The one where Sakura got her groove back! Also, Yugiri does something completely useful thanks to everyone else failing at helping Sakura out.
The conclusion to the final story arc for Season One, as well as being the first season finale in the series.
Previously, Sakura Minamoto woke up with no memories of her afterlife, and instead woke up with her past memories instead. And of course, those past memories were incredibly dark and troubling- with no single trace of good luck to be found at all. And while almost everyone in Franchouchou failed to get Sakura's new memories back, Kotaro was able to stop Sakura from leaving the group...even if he has to do it by force.
At the end of the day, Kotaro will never be leaving Sakura behind, and he won't ever give up on her dreams of becoming a legendary idol. And yet, all of this managed to happen in the week before Franchouchou's first live concert in Arpino...but now, it all comes down to this. Will Sakura regain her memories before it's too late?
Kotaro greets Franchouchou (and Sakura) with yet another "good morning", and is quite happy that Sakura hasn't decided to ditch the morning report. However, Sakura is stuck with the determined idol producer and can't escape from his sights- especially since Kotaro gives Sakura a very careful reminder that she's going to perform at Arpino, whether she likes it or not.
At the morning rehearsal, the zombie idols show Sakura how they perform one of Franchouchou's hits, and Sakura catches some fragments of the memories she once made with the group. It's not enough to snap her back to reality, for now at least...
That afternoon, Sakura is sitting by herself at the mansion's playground area, and is still scared from the thought of going up on stage at Arpino, knowing that the worst case scenario might happen. Luckily, Tae does her best to cheer Sakura up by reciting the Drive-In Tori jingle's choreography to jog up a memory of Sakura's. Sadly, this effort is wasted due to Sakura not giving any thought and care about Franchouchou as a whole.
Sakura continues to leave herself out from morning rehearsals, as the entire group continues getting themselves ready for Arpino. That afternoon, they spend their time at the local mall to hand out pamphlets advertising Franchouchou's upcoming Arpino Live concert. Sakura sees her cheerier self in the pamphlet, and self-deprecates about it. Her dark thoughts are whisked away elsewhere thanks to two random fans coming over to shake hands with Sakura, who look up to her as an idol. While she can't realize it hard enough, she's one of the most popular members of the group- maybe even the face of the group because of it. But does she really want to be known as that?
That night, she spends some alone time at the beach, as her mind is conflicted with the thoughts of those fans looking up to her, and the thoughts of all of her broken dreams that she failed to accomplish as a human. Sakura's depression still lingers in her, but it's only a matter of time before she starts to reconsider achieving that idol dream, if possible.
The next afternoon, Sakura thinks to herself once more at the mansion's playground. The thought of Kotaro and his commitment towards her final dream still races through her darkened mind, as Sakura still wants to forget about him and everything related to her failed idol dream.
Tae attempts to cheer Sakura up again, but this time, she shows Sakura the Sagazine article that featured Franchouchou's success at the Saga Rock Festival. Tae really wants Sakura to remember the times they've had together, but Sakura angrily chucks the magazine down from Tae's hands, and heads off back inside, leaving poor Tae alone.
That night, Sakura refuses to sleep with Tae and the rest of our zombie idols, and goes back into hiding in the "barricaded depression room". And of course, that crosses the line for these undying gals who want their Sakura back. So the six remaining members of Franchouchou attempt to get in there, but as Tae hopelessly attempts to open the locked door, Junko states that she has already fixed the door after Kotaro destroyed it back when our Showa idol had her depression arc.
So with Tae unable to reach Sakura, the rest of the group are stuck in a bad situation, as Tae cries and bawls from the feeling of Sakura forgetting everyone in Franchouchou- especially Tae herself. But...that's not tears coming from Tae, isn't it? Nope. It's drool that's coming out of her mouth, and it's the kind of drool that Tae produces when she gets furious. And oh boy, she's REALLY furious.
With Tae screaming at the top of her own lungs, she uses all of her might to reach Sakura by other means...by plunging through the glass window. She then forcibly chomps onto Sakura's head really tight, and drags her into the rehearsal room at once. Tae yells at Sakura to get her senses together (even though she says it intelligibly, of course), and the feral zombie begins to move rhythmically so that Sakura can copy her moves.
Out of nowhere, Sakura begins to recollect one memory from her time with Franchouchou. It's the memory where Sakura managed to help Tae focus on dancing, since Tae is easily distracted when it comes to working with Franchouchou. Eventually, Sakura successfully helps Tae, and that managed to support Tae for the future.
With at least one memory recalled, it seems like our zombie heroines can rejoice in the fact that Sakura is able to help Franchouchou with her determination towards others. Now with Ai, Saki, Junko, Lily and even Tae helping Sakura out (even if it didn't go too well at first), they've come full circle...only to find out that Sakura is still just as depressed as she was before. Whoops.
