Sometimes a good manga will get an anime adaptation that doesn’t quite fulfill the promise. In some cases that is because of anime original endings, or just poor adaptations. The problem that plagued Zom100 was production issues. And instead of sending out low quality episodes to keep up with deadlines, the team behind the anime released the episodes after a delay. This kept the quality of the anime relatively good, but it also meant that there were long pauses between some of the episodes that made people lose interest. I never did end up losing interest and after the anime finished, I was curious about where the story could head from there so I decided to buy the manga. And I’ve had a blast with the manga ever since, so let’s talk about it.

Zom100 follows Akira, a young man who is working a dead-end job in Tokyo after he wants to get out of the small rural town he grew up in. He’s depressed, he hates his job and he’s overworked and his best friend Kencho seems to have it all figured out (we find out later that he doesn’t). At wits end, things only seem to get worse for Akira as a zombie apocalypse suddenly throws his life into chaos. But after overcoming the initial horror of the situation he is now in he realizes something. He doesn’t have to go to work the next day. This revelation brightens Akira’s day and he soon finds himself enjoying life. Not only that, he even decided to write a bucket list of things he wants to do before the end of the world. This is where the show gets its full title from; Zom100: Bucket list of the dead.

Besides Akira – who is admittedly a pretty dull character for big parts of the story and serves more as a self-insert than an actual fleshed out character – we get a pretty fun group of characters that travel alongside him. Kencho is his buddy from college who seemed to be doing much better in life than Akira was but in reality was in way over his head and did not like where he was either, instead wanting to become a comedian. They are joined shortly after by Shizuka, a young successful woman who is all about efficiency in an attempt to please her father. Through our main character she learns to be less uptight and actually takes the time to enjoy life. We’re also joined by the tourist from Germany: Beatrix. She’s a big fan of everything Japanese culture and thus also fights with a katana because why not. Later on in the story they are joined by Takamine who is an old college buddy as well and Izuna, a young gamer who is immune to the zombie virus and the key to figuring out an antivirus. There are more characters that join them for a time, but this is the core cast.

The story focuses on the lives of these people and their dreams. Living a free life, becoming a doctor, restoring Nippon’s glory, becoming a comedian and more. Throughout this journey they try and tick off the 100 different goals they have which includes some pretty silly stuff like skydiving, going to space, holding a one man comedy show and more. Most of the goals on the list are initially Akira’s goals but as the group grows, the others add their own goals onto the list as well.

Despite the very silly premise of the manga, it does manage to hit some nice emotional beats. It mainly get this from moments where Akira helps other people realize what they really want to do with their life and that they shouldn’t throw away the moments they have just because efficiency and work get in the way. We learn about how much trauma Akira truly has from his job when he meets his former manager again and they get roped into helping him. He learns to appreciate his hometown more when he returns there with his friends and the village becomes an attack target for the zombies due to some bad apples. And throughout it all there are tons of terrible jokes and naked running around and just all around sillyness. This is not a mature story. This is a very childish story that has some mature moments in it to balance out all the silly stuff.

After 20 volumes of this I still haven’t really lost interest in this manga which I would say is pretty high praise. The story is always moving forward and as long as you can suspend your disbelief long enough – like when the gang goes into a wildlife sanctuary, they go into space or they fight a horde of soldier zombies – then it becomes a very fun manga to read. The characters are fun and there’s even a fair bit of romance sprinkled on top of it all to add some spice to it. The quality of the art is fine, I wouldn’t praise it as much as something like Soul Eater or Witch Hat Atelier, but it’s still doing its job. All in all, you should definitely give this manga a read or start off with the anime first. At the bare minimum, treat yourself by checking out the opening to the anime, because the colorful mayhem that is accompanied by Kana-boon’s singing is worth your time for sure. Thanks for reading!