Fall 2018 Anime Review : Zombieland Saga

First, let me make myself clear. I am never invested into any idol anime. Never. And for an idol anime managed to make me drowned into idol anime for the first time, it is a very great achievement for that anime and a proof of how good that anime concept to make me invest myself to this particular genre. This anime took a concept that seemed won't work but work anyway and made a fresh breath of air into the genre of idols. So, grab your light sticks and prepare a towel to wipe away your sweats after enjoying undead girls reviving your heart with their songs and stories. This is an original anime by MAPPA, this is Zombieland Saga.

Like I said before, this anime excels in dragging many audiences by its absurd yet interesting concept that is zombies becoming idols. It might be very simple if you hear it but from that alone, we could already get very interesting back stories from each of the member particularly how they ended up die. And from there, Zombieland Saga easily built character developments from how they overcome their past and keep living (ironically). This is why every member of Franchouchou has a very great character development including the one who can't speak any word, the Legendary Tae Yamada. Yes, I think Tae-chan is the embodiment of how much Franchouchou grow overtime. The other girls were the ones who taught her how to be more human and while she still could not speak until the very end, she is shown to treasure her relationship with Franchouchou by trying her best to snap Sakura just like the others.

Then the music, the most important component of the idols. I must say, I love the songs very much. I don't know why but every song they sang made this feeling of hype and happiness in my heart. It made me want to chant along their song and I think it is very important for any idol anime to make us feeling that way. Not just that, I love how every singer (or seiyuu in this case) have their own vibe of voices and made their songs colorful. From the high pitch girlish voice of Lily to the more adult voice of Yugiri. And to add more, I actually have a special love for the voice of Junko Konno in their songs. Her voice is very strong and I kinda have a soft spot for strong voices. So yeah, I am kinda Yon-Go stan but I am Ni-Go stan for character development.

Not just the music, I probably want to make Zombieland Saga as the best opening sequence of this season. The opening sequence is very greatly animated with the song that actually very catchy. And from what we learned from JoJo's Bizzare Adventure, opening with sound effects are better and Zombieland Saga used that fact made the opening unskipable.

But yeah, from all of that goodness, I must say that the CG section which happened in every of Franchouchou idol performance could be annoying at first. But I am giving kudos for the CG animation department as their CG sequences are getting better along with the episode counts. It might saying that they are getting used to use the 3D models more and more. Aside from CG animation, the other animation is pretty good with how beautiful their backgrounds which is taken from actual Saga prefecture and redrawed beautifully and as precise as they could. I just love those comparison photos circulating in the internet.

Overall, this anime is a solid candidate for the best anime of this season with its revolutionary concept in the idol anime genre. Great character developments, great musics and opening sequence, beautifully drawn backgrounds, and of course, a perfect gateaway for someone who never invested themselves into idol anime. In the end, I think Kotaro really did save Saga after all.

(This review was previously written in MAL : https://myanimelist.net/reviews.php?id=296286)