Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead continues the zombie genre’s tradition of critiquing capitalism and groupthink. Whereas George Romero’s zombie films centered on satirizing consumerism with zombies’ insatiable appetite and single-mindedness, Zom 100 takes on work culture. Throughout the anime, the soul-crushing grind of work takes the fore. Zombies represent the masses who are trapped in their work. Not only are they trapped in their appetite for more, just as Romero’s zombies act, but their appetite points toward work itself. After all, we work ourselves into the ground for more. More video games, more trips, more clothes. But no matter how much more we get, no matter how hard we work to get “ahead”, we want more–just like zombies.
Zom 100 takes this idea further. The majority of the zombies still carry around their symbols of work. Women dress in business suits and carry expensive, still shiny, designer purses. Salarymen shamble in their suits, not too much different from their workdays. Truck drivers still drive their trucks. Firefighters still attempt to put out fires with empty hoses. If you watch the zombies in the background, you will see them trapped in death as they were in life: trapped in work. The anime plays with the idea that it takes the end of civilization to finally break the hold of work on people, to finally wake people up to how to live a full life. How many of us, in our deepest, darkest parts, have wished for some sort of devastation to free us from the never-ending need to grind for money. Even the word grind–back to the grind–illustrates how extreme work can destroy our humanity. Work can crush our sense of self and our human dignity just as millstones grind grain into flour. All the while we tell ourselves that it’s necessary to live, that we are saving for retirement and freedom.
Akira, the main protagonist for Zom 100, suffers a type of post-traumatic stress disorder after 3 years of corporate abuse. He falls into depression and listlessness as work dominates his life. He even ends up sleeping under his desk in the office along with his coworkers. Japan’s extreme grind, which not only comes at the cost of people’s lives–It even has a name: karoshi–but also works against productivity. Rested, happy, and healthy workers do better work. It takes a zombie apocalypse to free Akira. However, this freedom isn’t total. In later episodes, Akira runs into his former boss, and all his unaddressed PTSD returns. Only after confronting his former boss and his own work trauma does he truly become free. Not even the end of the world can free us unless we do the inner work to free ourselves. For Akira, it took the end of civilization for him to begin working on himself. Zom 100 uses Akira’s notebook to represent this. He creates a bucket list of what he’s always wanted to do but couldn’t. He then works through the list, which gets in touch with some of his deepest inner longings. The list gives him purpose and drives the plot forward. In many ways, the list becomes the main character. Akira’s friends add to the list and help each other achieve their goals, no matter how grandiose or humble. But the list only came from Akira realizing death–the death of civilization and his own.
And that’s the thrust of Zom 100’s lesson. The realization of death drives us to truly live. The grind of the workaday blinds us to reality. While work matters, it isn’t the most important part of life. Having purpose– helping others, and benefiting the world in our own small way–matters. Work allows for survival and provides resources for us to live our purposes. While sometimes the work we do is our purpose in life, such as creating a company that makes the world a little better, most of the time work is just that–work. In such cases, work can become a barrier to living a good life, as in Akira’s case. This happens because our work allows for someone higher in the pecking order to live their purpose, or what they consider their purpose, such as living for base things like fame and wealth. Exploitation isn’t always a conscious choice, but it happens in the profit shuffle and when we lose sight of the shortness of life. I know, I’m getting close to Marxism here. Karl Marx wasn’t wrong in his critique of capitalism; he took his observations too far. Zom 100‘s critique is the same. Capitalism, when it’s unfettered by conscience and community, leads to exploitation. Too much socialism, however, leads to exploitation too. One is the tyranny of the few; the other is the tyranny of the group. Zom 100 sketches the tyranny of the group in the form of the zombies in addition to the tyranny of the few. Only later in the series does the story touch on how a fragile balance between the two poles works best. But the story also points out how easily that balance can be disrupted.
Zom 100 is a fun story. It handles the gore of the typical zombie film like the video game Splatoon splatters its paint. Vibrant paintball colors contrast against the gray world Akira lived in before the zombies took over. Jokes and irony fly as fast as the paintball gore. The humor relies on the same contrast as the visuals, painting the ridiculousness of work culture and modern thinking against the insanity of the end of civilization. How Akira and friends go about their bucket list, which is mostly mundane, amid the ridiculousness of zombies attacks and survival. Unlike other zombie shows like The Walking Dead, Zom 100 retains a light optimism and hope. For the most part, people help each other, which makes Zom 100 more realistic than the unrelentingly pessimistic The Walking Dead. During times of crisis, the majority of people band together to help each other; it’s our human nature. You always get outliers who are selfish and damage the community. Zom 100 points to this. The Walking Dead illustrates the good as the abnormal and the selfish as normal. Zom 100’s view of zombies and human nature makes the story more hopeful and fun. It points toward how we don’t have to work or hurt each other. The story taps into how the awareness of death makes people more compassionate, not less.
As a character, Akira is interesting, if more braindead and impulsive than I would’ve preferred. I expect male anime protagonists to be heartful but brainless. Akira isn’t the worst offender in this regard; he has moments of intelligence. He’s aware that he needs to think more, which is a step up from most anime protagonists. Akira contrasts to the more thoughtful and self-focused Shizuka. Their character arcs intersect as they influence each other. Akira makes Shizuka more selfless; Shizuka makes Akira think more. Shizuka was also affected by unhealthy work culture with her father pushing her to stand on top the meritocracy since she was born.
Zom 100 is a fun time, especially if you are an old-school zombie fan like I am. The story’s humor avoids the annoying, grating comedy anime often falls into. Under the ridiculousness sits interesting commentary about a work culture that’s even more ridiculous than a zombie apocalypse. I’ve been burned out with zombies for awhile, but this anime feels refreshing with its take on the tired zombie genre.