What’s on your (zombie) bucket list?
I need to be honest with all of you folks again. I’ve heard of this manga before but never paid attention to it until this past weekend when I read it will get an anime adaptation in July 2023 and glanced at the plot synopsis. Now I’m kicking myself. The title of the manga is Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead from writer Haro Aso (also known for Alice in Borderland) and illustrator Kotaro Takata. The story of the series follows a dude who just doesn’t want to go to work anymore, and, wow, is that some relatable content or what?
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead follows a young salaryman in Japan named Akira Tendo, who has been working for the same soul-sucking company for three years. Burned out both mentally and physically, he is at his wit’s end when the greatest event possible happens… Japan is overrun with zombies! While the youthful Tendo might be frightened at first, that fear goes away quickly when a fantastic realization dawns on him, he doesn’t have to go to work anymore! Now he’s on the road and plans to knock out all the items on his bucket list.
Serialized in the seinen manga magazine Monthly Sunday Gene-X starting in October 2018, the series is up to twelve volumes in Japan as of November 2022. Viz Media publishes the series in English and has released eight volumes as of November 2022.
The anime adaptation will begin streaming in July 2023 on Hulu with animation produced by newbie studio BUG FILMS. This is their first series as primary animation producers (they have previously assisted on Komi Can’t Communicate and Summer Time Rendering). So far, we know that the primary crew will include Kazuki Kawagoe as director and Hanako Ueda as the assistant director. Hiroshi Seko will supervise the scripts. Meanwhile, two different character designers are attached to this series, with Kii Tanaka providing the non-zombie designs and Junpei Fukuchi providing the look of the zombies. Finally, Makoto Miyazaki will compose the background music. We can also confirm that the lead voice of Akira Tendo will be provided by Shuichiro Umeda. It is worth noting that Netflix has already announced it will adapt this series into a live-action movie that will also stream in 2023.
Like I said in the introduction, I wish someone had told me a long time ago about the main idea of Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead. While I don’t think I’d be very useful in a zombie outbreak, I think this main character has the right idea. If there’s no economy, there are zero reasons to go to work. And if there are zero reasons to go to work, why not use whatever time you have remaining in the way that makes you happiest?
Plus, did you all look at the snippets of animation in that promotional video? I’ve never heard of this studio before, so if they can get the rest of the series looking as good as that trailer, they’ll be a studio to watch in the remaining years of this decade!
Source: Crunchyroll News
