English Dub Review: Zombie Land Saga Revenge “Little Bodda Bope SAGA”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Everyone else has gotten a chance to shine recently, but now Lily wants to sparkle herself. She signs up for Japanese Got Performance, a nationally-televised talent show that draws some the of nation’s top talent to audition for a panel of judges and a live audience.

A famous child actor named Light Oozora is also auditioning, and though he seems nice enough on the surface, he’s as two-faced as they come. He winds up stealing Lily’s second audition song and performing it as his own, forcing her to come up with something last second that still manages to wow the crowd. Despite losing to him, Lily’s bright peppiness wins him over and the two of them part as friends.

We’re approaching the halfway mark of Zombie Land Saga’s second season, and while we’ve covered a lot of drama and history of the older members of Franchouchou, the youngest member of the group has been feeling neglected. In Little Bodda Bope SAGA, Lily takes over as the protagonist and gives viewers a glimpse into a world of sparkling positivity in the face of pessimism and cynicism. It’s a sweet episode for sure, even if it does’t really say a whole lot by the time the ending comes around.

Lily is a unique member of Franchouchou, being the youngest. But yet she’s somehow also the wisest and most emotionally-mature at times. Her random outburst stealing Kotaro’s thunder was pretty funny, and wanting to take the spotlight for herself for a bit felt believable for something a kid would do.

Once we get to the talent show however, things get a bit less fun. The whole ‘snobbish child star’ thing is just overdone at this point I feel like, and having Light steal her song and perform it right before she’s scheduled to go on is textbook talent show plot. While Light’s actions weren’t surprising in the least, the way Lily reacts to his villainy is. Despite having a meaningful song straight up stolen from her, she still chooses to treat Light with kindness, congratulating him on his win and managing to ‘win’ him over as a possible friend. Lily’s kindness is par for the course at this point; I kind of wish we saw her get more frustrated and act more like an actual child would, but she is undead, so maybe that’s a contributing factor?

What is weird is how quickly Light comes around to her smiles. One minute he’s scoffing at her and stealing her music, the next he’s fist bumping her and saying to look him up if she ever comes to the big city. I suppose there’s a grudging respect for her after seeing her almost pull off a win despite his cheating, but I still think this reversal was a bit too quick to be realistic. Light is an asshole, and while Lily being able to tame his wilder nature in twenty minutes is nice to think about, it feels more like a first step than a conclusion.

That’s one of the downsides of having such a big cast of main characters. Zombie Land Saga has plenty of stories to choose from, but not a whole lot of time to devote to each one. I would’ve liked to see Light sticking around and perhaps becoming friends with Lily later on, but I’m guessing this is the last big part he’ll play in the season. Next week we’ll move on to focus on another member of Franchouchou. Even if the sixth episode slows things down a little more, it probably won’t be as sweet as this one. Also, Kotaro totally should’ve won the contest with his impression.