Zombieland Saga is an incredibly unique anime that mixes undead idols with comedy, a sprinkle of tragedy, and just a touch of horror. A group of girls, all from different points in history, are revived by Kotaro Tatsumi, the man who would then become their manager and attempt to lead them to success. While it seems like a crazy idea that doesn't have much meaning at first beyond his eccentricity, it's revealed near the end of the first season that he actually has close personal ties to Sakura, and he's doing it all to see her dreams succeed in the end.
It's been a few years since the original release of the series, and the second season titled Zombieland Saga Revenge is currently underway. For both new viewers finding out about the show for the first time and fans who have stuck around since release, there's a good bit about the main cast that fans should make sure they're up to date on.
10 Lily Loves Being A Zombie, As It's A Way To Stay A Child Forever
Lily is the member of Franchouchou who most displays an open willingness to stay a zombie. In fact, due to her personal situation before she died, she actually sees this as the best possible outcome for her. Though, in her backstory episode, it is shown that she misses her father.
Lily's the only member of the group who's transgender, and her biggest fear, when she was alive, is that of growing older and no longer "being cute" in her own eyes. Being a zombie totally removes this fear for her, and she's genuinely much happier because of it.
9 Ai Is Driven By A Desire To Be Known For More Than Her Tragic Demise
Before she died, Ai was an incredibly popular idol and the leader of Iron Frill, a group that the main protagonist Sakura was actually a huge fan of. Her life was tragically cut short during one of her performances, where she was killed by a lightning strike.
She remains motivated, even after death, because she refuses to allow her tragic end to be what others remember her by. She even ends up getting invited to join the current incarnation of her old group, but she turns them down, showing how close she'd become to the other members of Franchouchou.
8 Everyone's Time Period Of When They Were Alive Is Known Except For Tae
Due to Tae not having re-awakened after becoming a zombie, her backstory is unknown, but everyone else has a confirmed time period in which they were alive. Yugiri is the oldest, having been alive around the 1860s and 70s. Junko is the second oldest, having been an idol popular in the 1980s.
Next up is Saki, who lived in the late 1980s and throughout most of the 90s before dying in 1997. Sakura and Ai were alive around the same time, the late nineties to around 2010, as Ai was an idol that Sakura admired when she was still alive. Lily is the most modern of all the girls, having been born at the turn of the century and finally dying in 2011. As of the middle of the second season, Tae's time period is still unknown.
7 Yugiri Is Incredibly Perceptive, Picking Up On Kotaro's Hidden Motivations Involving Sakura
Being one of the oldest of the group as well as the most mature given the period in which she lived, Yugiri is incredibly intelligent. It's easy for this trait of hers to get overlooked because she's more of the silent-observant type who can pick up on her surroundings and what's needed of her without needing to say or ask anything.
She's the only member out of the group who's able to recognize that Kotaro's history with Sakura is deeper than that of the other girls he resurrected. She has many other skills as well, including swordsmanship, acrobatics, cooking, and dancing.
6 It's Theorized That Kotaro's Good Luck Helps Counteract The Girls' Bad Luck, And The Series Supports This
None of the members of Franchouchou have had particularly lucky lives. Yugiri was the oldest out of all of the members when she passed away, and she was only nineteen years old. Not only that, but all of the circumstances in which the girls passed, a car accident, sudden shock, and getting struck by lightning to name a few, are incredibly tragic, and in some cases, incredibly unlikely.
There's a theory that started circulating around Kotaro, the manager, being a sort of "good luck charm" for the girls to counteract their bad luck. A scene from the thirteenth episode supports this theory. Just before he got stuck waiting for traffic trying to get to a show, all of the lights turn green simultaneously to allow him to make it in the nick of time.
5 Although Sakura Is The Group's Emotional Center, She's Still Prone To Emotional Outbursts Herself
After being resurrected and joining Franchouchou, Sakura is the member of the group most often shown to hold everything together. She helps make sure the other girls are doing things according to plan, and she helped both Ai and Junko remember why it is they wanted to strive so hard to be idols.
Despite this, she still has a fiery side that comes out whenever she's pushed too far. In the second episode, after losing her patience with Saki and Tae, she berates them under the guise of a rap battle, and she's also seen losing it with Kotaro and his ridiculous-seeming antics.
4 Despite Being The Toughest-Seeming Member, Saki Has A Major Emotional Weakness Around Being A Zombie
Saki is the member of the group who comes off as the toughest. After all, she was part of an incredibly powerful biker gang and died due to her innate lack of fear in a dangerous game of chicken.
Despite this, she actually has one major vulnerability when it comes to her new life as a zombie. The realization that she won't be able to grow old and have a normal life, like the people she met when she was alive, is something that Saki still struggles with, even if she's rarely open about it.
3 Junko Has A Surprising Love Of Fishing And Is Also Quite Skilled At It
Junko loves hobbies that involve being alone as well as intense concentration, which fits in well with her solo-idol personality when she was alive. One of these hobbies that seems especially surprising for an idol is fishing, and she further explains why she enjoys it so much to Sakura.
She says that when one hits resistance in fishing, as long as one stays calm and thinks things through from every angle, one should be able to come to a solution. She also states that this can apply to most problems one encounters, which explains why she was such a stellar solo performer as she's able to remain calm and logical.
2 Although Tae Hasn't Awakened, She Still Feels Familial Affection For Sakura, According To Her Seiyuu
Tae is the only member out of Franchouchou that has yet to be awakened despite being reanimated, meaning she should simply be a mindless zombie without much capacity for thought. Despite this, though, it's confirmed by her Japanese voice actress that she does have at least one feeling - that of familial love for Sakura.
Whenever Sakura is inflicted by amnesia and can't remember Tae, the latter seems genuinely upset and distraught. She's also competent enough to keep up with the group's practices and is often seen mimicking the moves of other characters.
1 Lily's Name References The First Trans Woman To Have Transitional Surgery In Japan
Lily is the first transgender character from a popular idol franchise, which is a giant leap forward for fans of the genre looking for more representation. Her last name, Hoshikawa, means "star" and "river", which is referenced by all the stars laced throughout her design.
Her first name has much more personal meaning to the identity of her character. Lily is actually the name of the very first woman to undergo gender reassignment surgery in Japan, making it absolutely fitting for her.
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