It was a bit less predictable, yeah, but I love this sort of stuff, so I was all for it.
Great song at the end, too. I think that Episode 3’s weak points were intentional.
Oh God! Natural light!I think absolutely. The attention to detail in this show is stunning - people have even pointed out that the brief shot of Reiko's motorcycle key is enough to identify the make and model of her bike.
Also, that this episode appears to be a reference to a tokusatsu show
.
Episode 9:
Have to admit that the new character, Maria, reminds me of Saki but she's a bit annoying at some times. And tbh, I do really like Saki a little bit in here especially on her backstory. Man her death was brutal due to the motor race but it's nice to gave her one even if she isnt developed that much. Also, the song in the end is great though and Kotaro is still as over the top as ever.
"Making screw-ups and mistakes was I ever really good at. Because everything I touch went to hell."I swear this series just keeps getting better and better.
From the fun that was episode 7... and clearly the turning point of the series.
To 8 that was a tearjerker most of the episode.
And now to 9 which was an exciting entertaining rumble with Saki.
Something tells me that Reiko deep down knows that it's Saki, her expression, her words, and the punch felt like it was something she had been wanting to do for 21 years.
You know, it says something that we've had Lily and Saki recognized by people. But not Ai or Junko, even when Ai was performing at the same venue as her old group where she famously died. A comment on how Idols are quickly the industry churns out idols and then forgets them when the newer thing arrives? Or simply that Iron Frill is probably a completely new lineup, with Ai's group having already "graduated" from being idols?
It's especially true given that zero effort has been made to change up the girls' personal styles, especially their hair - though I'm willing to call that an acceptable break from reality, I guess. Though it's not like it would be impossible for us to tell who is who even if they changed their hairstyles.
It's been fun.I mean, obviously "that girl I knew 20 years ago came back as a zombie" isn't normally the first explanation that comes to someone's mind.
Otherwise, Mother's Basement's video about the show makes a pretty good point I hadn't thought about: the fact that the girls express various ideas of "femininity" that challenge the idea of the "pure and perfect idol" − namely Lily being trans, Saki being a Badass Biker delinquent and Yuugiri obviously not being a virgin, as well as Tae's… Tae-ness.
I can't follow him on the idea of ZLS being a gateway series for other idol shows though. This one's interesting because it juggles between the fun poppy aspects and the more cynical aspects of the idol world. Not sure I'd enjoy a pristine show à la Love Live quite as much.
It's definitely a gateway idol show in the sense that non-idol fans can easily be convinced to watch it via its absurd premise. Then some of those people end up liking the more traditional elements and seek out more idol shows, and before they know they've fallen down the rabbit hole with no hope of rescue.
^^Yeah, I think that's a good reading of it, actually. And the amount of detail that's gone into the production, writing, and all that makes for a good defense against the usual refrain of 'you're reading too much into it, it's just a dumb fun show'. Even things like Sakura wearing her trans-flag shorts when talking to Lily in episode 8, or Reiko's bi flag
◊ hair
◊ (which I have no trouble seeing as canon) - there's a lot of thought in this show. It's also fun, not just fun.
Edited by RedSavant on Dec 4th 2018 at 10:47:51 AM
It's been fun.She is, true. It's also true that the character wearing them isn't the character who is trans... but it still is an interesting bit of character design. I wonder if it's brought up at all in those interviews... but I don't think the character designer was interviewed at any point after the review for episode 1.
It's been fun.

Ah, right, right. I had forgotten about that, yeah.
^I kind of get that, yeah. It did feel a bit less... something or other, somehow, maybe because it was a little more predictable. But it was great all the same.
It's been fun.