Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead: Is It Worth Watching in 2026?

Key takeaways

• Akira Tendo has been worked to the point of collapse by an exploitative company, and when a zombie apocalypse finally breaks out, his actual reaction is genuine relief and joy, freedom from the job that was slowly destroying him.
• Haro Aso and Kotaro Takata's manga uses that inversion, apocalypse as liberation rather than pure horror, as a fresh, optimistic angle most zombie fiction never attempts.

The premise, and why its inversion actually works

Akira's corporate job has left him sleep-deprived, exploited, and completely joyless, and when zombies overrun the city, his first reaction isn't terror, it's the specific, giddy realization that he never has to go back to that job again. He starts working through a genuine bucket list of things he'd always wanted to do, and the show's real accomplishment is making that inversion, apocalypse as liberation, feel earned rather than glib, precisely because it takes Akira's original misery seriously first.

What lands about the show's tone

The show's specific comedic register, finding real joy and freedom within a technically apocalyptic setting, works because it's grounded in a recognizable, real frustration, burnout and exploitative work culture, rather than treating the zombie outbreak as a pure gag with no emotional stakes underneath it.

The honest limitation worth naming

Be direct about this: the episodic bucket-list structure, complete one goal, move to the next, can feel repetitive by the middle of the season for some viewers, and the show's consistent commitment to keeping things fun occasionally undercuts genuine zombie-apocalypse tension in a way that some viewers find flattens the stakes rather than sustaining a satisfying balance.

Who this is for

If you want a fresh, optimistic subversion of typically grim zombie fiction, and don't need sustained horror-level tension to stay engaged, this is a distinctive pick. If you specifically want the genre's usual dread and danger played straight, the show's consistently upbeat tone will likely feel like a mismatch.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Akira happy about the zombie apocalypse? His exploitative corporate job had left him miserable and burnt out, so the outbreak liberates him from that specific misery, which the show takes seriously before playing for comedy.

Is this show mostly comedy or mostly horror? Primarily a fresh, optimistic comedic take on the genre, grounded in real burnout and workplace frustration rather than sustained horror-style dread.

Does the bucket-list structure get repetitive? For some viewers, yes — the complete-one-goal, move-to-the-next format can feel repetitive by the middle of the season.

Does the show maintain real zombie-apocalypse stakes? Inconsistently — its commitment to staying fun sometimes undercuts genuine tension, which some viewers find flattens the danger rather than balancing it well.

Who wrote the source material? Haro Aso wrote the story with art by Kotaro Takata, and it's produced by studio Bug Films.

Is this a good pick if I want traditional zombie horror? Not really — its consistently upbeat tone is a genuine mismatch if straight horror dread is specifically what you're after.

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