In part, I'm wondering why I'm writing this review because I can just link my review of the first season since everything applies as much there as it does here. That said I didn't really review Anime regularly at the time, and I am blown away that this show is anywhere as good as it is. So what I'll do is review it as a whole now, especially since I feel I've gotten better at anime reviews since, and I'll avoid spoiling the twist at how this season starts. (Yes, I do hate that they don't just call it season two and just added 'Revenge' to the name to signify a new season).
To save Saga, a district of Japan, a psychotic mess of a human resorts to necromancy to revive a famous Courtesan from eighteenth-century Japan, a deceased child star, two famous pop idols, the leader of an all-female biker gang who took over a district of Japan, a high school girl, and the Legendary Tae, all to form an idol group to bring attention and fame back to Saga. In pursuit of this goal, they start their careers by playing Death Metal and then have an impromptu rap battle during a show put on for senior citizens. Anytime I try to describe what goes on in this show I am wondering if I'm just having a fever dream.
The crazy thing about this show is the entire first season you never really learn what it is, it just seems he wants to revitalize the prefecture of Saga. At the same time, however, the man desecrated several corpses and brought them back to life as Zombies to form an idol group. It's really hard to tell if he's just that crazy he'd go so far, or if there was some other reason we don't know that required such extreme measures. To avoid going into spoilers, there is something more going on here (if there wasn't another season may have been pretty pointless), and the latest season goes utterly insane with it in the last few episodes. Even by the standards set by this show so far, it escalates to something I never would have seen coming. This is not a bad thing, and has me wanting the third season to get here (As well as an animation for Zombieland Saga Gaiden: The First Zombie, which is some supplemental material involving one of the characters. I do not suggest looking it up until it's ready to come out as I did, the very premise has a few spoilers).
Were this show nothing more than a comedy, I probably wouldn't review it because all I would be doing is reviewing jokes. It's why I skipped a review of 'Way of the House Husband', because while it's hilarious all the show is are a bunch of jokes. It's also, in large part, about a rising Idol group trying to hide their real identities from the world while being famous idols. And despite how insane the show itself is, all these Zombie Girls feel like actual people. They all have things about their past lives that come back to haunt them throughout the first season. Ai Mizumo, for example, was the lead for the idol group 'Iron Frill' and is most famous for dying on stage being struck by lightning. Her desire for a second chance, the continued existence of Iron Frill, as well as a general fear of storms all, come up throughout the show. The actual characters are all taken very seriously by the story. The comedy never undercuts the tension and drama.
What makes this show shine is how fantastic the entire cast is. The former child star Lili is about the only character I'm not a big fan of (It's just a character archetype I've never liked), but even she had some touching moments in the show. You have a lot of bonds that seem to form very naturally, and everyone feels like they have their place. Both former idols bond pretty easily because of their experience, after showing some backbone Sakura earns the respect of the former biker gang leader and they seem to form a close friendship, and the local Courtesan from Feudal Japan seems to have an almost motherly role to the group, all while never seeming to directly form a relationship with the others.
It's really easy to care about this seemingly random assortment of characters, and there are a lot of times during both seasons I was moved. My favorite bit was when you see into the Courtesan's past and it becomes an entirely different type of anime for two episodes. It's not presented at all as a comedy at that point, and you end up watching a beautiful, sad, and moving story unfold with very few jokes. It does wonders at showcasing the differences in the world Yugiri came from and the modern world she finds herself in now, as well as showing why she seemed to be the one to more easily adapt to this strange Zombie life.
On a whole I don't think season two was as strong in terms of the music though. It's still good, with a fantastic final show, but none of the musical numbers hit like they did in season one. While the main crux of the show is the characters and plot, it is still a show about a musical group. So when the quality of the music seems to go down, it is something you take note of. That said, the music is still pretty great, so it's not that much of a hit to the show overall.
Zombieland Saga and Revenge have been one of the best things about getting back into anime the last few years. It showcases one of the things I love most about anime, and that is how it will take a ridiculous premise and treat it seriously. Something like this would probably just get played off as a joke coming from a western cartoon, maybe a one-off episode of another show or a running gag, but here it is given the soul focus and treated with importance. I cannot recommend this show enough, it is an absolute gem and quite possibly my favorite anime of the year so far.
