Hey, thanks for dropping by Anime Rants. I’m still trying my best to catch up to Summer ’23 anime episode reviews, but it’s been slow work with writer’s block and other issues. These three episodes of Zom 100 were surprisingly enjoyable to me after I didn’t really like the previous episode (Flight Attendants of the Dead). Thanks to the character psychology explored in these installments, along with several cute and funny moments, I can definitely say that Zom 100 is turning out to be a good anime.
Episode 5: Hero of the Dead
In this installment, Akira remembers his childhood dream, which was to be a superhero. Now that the zombie apocalypse is happening, it’s a good opportunity to save people from zombies. Thus, Kencho and Akira break into an aquarium and make a superhero outfit using the divers suits, which are designed to withstand shark bites.
With this suit, Akira fights some zombies while Kencho guides a group of survivors into the safety of the aquarium. One of the survivors is Shizuka, the “risk analysis” girl who met Akira in the convenience store once. After defeating the zombies, Akira tries to make conversation with Shizuka, but her extremely cold, analytical way of thinking is immediately irritating to the guys. Whether she means to be or not, Shizuka seems to be the argumentative type.
At that point, the most absurd thing in the series so far happens. There is a zombified shark, and the divers that it ate are inside of it, moving it like a big puppet. It looks like a monster shark with a few pairs of human legs. I know this is mostly a light-hearted anime, but I was frankly disappointed by the sheer stupidity of this event.
Anyway, the shark-monster-thing causes a lot of trouble and kills some of the humans. It almost kills Shizuka, too, but Akira saves her in the nick of time. The two then work together to defeat the zombified shark. Though Shizuka is relieved to be alive, she refuses Akira’s offer to join him and Kencho. She still believes the boys are too reckless. Kencho and Akira return to their building-top base, and Akira reveals that he wants to go to his hometown in the country to check on his family. To be continued.
As for my thoughts on this episode, the main characters all seem pretty interesting and likeable. Male characters with superhero fantasies are cliché and overused, but Akira and his dream didn’t annoy me at all for some reason. In fact, it improved my opinion of him and reminded me of how cute I think he is. Kencho is also great, and he rocks the blond hair. I felt so proud of him when he put his life in danger to distract the shark monster.
Continuing with the character notes, I am thoroughly enjoying the character of Shizuka. I like logical, analytical characters, and it’s rare when that personality is used for a female anime characters. I also love Shizuka’s knowledge of psychology and other random knowledge, like how to stun a shark with electricity. Shizuka is rapidly gaining ground in the race towards my favorite female character of Summer 2023. I haven’t seen a “smart girl” type this good since Makise Kurisu.
I’m tempted to write a bit about the psychology of Shizuka and Akira based on what we know so far, but that would take at least three more paragraphs, and I’m going for brevity. Perhaps I’ll write some more analytical posts about these characters in the future.
Episode 6: RV of the Dead
Kencho and Akira are planning to go visit Akira’s rural hometown of Gunma and check on his family. First, they decide to go to a “camping car show” and acquire an RV. That’s where they run into Shizuka once again. She is also there to get an RV. Although Akira wants her to join him and Kencho, Shizuka declines again – until Kencho asks her about a driving license. Shizuka has no license and is not familiar with driving. Kencho says that’s a great reason to team up, since he and Akira have driving experience and licenses.
The group argues over which RV to buy, but their squabble is interrupted by an army of zombies rushing into the show building. Akira and company hop into the nearest RV and hurry away. Before long, they are safely on their way to Gunma. Suddenly, however, the vehicle drives over a spike strip, popping the brand-new tires and rendering it unusable. Kencho, who was on Akira’s motorcycle beside the RV, crashed and got injured. As Akira frantically tries to figure out what happened and what to do, a familiar person appears.
It’s Chief Kosugi from Akira’s old work company. This large and intimidating man has a long history of bullying and psychologically abusing Akira. Kosugi runs a compound at a bus stop nearby, where he employs workers and keeps stocks of food, medicine, and more. He claimed that it was necessary to lay the spike belt to prevent raids from looters. In return for replacing the tires and giving medical care to Kencho, Kosugi asks for Akira to work for him for two days. Though Akira clearly doesn’t want to do this, he agrees.
In my opinion, this marks a change in the overall feel of the anime. For the rest of the episode as well as most of episode 7, we see a rather dark and unpleasant depiction of psychological abuse. Akira is unable to defend himself against the many attacks on his mind and sense of self. It was really hard to watch him being abused by Kosugi. Shizuka seems to be reading between the lines about the torture Akira is enduring. Perhaps she, too, was emotionally abused. This mini-arc carries over into the next episode.
On a random, more light-hearted note, I thought Shizuka’s reaction to the RV that she liked was absolutely adorable. It was also pretty cute when the guys were freaking out over the fancy watches in the first scene. I hope for more content like this in the future – but first, we’ve got to overcome this hellish time working for Chief Kosugi.
Episode 7: Truck Stop of the Dead
This episode begins with showing us a bit of Shizuka’s past. She was badly emotionally abused by her father throughout her whole life. That’s why, in the present, she can understand Akira’s overwhelming fear of Chief Kosugi. Speaking of that disgusting man, he at one point made Shizuka sit next to him and pour him a drink. During that scene, he sexually harassed her. It was gross.
As for Akira, he continues suffering through abuse, manipulation and brainwashing. Kosugi makes him believe he needs to stay at the truck stop compound permanently. When the two days expire, Shizuka and Kencho inform Kosugi that they will be leaving. They assume Akira will come along with them, but to their shock, he says he wants to stay with Chief Kosugi.
Shizuka takes this opportunity to stand up for Akira, for herself, and for human dignity. She passionately explains that Kosugi is an abuser and a selfish monster. She also vows to never give control of herself over to another person ever again. At the end of the speech, Shizuka hands the notebook to Akira, and there is a new entry she added: “#37: Tell off my jerk of a boss.” This finally makes Akira “wake up” and break free of his brainwashed state.
Just as Akira finishes telling Kosugi that he hopes to never see him again, two workers return from a supply mission in a truck. When they open the doors, they discover that a zombie got inside. People begin panicking. The truck stop erupts into chaos as the zombie-slaves also get free and start rampaging. Everyone tries to get to safety, but not everyone survives. During the scuffle, Akira rescues Kosugi from certain death. He also cooperates with the other workers to kill the zombies in an epic explosion.
After the zombies are defeated, Kosugi tries to regain control, but it’s all over for him. All of his followers were moved by Shizuka’s words and Akira’s actions. They all abandon Kosugi and go their own separate ways. Akira, Shizuka, and Kencho finally set off in their RV, happy to be free and alive.
Having gone through emotional abuse myself, this episode was a bit difficult to watch. However, I think it’s good for a show to have accurate depictions of this kind of problem sometimes. Zom 100 did a brilliant job of showing how psychological abuse works.
The best thing about this episode, though, was that the abuser didn’t win. Shizuka really took the spotlight and asserted herself as well as defending Akira. As a viewer, it was all worth it for that extremely empowering moment. I also liked the imagery of Shizuka protecting her inner child. How beautiful and brave! This was definitely the best episode of Zom 100 so far.
Thanks for reading~
Anime Rants 
2 thoughts on “Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – Episodes 5 to 7”