English Dub Review: ZOMBIE LAND SAGA “One-Of-A-Kind SAGA”

Sakura loses her mind on a depressing episode of ZOMBIE LAND SAGA.

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After getting hit by a truck for the second time, Sakura’s memories of her former life have reawakened. The only problem is that her memories of Franchouchou have all vanished! Everyone tries their best to convince her to give the group a shot, but it’s Koutarou who has the final pep talk with her.

Our Take:

Since Sakura started out as the un-depressable loyalist to Koutarou and his wacky schemes, it’s quite the wild ride when the tables turn and she is utterly resistant to the idea. The truck has knocked her silly, and now all her memories are jumbled-up. She can recall all of her memories from life before Franchouchou, but her recollection of the last few months is completely empty.

Ai plays a nice role in the episode, helping to explain and comfort Sakura in her immediate distress. This is fitting, as it’s later revealed that Sakura was a big fan of Ai’s and looked up to her for her inspiration to never give up. Everyone reacts to Sakura’s sudden switch in their own unique ways. Saki threatens to kill her. Lily brings her a reminder of something she thought was adorable, but it only messes with her mind more.

It turns out that in real life, Sakura was cursed with the worst luck ever. Not only did she tweak a muscle in like, 7 consecutive relay race warm-ups, but she’s been hit by two trucks now. Why should she try to join the band now when everything she does winds up wanting? It looks like Koutarou might be the one to convince her to keep going, as he tells her that it doesn’t matter if she’s good enough because he is himself.

The English dub is good as always. Brina Palencia does an excellent job channeling Sakura’s sorrows: “Everything I can remember is awful. It’s better if I don’t try at all.” There were a couple well-timed comedic beats of silence this episode that worked wonderfully.

One-Of-A-Kind SAGA is a solid episode of ZOMBIE LAND SAGA that finally fills in some of Sakura’s backstory. While it didn’t have a lot of twists or turns, and the ending is a bit abrupt, it was a nice look into what makes Sakura tick.