Zombieland Saga - Idol Anime's Gateway Drug

Those sneaky zombies got me. I'm pretty sure I unironically like idol anime now.
Let's figure out how they did it.
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In the depths of his Mother's Basement, Geoff Thew creates videos analyzing the storytelling techniques of anime and video games. He has been named the number one Worst TH-cam Anime Reviewer by The Top Tens.

[@iqjdsrt92]

And then there's the moment when you realize you are just like the 2 weird metal guys who started to follow the girls for their brutality and ended up just liking them as idols

[@wod26]

You cannot escape Idol hell once you have entered

[@ballisticriot6082]

For anyone who says this show is bad, make sure you check both ways before crossing the street because

[@kcsupersonic1]

I feel like Kotaro is not being given enough credit. He acts the part of the sterotypical idol manager who cares nothing for the humanity of the idols he manages, but you also see him doing a lot of the grunt work in the background in order to make the group run. When he ditches the group to go goof off, he is actually negotiating deals and appearances for the group. He also allows all the zombie girls to determine for themselves what they will do for their image. He doesn't take sides in the Idol ideology debate and says that it is ok to not want to do public signings. He also hilariously berates the others when he believes that they won't accept Lily. I think he is putting up a front, because he believes that is just how a manager is supposed to act.

[@doylethompson1510]

The manager is absolutely hilarious and one of the best voice performances I've heard. Hes ridiculous, meant to be ridiculous, and hints at the idea that hes ridiculous on purpose and plays up a persona for the girls. You're short selling him pretty hard. Hes out making connections during the hot spring episode and the way he treats each girl is different and they each respond differently. You're seriously underselling his character.

[@danielleanderson6371]

After season 2 I absolutely love Yugiri, and I love that this show made her such a badass without sacrificing a single fragment of her femininity. Butch women are amazing, genuine people, but it's so important to recognize that adopting a masculine quality is not required for a woman to be great. It is enough for a woman to simply be herself.

[@kingsquid330]

i also find hilarious that the manger is a necromancer that seems like he was a DnD charater that kept rolling natural 20s on charisma

[@JustinY.]

They pulled the greatest bamboozle since School-Live.

[@rileymitchell3510]

And, not only that, your talk about how different standards of idol femininity are valid, the biker, the sexual, the trans girl, easily translates into how these are all valid for real women as well, all femininity is valid just as all idols should be valid, and that's a delightful message to see put out so well.

[@vanilla_milkshake]

One thing I'm surprised no one is taking about is the brilliant idea the production had to make the early performances in CGI. It seemed like a cheap short-cut at first, then we got to ep 8 where the girls perform a song they wrote together that was all hand-drawn animation. Then Saki's song in ep 9 pretty much confirmed that the use of CGI for the "less genuine" performances was intentional. Genius.

[@pixelpudding3914]

Person:I hate idol shows!

[@user-gs3jq3nn6u]

Honoka : literally dancing in the traffics and didn't get hit by a car

[@battlesheep2552]

Aside from the implied promiscuity, there's also the fact that Yugiri smokes, even in public appearances. Definitely a big no-no for that appearance of "purity" idols are expected to maintain, but she does bring that Meiji-era charm that makes it work.

[@CainLupus]

Yamada Tae is defs my favorite idol of all time. I mean what other idol could do a perfect rooster crow? Absolutely Legendary (Yamada Tae).

[@greg4811]

They literally crawled out of idol hell to get you.

[@riemaennchen]

Its just like a real Zombie infection. One bite (or episode in this case) and you are one of them.

[@KusogakiRenfir]

I'm disappointed that this anime is as underrated as it is since it easily makes top three for me. The humor is absolutely hysterical, and the deconstruction of the idol genre is nothing short of genius.

[@thepinkertons823]

A note on the horrible CGI dance numbers. Lily and Saki's performances made me notice that those, too, are a critique of the fabrication of idol culture. Theirs were traditional animation -- which given that they were more heartfelt made sense. We're supposed to see that they came from the girls themselves.The flashmob, the Saga Rock scene, those were marketing ploys. So it makes sense that they were done in that robotic CGI. The show uses its own medium to tell us whether a performance is genuine or not.

[@JosieBobaGames]

I'm calling to the twist right now that Tatsumi is the one who was driving the truck that hit Sakura

[@teekahseng5773]

Apparently the reason why the saga prefecture is chosen to be the focus is because the president of Cygames, who produced Zombieland saga, Koichi Watanabe, is born in Saga and wanted to boost tourism there.