English Dub Review: #I’m Looking for a Zombie “I’m Looking For My Dad”
Overview (Spoilers Below):
Thirteen years after the “Red Day”, Aki leaves the village with Natsuki and Haru to search for her father.
Our Take:
If there’s one key takeaway from zombie anime like Zom 100 and Zombie Land Saga, it’s that the zombie apocalypse may not be as scary as you think. In fact, it could be a fun and wild experience running from or killing the undead if you have friends by your side. This latest addition to the zombified anime trend is no exception, following another group of characters as they traverse a post-apocalyptic world with the undead on the loose. Titled #I’m Looking for a Zombie, the anime introduces viewers to the Earth plagued by a disease called the “Red Day” that wiped out almost all of humanity. This leaves the remaining survivors living in isolated villages, hoping a new generation will rise against the zombified invasion.
One of those survivors is Aki, a peppy, courageous teen who decides to leave her haven behind for the first time. Alongside her childhood friends, Natsuki and Haru, she embarks on a cross-country adventure to find her missing father, who left the village earlier. But it isn’t so that she can reunite with him, because she promised to find and kill him if he actually did turn into a zombie. While it sounds dark on paper, the series evokes a more cheerful, vibrant personality amid the post-apocalyptic journey. However, it still seems like it has a long way to go to impress me with its tone and story. The first episode opens with Aki, Natsuki, and Haru already on a road trip to find Aki’s father. They then rescue two other survivors, Sakura and Yu, with Yu being the more serious and uptight of the two. Afterward, we see them make the home center their base while building a massive bomb to wipe out the invading zombies.
“I’m Looking For My Dad” is pretty vague in its world-building and characters, and the tone, while energetic and colorful, can be a tad overwhelming for its own good. Then again, this is only the start of what’s to come for Aki and her friends, as she seeks more answers about her father’s whereabouts. So maybe it’ll start to grow on me once we learn more about their backgrounds in later episodes. The only thing I can give it credit for, besides the kooky animation, is how it depicts the characters’ first experience with the world around them, highlighting the current generation’s viewpoint of the stuff other generations grew up with, even during a zombie apocalypse. It’s got the same mentality as Zom 100 in its tone and presentation, but story-wise? It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, but I can still hope it offers something to warrant its potentially fun yet derivative concept.
