REVIEW: ‘Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead’ Episode 5 — “Hero of the Dead”

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead may have been delayed a week, but Episode 5, “Hero of the Dead” was well worth the wait. Hot off the heels of Netflix’s live-action of the same name based on the manga (published in English by VIZ Media)  by writer and artist Haro Aso and Kotaro Takata, respectively. Last episode, Akira Tendo (Shūichirō Umeda) and his best friend Kenichirō Ryūzaki (Makoto Furukawa), Kencho for short, wined and dined flight attendants, crossing yet another banal item off of their bucket list. But in an episode filled with fan service, there was one key takeaway from Akira’s conversation with his attempted date. He forgot what he wanted to be.

One of the things that we don’t notice as we grow older is how much the world makes us forget our dreams. Sure, it makes us forget the ones coming out of college when the economy goes to hell in a handbasket again, and we pivot careers, but it also makes us forget the dreams we had when we were kids. Akira, at the end of Episode 4 adds one very intimate list item: Remember my childhood dream. That’s the crux for Zom 100 Episode 5, and once again a balance between the absurd and the sincere that the show executes extremely well.

Zom 100 Episode 5, “Hero of the Dead,” is a big one. It’s filled with heart, and it captures a moment I have been waiting for since the anime was announced. Two words, with one big stellar payoff: shark zombie. With flashbacks from his childhood, Akira remembers that he wanted to be a superhero when he grew up and shares that wish with Kencho, officially writing it down on the bucket list. The now-blonde Kencho agrees to help turn Akira into a hero who saves people from zombies, but he doesn’t really know how to do that.

With a little googling in a world that surprisingly still has internet, Akira has a plan. Get a shark suit to protect him from zombie bites and then use it to save people across Japan. When the duo enters a derelict aquarium, their acquisition is right in plain sight. After a little spray paint and some helmet adjustments, Akira the hero is ready.

At the same time, Shizuka Mikazuki (Kusunoki, Tomori) makes her reappearance in the city, trapped on a bus with someone who has just turned into a zombie. With survivors from the bus making their way to the aquarium, the two cross paths again as Akira uses his tokusatsu-inspired super suit and moves to bring the survivors to safety.

Zom 100 Episode 5 is an action-packed one that uses Aso’s most absurd writing to a fantastic end. Akira is adorable and naive while using his newfound zombie apocalypse fearlessness to save others. That said, the sweetness that Akira and his dream bring to the series is balanced by Shizuka’s cold demeanor. While it’s clear that there is a romantic set-up happening between the two, Shizuka is more than just a leading love interest. She questions Akira, reading him like a book. She knows he’s insecure and in that insecurity, she can’t seem to understand what Akira stands to gain from saving people outside of bolstering his own sense of self-worth.

Zom 100’s narrative is one that BUG FILMS has crafted to showcase Akira’s wanton abandonment that fuels his courage and has been balanced consistently with the horror happening in the world around him. Whether it was the host club fighting for survival in Shibuya or the people he passed on his beer run, the stakes are always real, even if our protagonist hasn’t noticed that entirely yet.

Shizuka on the other hand has been moving through the world with purpose and careful consideration which makes her confrontation with Akira all the more interesting. She can see what he can’t. She can see the small child grasping to stay alive after the world tried to bury him and while we as viewers celebrate that Akira is finally living, we’ve ignored mostly what that means in a dangerous world. Shizuka hasn’t lost sight of the danger and her note that Akira survived this time and that there might not be a next is important to hear. And while Akira and Kencho may not agree with the fact that Shizuka is argumentative, Akira does let her words sink in. What’s a hero in a real way? A tangible way that won’t get his best friend killed and without a flashy suit.

Still, let’s be real. While Shizuka grounds Akira and this episode, the real reason that “Hero of the Dead” has been long-awaited is the absolute ridiculousness of a zombie shark walking around an aquarium and terrorizing everyone. That’s the back half of Zom 100 Episode 5, and it’s some of BUG FILM’s strongest animation. It’s fast, it’s loud, and it’s effectively an almost 10-minute action extravaganza that shows the strengths of each character—all while a zombie shark munches down on unassuming survivors.

Zom 100 Episode 5 creates our group of heroes for the story. Akira, Kencho, and Shizuka, and all it took was saving each other from a big zombie shark to make it happen. Instead of having Akira use only dialogue to showcase his dedication to protecting others and how it’s a strength, the episode shows it, helping him win over Shizuka as they fight side by side. The fight sequence also allows the audience to see Akira’s dedication to surviving for others and why being a hero is important to him, the importance Kencho and his naked exploits can bring, and how Shizuka fits into it all.

This is the core of Zom 100 as a story. It’s absolutely absurd, but it’s also incredibly sincere. Without losing that focus, it delivers one of the best anime fights of the year, upping the expectations for BUG FILMS fantastically. Zom 100 Episode 5 is thrilling, hilarious, and also filled with an intense amount of heart that has set up the rest of the season without missing any character growth along the way.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 5 is streaming now on Crunchyroll, Netflix, and Hulu with new episodes every Sunday.