#Bucket List of the Dead’s First Episode Makes Colorful Splash of Gore That Most Anime Could Never Dream Of

One thing that zombie anime have going for them is that the first episodes are always an absolute blast to watch with smash hits like Highschool of the Dead or Kabeneri of the Iron Fortress. Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, which recently aired its first episode in Japan, follows the exact same format and elevates the genre by combining dynamic action scenes, copious amounts of colorful gore (with colors that rival Splatoon), and themes of comedy and existential dread.

Lunging at the Throat of Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead’s first episode

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead follows Akira Tendo, a newly minted Japanese office worker who stumbled his way into learning about the dark side of Japanese salaryman culture with some hands-on experience. After dreading his daily routine for years, to his glee, he doesn’t have to go back to the office anymore when a zombie apocalypse occurs and he’s no longer shackled to his work commitments. Now emboldened by the shift in his life, Tendo embarks on a journey to feel fulfilled with life, despite being surrounded by the undead.

It is absolutely clear that the production team at BUG FILMS had a ball adapting the Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead manga, which was written by Haro Aso and illustrated by Kotaro Takata. Not a cut goes by that doesn’t feel like it was intentional. The bleak first half of the episode shook me to my core. We’ve all had bad bosses that push their employees too much or work situations that are exploitative, and Japanese work culture can dial that up to eleven – anyone who has worked in a Japanese office can attest. By depicting Tendo’s toxic work culture with a muted color palette, wide aspect ratio, and immersive camera framing, the slip into insanity for the character felt earned and sympathetic.

Once the zombie apocalypse breaks loose, Tendo’s world becomes punctuated with bright neon colors. As a viewer, I could even empathize that living in this zombie apocalypse is better than having to go into an office where one more contradiction from upper management can make you turn into a corporate zombie.

Those Who Brought the Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Anime to Life

Kazuki Kawagoe directs Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead at BUG FILMS, making for a very different series to his directorial debut work Komi Can’t Communicate. Despite Beyblade Burst being his only “action” credit, Zom 100 shows no indication that Kawagoe is a newbie, though being as green as Tendo is in the story to the genre. Unlike the slice-of-life Komi Can’t Communicate, the action here is fast-paced, with shots that change in the blink of an eye. It’s common knowledge that Haro Aso-created manga can have a lot of flair in its style and writing, both of which have been transferred over to the anime perfectly.

That flair helped not only made Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead‘s first episode interesting to watch but was able to draw me into Tendo’s world by being able to empathize with him and his situation and eventually celebrating with him as the world drew to an end. This is clearly thanks to Hiroshi Seko, who has adapted some of the greatest modern anime from manga, including Mob Psycho 100, Summer Time Rendering, and even Attack on Titan, including that iconic first episode.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead’s character designs and animation direction from Kii Tanaka — who has worked as an animation director on Kaguya-sama: Love is War and Konosuba — checks every box on the list to bring Kawagoe’s vision to the screen. Tanaka’s history of off-model animation for humorous effect works to bring not only laughs to certain scenes in Zom 100, but also to elevate the heightened zombie-like appearance of Tendo in the first half in a way that live-action wishes it could.

Jamming to the Sound of Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Shuichiro Umeda makes for a great choice as Akira Tendo. Umeda’s voice shines brightly when the characters are upbeat and happy or at least pretending to be. This fits perfectly for Tendo’s character in the first half of the episode, as he becomes more and more mad in such a bleak environment. As the episode trudges on and when the madness finally breaks, Umeda transforms Tendo’s voice into expressing jubilation in this dystopian situation, which is insanity in itself.

The music by Makoto Miyazaki, best known for his work on One Punch Man and SPY x FAMILY, delivers in just reinforcing the atmosphere being portrayed on screen. One would imagine that you’d have a dark, moody score for a zombie invasion and then happy, upbeat tunes for the daily life aspects. However, Miyazaki flips this convention on its head. Just as color explodes onto the animation frames when the zombies attack, the music similarly changes from its depressive score into bombastic bangers when Tendo realizes that he never has to work again, once again adding to the overall emotional impact of the scene.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead truly feels like the spiritual successor to Highschool of the Dead that we’ve been waiting a decade for, as well as being tailored to 2023’s heightened collective anxiety. It will be very interesting to see if the series can keep up the same fast, fun pace throughout the rest of the season or if it will stop dead in its tracks when the main plot of the series — the completion of Tendo’s bucket list within a zombie-infested world — comes to fruition. Personally, I can’t wait either way.

The series is being streamed simultaneously with Japan on Hulu, Netflix, and Crunchyroll in English-speaking countries and via Muse Communication in Asia.