I Need a Second Season of One of 2023’s Best Anime Series

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, much like the zombifying disease at its core, seemingly came out of nowhere, and everyone is already asking if we’ll get a second season.

Yes, the author of the manga, Haro Aso, is known for his other major work Alice in Borderland, which later spawned a stunningly good live action adaptation on Netflix. But Zom 100 marks the first series that animation studio BUG FILMS spearheaded themselves. And it was one of the best series of 2023.

The series centers around protagonist Akira Tendo. In one of the best opening episodes of an anime I’ve ever seen, we’re introduced to Akira right as he seemingly gets the production job of his dreams—only to realize that he’s landed in a toxic workplace nightmare, with overwork hours so intense he rarely goes back to his apartment. BUG FILMS plainly based the building where Akira works, ZLM, on OLM, the company that makes Pokémon. The empathy makes the darkest holes of the episode that much more effective.

That’s why Akira is absolutely delighted when the zombie apocalypse hits. He doesn’t have to work anymore! Whereas most series treat the zombie apocalypse as a thing of horror, for Akira, it’s an invitation for adventure and reinvention. That simultaneously dark and playful (and, let’s face it, highly relatable) premise, alongside a colorful palette that makes bloody streets look more like someone just had an epic paintball fight than a gory battle, have made the series a hit.

Now that the final episodes of season 1 aired over Christmas, can we expect a season two? And if so, when?

The case for a second season

BUG FILMS, the production company behind Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead has not made a public statement about the show’s renewal. Then again, they have also not said the show is canceled, which is good. After all, there’s still more manga to cover.

If you watched Zom 100 as it came out, you know that the series was plagued with delays. A couple were one-day delays that were the fault of the broadcaster, but mainly, it seems like BUG FILMS wanted to practice what they were preaching in the show—instead of pushing their employees to the brink for the sake of a deadline, like Jujutsu Kaisen, they decided to kick that deadline way down the road so that their employees’ health didn’t plummet like Akira’s did at his job. Or, at least, that’s my very optimistic theory. It’s likely some overwork was still involved; it is the animation industry, after all.

This is all to say that I don’t expect an announcement from BUG FILMS about season two any time soon. While the studio has numerous key animation credits, Zom 100 was the first series BUG FILMS ever led, and I suspect they’ve learned their lesson. It’s possible we might get an announcement like, “We’re working on season 2!” relatively soon, but my guess would be that BUG FILMS would want to get significantly deep into the production of the season before showing us anything.

Given the drip-drip-drip pace of the first season, I think it will be a couple years before we see more Zom 100, but at least we have one hell of a first season to rewatch in the meantime.

(featured image: BUG FILMS)