Yaay! ZOM 100 is back! I wonder what the production issues they were having are. I wasn’t able to find out if they actually solved them or if we might have to deal with delayed episodes all season. Man, I sound privileged! Deal with delayed episodes… I’m happy the show is back. I think it’s tons of fun!
I know this is an animated show about Zombies and I probably shouldn’t harp on realism. In fact, I would make fun of people who do. But I have to call foul on Kencho bleaching beautiful black hair like that for the first time, with a single box bleach, and having it turn out exactly like he wanted. Uh uh!!! First of all that hair would have been bright orange at best! Second, it would have been spotty, and uneven with some buts that didn’t take the bleach at all and others that overprocessed. His roots would probably be blonde, even platinum maybe but the rest would have been a completely different colour. Look, if you’re going to write a horror comedy, you can’t shy away from the worst horror of them all. The mishaps of dying your own hair. It’s what nightmares of made of!
That aside, I do really enjoy Aakira and Kencho’s chemistry. The way Kencho deadpans all of Akira’s ideas has me giggling every time. And it’s something that you absolutely need animation to properly pull off. It doesn’t work in manga format.
As for Akira wanting to be a hero, is anyone surprised. That’s pretty much what he’s been doing ever since the start of the contagion. He didn’t have the suit though. Everybody knows that a real hero needs to have a suit!
This is a great use of Chekhov’s gun right here. If you’re going to show a giant zombie shark in the first act of your episode, you better make sure it comes back for the climax. It’s a giant zombie shark! I have to admit, something about zombie jaws really speaks to me. I’m pretty sure it’s been done before but I still find it striking, even just as an image.
So this is what I find deeply charming about ZOM 100. Shark suits exist. And of course, they do. Even if you didn’t know that, if you stop to think about it, aquariums are obviously not sending staff in tanks with dangerous sharks without any sort of protection. They would get endlessly sued. And those tanks need to be cleaned regularly, especially if you have guests that need to see through that glass and water. You could sedate them but that’s no guarantee and it gets expensive. A suit is a much better investment. So it makes sense that an aquarium would have one. And it’s cool that Akira thought of that.
Zombies attack by bitting and humans do not have the same biting power as sharks so yeah, a bite-proof suit is the perfect defense. It’s so simple, plausible, and yet unassuming. And Akira pray paints it to get the right look. It’s so quaint! And charming. There’s a plucky optimism and childish hope there that is difficult for me to resist. And unlike the dark edgy dramas, we often get with zombie stories, ZOM 100 just continuously rewards that optimism. Not with some magical turn of events that solves everything but with little victories and just tiny moments of joy. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
So here’s the thing, Shizuka is right. She is absolutely correct in everything she says. But she is missing that optimism. She’s missing out on the joy. And that’s what’s narrrowing her view. It’s good to have a character like Shizuka around to serve as a foil to our two idiots. And it’s great when she allows herself to dream a little as well. That’s what makes for the best moments in the show!
This entire episode was dedicated to one question: What is a hero. Akira went for the classic answer at first. The iconography and ideas it evokes. And although it is naive, which is completely in line with the character, it’s also a good answer. A hero is a notion in people’s heads. The idea of a hero brings them hope at a time when they desperately need it. If you remember, Akira was actually a screenwriter before the outbreak. A guy like him would think of a hero as a character first and e would also be more likely to respect the power characters have!
However, throughout the episode, we see how Akira’s perception of what a hero is grows to include more subtle and mundane representations. Those who try to smile and be kind to others even in dire circumstances. Those who push through their own fear. Those who use everything at their disposal to give themselves and everyone else the best possible chance. They might not have impressive suits, but they are heroes.
And there we go. That’s the lesson of the episode. Not exactly original but hey, I’ll take it! And then ZOM 100 gives me a scene of a guy in a power ranger suit punching a zombie great white with 6 legs and unleashing wild lightning powers. Because yeah yeah we can all be heroes when it counts but sometimes you need a suit! And a guy punching giant zombie sharks! That’s what I mean by rewarding naive optimism. What more could I have asked for?
We all know we’re going to see Shikuka again, right? She’s in the credits… Also, ZOM 100 is turning into a light romance story and I’m not mad about that!
I also like that Kencho is the fanservice character of the show. He’s the one that shows the most skin in the series! And now he’s even a busty blonde! Good move ZOM 100! I see what you did there!
While likely true that deadpan-ness and similar are harder to pull off in manga form, the wonderful expressions Shizuka (but also a few others, though mostly her) gives in the manga are superb and the animated ones I’ve seen floating around so far at least are not able to hold a candle against the originals.
Also, while I somewhat forgot to read on after the scanlation back then got slowed down too much (and also kiss died, R.I.P.), this is one of those series where at least to me every good character was likeable, and there’s quite a few but definitely not too many media out there (compared to all that I know of) that have that going for them. Good show. : )
I’d probably be Kencho. 😁
“What is a hero?” is a good theme. The heroism of the ordinary person with no special abilities Isn’t something you see a lot of in anime. Cleverness and optimism aren’t superpowers. They are character traits you partly have and partly develop along the way.
MHA gets into that theme a bit but then we discover that in that world you really need super powers to be relevant.