History YMMV / ZombieLandSaga

** Saki seems more annoyed about being a zombie than anything, mostly voicing her annoyance that her VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}} is long dead. Even when Episode 9 focuses on her past, she takes it in stride and even repeats the very stunt that killed her in the past with gusto. The only time she ''ever'' expressed even the slightest bit of angst about her situation was learning that NotGrowingUpSucks in Season 2 Episode 2, and even then she refuses to let it keep her down, instead using her feelings to push herself further in (un)life.

** Sakura is referred to as an egg due to Saki likening her to her late VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}} in Episode 2.

** "[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Rainbow Dash]]" and "[[ACupAngst Flat]] [[Anime/SenkiZesshouSymphogear Chris]]" for Saki and Junko, after their resemblances to said characters.

* LesYay: [[FanPreferredCouple Ai and Junko]] receive a ton of this in ''Revenge'', having a two-episode arc that focuses on their relationship with heavy romantic undertones.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Was Junko only against meeting fans face to face because that's not how they did things in her time or was her shyness the real motivator? Adjusting from having clearly defined lines to pictures and handshakes is a big jump but there are many other aspects of Franchouchou that break idol norms that Junko never comments upon.

** Out of all the girls, Yugiri is the most unfazed by the fact that she's not only undead, but also living in a totally different time period from the rest. She explains in Episode 6 that just rolling with whatever comes her way is more productive than spending all her time being confused by everything.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped:
** While one's sexuality is a very sensitive topic, it would be for the best of everyone to just accept if someone reveals themself to be transgender. It is not something that should break relationships even if it was shocking at first. This is demonstrated when Franchouchou still gladly accepts Lily no matter how she sees herself. On the professional/work side of things, Kotaru also displays another realistic approach: accept the revelation, move on and don't make a fuss about it, since he already knew Lily's gender identity even before she awakened.
** The later episodes also give some messages regarding UsefulNotes/{{Depression}}. [[spoiler:One of the common causes of depression stems from the belief that countless things won't go the way you actually expected them to be, which can make one lose hope and motivation in life. Sakura just showed this for being the ButtMonkey when she was still alive - She wasn't able to achieve her dreams no matter how hard her efforts were. Likewise, the others also showed the best way on how to deal with a depressed friend - When Sakura recovers her past memories and reveals herself to be a self-deprecating individual, friends were there to talk and comfort her in an attempt to break her out of depression. This shows that the depressed need others so that they may realize that they are actually not alone.]]

* FandomEnragingMisconception: Calling Lily a crossdressing boy is a surefire way to piss off fans, in light of confirmations that she is a {{transgender}} girl.

** TheReveal of Lily being {{transgender}} in Episode 8 was warmly received by the LGBT community, as was her peers’ acceptance of her, praising its subtlety and considering it to be a respectful depiction of a trans person.

** Lily revealing herself to her bandmates as {{Transgender}} and their ultimate acceptance of her, which was warmly received by the LGBTFanbase.

** Tae Yamada is an example of an UnfortunateName if you know the meaning of "tae" in [[BilingualBonus Filipino]].[[note]]It means "poop".[[/note]] This would also give a literal denotation of the [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/your-waifu-is-shit "Your Waifu Is Shit!"]] meme.

** The conversation between Kotaro and the Bartender in the first episode of ''Revenge'' mentions that the Zombie Land Saga project has a [[spoiler:limited time or a deadline]]. It quickly spawned a lot of fan theories revolving around [[spoiler:what would happen if the time is up, ranging from; the girls permanently reverting to zombies, permanently dying, or if there would be an actual zombie apocalypse in Saga. Another theory suggests that Kotaro is probably using ''his own life force'' to keep the girls alive]].

