Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Template:Nihongo is a Japanese manga series written by Haro Aso and illustrated by Kotaro Takata. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's [[Seinen manga|Template:Transliteration manga]] magazine Monthly Sunday Gene-X since October 2018, with its chapters collected in 18 Template:Transliteration volumes as of November 2024. The series is licensed for English release in North America by Viz Media and in Southeast Asia by Shogakukan Asia.

An anime television series adaptation produced by Bug Films aired from July to December 2023. It is licensed by Viz Media outside of Asia. Muse Communication licensed the anime for South Asia and Southeast Asia regions. A live-action film adaptation premiered on Netflix in August 2023.

Plot

Akira Tendo, a 24-year-old office worker of an extremely exploitative marketing firm, discovers himself trapped in a routine and meaningless life. He lacks drive and motivation after three years of abusive treatment. When a zombie apocalypse unexpectedly strikes Tokyo, everything is turned upside down. Instead of succumbing to dread, Akira sees this as an opportunity to experience life to the fullest rather than settle for his humdrum, depressing existence. He decides to create a bucket list of everything he wants to do before becoming a zombie in order to not only experience it firsthand but also to show that he is still alive and well. This decision gives him a newfound sense of purpose.

Others soon join him in his journey: Kencho, Akira's old college buddy who seeks to be a stand-up comedian; Shizuka, a sullen and blunt woman who is also seeking to escape an abusive life; and Beatrix, a German college graduate infatuated with Japanese culture. With them at his side, Akira embarks on a number of exciting and frequently bizarre excursions throughout zombie-infested Japan, checking off bucket list items that range from simple pleasures like eating at expensive restaurants for free to more extravagant pursuits like going on roller coasters and visiting haunted houses. The group also comes across other survivors who have their own motivations for surviving as they make their way across the country and its swarms of flesh-eating zombies. Along the journey, they forge odd alliances, face their own anxieties, and learn the importance of friendship and the human spirit's ability to persevere in the face of difficulty.

Characters

Main characters

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Akira is a former salaryman who worked in an extremely-exploitative marketing firm. Once a cheerful, happy-go-lucky person full of ambitions and dreams, the grind of his abusive job took a major toll on his physical and mental well-being and he fell into a deep depression. When the zombie apocalypse happens, however, Akira immediately reverts back to his old personality, able to finally break out of his routine and enjoy life as it comes. Knowing he will likely be turned into a zombie at some point, Akira decides to spend the next three years completing a bucket list of things he always wanted to do. While he initially seems ignorant of the gravity of the situation, Akira is actually keenly aware, but still views the zombie apocalypse as better than his former work life. Due to his time as a college rugby player, Akira possesses heightened strength and agility, which is often uses to escape zombies and get out of predicaments. He later uses his strength to become the "superhero" Akirager, dressing up in a shark bite-proof swimsuit to physically attack zombies without the risk of getting bit.

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Shizuka is a young woman who used to work as a high-profile accountant (flight attendant in the live-action film, due to being composited with Yukari). She used to be in a very similar situation to Akira's work life, except it came at the hands of her father who controlled every aspect of her life. As a result, Shizuka grew into a reserved, overly-logical person with little to no care about her personal enjoyment of things. During the zombie apocalypse, this was only exacerbated as Shizuka became laser-focused on surviving, using her incredible resourcefulness to her advantage, but also not taking the time to mingle with other survivors. After several chance encounters with Akira and Kencho, she reluctantly joins them when they offer to take her in their RV, as she does not know how to drive. However, she slowly starts to open up to them and becomes inspired by their desire to live life to the fullest, eventually leading her and Akira to fall in love and start dating. She also rekindles her childhood desire to become a doctor, which becomes her primary bucket list item, at #42.

