Zombie 100 – Bucket List of the Dead 12 (2024)

Stranded on a deserted island would seem to be a dream scenario for Akira and his potential love interest Shizuka. Except that potential burned up in the atmosphere when Akira was caught in a near-compromising position. Can some alone time make things right? Or has their relationship bitten the dust?

The reason I keep reading Zom 100 is because while it can get very, very stupid at times (see last volume), that feels by design rather than ‘the mangaka cannot write any better’. And this has been proven time after time when it turns out to be a lot more clever than it probably deserves to be.

The desert island situation is, however, just about what you think it will be and involves Shizuka forcing herself to face up to her burgeoning feelings for Akira. It’s fine, but we knew this was coming for ages now and it mostly reminds me how much more interesting Shizuka was back at the start.

Still, it goes out of its way to explain why her feelings have developed, even if it’s a bit of a fake-out when she confesses and there’s just something really weird to me about how manga frequently insists on its females being so chaste before they meet the male lead. Still, they contrast nicely, so that’s something.

Anyway, the real discovery from all this soul searching is actually that the island is more than it first seems and they get a clue about the possibility of a vaccine, via a notebook that contains a smattering of journal entries.

This is where this volume really decides to take off and just go for it and, happily, largely succeeds. We first see Akira and Shizuka reading through the notebook and its various entries, which is mostly expository stuff of no major surprise.

The next chapter, however, uses those same entries as background dressing for showing us the story from the perspective of the people who lived it, which allows the story to introduce two new characters quickly and show us how they fit in the grand scheme of things before they meet up with our leads.

It’s not as good as the philosopher chapter - that was so wonderful it will likely never be equaled in the series - but it’s a really clever narrative trick that serves to remind me why I continue with the story and using the notebook twice was a very clever conceit.

No punches pulled in the backstory either - it makes perfect, brutal sense why the researcher is driven to save as many people as possible. And the new female character is a welcome addition - she’s the exact opposite of Akira philosophically and you can see how the presence of one may change the other.

And then comes the ending, which, oh man. There’s a great fake-out and a savage cliffhanger that is not exactly surprising, I’m never one to believe the danger is that real, but is incredibly effective and the presentation is top-notch.

There’s good stuff here and that may not sound like a big recommend, but I would be remiss in not pointing out that I am notoriously (in my own mind) hard on shonen titles, so even that acknowledgment is a strong endorsem*nt.

4 stars - no, seriously, what I like here is really good and, man, when this series gets creative with its storytelling it can absolutely impress me and I was happy to see that it did so once again this volume.

The highlight of the manga so far. A really, really good volume. Raising the stacks and action, making the zombies feel sort of like an impending threat, ROMANTIC TENSION, and zombie frogs(?)

I really liked this volume, so let's hope it keeps up

In this volume, things were pretty middle of the road until the second half. I do appreciate the way the romance is moving along and this was probably the keystone for this volume's drama. On the island, Akira and Shizuka do some standard survival stuff until Akira finally confesses her feelings in a very touching manner to...a zombie. They then do the usual running away before discovering a journal written by a scientist working on a vaccine. His journey from Tokyo to f*ckuoka is a gripping one as we see how someone else has navigated everything. A girl who is immune to the disease, Izuna, makes for a good foil for the excitement that Akira has due to her lack of care about what happens to her. The final chapter is the most gripping this series has been in a while as they try to break into the Umbriel Corporation's factory in order to manufacture the vaccine. I teared up as Akira realized that Shizuka is the woman of his dreams and I'm really rooting for them to pull through here for her. This volume was a very welcome step up from the previous one.

Because Fate is funny sometimes, the desert island that two of our protagonists wash up on (with one of them fully ready to go into Cast Away survival mode, and the other...taking it as an extended beach holiday) was the the EXACT RENDEVOUS POINT OF THE YACHT THEY FELL OFF OF! Also, they find the diary of the one virologist/immunologist who was doing his best to find out how to cure the zombie plague.
Extended backstory of a new character and it's gut-bustingly funny when his path converges with our main group cuz NOBODY EXPECTS THE CALVARY TO COME BY TRAIN!
...Ohsh*tsnapcracklepop. What a cliffhanger!

Well, the cover got horny. Which is not unusual in the manga department, but I take umbrage with the cover being MUCH hornier than the contents.

Because if the contents aren't going to be this graphic, then why are you making me hold a book with this facing everyone but me, causing people to be like, "Typical manga-reading pervo"?

Which is fine, I have no issue with that label, but if I'm going to get stuck with it, give me the pervo goods! Don't force me to wear the label without even giving me the joy of perversion!