Irina and Crow in Zombieland (Saga) ep9: Tough Girls have Soft Hearts

It’s Monday, and you know what he best thing about Monday is? Crow (crowsworldofanime.com) and I get to talk about Zombieland Saga! Ok maybe we talked about it a it earlier, but I get to reread this and it makes me happy. And just to be clear: Crow will be in bold.

Crrrooooowwwww!!! I like this show! I just really do. It’s not perfect but it always leaves me with a smile and I’ve been looking forward to it more and more each week!!!! I’m just so happy we picked it!

I can’t remember when a show was just this much fun. Konosuba was funny. Re:CREATORS was inspirational (especially to us creator types!). But even with those shows, I didn’t come away from the episodes feeling more hopeful. That almost sounds hyperbolic, but there it is! The show’s just subtly inspirational!

I need to see Re:CREATORS…

The season has pretty much just settled into backstory of the week. But since they’ve been one upping each other every time so far (and to be clear Ai and Junko started things off really strong already), I just can’t complain about the formulaic turn it’s taken. How about you?

I didn’t see how the show could top last week in terms of honest emotional impact. But we’re talking Saki’s backstory here — how wrong could I have been? Usually I’d complain about formula, too, but when it’s done with this kind of impact, my complaining wouldn’t be very honest! And then I’d have guilt.

The very second we saw Saki with her old gang mate, I actually said YES out loud. My notes are just SAKI in all caps. This is the episode I was waiting for and boy did it not disappoint! We all knew it was coming, was it what you expected it to be?

It was exactly what Saki and Reiko should have been. I was happy with how tough both of them looked — it was exactly what Saki should have looked like when she was alive. Then the walked off to get something to eat, and the camera pulled back to show their handiwork. In true Zombieland Saga style, the show took something great and made it amazing.

Before we get into the meat of the series, let me just say that flashback manager is more bearable for reasons unknown.

Or we’re just getting used to him!

Ok, on with the real show. Right off the bat, I realized the young yankee girls were probably linked with Saki somehow. I mean the coats were the same, I’m not saying I’m smart or anything. And I warmed up to them immediately. Something about reasonable biker chicks really spoke to me. I wanted to see more right away.

For me, it was when Lily looked at their bikes and said how lame they were. Immediate sympathy!

And you know, I also really liked how they illustrated Saki snapping into tough girl mode. It was just a look, and not a very unusual one at that, but it got the point across so well.

In a way, it was very tame episode. A gang related motorcycle accident is pretty much exactly what you would expect for Saki. But the fact that they didn’t go over the top crazy with her backstory is actually something I really appreciated. Saki i a huge personality and to have her own experience be one of the more recognizable and relatable ones, something that happens every day, is kinda nice. Were you hoping for something more extravagant?

I almost expected her to die right at the beginning of the episode when she raced Reiko! But I agree with her that the way she went out was spot on for her character and fit the narrative well.

To me this was a perfect companion piece to the last episode. Once again it played strongly on a single parent and child relationship, but whereas Lily was trying desperately to not change  and keep that relationship frozen, Marie-chan is aggressively trying to grow away from her mother. Raising a child is difficult, even more so by yourself. It’s full of disappointments on both sides. Watching Marie slowly turn away from her mom and become someone else, through Reiko’s eyes, was powerful. I honestly felt the worry and ache.

I’m in awe of the writers’ skill in this series. With just a few shots, they can evoke that kind of feeling. I not only saw Reiko’s struggle as a single parent, I immediately wondered what had happened to change her outlook so drastically — suspecting all the while that it had something to do with how Saki died.

Also, it showed the flipside of the world left behind. Lily’s dad was sort of frozen by the death of his child, Saki’s friend moved on. Reiko had the child she wanted although she wasn’t quite able to give her the normal life she had planned out in her head, she did her best. The world kept on spinning without Saki, her friends moved on and her old gang is just a shadow of its former self. That’s the rub, either you end up haunting those you love, or they leave you behind.

And of course, Saki being Saki, she couldn’t care less about that. She’s a practical girl. She saw a problem and she went to fix it!

I respect her view of the world!

So far, the girls seem fairly traumatized by how they died. Ai is terrified of thunder and Junko hates planes. It’s not an issue for Lily, but I’m sure she would take it badly if she started up puberty again. And Sakura has amnesia. But Saki…. Saki actually recreated the whole thing pretty much on a whim.

And wasn’t Reiko’s reaction just perfect????

Reiko’s reactions, from her climbing back onto her motorcycle (and going into mama bear mode at the same time!) to her disbelief at seeing her old friend “alive” were fantastic! My favorite was when Saki climbed back up the cliff after crashing the motorcycle. Reiko strode up to her and punched her — a beautiful moment of catharsis and relief! And it certainly didn’t seem to hurt Saki at all!

I’ve made no secret f the fact that I always liked Saki and she’s grown on me a lot through the episodes. This week, I’m past thinking she’s sweet. I thought she was downright hot. I know she wasn’t the boss, but I would have joined her gang in a heartbeat.

Her expression when she’s angry was less terrifying and more motivational for me! And her smile was just ridiculous!

They are keeping the performances mostly to the closing credits lately, and all of them are different. I like that. I loved how an audience just appeared and all the biker chicks were super confused. It added just enough whimsy to what was a refreshingly sober episode.

Saki was a good lead singer, too! Only a zombie could pull off that kind of hair flip without snapping their neck! And did you see that our two favorite metal fans were in the audience?

I did see them. I sort of look out for them now. One thing that took me by surprise though.

I’m not sure If I missed something and this is known fact by now, but while lecturing Saki, Koutarou clearly said ‘Zombies like us’….. Did we know about this?

I didn’t! Was it in the original Japanese? Though I’ve suspected that he’s a zombie (or something supernatural).

And did you notice that once again, one of the idol’s death would have left her original body in no condition for zombie-fication! What are these idols?

I actually wrote it down. After you mentioned it in ast episodes. Even if Saki’s body had made it in one piece, no way would she look that good!

Next week seems to be Yuguri’s turn and I can hardly wait. She and Saki have been fighting over my affections since the start. Saki took the lead but I wouldn’t count the mysterious Yuguri out yet. I also love the title ‘No Zombie, No Idol’.

I’m looking forward to learning more about the enigmatic Yuguri, too!

Hey, do you think that the manager might have been the one to run down Sakura in the first episode? And that he might be doing all this to make up for it? Though that wouldn’t explain why someone with supernatural power would be driving a truck…

Wait did he kill them all one way or another? Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Style?

That’s a scary thought! You think he “recruited” them as his zombie idols? Talk about killing them with kindness!

I liked this episode so much that I actually took more caps of it than Tsurune this week. And Tsurune is pure eye candy…