characters. However, 3/4 of the main characters, and most of the side cast, are complete ... idiots and have little regard for the stakes in the situation. So, I suspect that there lies the issue in why the series may be hard to stomach for some people. The story setting of a zombie apocalypse is often paired with a more serious tone, and while this series does have these moments it is clear that it is not what it’s going for. I would describe this series as 25% serious tones and stories and 75% comedy and insanity. Honestly, I don’t think that this manga balances these 2 tones very well and they can quickly become distracting or even annoying. Therefore, I can’t blame anyone for not really finding what they are looking for in this series, as it doesn’t really lean in one tonal direction.

Nonetheless, I did actually enjoy the series in the end. It is a fairly short series at only 3 volumes and some of the comedy is actually pretty funny. The 3 first introduced characters are so over the top weird at times, it's hard not to enjoy them. For example, one of the characters is doing one-handed handstand push-ups on the back of a driving car while being chased by zombies. The addition of Yuu, and by extent Sakura, works well as the “Straight men” to the idiocy of the other 3 main characters. All the characters have these funny personalities which are enjoyable to read. However, the characters do not have that much depth and prefer wacky over serious. This leads to more tonal shifts, which are again not for everyone. However, some of the tonal shifts break the moment in such an abrupt way that it actually feels hilarious sometimes.

In the end, I would recommend this series for people that liked the author’s other works or get a kick out of zombie stories. I got my enjoyment out of it and don’t let the mediocre score prevent you from trying this series. There is definitely something here to enjoy and you’ll be done reading the whole thing in a few hours.