Zombieland Saga Season 2 has officially been confirmed to be coming out on April 8, 2021, the Spring 2021 anime season.
The second season will premiere on Amazon Prime Video in Japan. Crunchyroll is also streaming the sequel.
During a July 2019 speech given at the Zombie Land Saga LIVE IN SAGA event, actor Hakuryu (who is a native to Saga Prefecture) announced that Zombie Land Season 2 will be called Zombieland Saga Revenge. But when will Zombieland Saga Revenge come out?
The Zombie Land Saga Season 2 anime project made an announcement at 0:00 on January 1, 2021, the first minute of New Years Day in Japan. The Zombie Land Saga Revenge trailer confirmed that the main cast is returning in addition to listing the staff at animation studio MAPPA.
The Zombieland Saga anime (or Zombie Land Saga) is a collaboration project that was originally shrouded in secrecy before it shambled into the light during the fall 2018 anime season. But it seems like this zombie uprising is not quite done!
The creators have been teasing Zombie Land Saga Revenge for quite a while. Shortly after the first season finished airing in Japan, the creators began saying that the premise of the original story can be stretched into a Zombieland Saga Season 2.
The official Twitter account for the anime series originally promised that the Franchouchou characters will remain “active” and they claimed Zombieland Saga will “continue” in some fashion. The manga series has already launched (see below for more details).
An older comment from Risa Taneda (voice actress for Ai Mizuno) was even more on the nose with the teasing.
“Zombie Land Saga 2 coming soon! I want to do it,” said Taneda. “Thank you for all 12 episodes.”
What’s more, the official Twitter page for the anime series directly states, “IT’S OFFICIAL: ZOMBIE LAND SAGA SEASON 2 CONFIRMED!”
There were many people rooting for a second season to be greenlit soon. Manga creator Makoto Yukimura (known for the Vinland Saga manga that’s receiving an anime adaptation in 2019) was looking forward to Episode 13 and when he found out Episode 12 was the ending he proclaimed, “2nd season or banzai!” Yukimura says he feels a “bit of loss” at this ending and hopes to learn more about Kotaro in Season 2.
It’s not too surprising that the anime studio quickly began making plans for Zombieland Saga Revenge. Besides being internationally popular on streaming platforms, the Blu-Ray sales in Japan for the first season’s Volume 1 were very high in comparison to most anime series.
To put the numbers in perspective, Zombieland Saga Volume 1 sold four times more than My Hero Academia Season 3.
The Zombie Land Saga Season 2 OP (opening) is “O Saga, Cry With Me (Taiga yo Tomoni Naitekure)”, while the ED (ending) is “Spending The Days With a Dream and Nowhere to Go Home (Yume wo Te ni, Modoreru Basho mo Nai Hibi wo)”.
- Updated April 5, 2021: Added Zombie Land Saga Season 2 trailer 2.
- Updated February 27, 2021: Zombieland Saga Season 2 release date confirmed! Added OP/ED info and key visual.
- Updated January 2, 2021: Zombieland Saga Season 2 release time frame confirmed in the new trailer!
- Updated December 28, 2020: Zombieland Saga Revenge anime announcement.
- Updated July 28, 2020: Added MAPPA 2020 schedule and revised prediction.
- Updated July 28, 2019: Confirmed that Zombieland Saga Season 2 will be called Zombieland Saga Revenge. Added key visual and announcement video.
- Updated January 2, 2019: Added Blu-Ray sales numbers.
- Updated December 21, 2018: Added quotes (potentially) related to Zombieland Saga Season 2. Rewrote sections of the article based on this news.
This article provides everything that is known about Zombieland Saga Season 2 (Zombieland Saga Revenge) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
Zombie Land Saga Revenge release date
It took years for MAPPA, Cygames, and Avex or any company related to the production of the anime to officially confirm the exact Zombieland Saga Season 2 release date. It’s been officially confirmed that the Zombieland Saga Revenge release date is scheduled for April 8, 2021.
