Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead is rediscovering life amidst the undead
Ever worked a dead end job that literally sucked the life out of you and pained your soul to be at? You know, the one where you sit in the parking lot of your job and convince yourself to walk in after hitting every category of emotions? We can all relate to Zom 100's main character, Akira Tendo, as we too showed up day after day while the days bled together into one long miserable existence.
One of the newest shows to launch in 2023, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, follows the life and adventures (and some misadventures) of Akira, a 24-year old office worker who gradually over time realizes the job he was once excited to start has become a tomb of lost hope and forgotten dreams. Over time, we see him work himself beyond his limits all for the chance to impress his love interest at the office, Saori, except one day, he catches her reporting to the boss's office for, well, an office hookup. Gutted and shattered, he fractures into a shell of himself, going through the motions at work and barely going home, let alone sleeping, until he awakens to a very different world than he remembered passing out in.
After a zombie apocalypse is kicked off by an experimental bio-weapon striking Tokyo, he awakens to the chaos as the dead began to walk the streets, hunting and feeding on any survivors they can catch, but Akira is instead ecstatic as this zombie apocalypse means the first day off in what feels like forever. Where most would panic and try to survive the dire straits of day-to-day life, Akira takes it in stride as he is reinvigorated to clean up his apartment and we see the smile return to his face. Bug Studios, the studio behind bringing the popular manga to the screen, beautifully animates the first season of Zom 100. Each zombie Akira encounters is equally scary as it is beautiful.
Pops of color like splats on a canvas remind us of the stunning and dark anime, Wonder Egg Priority, with its crazy art and animation as we are taken through each and every turn he makes during his first escape when he goes to the apartment of his office crush in an attempt to save her only to find her with their boss where she too, is now a Zombie. After realizing he doesn't have to go to work again, Akira sets out in search of the essentials: Beer. After a close call and a chance meeting, Akira decides to create a Bucket List of things he wants to do before he dies, one of which being seeing his parents and meeting a beautiful girl after a close-encounter with said beautiful girl, Shizuka Mikazuki.
On the flip side, Shizuka is careful and prepared, researching ways to survive in a zombie-filled world by watching zombie movies and reading books like Zombie Survival that looks to draw inspiration from the famed book by Max Brooks, then comparing what she sees in the films to the types of zombies she sees shambling about the city from her loft apartment high above the streets of Tokyo. Armed with a Go Pro setup and smart phone to have eyes outside while she scavenges for goods, Shizuka meets Akira on a chance meeting at an abandoned convenience store while getting the essentials. She ends up saving Akira after he steps in front of her to protect her from the approaching zombies who began breaching the safety of the mart.
Rather than succumbing to fear, Akira sees this chaos as a chance to reclaim his life. The vibrant animation artfully captures the horror and beauty of his post-apocalyptic world. As he begins to reshape his life, Akira crosses paths with the resourceful Shizuka Mikazuki. Where Akira seeks spontaneity, Shizuka embodies preparedness, using her knowledge of zombie lore to navigate this new reality. Their journey together is filled with danger, camaraderie, and an unfolding romance. Eventually we get to see these two fall in love and finally confess their feelings for each other after dozens of instances where it was clear something was developing between them after teaming up with Akira's old friend, Kenichirou “Kencho” Ryuuzaki and Beatrix "Bea" Amerhauser.
"Zom 100" has quickly caught the attention of anime enthusiasts, streaming on platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll. The live-action film adaptation, launched by Netflix in August 2023, further testifies to its rising popularity. While the anime world has seen both hits and misses in manga adaptations, "Zom 100," with its 15 volumes and counting, is emerging as a standout series. Fans eagerly await its continuation, seeing it as a refreshing interlude amidst other anticipated releases like "Jujutsu Kaisen" and "Attack on Titan." In June 2022, Netflix announced a live-action film adaptation that premiered on August 3, 2023 and you know how we all feel about live-adaptations of animes (we don’t talk about Deathnote and Dragonball Evolution? We don’t acknowledge this.)
While many manga to anime adaptations land perfectly like Attack on Titan or Fairy Tale, some tend to start strong and stray from the core of its origin material like Promised Neverland (we are still not okay with this).
Get caught up and check out Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead now on Crunchyroll, Netflix and Hulu!