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Kenichiro is Akira's best friend from his college days and former rugby teammate, nicknamed "Kencho". He loves telling jokes to other people, with Akira being his main audience. He became a high-profile real estate agent after college, but secretly hated the scammy nature of the housing industry, only keeping up with it because of the benefits he received; in reality, his long-time dream was to become a stand-up comedian, which eventually becomes bucket list item #34. After Akira saves him from a zombie horde, the two rekindle their bond and decide to survive the zombie apocalypse together. Kencho possesses the same physical ability as Akira, but is more bulky and innately stronger, as well as more charismatic, which has led to a promiscuous lifestyle that continues into the apocalypse. During the apocalypse, Kencho frequently performs comedy for others, with his main joke being to strip naked in front of others, much to the dismay of everyone except Akira, who finds it hilarious.

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Beatrix is a German woman who became obsessed with Japanese culture in her youth. She obsessively began studying Japanese culture and learned Japanese, intending to tour Japan after graduating from college. While on the tour, however, the zombie apocalypse occurred, leaving Beatrix trapped in her fantasy. She was able to fight back by finding a suit of samurai armor, a bow and arrow, a naginata, and katanas, using her self-taught training to dispatch zombies. Beatrix's bucket list goal is to eat sushi made by the world's last-surviving chef, leading her to join Akira's group as pigging out on sushi was #7 on the bucket list. While a sweet girl at heart, Beatrix's weapons skills make her by far the most skilled fighter in the group.

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Takeru, nicknamed Takemina is an old college friend of Akira and Kencho. A self-stylized hippie, he joins Akira's group in order to experience the greatest possible freedom imaginable. Takeru has poor aim, but if he intentionally seeks to miss, then he will always hit his target. This makes him the team's sharpshooter.

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Izuna is a former high school student who became jaded with society after the death of her father at a young age and her mother's subsequent need to overwork. When the outbreak starts, Izuna is found to be naturally immune to the virus. Upon meeting Akira's group, she joins up with them, and the primary goal of the series shifts to escorting her to a lab where a vaccine can be produced based on her immunity.

Supporting characters

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The Kousakas are a young couple who are Akira's neighbors. They had never met him before, but shortly after the outbreak, Akira ran into them hiding in their apartment while he was going to find Ohtori (to get beer in the anime), his cheerful attitude amidst the chaos befuddling them. Akira offers to get supplies for them, but discovers their apartment trashed afterwards. Though he believes them to have been killed, in reality the two became so emboldened by Akira's optimism that they escaped their apartment, fled to the airport, and commandeered a plane so they could travel the world together before they become zombies. In the live-action film, the couple are also expecting and fled to the aquarium rather than the airport.

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Teruo is Akira's father and a farmer. A no-nonsense, hardworking man, he routinely, if unintentionally, acts coldly to Akira, leading them to not get along that well. Despite this, Teruo occasionally shows some warmth and idealism (eventually revealing his childhood dream was to become an astronaut and experience the overview effect), and is fiercely loyal to their village. He suffers from various health problems, including back pain, lung problems, and hemorrhoids. This initially causes himself and others to think he is infected, though this later proves to not be the case. Getting Teruo to take hemorrhoid surgery becomes #40 on the bucket list.

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Akiko is Akira's mother and Teruo's wife. She is generally more kind-hearted and conciliatory than her husband.

Antagonists

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Gonzou is Akira's former team leader at his old company. A sadistic and gleefully abusive bully, Gonzou takes every single opportunity he can to yell at his coworkers, even contradicting himself when they do exactly what he asked of them, and gives himself a cult of personality where they feel they can only survive by relying on him, all while he does absolutely no work in return. When the apocalypse breaks out, he becomes the leader of a group of survivors taking refuge in a truck stop, but the mental toll of the situation causes him to become even worse and puts the same level of work and pressure on the other survivors. He also begins trapping people driving out of Tokyo and manipulating them into working for him, which eventually includes Akira, Shizuka and Kencho. Though he nearly succeeds in brainwashing Akira, Shizuka convinces him to walk out on Gonzou by writing it in as #37 on the bucket list, and the rest of his group eventually does the same when he only thinks about himself during a zombie attack, leaving him alone and crying as zombies encroach on him.

