If you are a fan of anime, you can pretty much guess what a show will be about just from a trailer or a description. This is a show about a video game or these is about giant robots. As a fan, you just know these things. I, however, have just watched a show where I thought I knew what this was about and I could not have been more wrong. Zombie Land Saga was a fascinating show that hides it’s true purpose until you watch it.
Good Morning SAGA
Sakura Minamoto was a normal girl in 2008. One minute she was happily walking down the street, the next she would be hit by a car and die. She awakens ten years later thanks to Kōtarō Tatsumi as a zombie. She is not alone, as Tatsumi has resurrected six other girls from different time periods. One is even is from 1868. Tatsumi believes that a land of Japan is in danger and only these girls can save it. To do so, he will help them regain their human self and become… a zombie pop idol group.
This is the part of the review where character and story line are usually discussed. But the second, zombie pop idol group showed up in the subtitles, this anime review was going to be different. The confusion and shock a viewer must have felt seeing those words is very relatable. Nothing up to that point had suggested that this was what the anime was going to be about. By the time Tatsumi took the girls to a death metal concert to help their memories come back, there were so many questions. Is this satire? Comedy? Hard to tell as all the characters play it straight.
I♡HIPHOP SAGA
If anyone watched the trailer or read the description of Saga, they must have felt deceived. From what was released, the show looked to be about girls trying to survive in a zombie filled world. Instead, we got seven girls, a manger and a plan to become a singing group. The basis of this plan is that the manager is good at makeup, so people won’t know they are zombies? The threat that he spoke of hasn’t appeared and no clue to what could be stopped through song. Also, there is a dog running around, and he is a zombie too.
Come Thursdays, I will be checking out future episodes of Saga. In this day and age, a show coming out that was a complete surprise is a rarity. Head on over to Crunchyroll and check it out. When you get to a description that sounds nothing like the show described here, you will know you are in the right place.