English Dub Review: Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead “Hero of the Dead”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Akira decides to follow his childhood dream of becoming a superhero and tries saving a bunch of people from zombie divers at an aquarium, with Shizuka among them. While Shizuka disparages his and Kencho’s heroic efforts, the group is then attacked by a zombie shark, but they defeat it with combined teamwork. Shizuka decides to finally give Akira her contact info, and he and Kencho finally decided to leave Tokyo.

OUR TAKE

After a week delay (probably having to do with the sub’s increasing delays), we finally return to another batch of Zom 100 episodes. I guess I spoke too soon about that flight attendant episode not getting referenced, as it seems to be somewhat of the impetus for Akira deciding to move onto his next bucket list item, but I still feel like that’s the most we’re getting out of that, though I could be wrong. I’m sure we’ve all wondered about if we could become a superhero when we were kids, like if we could suddenly get superpowers or do the Batman thing, and hey, superheroes only come about in those settings because the world they’re in is messed up. And what’s more messed up than the zombie apocalypse?! But while we probably won’t get a big movie deal for Akiranger, this episode does provide us with Akira and Shizuka going to bat with their respective ideologies once again with idealism versus pragmatism. Akira wants to save as many people as he can, damn the consequences, while Shizuka questions the practicality of that and the risks involved. And once again, the two find the other has good points, as even if they were able to save everyone this time, next time could get Akira in danger and leave Kencho all alone.

This kind of thematic struggle happening alongside the struggle to survive against zombies is what has made this series really stand out for me so far. I’ve gone on and on about how Akira’s newly found zest for life in the most deadliest of times is a very flavorful take on what has become a pretty dry and bland genre, and they certainly could have kept it at that and gotten a lot of interesting things out of that premise. But they also decided to have a character exist to show that life, even life running from zombies, is about a lot more than just filling out a bucket list when your life seems like it can end at any moment. As we approach the halfway point of the season, perhaps we will see this lessons help hone Akira into a more complex person who can take his love for life and doing things he wants and make it a force for good. Not just for saving people in the moment from immediate zombies, but also some bigger changes down the road. Oh yeah, and isn’t there still a main character we haven’t met yet? Will she show up next week?