REVIEW: ‘Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead’ Episode 4 — “Flight Attendant of the Dead”

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, Haro Aso and Kotaro Takata’s critically acclaimed and fan-loved manga (published in English by VIZ Media) is the new anime of the season from BUG FILMS, streaming on Netflix, Crunchyroll, and Hulu. Last episode, Akira Tendo (Shūichirō Umeda) saved his friend Kenichirō Ryūzaki (Makoto Furukawa), Kencho for short, from a love motel in Shibuya. Much like Akira, Kencho had his own revelation as he jumped across a building, shedding his clothes and his forced persona as a realtor in the process. He wants to be a stand-up comic and live freely. What better way to do that than joining Akira in his 100 things to do before turning into a zombie list? In Zom 100 Episode 4, “Flight Attendant of the Dead,” the next item on the bucket list: wine and dine a flight attendant.

In this episode, Kencho and Akira try to go out to get a new TV to play video games on. In doing so, they seek shelter in an underground mall after escaping being crushed by a truck, meeting a group of other survivors in the process. The majority of Zom 100 Episode 4 takes place in the underground mall, with Kencho and Akira drinking and talking with a group of flight attendants.

While the other survivors are scared or angry, our protagonist and his best friend are just thinking about dating and hooking up, respectively. While this focus and the episode itself are geared around some of the more crass humor in the series—including where one of the flight attendants gets bitten—the dissonance between the comedy and the stark reality of the zombie apocalypse remains perfectly balanced.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead remains effortlessly funny, adding crass juvenile humor to the comedy profile crafted as the reflection of millennial exhaustion in episode 4. That said, BUG FILMS makes sure not to lose the stakes nor the possibility that anyone can die in the series. What’s become more and more clear every subsequent episode is that as a story, Zom 100 will continue to reflect on the fleeting nature of life, even if Akira is centered on small worldly dreams.

In fact, Akira’s focus on the banal is what makes mortality all the more interesting a concept in the anime, as it did in the Zom 100 manga. Akira is happy when he shouldn’t be, and that’s because he’s accepted the reality of the world and has chosen to make the best of it—or at the very least accept it, like Shizuka in Episode 2. Opposite of him, the characters who have turned into zombies without realizing their dreams have all been scared about the changing world and haven’t embraced the freedom that comes with the apocalypse.

While Zom 100 Episode 4 may be a stepping-out point for some fans not looking for fan service in an anime, the truth is that this episode also captures how sincere Aso’s story was and continues to be. That sincerity keeps the absurdity grounded. If you can look past the boobs and physical gags, the series still maintains its sincere look into reclaiming what life has taken from you. Especially at the end of this episode when Akira realizes that he’s forgotten his childhood dream. There is a longing in Zom 100 that is buried under its fluorescent pinks and greens that stand in for red blood splatter.

As the series develops, Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead has the ability to go the distance, and Episode 4 proves that, even if it leans hard into fanservice at the same time. There is a lot of ground to cover with 14 volumes of manga, and BUG FILMS is taking its time to adapt the story. Zom 100 Episode 4 isn’t the best of the series so far, but it is still fantastic.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 4 is streaming now on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Netflix with new episodes every Sunday.