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Higurashi is a former college acquaintance of Akira and Kencho. He serves as a foil and inverse to Akira; while Akira was an extroverted person who was cut off from the world by his work, Higurashi was a former NEET who actively avoided people and work, but still became bitter because of his seclusion and chose to blame society rather than himself. When the apocalypse broke out, Higurashi saw this as an opportunity to do whatever he wanted without any consequences, and met others who felt similarly disenfranchised by society, but in reality put themselves in that situation. They made their own bucket list consisting entirely of causing as much harm and destruction as possible, infiltrating Akira's village and releasing zombies into it in order to zombify Akira, whose extrovertedness Higurashi had always envied. Although he destroys much of the village, minimal casualties are sustained and he is defeated by Akira in combat before being beaten by a zombie. Akira shows compassion to Higurashi in his final moments, and in return, Higurashi uses the last of his sentience to lure some of the zombies away from Akira and his parents, before jumping into a river and drowning.

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A member of Higurashi's group, Kurasagi is a former cellphone shop employer who had become disenfranchised with his work and marriage, leading to the latter dissolving, but in reality, he expected her to do everything for him while he provided money, rather than actually work on their relationship. After joining Higurashi's group during the outbreak, Kurasagi's bucket list item becomes wanting to abuse his wife. During the assault on Akira's village, he fights with Kencho on a roof, who angrily points out his faults. Kencho manages to throw Kurasagi off the roof, where he is devoured by zombies.

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A member of Higurashi's group who worked as a chef apprentice. He refused to apply himself to any of his jobs and would routinely get fired, but chose to blame bad luck over his selfishness. After joining Higurashi's group, Atenbou's bucket list item becomes wanting to forcibly French kiss a girl. During the outbreak, he attempts to do this to Shizuka, but she points out his inability to fear for others and lures Atenbou to where the village elders beat him up, though he survives.

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A member of Higurashi's group. She was an office manager who constantly nitpicked and belittled every little thing about where she worked, leading her coworkers to deem her pushy and avoid her, and later lead to her getting fired. After joining Higurashi's group, Kanbayashi's main bucket list item becomes blowing up her old office building. During the outbreak, she comes into contact with Beatrix, who points out that she needed to be more open to the opinions of others and learn to respect different approaches to the same goal before she is killed.

Other characters

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Ohtori is one of Akira's coworkers during his time in the company. An attractive woman who always showed compassion to him, Akira developed a huge crush on her, but eventually discovered that she was being coerced into being the CEO's "other woman", constantly having sex with him both in and out of the office whether or not she wanted to, and thus Akira sheepishly avoided confessing to her. On the first day of the apocalypse, both Ohtori and the CEO became zombified, and upon discovering them, Akira summoned the courage to confess to her before running away, which retroactively became the first item checked off his bucket list. Akira routinely thinks about her, but largely forgoes any lingering feelings for her after realizing he is in love with Shizuka.

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Yukari is one of three flight attendants that Akira and Kencho meet, along with her coworkers Reika and Maki, while hiding in a subway store from zombies. After Kencho has sex with Maki (and taunts Akira over it), Akira attempts to do the same thing with Yukari, but she turns him down when she reveals she has a boyfriend and is holding out hope for his survival. Instead, the two become quick friends, and have a heart-to-heart about their ambitions. An infected man eventually infects Reika, who in turn infects Maki before being killed by Kencho, while the man bites Yukari. Before she turns, Yukari encourages Akira to find his ambition in life, like she got to live out as a flight attendant. Yukari's death traumatizes Akira, and he carries his memory of her throughout the rest of his journey.

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A carpenter from the city. After the outbreak killed his wife and son, Kumano fled into the forest, where zombies do not roam, and began building a treehouse in the forest to reside there away from danger. Upon finding him, Akira and his group help him complete the treehouse due to building a treehouse being on Akira's bucket list. Later, following Higurashi's defeat, Kumano helped the villagers escape from the zombies, and moved into the village to help them rebuild.

