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

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Akira and Kencho meet back up with Shizuka as they pick out an RV to escape Tokyo and head to Akira’s hometown of Gunma. On the way, their tires are popped by the surprise appearance of Kosugi, Akira’s old abusive boss, who manipulates Akira back into his kowtowing ways as they mend an injured Kencho.

OUR TAKE

Well, this is happening a bit sooner than I expected, but we’ve reached the point in the story where we get Akira’s first true test of holding onto the gungho YOLO attitude he’s had since the zombie’s first took over. Since the show started, he’s been doing everything he can to break away from the old version of himself that was under the mental and emotional heel of his old job and especially his old boss Kosugi. We only got a little time seeing him at this job compared to the rest of the series, so much so that it feels like a long time ago, but having that chronological and emotional distance actually helps to realize how much it’s impacting Akira. Perhaps some of you readers can relate, but when you’re around an abusive presence or person for so long and finally feel like you’re free from it, feeling it suddenly come back and thinking you’ll never escape it is a VERY visceral feeling. Even after getting back his best friend and getting a possible love interest, Akira feels like none of it has mattered and he’s still the weak version of himself. I can definitely relate to that.

We’ll see how this resolves next episode, though when we’ll get the dub of that episode or the rest is a little up in the air at the moment. You probably noticed there was a couple weeks between this and the dub of Episode 5. While this series has had some bad luck in terms of delays for its first few episodes due to specific events out of its control, it seems that the show itself is now on hiatus, having stopped airing after the ninth episode of the planned twelve. I have little doubt we’ll be getting a dub of the seventh episode fairly soon, I do wonder if the eighth and ninth will be delayed indefinitely until we get some news about the remaining three episodes that have not made it to broadcast. Without giving too much away, next episode is a pretty natural stopping point for awhile, as it resolves the story started in this week’s ep, as well as being the last before the last principal character, the busty blonde in the OP, first shows up. But regardless of what they end up going with, you’ll see reviews here, so stay up to date in your respective camping vehicles for more Zom 100.