English Dub Review: Zombie Land Saga Revenge “The Greatest SAGA in History”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Saki and Sakura remember they have a radio show to host. Despite the inclement weather, they make it to the studio and find that it’s actually not their day to host—but since they’re there and no other host is, they go ahead and broadcast. Since the flooding in Saga continues to make life a living hell for many citizens, Saki sends out a message about people doing all they can to help. She also hypes up their upcoming concert.

When the appointed day arrives, the girls aren’t sure who’s going to show up, but eventually people begin to arrive. Starting with their two favorite fans, a rush of support arrives to lend their presence to both Saga and Franchouchou—even Iron Frill and Light Osaki promote the event. At the end of the day, the girls of Franchouchou are going to make a difference regardless of what happens to Saga.

Our Take:

After a season-long run of musical mayhem, Zombie Land Saga Revenge’s big moment has come. The Greatest SAGA in History finds the girls banding together to encourage Saga yet again, except this time it’s the grand finale. Does it succeed in being a successful episode? For the most part, yes. But a successful season ender? That I’m not so sure about.

The second season’s finale caps off what has come before in some little ways, like bringing back characters like Maimai and Light, the incredibly annoying child actor. But for the most part, it felt distinctly un-epic. None of the callbacks really get the space to shine; we just hear about them through a narrator delivering rapid-fire exposition. This should be the moment where the themes and arcs of the season come to a head and are tied off, but that doesn’t really happen here. The people of Saga may be suffering, but the last half of the episode plays out like almost any other concert the girls have given before, minus the fact that there’s a huge turn out.

Why are there so many people despite there being major flooding in the area? How did they manage to obtain enough glow sticks for everyone when they were struggling for basic necessities so badly they had to go to shelters just days before? And does everyone really get reminded about this concert through a random radio show occurrence on a Sunday that a suspiciously surprising amount of people seem to be listening to?

There were so many ways this could’ve gone, but the show takes pretty much the most boring route possibly. They do the show. Lots of people come. It goes great. What makes this even more disappointing is how the show absolutely nailed the performance last week, when the girls had a major meltdown but went on with the show anyway due to the grace of their young fans. Honestly, that feels like it should’ve been the finale: the girls performing an epic song in front of the world, only to be revealed as zombies, only to be embraced by their fans regardless of their appearances.

Basically, it just felt very anticlimactic and underwhelming. That doesn’t mean there aren’t bright spots. There’s some fun lines, especially from Sakura when she says that no god or demon will stop them from performing. The final choreography and staging was very finale-worthy, and the music was pretty decent, too. But instead of going out on impersonal, birds-eye view shots of a gigantic crowd, I wish it would’ve been something more notably unique. Oh yeah, and what was with that UFO explosion ending?