Sakura tells the group that there's no reason to feel excited and relieved over something she never truly remembered back then, and decides to leave the group for the night. She's giving up on that idol dream, and nothing can stop her. Nothing, except for a well deserved bitch-slap to the face.
Yugiri, who was waiting for this moment to arrive, slaps every inch of smugness away from Sakura- and decides to give the depressed sap some brutal honesty about her. Despite the fact that the idea of being forced into performing for a group is utterly selfish, Yugiri is fully aware of that. While Sakura isn't able to understand why her zombie sisters care so much about her, Yugiri tells Sakura the reason why- because of Sakura's determination towards Franchouchou as a whole, the group were able to succeed as an idol group by performing and working together thanks to that immense determination stemming from Sakura's heart.
Ai also tells Sakura that the whole group knows about her bad luck, and while Sakura lived and died unlucky, she's just as unlucky as the rest of Franchouchou, given that almost all of them died in the worst possible outcomes imaginable. And while Sakura's luck is disastrous, Yugiri admits that Franchouchou would prefer to have Sakura (and all of her bad luck) on stage, rather than having Sakura be left out of Franchouchou completely.
Ai reminds Sakura once more that mistakes are not the end of the world, but are there to be improved upon so that they can help perfect one's self. With those words hitting Sakura harder than ever before, she begins to worry that Arpino would fail if she were to take part of it. Luckily, Saki tells Sakura that Kotaro is prepared for every worst case scenario that might happen along the way, and the group will make sure that Sakura does her best job at Arpino.
However, it seems like Saga is going to embrace an oncoming snow storm over the next few days. And this snow storm is not going to go easy on them...
During the last morning rehearsal before the big day, Sakura was able to restore all of her muscle memory when it came to performing Franchouchou's singing and dancing. Sadly, the rehearsal room's big mirror manages to crack, just to rub Sakura's bad luck in her face. Saki decides to 'fix' that crack by punching the mirror into one big shattered mess. This catches Sakura off-guard, as this is something that she wouldn't expect from her friends. But y'know what, bad luck doesn't apply to zombies! So this means that Franchouchou can pull this live concert off with Sakura, no matter what kinds of bad luck are thrown at them.
With Sakura's determination rising, she decides to let the girls sleep with her that night, as the entire group are now fully prepared for their first solo concert tomorrow. As they sleep soundly, we see Kotaro outside all by himself, as checks the weather update on his phone. With the snow storm expected to reach it's absolute worst tomorrow night, Kotaro is not going to let mother nature ruin Sakura's chance to shine...
He starts reminiscing about a certain memory that he once had as a teen. As he drops a CD of (the OG) Iron Frill's last major album, Sakura picks it back up and thanks Mr. Tatsumi...or rather, she thanks Mr. Inui.
With a slither of Kotaro Tatsumi's true past addressed to the audience, it is now revealed that the idol producer (formerly known as Inui) wanted to bring back Sakura's dream from the dead, alongside Sakura herself- all because her untimely death was able to affect him on a tremendous scale of denial. But death won't stop Kotaro from giving up on Sakura. After all, idolhood is realized...in the face of death itself.
The night of the very first solo concert from Franchouchou has come. As the snow storm continues to bother the prefecture, it seems like the only people who showed up to Arpino so far was the Sagazine editorial duo (Okoba and Inubashiri). But while Sakura has her doubts, Kotaro still wants her to perform with Franchouchou, regardless if nobody else shows up.
That all changes in mere moments, however, as every current fan of Franchouchou managed to show up to the concert! Yes, even though there's a huge ass snow storm approaching, it won't stop the fans from enjoying Franchouchou's Arpino show. Okoba is quite surprised from seeing so many people show up at the concert, however...
As the girls of Franchouchou prepare to go on stage, Sakura is still bewildered by the immense amount of people who showed up. In fact, the Arpino hall itself is filled to the brim with fans. But it is now time for Franchouchou to perform one of their signature songs, "Yomigaere". As Kotaro watches from the sidelines along with the backstage crew, our determined Sakura starts singing. However, she's interrupted mid-line by the snow storm, which begins to crawl its way onto the stage, as the windows shatter.
Ai (and almost the rest of the group) dismisses this by continuing their song, as they help Sakura calm down. As the snow storm readies it's most strongest attack, the backstage crew attempts to halt the performance, but they're refused by Kotaro- who wants Franchouchou to keep going...despite the worst case scenario that's about to happen.
As Franchouchou finishes the first verse, however...the snow storm crashes the party by destroying Franchouchou, and the entire stage along with it.
The worst case scenario happened.
Everyone who was watching Franchouchou are now ridden with complete unease and shock, as they wonder if the snow storm managed to kill their legendary idols. And despite the fact that Franchouchou are all zombies, the damage caused by the snow storm was able to knock every one of them out- except for Sakura. As she lets go of her mic, she falls into darkness as she declares that her dream is over. Her status as an idol is forever ruined by her immense bad luck...or so she thought. Sakura starts to hear a slow clap. A slow, rhythmic clap.
