This was the closest Zombie Land Saga has ever been to a traditional idol show and guess what? It was the best episode yet.
Junko Re-joins The Band
In the last episode, we saw Junko temporarily leave the group, unhappy with the way modern fans get to interact with idols. However, after a surprisingly tender intervention by Kotaro, she realizes she can be whatever type of idol she wants.
Kotaro, it seems, has not been entirely honest. Far from the loudmouthed, brash character we’ve seen until this point, he understands the struggles idols face. In fact, he delivered the most poignant line of episode 7: “these girls are zombies, not robots”. People like idols because they’re all unique, and it seems like Franchouchou will have the chance to stand out more individually in the future.
Franchouchou As One
Saga Rock festival is the largest event the girls have played to date. We got to see Iron Frill, Ai’s old group perform live, and not only was their song excellent, it was also well-choreographed, and animated entirely by hand. Fantastic.
The girls seems to have realized that there’s no going back. They can either dwell on the lives that they lost, or try to make the best of the second chances they’ve been given. With Junko back to her old self, it seems there are no obstacles left between Franchouchou and stardom. Oh, except for that shady individual from last week’s episode. Maybe we’ll see him again in episode eight?
The Performance
Now, while Franchouchou’s performance was done in CGI, it was far less garish than their previous showings. Yes, it was noticeable, but the animation team had clearly put a lot of work into making it stand out less. One thing we can say for sure: it was fluid, and looked incredible, particularly with the glowing effect that came later on.
However, Ai clearly struggled as the lightning began to flash around her. She was, however, helped along by Junko taking charge, and the girls managed to pull of their best performance yet. Of course, the fact they all got hit by lightning helped make them memorable, and as the ending scene showed, they received glowing reviews in the local press. For what it’s worth, this reviewer believes the electronic version of “Mezame Returner” was far catchier than the original.
Zombie Land Saga is back to its old, high-energy self. Episode seven didn’t rely on over-the-top comedy or slapstick events to get its point across; it just drew the audience in with real, raw, understandable emotion and kept them hooked with a teaser of just what Franchouchou could be one day.