Anime projects take years to develop. Since MAPPA’s schedule was already planned out, it’s possible that production didn’t start immediately. At the same time, it definitely seems like the series was planned with the Zombieland Saga Revenge sequel in mind.
For the summer of 2020, MAPPA was busy working on The God of High School anime series, which was directed by Seong Hu Park, one of the storyboard writers and episode directors for Zombieland Saga’s first season. For the ending of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, they’re busy working on Attack On Titan Season 4 and Jujutsu Kaisen (which is being directed by Mr. Park).
Zombieland Saga anime’s origins
Cygames anime producer Nobuhiro Takenaka has previously worked on popular series such as Yuri On Ice and the Made In Abyss anime (see our article on Made In Abyss Season 2).
The Zombieland Saga project started when the producers pitched the concept internally but no one knew how they could translate the idea into an actual game. But they did know that MAPPA, Cygames, and Avex wanted to collaborate on an original anime story.
From the outset, the underlying theme was intended to be about humans living life fully rather than another zombie apocalypse story.
“We had a really firm kind of idea from the outset about the kind of anime we wanted to make,” Takenaka said in an interview. “So it was a clean-cut process, we didn’t have any kind of big stumbling blocks or kind of creative blocks.”
The concept took four years to develop and bring to TV screens. The hardest part was finding a “team that understood our vision.” Cygames eventually partnered with anime studio MAPPA to bring the zombie idol girls to life. As for the future of the collaboration, the producer would only say that “Cygames and MAPPA are very close” and that they “want to grow together.”
Zombieland Saga manga adds flavor to the anime’s story
The anime has already spawned a Zombieland Saga manga series by Megumu Soramichi, who is known for producing the finished manga series Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry.
Thus far, the manga version is a pretty straightforward adaptation of the anime, but it does show some extra scenes involving manic manager Kotaro, the Drive-In Tori chicken restaurant, and even some cooking panels.
The manga is being serialized on Cygames’ Cycomi website. Unfortunately, an official English translation has not yet been licensed, but fan-made scanlation projects have kept up the pace with the newest chapters.
Zombieland Saga is an idol group satire that has brought new life to Saga in real life
Some anime fans felt like they were tricked into watching an idol anime, but the story added enough new twists that no one was disappointed. The premise is a satire of the Japanese idol industry, which is infamous for having extreme lifestyles combined with repetitive content. Idols can be driven to the edge both physically and mentally, so making the main Zombieland Saga characters be zombie idols is a pretty scathing metaphor.
Even the cutesy zombie idol group name Franchouchou is a reminder of the dark underbelly of the industry. While the French word chouchou is a childish term of endearment for someone who is special, the Japanese pronounce Franchouchou similarly to furan shuu, which means the odor of decomposition.
It’s not like the producers are telling audiences that the idol industry is irredeemable. The anime also evokes fondness for the idol industry, with the point being that if everything is done respectfully and within reasonable boundaries then idols, their fans, and even their crazy producers can find fulfillment.
In a meta moment, the anime’s success has also inspired interest in the Saga Prefecture. The decaying building that the zombie girls live in is the former Karatsu City Historical Folk Museum and Crunchyroll reports that thousands of visitors swarmed the cultural landmark, with some coming from far-off places like Tokyo.
The Franchouchou girls have inspired audiences, so Zombieland Saga Season 2 will rise up once again as a sequel anime.
Zombieland Saga Revenge’s story teased in episode 12
The ending of the first season changed things up for audiences. In a Newtype magazine interview, director Munehisa Sakai and scriptwriter Shigeru Murakoshi would only say, “Your impression of the opening may change when you watch till the end.”
Despite offering limited closure, the sad plot twist involving Sakura also left an opening for the second season. Kotaro’s intentions and motivations have just begun to be explored and Kotaro’s relationship with Sakura needs to be shipped resolved.
Thankfully, MAPPA won’t be making us wait too long for Zombieland Saga Season 2. Fans will just have to wait a bit longer to watch Zombieland Saga Revenge. Stay tuned!