Zombie Land Saga Episode 2 Review: I ♡ HIP HOP SAGA

Even though I wished for more metal stages, it seems like Zombie Land Saga will explore all kinds of music genres throughout the series. In this episode we saw the mad rapping skills of Sakura and Saki. Come on zombies, d-drop the beat!

Plot

So far all the girls have come back to their senses except from the LEGENDARY TAE YAMADA and they all look very displeased with their current situation. After ignoring Kotaro and not participating to the dance lessons, the same night Ai Mizuno and Junko Konno try to leave the mansion, but Sakura stops them telling them that it’s dangerous to go outside. They end up in the city where some rappers try to hit on them and they encounter the same policeman who shot Sakura. The next day, the girls have another performance where they almost show up their true zombie selves because Tae Yamada accidently decapitates her head. As Sakura tries to make everything look like it’s part of the performance, she starts a rap battle with Saki, which impresses Kotaro, the members and the audience.

Episode Highlights

The opening song: Is this supposed to be a reference to the idol groups Crayon Pop or Momoiro Clover Z? Or is it something between them and Power Rangers? In any case, the opening was brilliant, and I loved the little choreography sequences of Kotaro dancing with the zombies.

Can someone give Mamoru a Nobel Prize, please? Honestly, this man is just the best voice actor. He gives the character so much more with his heavy accent and overly dramatized way of speaking. I can’t get over this man’s talent, seriously. Every time he talks I want to make his quotes my message alerts or notifications. ‘You wanna know stats, look it up on Wikipedia! You think I am Wikipedia?’ This scene killed me.

From Death Musume to Green Face: Clearly, Kotaro is a genius when it comes to choosing idol names. Is he going to be changing their name in every performance that they do?

Themes & Trivia

Tamagochi: The Tamagotchi is a handheld digital pet, created in Japan by Akihiro Yokoi of WiZ and Aki Maita Bandai. It was released by Bandai on November 1996 in Japan and May 1997 in the rest of the world, quickly becoming one of the biggest toy fads of the 1990s and early 2000s. Most Tamagotchi are housed in a small egg-shaped computer with an interface usually consisting of three buttons, although the number of buttons may vary. According to Bandai, the name is a portmanteau combining the two Japanese words tamago (たまご), which means ‘egg’, and the end of ‘watch’.

Shamisen: The instrument that Yugiri was playing during the rap battle is called Shamisen. The shamisen or samisen (三味線), also sangen (三絃, both words mean ‘three strings’), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument anxian. It is played with a plectrum called a bachi.

The legendary Tae-chan: After seeing a post on Twitter about the VA cast of the show, there is a girl with her face covered by Tae’s face, so maybe it’s going to stay a mystery for now if she will actually gain her consciousness or stay a zombie forever.

Comments

I was surprised to see that the Saga Castle that they were performing at, looks exactly like the original one. Is Ai Mizuno one of the members of the band that Sakura liked when she was alive? After re-watching the opening scene of the first episode, I think that she might be. Their rap battle was hilarious but I have to say that it felt very awkward to me, I can’t even imagine myself being part of the audience, I would have cringed to death.

Also what is the deal with Kotaro’s dog, Romero? When I saw the scene of him barking, I thought that Mamoru was voicing him as well but apparently he has his own voice actor as well! Does that mean that the dog will be talking anytime soon or that they just hired poor Yasuhiro Takato, just to make dog noises?

That wasn’t very idol-ish

It looks like this is going to be an idol anime after all, but so far I absolutely love it. The humour, the references and the voice acting is just amazing. I can hardly wait to see what they will show us next week, with a title that is clearly referencing the Dead or Alive game series.

NEXT TIME: DEAD OR LIVE SAGA