I decided to post my ZOM 100 review on Friday this week since the Bungo Stray Dogs season is over and I wanted a better spread. Except I just saw a headline yesterday that the show was going on indefinite hiatus. And now I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Who would have thought that Matserful Cat would have outlived them all!
I didn’t read into why ZOM 100 is going on hiatus. Obviously, there have been a few production issues as we’ve seen way more delays than is normal I mean most shows don’t have any. But I wonder if it was something completely unexpected. Because we got a new intro this week. Samee song just new images that better incorporate Beatrix. I guess the studio agrees with me that her arrival marks a new start for the story. And boy oh boy was this intro great! I have always really liked the ZOM 100 intro but this one just boosts the fun factor up a notch and I couldn’t help but do the zombie dance along with al the other zombies at the end there. It’s a blast. And I don’t see a studio putting in the effort of creating a new OP sequence if they are expecting to be off the air by next week. Obviously, there are a lot of things I don’t know but I guess it just made me sad that I wouldn’t get to dance to it again this Friday!
Ok so the first half of the episode was ZOM 100 meets Do It Yourself 🙂
I think there’s something universal about wanting to build a treehouse. I never have and I don’t think I’ve ever even been in one but if you asked me tomorrow to give up my weekend in order to build a treehouse with you. I would say, sign me up mysterious stranger. I have always wanted to build a treehouse! And whenever I have mentioned it to anyone (you wouldn’t believe how frequently my conversations drift into treehouse territory) the sentiments pretty much always mirror mine. People kind of want to live in trees for some reason… At leas for a little while. Basically, I get why Akira & Co. jumped at this chance. I would have done the same. And I bet Shizuka was secretly relieved that everyone else wanted to stay. I saw her eyes sparkle at the idea too!
Did anyone get what the old guy’s job was before the outbreak? I’m not sure if he said. I have to assume it was a professional treehouse designer. I mean did yu see that thing? I get that Akira started to have a deep emotional need to see his family but not even one night? ‘cmon! If it was me, I would also have left to make sure my family was okay and then immediately would have returned and possibly dragged them back with me. And they would have loved it. Because everyone loves a treehouse!
ZOM 100 sometimes has a little difficulty getting the tone right. Since the show oscillates between downright slapstick humor even some potty comedy and what are supposed to be highly emotional dramatic scenes, it can be a bit of a rollercoaster and it’s not always easy to modulate. I personally find that it’s been good at not dwelling too much in the moment but it does go back to the same sort of emotional beats and it can get a bit maudlin because of that. The old guy having to take care of his family after they turned was one of the good dramatic moments in my opinion. It was only a few words but the scene was evocative and easy to imagine. They didn’t do that cheap thing where you get a whole flashback for no reason other than making sure you’re sad when a character dies. No, just a few halting words,, a few very understandable tears, and life went on. Because that’s kind of how it goes. And this lighter, more hands-off treatment of the heavy stuff is a lot more impactful for me. I really felt it.
So like the manga goes further than this. I know what’s coming up. What the deal with the village is and all that. And not to twist the knife in the wound, but it’s one of my favourite parts. I really hope indefinite doesn’t turn into permanent but it sounds so dire.
Anyway, let’s discuss the bit we got. Akira’s parents are. Well, they were kind of what I expected to be honest. But somehow I didn’t think of Akira as a farmer’s boy. Something about the way he takes to office work made it really surprising that he’s this wild country bumpkin to me. But I think we might also be running into differences of perception.
Now I do know a few farmers but modern industrial farming has nothing to do with this. Also, despite being very Canadian I did not grow up here and I think I might have some old-world misconceptions about the idea of farmers. You know, hardworking salt of the earth people (that’s kind of the American side) but also simple. Uncomplicated and too overworked to waste their time on fancy. Like I said, these are stereotypes, not actual descriptions but they’re also often used in fiction. However, all the ZOOM 100 characters seem to adore the farming village and have a sort of nostalgia seeing it. There seems to be some notion of national identity tied to that farming village and that makes sense. It’s that way in a lot of places.
Point is, that this village is shown as different from the city but not in a quaint way. The people here are eccentric and apparently very open to outsiders. In some ways, it looked like a commune or an old hippie village. And isn’t that the perfect spot for a horror movie?!?…
IF ZOOM 100 comes back I will definitely be picking my reviews back up. I did have a lot of fun with the show and for me, it’s just started getting good. And I rather become a zombie than miss out on fun anime!
Such a shame that this show has had these issues. The coming arc is my favourite one too so it’s even harder to have to wait for it. At least, we’ve read the manga.