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A makeup artist who worked in the film industry. She was ironically on the set of a zombie film when the outbreak occurred, but escaped from the city and took refuge in Akira's village, where she and two other women from the city befriended Akira and his parents. She proved crucial in Higurashi's defeat, giving Akira makeup to make him look like a zombie and approach and subdue Higurashi when his guard was down; this also checks off one of Akira's bucket list items, which was to try cosplay.

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Known as "Old Man Hikoe", he is one of the elders in Akira's village. Once the greatest hunter in the village, Hikoe has since become a senile old man who, following the death of his wife, experiences bouts of delirium. This includes believing Shizuka to be his granddaughter, Akemi, who long ago left for the city, and routinely tries to hug Shizuka as a result. This particular delusion proves crucial during Higurashi's attack, however, as Hikoe inspires some of the other villagers to save Shizuka from Atenbou after Shizuka herself saves them from zombies.

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A young girl from the city. After losing both of her parents in the outbreak, she and her dog Charl escaped into Akira's village. In her mourning, she became distant and lonely from the other villagers, until Kencho manages to cheer her up with his comedy. Kencho also protects her during Higurashi's attack, and in gratitude she dubs him a comedian, allowing him to knock it off the bucket list.

Production

Haro Aso, the author of the series, commented that the handling of the zombie genre as entertainment has been overused in several types of media. Aso was planning a new work when he came up with the idea of "let's do a zombie one". So, Aso came up with the idea of a protagonist who can see zombies as something fun, thinking that real people might be more disgusting than zombies, and "It would be interesting to mix zombies and company beasts". He has come up with the idea of having company animals as the main characters. However, he was impressed after watching the 2018 Japanese film One Cut of the Dead. Aso was amazed by the take a "heartwarming zombie comedy" by Shin'ichirō Ueda. Though the manga predated the film, Aso enjoyed One Cut of the Dead while adding that he wrote the manga without being conscious of the international market. Aso originally preferred Western movies over domestic ones, leading to his manga being more influenced by the former. In order to stand out as a manga author, he wanted to make a commentary about Japanese society in order to tell the audience to laugh, something different from previous zombie works. The style is described as "a little offbeat, a little silly". While telling a ridiculous story, his message was telling the readers to do whatever they want like his characters do.

Aso, who had no experience working in a company, interviewed his friend, an office worker. While drinking on the weekend and taking notes on his friend's complaints. As Aso listened to him, he commented that he thought to himself: "If this is the case, I'd still rather be a zombie". From that story, he envisioned the main character, Akira, who puts off everything he wants to do and devotes himself to his work at the company. Then, he put Akira into a zombie world, thus initiating the production of the story.

Artist Kotaro Takata said that the theme of zombies was something he always wanted to work on, with some of his favorite works in the horror genre being Zombieland and Z Nation. Aso and Takada, who is in charge of the animation, were "originally private friends who often went camping together." According to Aso, Takada said things like "When this series is over, I'm going to go back to my parents' house and start farming and hunting," as if he "always wanted to escape from reality." When Aso was thinking about the story, Takada came to mind, and he called him to ask if he wanted to start a work together. Takada agreed, taking charge of the illustrations.

Media

Manga

Written by Haro Aso and illustrated by Kotaro Takata, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead began serialization in Shogakukan's [[Seinen manga|Template:Transliteration manga]] magazine Monthly Sunday Gene-X on October 19, 2018. Shogakukan has collected its chapters into individual Template:Transliteration volumes. The first volume was released on March 19, 2019. As of November 19, 2024, 18 volumes have been released.

In North America, Viz Media announced the English release of the series in July 2020. On May 9, 2023, Viz Media launched their Viz Manga digital manga service, with the series' chapters receiving simultaneous English publication in North America as they are released in Japan. In Singapore, the manga has been licensed by Shogakukan Asia.

Volumes

• Note: The chapters are numbered after a superscript # symbol (^#).

