English Dub Review: Zombie Land Saga Revenge “Walking Bet SAGA”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The girls of Franchouchou are eager to get back to singing. They’ve won a lot of acclaim recently, especially now that they have official rivals and all. But Koutarou reminds them that they’re still in a lot of debt, so performing for fun will have to wait until they get more cash.

Tae gets sent to the store to pickup some grocery items and winds up winning a dance competition with a chicken mascot. Then she visits a boat race and accidentally bets on the winning racers. She returns home with 20 million yen, much to the appreciation of her fellow Franchouchou members.

Our Take:

Zombie Land Saga has one of the bigger main cast of characters I’ve watched in a show. This season has focused on a single character or so for each episode, and Walking Bet SAGA continues that trend. But though the sixth episode of Zombie Land’s second season is focused on a single character, it happens to stand out due to who that character happens to be: Tae.

I wrote about Lily being the odd one out last week, but it’s accurate to say again this week. Tae is the one member of the group who can’t talk. Her behavior has always been more classic zombie than her fellow bandmates, which makes her somewhat of an enigma. We can’t really learn a whole lot about a character’s motivations, ideals, and personality when that character never says a single word. Or rather, it makes things much more difficult.

Which is why Zombie Land Saga doesn’t really try to make this episode anything special. It may follow Tae’s journey the entire runtime, but we learn virtually nothing new about her—except that she might be a genius at gambling? Although I’m betting that was all dumb luck for the sake of laughs. If you enjoy seeing Tae walking around doing random things like biting hair and grunting at pedestrians, you’ll love this episode. For me, however, most of it was pretty boring.

There were a few bits that had potential. I liked how the series tried to bring Tae into reality a bit by justifying why she’s able to remain in Franchouchou despite her true nature. It’s kind of funny to hear about how she’s attracted a dedicated fanbase. Much like Derpy in MLP, people love a random screwup, and Tae is certainly that most of the time.

The other wrinkle is the addition of the reporter who has been interested in Franchouchou since the start. It adds some suspense as we wait to see when he’ll out the group as a bunch of undead entertainers. Because really, how could you look at Tae and NOT know? From eating any little thing dropped on the ground to never talking to anybody, Tae is literally a walking red flag and I don’t know why Koutarou lets her get sent off on her own—at least she’s got the dog to help cover her tracks. It seems like the show wants to have it both ways, trying to show that people are suspicious of Tae while simultaneously letting her befriend a bunch of girls who she never even speaks to… and it doesn’t really work for me.

I guess it’s nice to see why the girls are going to be able to quit their day jobs in the future, but I felt like this episode was a wasted opportunity to showcase more of what makes Tae tick. Instead of delving in-depth into her character, Walking Bet SAGA felt more like an extended gag sequence. I guess it’s better than a recap episode, but I bet this slot in the season could’ve been used in another way and produced much greater results.