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Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 7 – Quick Summary
In Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead episode 7, “Truck Stop of the Dead,” Akira found himself back in job hell – with his old boss Gonzou Kosugi playing the role of the devil! As Gonzou worked Akira closer and closer to exhaustion, Shizuka and Kencho began to doubt that Gonzou would ever let them go. Can Akira regain his free will? Or will be become as bad as the zombies laboring under Gonzou’s command?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 7
Did they see common cause to band together against? Nah – they were just grateful their lives didn’t suck more! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
This was a thematically heavy episode, and the dialogue felt likewise heavy. It doesn’t help that on the night I was trying to write this post, I got called into a 5:30PM meeting.
I start work at 6:00AM. And I’m running scans from 6:00PM until, well, I fall asleep around 10:30PM. Yes, I’m grateful for a job. Yes, I expect that from a computer security position. And yes, I knew what I was in for when I chose this profession. But that doesn’t change how much I sympathized with many of these characters!
Take two of the baseball players, for example. They’re higher on the food-chain than Akira was. They got to drive around and had some little autonomy. Yet, ultimately, they had signed over almost the same level of freedoms that Akira had. They retained just enough to realize there was a different – a difference they could be grateful for.
One of them began to complain. The other instantly snapped (11:38), “Idiot! Just be happy we don’t get treated like laborers like the rest!”
The tools of power and control range from nuanced to blunt. These guys retained just enough independence to know they didn’t want anything more blunt!
Favorite Moment from Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 7
Shizuka led by example – which is the best way to lead! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Setup: Shizuka’s Relatable Back Story
I was really, really glad those baseball players accidentally let a zombie into one of their trucks. That sounds harsh, doesn’t it? Like I’m an unfeeling monster or something. But my heart was in the right place. It was for a good cause, too!
I love scenes where a character throws off their shackles and proclaims their freedom. It’s liberating in a literal sense. It’s hopeful, too – I like seeing examples where characters can overcome hardship and improve their lot.
This was Shizuka’s episode to proclaim her freedom. And the act terrified me.
Given this guy’s attitude, I felt concerned for Shizuka! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
Her back-story fit what we knew about her with exquisite precision. Her father had been an investment banker, and he expected his daughter to grow up like him. He rewarded cold precision. He punished, harshly, any sentiment. Shizuka adopted a puppy in secret? He made a show of having the humane society put it down.
That’s a euphemism, why the way.
Everything about her interactions with Akira and Kencho up until now clicked into place. And do you know what? It meant she was as much a slave to her father’s shadow as Akira had been to his job. That shadow drove not only her day-to-day decisions. It drove her world view. And then she met Akira and read his to-do list. She saw how he and Kencho lived, and she observed how Gonzou controlled Akira. She hated it.
Delivery: Shizuka Leading by Example
When Akira said he was staying because he had fallen for one of Gonzou’s tactics, Shizuka prepared to leave without him. At first, I thought it was just a tactic. On reflection, I think the old Shizuka was still in charge. Her father’s shadow still held sway.
Kencho’s objection slowed her down. Akira’s zombie-like recitation of his need to repay Gonzou reverberated in her imagination. She revisited every time her father had made her feel the same way. At that moment, she understood. She knew what he had done. She knew what Gonzou was doing. And she was done taking it.
She decided she’d had enough of her past holding her back. Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
She told him off. She said that (13:58), “He has no self-esteem, and he’s never satisfied. All he can do is put others down to make himself seem bigger.” She went on at length, ever point building on the last, until she had made it plain to everyone present just what she thought.
My favorite moment was when she held Akira’s to-do list out to him. She didn’t try to force him to do anything. She understood too clearly just how much damage that could do. Her goal for him was the goal she had just attained: self determination.
She said (15:20), “What do you actually ‘want’ to do?”
Special bonus shot of Shizuka! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.
And I felt actual terror for her. Gonzou stood behind Akira. Gonzou held an aluminum baseball bat, and I think he knew how to use it. In a flash, though, I remembered: there’s a zombie about to leap out and change the conditions of the confrontation! I think that’s the first time I ever felt happy to know a zombie was going to get loose. After all, it helped me enjoy Shizuku’s shining moment without worrying too much for her safety.
What did you think of Akira’s idea to contain the zombies? What were your favorite moments? Feel free to let me know in the comments!
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 7: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Zom 100: Zombie ni Naru made ni Shitai 100 no Koto • Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – Episode 7 discussion
- I Drink and Watch Anime: ZOM 100 – Episode 7
- RABUJOI: Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – 07 – No Need to Obey
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 01: Akira of the Dead
- Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 02: Bucket List of the Dead
- Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 03: Best Friend of the Dead
- Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 04: Flight Attendant of the Dead
- Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 05: Hero of the Dead
- Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 06: RV of the Dead
- Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 07: Truck Stop of the Dead
- Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 08: Sushi & Hot Springs of the Dead
- Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Episode 09: Treehouse of the Dead
The zombie outbreak delivered Akira from his terrible job situation, but this was the moment he was able to break free of his own accord. He needed a little help getting back into the right headspace to do it, but who doesn’t need a little push like that every once in awhile? When Shizuka read and added to the bucket list, it felt sweet, and when we found out what she wrote, it was empowering. She followed Akira’s example and broke her chains, and inspiring him to truly break his forever. He just needed the reminder that he had already done awesome things like saving his friend and lightning-punching a shark zombie in the face. He surpassed the hold his old boss had over him with what he felt, not just what he knew. And then he proved himself that much better when he both saved the man and quickly rallied people with a simple, effective plan to survive. He defeated his former boss completely, on every level, and liberated everyone stuck under the man’s thumb. All in all, a moment of victory!
As for Shizuka’s father, he’s a complete fool and a heartless, amoral, short-sighted egomaniac. Did he really think breaking his daughter like a horse was going to make her better suited for someday leading the financial empire he’d leave behind at his death?
Dang — I wish you were reviewing this series! Those are some cool insights.
Very well put, in terms of summing up Akira and Shizuka. They inspired each other in stages; and it was beautiful to watch!