Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Review: The Zombie Apocalypse Is Actually a Liberation

Quick Take

• The most original zombie manga premise in years — the apocalypse as liberation from overwork capitalism is funny and uncomfortable and genuinely resonant for anyone who has ever worked somewhere that consumed them
• Akira's bucket list structure gives the series a different rhythm than survival horror — each item on the list is its own adventure, and the series earns genuine emotional weight between the comedy
• 15 volumes complete; the most alive zombie manga ever written

Who Is This Manga For?

• Readers who are tired of survival-focused zombie fiction and want something structurally different
• Anyone who has worked at a job that was slowly destroying them and would understand Akira's relief
• Fans of action comedy that doesn't sacrifice emotional content for the jokes
• Readers who want completed manga with a premise that remains fresh across its full length

Content Warnings & Age Rating

Age Rating: T (Teen) Content Warnings: Zombie violence and some gore appropriate for the genre; the workplace harassment Akira experienced before the apocalypse is depicted directly; some adult content situations

The T rating is accurate with the caveat that the workplace content and some zombie violence push the rating.

Yu's Rating

Category	Score
Story Depth	★★★★☆
Art Style	★★★★★
Character Development	★★★★★
Accessibility for Non-Japanese Readers	★★★★★
Reread Value	★★★★★

Story Overview

Akira Tendo is twenty-four years old. He has been working at a video production company for three years. In those three years, he has worked an average of fifteen hours a day. He has not had a day off in months. His apartment is a disaster. He has no personal life. He has been enthusiastic about the work since the beginning; the work has consumed him.

One morning, zombies appear. The world ends. Akira's first coherent thought is that he does not have to go to work anymore.

He makes a list: one hundred things he wants to do before he becomes a zombie. The list includes ordinary things he never did — visiting an amusement park, getting drunk, talking to a girl he likes. It also includes extraordinary things — base jumping, owning a pet, seeing his hometown. He sets out to complete it.

He encounters Kencho, his best friend from college, who has been surviving in a different way. He meets Shizuka, a woman who has been surviving efficiently and alone. He meets Beatrice, an English traveler with a different perspective on the apocalypse. The group forms around the list.

Characters

Akira Tendo — His specific quality is that his joy at the apocalypse is not callous — he is not happy people are dying. He is happy that the specific machine that was consuming him has stopped. The distinction matters and the series makes it clearly. His enthusiasm for living, finally and genuinely, is contagious.

Shizuka — Her efficiency in the apocalypse is the product of the same system that consumed Akira — she survived by being useful, which means she has never allowed herself to want things. Her development alongside Akira is the series' emotional core.

Art Style

Takata's art is vivid and energetic — the zombie designs are varied and inventive, and the action sequences have a kinetic quality that suits Akira's enthusiastic approach to everything. The bucket list items are drawn with genuine excitement, which makes the reader share Akira's joy in each completion.

Cultural Context

Zom 100 directly engages with karoshi culture — the Japanese phenomenon of death by overwork — and the specific psychological mechanisms that make workers consent to their own exploitation. The zombie apocalypse as liberation from this system is funny on its surface and deeply serious underneath. The series was published during a period of significant public conversation in Japan about labor reform.

What I Love About It

Item number nine: "Tell the girl I like how I feel." Akira has been too exhausted to have personal relationships for three years. Watching him figure out how to express genuine feeling to someone, surrounded by zombies, is both funny and genuinely moving in a way that pure survival horror cannot be.

What English-Speaking Fans Say

Western readers describe Zom 100 as a genuinely original take on the zombie genre. The workplace liberation premise resonates across cultural contexts — overwork is not uniquely Japanese and readers from many different backgrounds find Akira's relief recognizable. The series is consistently praised for maintaining its comedic energy without sacrificing emotional content.

Memorable Scene ⚠️ Spoiler Warning

The sequence where Akira returns to his old company building — now full of zombies including his former boss — and what he does there is the series' most cathartic sequence and the clearest articulation of what the zombie apocalypse means to him specifically.

Similar Manga

• I Am a Hero — Serious zombie manga for contrast and comparison
• School-Live! — Zombie survival with emotional depth
• Dungeon Meshi — Finding joy in a dark situation, similar warmth
• Grand Blue — Comedy with genuine emotional investment in its characters

Reading Order / Where to Start

Volume 1 — Akira's pre-apocalypse work life, the outbreak, and the list.

Official English Translation Status

Viz Media published the complete 15-volume English edition. All volumes available.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• The most original zombie premise in years
• Akira's joy at living is genuinely infectious
• The workplace critique is serious and specific
• Complete with a satisfying conclusion

Cons

• Readers who want survival horror will find the comedy tone jarring
• The bucket list structure means some items feel more important than others
• Some later arcs extend the premise further than necessary

Format Comparison

Format	Notes
Individual Volumes	Viz Media; 15 volumes
Digital	Available

Where to Buy

Get Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Vol. 1 on Amazon →

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