* FanPreferredCouple: %%While the show seems to hint Ai/Sakura -- possibly due to Sakura being a fan of Ai's while they were alive --
** After their mini-arc in season 1, Ai/Junko exploded in popularity and is easily the largest ship tag related to the series on Pixiv. Once they became popular together, a lot of official art with the two was released. Season 2 certainly continued the trend and episode 4 is pretty much nothing but [[LesYay Ai/Junko pandering]].
** Sakura's most popular ship would be with Saki, due to their status as co-leaders of the group and the engaging, supportive relationship that develops from this.

* {{Applicability}}: WebVideo/MothersBasement argues that the story is about how different kinds of femininity (like Saki's HotBlooded-ness, Yugiri's openly sexual lifestyle, as she was a high-class prostitute, and Lily's [[spoiler:trans identity]]) should be accepted and celebrated in the Idol industry, opposing its usual ContractualPurity.

** [[spoiler:Lily revealing herself to her bandmates as {{Transgender}} and their ultimate acceptance of her, which was warmly received by the LGBTFanbase.]]

** While one's sexuality is a very sensitive topic, it would be for the best of everyone to just accept if someone reveals themself to be transgender. It is not something that should break relationships even if it was shocking at first. This is demonstrated when [[spoiler:Franchouchou still gladly accepts Lily no matter how she sees herself. On the professional/work side of things, Kotaru also displays another realistic approach: accept the revelation, move on and don't make a fuss about it, since he already knew Lily's gender identity even before she awakened.]]

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The third and fourth episodes of Season 1 feature the earliest uses of computer animation for idol dancing, where the movements are stiff and and the facial expressions are somewhat off. Thankfully, future dances improve from this as the show goes on.

* FanPreferredCouple: While the show seems to hint Ai/Sakura -- possibly due to Sakura being a fan of Ai's while they were alive -- after their mini-arc, Ai/Junko exploded in popularity and is easily the largest ship tag related to the series on Pixiv. Incidentally, Sakura's most popular ship would be with Saki (due to their status as co-leaders of the group and the engaging, supportive relationship that develops from this), and once Ai/Junko became popular, a lot of official art with the two was released. Season 2 certainly continued the trend and episode 4 is pretty much nothing but [[LesYay Ai/Junko pandering]].

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The third and fourth episodes of Season 1 feature the earliest uses of computer animation for idol dancing, yet the movements are stiff movements and and the facial expressions are "off". Thankfully, future dances move out of this as the show goes on.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The third and fourth episodes of Season 1 feature the earliest uses of computer animation for idol dancing, and it's quite clear that the anime creators literally were putting out their very first attempts at CGI, with incredibly stiff movements and janky facial expressions that are so bad they can't be explained away as a case of StylisticSuck. Thankfully, by the third performance using CGI, the models and animation became at least tolerable, moving out of this for all future dances.

** That Lily's dad Takeo was a construction worker before leaving his job to become Lily's manager, based on her love of heavy machinery magazines and [[spoiler:his flashback to them sitting in a power shovel]]. However, that last one could also be explained by them taking a tour at some point.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: S1's third and fourth episodes use computer animation for the dance routines the girls perform; while it does the job, the models used are distinctly less characterful than that of traditional animation, particularly compared to the on-point expressions and motion from Episode 2’s rap battle.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The third and fourth episodes use computer animation for the dance routines the girls perform; while it does the job, the models used are distinctly less characterful than that of traditional animation, particularly compared to the on-point expressions and motion from Episode 2’s rap battle.

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** The Legendary Tae Yamada. Despite being the least important character to the plot, she quickly became a fan-favorite due to being the only zombie who hasn't awakened, which in turn lead to her antics constantly causing trouble for the team. She even manages to become this InUniverse, garnering the most fans in the sixth episode for her chicken-based antics (much to the confusion of the other girls). Tae even managed to get her own focus episode in Season 2, of all things, and her VA performed an insert song just for the episode itself.
** Yugiri also gets this treatment as well, due to her not being focused as much as the other girls, to the point where she's the last member of Franchouchou to get her own focused character driven arc in ''Revenge''. That being said, her moments are ''integral'' in key parts of the anime, and is assumed to be a much bigger deal behind the history of the zombies' origins. Outside of the plot, her amazing vocal talent (especially when it involves singing) is considered the best of the cast alongside Junko's VA; and the fans of Yugiri were fortunate enough for her to get an entire ImageSong dedicated to her love life (complete with full music video) in late 2019, alongside Yugiri being featured as a 'virtual tuber' (aka 'vtuber') in special livestreams provided by Cygames during 2021.