This slow rhythmic clap comes from our legendary idol producer Kotaro, as he tends to Franchouchou by giving an order without words. That order...is to continue singing. Ai does so, with the rest of Franchouchou following suit, one by one, as they all rise back up. With the exception of Sakura, the group sings the chorus of "Yomigaere", but they stop just before the last line of the chorus to give Sakura the spotlight.
The slow rhythmic clap gets louder. The fans clap for Sakura. The metalhead dudes clap for Sakura. Saki's friends clap for Sakura. Lily's father claps for Sakura. The Sagazine duo clap for Sakura. Everyone claps for Sakura.
Sakura's thoughts are ridden with the hopeful words of Yugiri, who wanted the group to include Sakura and her bad luck in their performance. Then, the hopeful advice from Ai, who declares that mistakes aren't the end of the world. Finally, the hopeful memory of Kotaro- who has everything it takes to make Sakura's dream come true.
The words of Kotaro continue in Sakura's mind. He gives her the most logical order he can possibly give Sakura at this moment...to answer the fan's call. Because her true strength is revealed when she's been pushed to the brink. And with her grabbing onto the mic, she rises...and at the top of her lungs, she sings from her heart.
"YOU...CAN...RISE AAAGAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIN...!!"
The crowd goes insanely wild as Sakura returns to her true self. The backstage crew quickly fixes up the equipment in time, as Franchouchou are back in action. The entire group resumes singing "Yomigaere" as Sakura's memories are restored, and the zombie idols are able to finish their song perfectly. With all the fans relived that Franchouchou are okay (despite the fact that the group should've been dead from that destruction), Sakura catches her breath knowing that her idol dream is far from being dead.
Our zombie girls go backstage as Sakura tells the group that her depressive mindset is now gone, and she is able to fondly remember everything in her life and post-death phases. The rest of Franchouchou are incredibly happy to see their supportive gal back, and Tae even nibbles on her head in glee! But Kotaro rushes in to interrupt that mood quite rudely.
He reminds our girls that despite the fact that Franchouchou are now known as the number one idol group of the Saga prefecture, the said prefecture itself is still very obscure to the nation. So, with him planning on getting Franchouchou to restore Saga's popularity in due time, he gives the girls the usual barking order to go on stage.
Franchouchou gives the crowd one last encore in the form of "Flag Wo Hatamekasero", as we see that there are many loose ends with Franchouchou's story. Now with their gaining popularity, the new iteration of Iron Frill will eventually have to deal with the legendary zombie idols. The mysterious bartender tied to Yugiri's past, is still very mysterious, and may serve as a key player in this idol project. And what about Kotaro's past, considering how he grew up with Sakura and went to the same high school as her? Well, those questions won't be answered for now...but, with Sakura's arc coming to a close, she ends the concert with a heartfelt "GOOD MORNING!" to the fans. The Zombie Land Saga Project, however, is nowhere near the end. It only just begun.
A few days later, and we see the Sagazine duo at their office. Okoba has gathered photos of some of the Franchouchou members...and he is still concerned about their resemblances. Specifically, he compares Junko, Ai and Lily to their past selves.
It seems like Okoba is going to work harder to get to the bottom of this mess. And only time will tell when he's reached the absolute bottom of this messy project...
Tropes:
- Darkest Hour: Franchouchou's stage is crushed by a snowstorm with them performing on it, and it appears that all the girls are incapacitated from it. Though they all soon manage to get up again and keep the show going.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man:
- Tae, of all people, pulls this on Sakura after the latter locks herself in the attic. Tae, having enough of being pushed away, busts through the window and drags her out. In the dub Tae even vaguely tells Sakura to “Get it together!”.
- Heroic Resolve: Franchouchou is able to resume their performance despite almost being crushed by a collapsing stage.
- No One Could Survive That!: Franchouchou appears to have been crushed by their collapsing stage, only to power through and keep the performance going.
- The Reveal
- Kotaro's name is/used to be Inui. And he attended high school with Sakura, with the implication that they were close back then.
- Sequel Hook:
- Kotaro's past is briefly hinted at, showing he and Sakura were close in high school.
- Okoba has a set of photos comparing Franchouchou's 3, 4, and 6 to Ai Mizuno, Junko Konno, and Lily Hoshikawa. He's trying to find out what the relation between them is.
- She's Back: Sakura finally snaps out of her depression-induced state and delivers a strong performance at the Arpino concert.
- The Unreveal: Kotaro takes off his glasses as he stands alone on a balcony, though his eyes are out of view.
- Wham Shot: Kotaro's flashback in high school, where he interacts with a classmate... Sakura Minamoto. Needless to say, it puts all of his interactions with her in an entirely different light.