Chapters not yet in tankōbon format

• ^#70: Template:Nihongo
• ^#71: Template:Nihongo

Anime

On January 6, 2023, an anime television series adaptation was announced, as part of a deal between Viz Media, Shogakukan, and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions. It was produced by Bug Films and directed by Kazuki Kawagoe, with assistant direction by Hanako Ueda, scripts supervised by Hiroshi Seko, character designs by Kii Tanaka, zombie designs by Junpei Fukuchi, and music composed by Makoto Miyazaki. The series aired from July 9 to December 26, 2023, on the Template:Ill programming block on all JNN stations in Japan, including MBS and TBS. The opening theme song is Template:Nihongo performed by Kana-Boon, while the ending theme song is Template:Nihongo performed by Template:Ill.

Hulu, Netflix, and Crunchyroll streamed the series in the United States simultaneously with its Japanese release. The English dub of the series aired in the United States on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block from March 31 to July 7, 2024. It was released on Blu-ray Disc set on October 8, 2024. Muse Communication licensed the series in Asia-Pacific.

Live-action film

On June 7, 2022, during the Geeked Week livestream, Netflix announced a live-action film adaptation. Yusuke Ishida directed the film, based on a screenplay by Tatsuro Mishima. Akira Morii served as producer at Robot Communications, in collaboration with Plus One Entertainment. The film premiered on August 3, 2023. The theme song is "HoriZom" performed by Ren.

Reception

Manga

Critical reception

Briana Lawrence of The Mary Sue praised the manga's premise for making the reader care not for Akira's quest but instead of the fact that he does not care about the fact there are zombies in Japan and how he spends his free time. Akira's viewpoint of the post-apocalyptic world was compared to an optimistic view to the world's situation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kara Dennison of Otaku USA said the series gives several positive messages, such as Akira's optimism when dealing with the chaotic world as well as the cast in general's outlook to the current status quo. Koiwai of Manga News found the story quirky, crazy, and cynical, praising the handling of Akira, while responding positively to the artwork, especially the drawing of zombies.

Accolades

The series was nominated for the Eisner Award in the Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia and Best Humor Publication categories in 2022. The series was also nominated for the 69th Shogakukan Manga Award in 2023.Template:Efn

Anime

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 100% based on five reviews, with an average rating of 9.7/10. The critics from Anime News Network gave the first episode a very positive reception. James Beckett and Richard Eisenbeis gave it a perfect score, complimenting the storytelling, visuals, direction, animation and the handling of Akira's character. Rebecca Silverman described that the art direction is fascinating and does a remarkable job of emphasizing the decline of Akira's quality of life and its sudden resurgence. Nicholas Dupree praised its animation, direction and Akira's character while noting that "[the show] is simple, a bit trashy, and doesn't do much to innovate in the well-trodden ground of zombie fiction, but it has a solid emotional core and an excess of energy."

Daniel Kurland of Den of Geek describing the series premiere, saying, "This first episode utilizes a simple, yet effective, trick where the color palette is actively muted during the extended flashback that's set during the early days at Akira's job." Regarding the series' opening theme song, he described it as "an absolute banger and perfectly captures the anime's bombastic, care-free energy." Rafael Motamayor of IGN called the series premiere as "one of the best first episodes of an anime in a long time", praising its visual storytelling, framing, and color in handling Akira's miserable work life. He also praised the series for its refreshing take on a zombie genre, characters, and humor, while criticizing its animation quality as unreliable due to the studio's production delays that made it a "less-than-perfect watch."

Accolades

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead was nominated at the 8th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in six categories: Best New Series, Best Comedy, Best Art Direction (Taketo Gonpei), Best Opening Sequence ("Song of the Dead" by Kana-Boon), Best Ending Sequence ("Happiness of the Dead" by Shiyui), and Best Voice Artist Performance – German (Patrick Keller as Akira Tendo). The series was nominated for the 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival's TV Films category, which held from June 9–15 of the same year.

External links

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