** It is widely agreed upon that Junko's plane crashed landed into a mountain. There is nothing in the show to support this but Junko's death seems to be heavily inspired by the crash of Japan Air Flight 123 and when keeping with the Bagua philosophy theory, Junko most closely fits mountain. However, the article on her death in ''Revenge'' Episode 6 reported something from the plane was on the coast, and the Japan Coast Guard was responsible for recovery efforts, pointing to it having crashed into the sea.

* GottaShipEmAll: Sakura, Saki, and Ai have all been shipped with each other, and each has at least one unique ship to themselves. Ai gets paired with Junko most frequently, Saki and Reiko are speculated to have been together (and might even still hold a torch for each other), and Kotaro is often assumed to have been an old boyfriend of Sakura's from before she died. Tae is also sometimes depicted as being romantically fond of either Sakura or Junko, but not being able to express it properly. The only zombies who aren't shipped as of this writing are [[TokenMiniMoe Lily]] and [[TeamPet Romero]].

* GottaShipEmAll: Sakura, Saki, and Ai have all been shipped with each other, and each has at least one unique ship to themselves. Ai gets paired with Junko most frequently, Saki and Reiko are speculated to have been together (and might even still hold a torch for each other), and Kotaro is often assumed to have been an old boyfriend of Sakura's from before she died. Tae is also sometimes depicted as being romantically fond of either Sakura or Junko, but not being able to express it properly. The only zombies who aren't shipped as of this writing are [[TeamMom Yugiri]], [[TokenMiniMoe Lily]], and [[TeamPet Romero]].

* CrazyAwesome: Kotaro. He raises the dead, acts as if it isn't anything special, and plans to save Saga by creating an idol group out of the undead. Totally crazy? Definitely. But both Creator/MamoruMiyano and Creator/RiccoFajardo's [[LargeHam incredibly hammy performances]] are just too much fun to watch no matter the context, and Kotaro being a RenaissanceMan on top of that means he is always surprising the audience in one way or another.

** In episode 6 of ''Revenge'', Tae (followed by Shinta Okoba) briefly visits a graveyard on her way to shopping. After she's left, the camera lingers upon the two family graves being those of [[spoiler: Minamoto and Yamada, opening up all kinds of theories about how - barring it being a ''massive'' coincidence - Sakura and Tae's families have been/are familiar with one another in some fashion]].

** It is widely agreed upon that Junko's plane crashed landed into a mountain. There is nothing in the show to support this but Junko's death seems to be heavily inspired by the crash of Japan Air Flight 123 and when keeping with the Bagua philosophy theory, Junko most closely fits mountain.
* FanPreferredCouple: While the show seems to hint Ai/Sakura -- possibly due to Sakura being fan of Ai's while they were alive -- after their mini-arc, Ai/Junko exploded in popularity and is easily the largest ship tag related to the series on Pixiv. Incidentally, Sakura's most popular ship would be with Saki (due to their status as co-leaders of the group and the engaging, supportive relationship that develops from this), and once Ai/Junko became popular, a lot of official art with the two was released. Season 2 certainly continued the trend and episode 4 is pretty much nothing but [[LesYay Ai/Junko pandering]].

** [[spoiler:Lily revealing herself to her bandmates as a {{Transgender}} and their ultimate acceptance of her, which was warmly received by the LGBTFanbase.]]

