Undeath leads to a deeper enjoyment of life, in Yusuke Ishida’s adaptation of Haro Aso and Kotaro Takata’s manga.
“I’d rather be zombie food.”
Everybody has a fantasy or a game plan of what they would do once a zombie apocalypse hits. Barricade yourself indoors, survive on the bare necessities, examine how capitalism led us to this point. Very few people, however, see the end of the world as a liberating experience. Not so Akira Tendo (Eiji Akaso), who has spent the past year of his postgraduate life in an exploitative media production house, causing him to fall into a deep depression. The day of the apocalypse, he even considers being late for work when it dawns on him that, in fact, he is free from that terrible company and the life he had.
Knowing his turning into a zombie is more probably likely to happen, he immediately sets to work on a bucket list and sets off to, at long last, enjoy his life,. Along the way he is joined by his childhood friend Kencho (Shuntaro Yanagi) and the analytic and no-nonsense Mikazuki (Mai Shiraishi), who also come to appreciate Tendo’s view on life.
Every good zombie film needs a message, from the above terrors of capitalism or as a take on cold war panic. Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead’s message is extremely simple: enjoy life while you still can. It’s that upbeat attitude that makes the manga and its recent anime adaptation such a blast to consume. There are dark moments, sure, but they all serve in the greater purpose of showing us that life is worth living, even in the face of unending gloom.
The film does a good job of portraying that message, and as a big fan of the original series, I’m happy that it largely keeps the tone of the original intact. A minor change I enjoyed is in seeing Tendo cross off items on his list quite early, establishing not only the core concept, but his character without wasting too much time. Typically, many live action adaptations of manga and anime don’t really do much to improve on the source material and – more often than not – diminish it completely. Zom 100 actually improves on its 2D counterparts in certain places through virtue of having live-action actors. It’s a story about people after all, as well as their connections to one another and their own lives. Live action actors, unless they’re really bad, naturally do a better job of emoting. Akasao makes for a very sympathetic hero, and his companions work well with him, providing the movie with a strong core to work off.
Where the live action fails is in the movie’s visuals. In reality, colours just aren’t as vibrant and exciting as they are in the show, though some of the daylight scenes look very nice, and the action, naturally, isn’t as dynamic. These issues are small, but not insignificant as it takes away a part of Zom 100’s identity as the big, bright zombie show. Still, anyone familiar with the series would largely be able to recognise it. Considering there aren’t any default costumes or specific looks (Kencho wears far too many clothes, for one) to fall back on, that’s pretty impressive.
Zom 100’s biggest problem is that it doesn’t really feel like a movie. Though not for a lack of trying. Despite some pretty decent rejigging of key episodes to better suit the needs and structure of film, it still feels like a television show, and its over two hour runtime really shows during necessary but long moments of setup. It would have been damn near impossible to make it flow particularly well, and you can tell that actual effort was put into actually adapting the source, which altogether too few of these films do.
All things considering, it’s not too bad. It’s far, far more watchable than a vast majority of similar adaptations. The show is better, obviously, but if you’re all caught up and want some more Zom in your life, this does a pretty good imitation of the series. Director Yusuke Ishida has really stepped up his anime game since working (as an editor) on the Attack on Titan movie, and is channelling his inner Takashi Miike throughout. A horror comedy; an adaptation of a popular manga; some wonderful mugging by Kazuki Kitamura? It’s got his signature all over it.
Verdict: Suffering from the same faults all anime adaptations do, Zom 100 is nonetheless a very fun, upbeat adventure bound to make you smile.
Overall entertainment: 6.5/10
Violence: 4/10
Sex: 2/10. Disappointing considering the silly immaturity of the source material.
Soundtrack: 7/10. I’d get the album
Self-portrait: Just ludicrous
Zombie shark: Takes a bloody long time to get to that point, huh
Kitamura: Absolutely having a blast chewing more scenery than the shark.
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (2023)
Also known as: ゾン100 ～ゾンビになるまでにしたい100のこと
Japanese
Director: Yusuke Ishida
Writers: Tatsuro Mishima (screenplay), Haro Aso, Kotaro Takata (manga)
CAST
Eiji Asako – Akira Tendo
Mai Shiraishi – Shizuka Mikazuki
Shuntaro Yanagi – Kencho
You Takahashi – Mikio
Akari Hayami – Sumire
Kazuki Kitamura – Kosugi
Yui Ichikawa – Ohtori
The Asian Cinema Critic 