Selective Hearing Radio

Sailor Zombie is a 12 episode late night drama broadcast on TV Tokyo from April 18 – July 18 2014 and features several members of AKB48 as part of its cast. The story focuses on the aftermath of a zombie epidemic and a group of students who are trying to survive in a world surrounded by the infected. Panel Questions Each episode begins with a fictional idol group Milk Planet (Yokoyama Yui, Watanabe Mayu and Iwata Karen) giving the viewers a quick overview of what is to come in each episode. They also appear in Maiko Inui’s (Owada Nana) daydreams and perform the opening and closing themes. - Were these mini summaries helpful to the viewer or an excuse to get more AKB member screen time? The majority of the plot line has to do with surviving the existence of a post apocalyptic world. The major sub-plots were on the strange disappearances of people in the school, possibly from a special zombie disguised as a human and then finding the source of the mysterious radio broadcast that immobilized the zombies. The actual zombies in this drama are not exactly the most terrifying. In fact they’re fairly laughable when compared to what one would normally run in terror from. Then again, it’s not like the bank was broken when it comes to a drama that airs at 1 AM. - Agree or disagree? What zombies from pop culture do you think are scarier than the ones in this drama? Random Observations (with Spoilers) There was Plenty of free advertising for Beats HD headphones and the Sony PSP/VITA. Are you inclined to buy either product now or has product placement not worked on you? The theme song is awfully cheerful for a zombie drama don’t you think? Were there any characters you really cared about in regards to the life or death situation in the drama? Was this show successful at gaining empathy for anyone? Momoka Akizuki (Kawaei Rina) sure gets the short end of the stick in life. Modeling career gets stalled by zombies. She is universally hated and put on trial for killing her fellow classmates. - Did she have justification to be such a bitch? Episode 8 is a turning point in this series where the reality of a post-apocalyptic world rears its ugly head. - Old guy in the wheelchair. Was that unexpected? Thoughts on what he did? In episode 11 one learns that it is not cool to lounge on the beach in a zombie infested world. - Was it wise to stop and film videos to their future selves? - Why did the zombies just not attack the girls right away? They seem awfully lazy for a hoard of flesh eaters. Or maybe they were full from the previous suckers who stopped to relax by the sea? - How the hell did Momoka just conveniently end up meeting up with the surviving members of the school? In the final episode 12 all is revealed. - Was it wise to stop the zombie disco? - Stopping ones imminent death to perform an idol song for zombies? Would it not be better to run? The ending is ambiguous. - Did the girls end up getting attacked by zombies after finishing their song or did they just keep singing forever? - After watching the entire series do you believe there was any satisfactory conclusion to any of the various stories within this drama? Or was there no way to do that? - Is this recommended viewing in your opinion?