Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Episode 9

And thus ends our time with Zom 100…at least, for now. There are still three whole episodes left in the season's run, of course, but lord knows when we'll get to see them. When the same production woes shut down the NieR:Automata adaptation earlier this year, it took four entire months for the series to launch its last batch of episodes, so there is a decent chance that we'll have to wait until 2024 to see Akira and Co.'s adventures continue. It's a damned shame, too, because “Treehouse of the Dead” provides some developments that could make for a very interesting end to the season, if done right.

That all mostly comes in the back half of the episode, though. First, there is the titular treehouse for the gang to get building, and it's a pretty okay little adventure for them! The whole detour mostly exists to establish Akira's desire to “repay” his parents, and the tragic story of the old man who had to kill his zombified family works as an appropriate kick in the pants for Akira to be on his way to his village. This is far from the most compelling micro-narrative that Zom 100 has delivered (I think the sushi chef's one scene last week was more effective), but it gets the job done.

As for Akira's family, the good news is that they're very much alive! The whole village is doing alright, as it turns out since it's managed to serve as a small oasis from the zombie apocalypse for the lucky survivors who've made it there. While I could have seen the show killing of Akira's parents to serve as the ultimate wake-up call for the ever-optimistic hero, I'm glad that the story didn't go that route. Giving Akira some living family to play off, especially in these wild new circumstances they all find themselves in, is a move that has a lot of storytelling potential.

Speaking of storytelling potential, the most interesting new development this week comes as a very unfortunately (or, maybe fortunately?) timed cliffhanger: There's a gang of sociopathic misanthropes in town, and they have a bucket list of their own, although this new crew's life dreams involve a lot more arson, murder, and sexual assault than our heroes would ever abide by. It's essentially that one joke from Shaun of the Dead, where the main group of heroes encounters a team composed of their doppelgangers, only here the doppelgangers are all a bunch of self-absorbed and self-pitying bastards (and they don't have a cool German otaku friend, either).

Introducing a new antagonist into the mix is just the dash of direction that I think the story could benefit greatly from. We'll just have to see if the story nails the execution, or if these cartoonishly terrible people end up being too shitty to be taken seriously. Ah, well. At least we finally got to see the finished OP, in all of its absurd glory. Here's to hoping we can all meet again and celebrate the conclusion of this fun little anime before a real apocalypse gets in the way of things.

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Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead is currently streaming on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Netflix.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.