** Yugiri also gets this treatment as well, due to her not being focused as much as the other girls, to the point where she's the last member of Franchouchou to get her own focused character driven arc in ''Revenge''. That being said, her moments are ''integral'' in key parts of the anime, and is assumed to be a much bigger deal behind the history of the zombies' origins. Outside of the plot, her amazing vocal talent (especially when it involves singing) is considered the best of the cast alongside Junko's VA; and the fans of Yugiri were fortunate enough for her to get an entire ImageSong dedicated to her love life (complete with full music video) in late 2019, alongside Yugiri being featured as a 'virtual tuber' (aka 'vtuber') on a livestream hosted by Cygames in April 2021.

* FanPreferredCouple: While the show seems to hint Ai/Sakura, possibly due to Sakura being fan of Ai's while they were alive, after their mini-arc, Ai/Junko exploded in popularity and is easily the largest ship tag related to the series on Pixiv. Incidentally, Sakura's most popular ship would be with Saki (due to their status as co-leaders of the group and the engaging, supportive relationship that develops from this), and once Ai/Junko became popular, we got a lot of official art with the two. Season 2 certainly continued the trend and episode 4 is pretty much nothing but Ai/Junko pandering.

** The song the group sings in Episode 8 in order for Lily to get some much-needed closure with her father isn’t the most professionally-written one out there; in the first verse, there are way too many words awkwardly crammed in, to the point that it's almost in spoken word rather than song. Still, it's likely that this was [[StylisticSuck intentional]], and it's also both genuinely heartwarming and tearjerking since Lily finally gets to tell her father she's sorry about the argument they had before she died, and she still loves him.

** Yugiri also gets this treatment as well, due to her not being focused as much as the other girls, to the point where she's the last member of Franchouchou to get her own focused character driven arc. That being said, her moments are ''integral'' in key parts of the anime, and is assumed to be a much bigger deal behind the history of the zombies' origins. Outside of the plot, her amazing vocal talent (especially when it involves singing) is considered the best of the cast alongside Junko's VA; and the fans of Yugiri were fortunate enough for her to get an entire ImageSong dedicated to her love life (complete with full music video) in late 2019, alongside Yugiri being featured as a 'virtual tuber' (aka 'vtuber') on a livestream hosted by Cygames in April 2021.
*** Thankfully, her character arc is confirmed for ''Revenge'', as "The Saga Incident" will be entirely dedicated to her backstory (and will even be a multi-part arc). The wait for said arc is even lampshaded by Yugiri herself in the preview for Part One.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** The OP, "Adabana Necromancy", is one of those songs you can just keep playing over and over again, particularly [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDXVqicnWeo the TV version]] with the opening credits, Sakura's monologue, and SFX. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCdNi_TH2IM English version of the OP]] is just as amazing as the original version, too.
** [[https://youtu.be/13DTlY6R8Dg "Mezame RETURNER"]]. The girls' first song performed in public and ultimately the one which led to their fame. An uplifting and emotional song.
** [[https://youtu.be/Ogzu5yiyq4k "Saga Jihen"]], which is a brand new song included in the "Best Of" album, is entirely focused on Yugiri (considering she never got her own song during the first season). From listening to the first 20 seconds of the song, you'd expect her to sing traditional Japanese folk music from her era, right? Nope. She actually performs an amazingly well-performed, fast-paced jazz number. And it is '''glorious'''.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJgmZ-m2CG4 "Tokkou Dance"]], the power rock performance featured at the end of Episode 9 and putting Saki at the forefront. Just like the in-universe audience, this song gets you pumped like nobody's business.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u40kwrfxhwA "Sensei ALIVE Sensation"]] is perhaps one of the most underrated songs from the franchise, but despite being placed as a bonus song at the end of the "Best Of" album, this particular song is without a doubt, Sakura's ImageSong, and it shows. The cutesy vibes alongside the pop-rocking instrumentation, and of course, Sakura's amazing vocal talent, make up for one of the best solo songs in the series thus far.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znrua2skoyw The OP for Revenge ("O Saga, Cry With Me")]] is a hell of a follow-up from the first season's OP, which has Franchouchou performing another Sentai-inspired theme. Sakura's scream-singing that leads into the chorus, is when this OP goes into '''''overdrive''''' in mere seconds.