Akira’s homecoming gets some unwanted visitors when a
disgruntled and broken Kanta Higurashi unleashes a horde of Zombies into the
Village. As Shizuka, Kencho and Beatrix
battle to protect the people, Akira faces his dark reflection and finds his
very beliefs challenged to their core. Can
Akira stay Akira despite the sacrifices that might have to happen and whose
Bucket List of the Dead will win out in the end?
Someone broken by the end of the world brings death and
destruction down upon a place undeserving of it.
If this were youre typical Walking Dead kind
of storyline, there’d be a lot of death, blood, gore and a feeling of
hopelessness despite the chance of victory.
However…THIS IS ZOM 100: BUCKET LIST OF THE DEAD and I’m happy to report
that this finale isnt about wallowing in despair as paradise is under attack.
Despite some hiccups with last weeks set,
this Finale (I hesitate to call it a Series Finale but more on that later), had
Zom 100 stick to the guns it fired the series off with from the very beginning
and told a tale of survival, hope and the indomitable spirit we need to see
more of in stories like this.
Let’s
breakdown why this three part epic had me simultaneously cheering and crying at
once.
While I did think that this last arc was a bit slow in
the beginning, everything had a reason to be there, from the people to
important structures to a certain Tree House Making Master I thought wasn’t
worth the detour.
So yeah it was worth
spending a little bit of time getting to know some of the townspeople and see
them get so attached like with Shizuka to the elderly and Kencho to the
adorable Angie.
I was so happy to be
proven wrong with how much everything was made to matter in the Hometown of the
Dead Arc.
Akira’s genius plan to
outmaneuver Higurashi in the end clicked the second I saw him appear as a
Zombie.
I laughed, I cheered, it was
just…wow.
Sure a lot had to come
together really quickly but hey that’s Akira for ya, turning desperation into a
miracle in the strangest but most awesome ways.
At the end of my last review I noted how similar of a
setup Zom 100 and High School of the Dead had with their finales.
These are two very different Zombie Survival
shows and one of the reasons why I think HSotD floundered at the finish line is
because after so many large scale action sequences, the defense of the mansion
seemed kind of been there, done that.
Zom 100 triumphs over it thanks to not overplaying a lot of its Zombie
slaying spectacle early on and making me feel a lot more want for the supporting
cast to make it out alive.
And if you
want the village survivors to live, you definitely want Team Akira to win this
fight.
The multiple showdowns were fun
and everyone got creative with their battles from Kencho risking hygiene to
defeat his opponent to Beatrix making great use of a water wheel.
Probably the one part about the Zom 100 Finale I feel
worked best was the challenging mindsets of both teams.
When you get right down to it, not everyones
experiences leading to and during the Zombie Apocalypse are the same.
For every lonely guy who’s felt shunned by
society who learns to live again at the end of the world, there’s another who
just wants to watch the world burn because theyre too hurt by their past to try
anything different.
As much as I thought
Higurashi needed a fate worse than death for bringing his anarchy BS to Akira’s
home, his death scene was…wow.
I think
what made it work more was Akira fully understanding Higurashi’s mindset
despite all he’d done.
He empathizes and
asks about what his “true bucket list” looks like.
It’s such a hard hitting and well done scene
that when Higurashi gets bitten, it doesn’t feel like a victory, it’s a
tragedy.
It’s sad but it’s still true to
the heart of Zom 100.
This isnt about
the bleak and depressing side of the Zombie Apocalypse.
It’s about good people never losing hope and
always willing to give people a chance, even those who wrong them in the worse
way.
Quick note about the Finale: Zom 100 became notorious for
running into several production delays during it’s initial run in 2023.
Exact reasons vary from this being Bug Films’
first major Anime TV Series production to more of the toxic crunch culture that
has been an issue with many Anime studios in recent years.
Like I mentioned in an earlier review, I
wonder if that’s why some episodes felt more compacted with material to pad out
running times.
As such, the final three
episodes of Zom 100 were pushed back several months, specifically they all
aired over the course of Christmas Day 2023 and the day after.
The extra time to touch up these episodes
shows.
It still looks like Zom 100 but
with a higher production quality, almost movie level.
Akira’s final showdown with Higurashi and the
emotional payoff in particular looks so damn beautiful, adds more to the tears.
Just wanted to point that out.
If the finale looked more gorgeous than the
rest of the series, that’s why.
Before we get into Final Thoughts there’s another matter
to address…what’s next for Zom 100?
A
Second Season hasn’t been greenlit to my knowledge and the Manga is still
ongoing.
Things didn’t end on a major
cliffhanger but clearly there’s still more story to tell as Akira, Shizuka,
Kencho and Beatrix have a new endgame goal in mind.
Given the hassles Bug Films had getting this
one season finished it wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t want to go into
another 12 episodes without more of a plan in mind.
And they really should because I want more
adventures with these guys.
There’s a
lot more Japan to see and who knows what the rest of the world looks like.
We don’t know if the Zombie outbreak is
confined to Japan.
Could Beatrix’s home
in Germany be at risk?
There’s so many
questions but unlike High School of the Dead, this Finale leaves me hungry for more
after a very fulfilling climax.
Alright, Final Thoughts.
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead seeks to subvert all Zombie Survival
Tropes by injecting proceedings with color, optimism and humor while still
letting some of the more realistic tropes have their day.
Like I’ve said several times, this isnt a
show about despair at the end of the world.
It’s about finding new life, new drive and new purpose, so much so that
it could make you the happiest person on the planet who could take on
anything.
Akira’s exactly the guy you
want on your Zombie Plan team and his fellow survivors all bring their own
brand of fun (and hotness) to the mix.
Bug Films may have been overworked but like Studio Mappa with Jujutsu
Kaisen Season 2, the hard work shows and I can only imagine how much better a
future project will look without crunch culture being an issue.
Zom 100 has clearly hit a cord with a lot of
Anime fans and I’m happy to say, this lives up to they immense hype and I cant
wait to see where Akira and Company mission to save the world takes them next.
9/10
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