The first season of Zombie Land Saga was one of the big surprises of the Fall 2018 anime season, an outrageous yet heartfelt comedy about an undead idol group. It managed to appeal to both hardcore idol anime fans and those who usually wouldn't be caught dead watching the genre.
A second season, Zombie Land Saga Revenge, has been announced as the 10th-anniversary project for the animation studio MAPPA. Here is everything we know about the upcoming continuation of Franchouchou's adventures.
The Story So Far
Sakura Minamoto was a high school girl aspiring to idol stardom in 2008 when she was suddenly hit by a truck and killed. She reawakens a decade later as a zombie, with no memory of her past life. The man who raised her from the dead, Kotaro Tatsumi, is an eccentric producer putting together an idol group made up of resurrected undead stars from different eras. His endgame? Use the success of this group to save the dying economy of Saga Prefecture.
The group, which comes to be named Franchouchou, consists of seven girls. In addition to Sakura, there's '90s biker chick Saki Nikaido, Sakura's personal favorite idol Ai Mizuno, shy '80s idol Junko Konno, 19th-century courtesan Yugiri, transgender child star Lily Hoshikawa and the "legendary" Tae Yamada, who has no clear backstory and only speaks in zombie noises. Their identities are kept secret from the public and they wear make-up to hide their zombie nature. They experiment with different musical styles before eventually finding success as a more traditional pop idol group.
Season 1 of Zombie Land Saga ended on a dramatic note, with Sakura regaining her memories of failure in life and almost ruining the group's big concert before pulling through in glorious fashion. The season finale also revealed that a journalist was beginning to piece together the identities of zombie idols, a cliffhanger that is sure to play a big role in the plotline of Revenge.
Trailers
A live-action announcement video for Zombie Land Saga Revenge was released on July 27, 2019. The video played up a dramatic horror movie tone for laughs and revealed the season's first poster image of Kotaro Tatsumi.
Voice actor Mamoru Miyano starred as Kotaro in another live-action teaser on December 28, 2020. This video's main purpose was to tease that news about the season would be revealed three days later.
The first animated official trailer was released on January 1, 2021. Crunchyroll showed an English-subtitled version of this trailer at the 2021 Anime Awards on February 19. The trailer opens with Franchouchou in a state of defeat; title cards read "We can't save Saga" as Sakura falls from the sky. Kotaro perks the group up, and each of the zombie idols gets a moment in the spotlight talking (or, in Tae's cases, grumbling) about their "revenge" plans.
News to Know
The same creative team behind Season 1 is still working on Season 2. Munahisa Sakai and Shigeru Murakoshi, who also teamed up on The Gymnastics Samurai in Fall 2020, are still the director and writer, respectively. All of the voice actors from Season 1 are reprising their roles.
Music is naturally one of the most important aspects of any idol anime, and news about the second season's soundtrack was announced at the "Zombie Land Saga Live ~Franchouchou Live of the Dead 'R (Revenge)'~" event on February 27. The new opening theme is titled "Taiga yo Tomo ni Naite Kure" (O Saga, Cry With Me), while "Yume o Te ni, Modoreru Basho mo Nai Hibi o" (Spending The Days With a Dream and Nowhere to Go Home) is the new ending theme. Both songs will be sung by the Franchouchou idol group and will be released on CD on May 19.
Release Date
Zombie Land Saga Revenge will premiere on April 8. Crunchyroll and Funimation will be streaming the series in the United States.
