(TW: blood)
2.4: RIP, The Attempts To Make A Better Future From Days Long Gone, And The Cynical Belief That Better Things Aren't Possible!
Well now, this is an interesting double feature. So far over a season and a half, we've had multiple episodes focusing on key members of Franchouchou. We've seen Sakura's pessimism be shattered, Ai and Junko working out the new landscape of how to be idols in a post-undeath world, Lily shining brightly, Saki reckoning with her own past, and Tae... well, Tae got to have a fun day out and we adore her. Absent from that list is Franchouchou's No. 5, Yugiri. I haven't gotten much of a chance to mention her, as she's been along for the ride and doing her own thing, inspiring where applicable and taking the misadventures of Franchouchou with grace and mild bemusement. There have been no focal episodes about her, though, until now. Unlike certain other shows with certain other characters who remain as bland set dressing because the writer would rather focus on other people (wonder Who I'm subtweeting here), Zombie Land Saga Revenge decides to rectify this. So, right at the start of the back half of the show, we get episodes 8 and 9 as a focus on Yugiri.
Of course, that's not all that's going on here. This is not like other arcs of the show, where the undead girl in question has to reckon with some ideological challenge or signifier of their living life rearing back up in the modern day. Quite the opposite. There are no zombies in these episodes. Well, until the end when we do see Franchouchou for a song. And that one guy, but that's a whole other thing to deal with. This is the story of Yugiri's life, and how it ended. It's far richer than that, even, as it's the story of Saga in the long-ago era of Meiji Japan in the 1880s. The story of how this scrappy little prefecture was dissolved by the government, and the fight to have it reinstated out of local pride. A story about Saga's first attempt to save itself, the revolution which followed, and the bloodshed which followed. It's the story of how utopia failed to take hold back then, and that is the signifier of living life that we must reckon with. Not just Yugiri, but the show itself. Let's get into it. Back through the years we go, back before even the lost age of 1983 which Junko hails from. Back a hundred years before that. Back to Meiji 14, the year 1881.
Yugiri, an elegant and legendary courtesan, is so popular that nobody could afford her aforementioned courtesan services. As such, an arrangement is made with a bigwig government official, her freedom bought and paid for by him as she moves far away, to the southwest of Japan. To Saga. Except, not quite Saga. Now, I'm no expert on Japanese history. I am only going off of whatever the show is saying in these instances, so if I mess up the retelling of that, apologies. Saga, as we'll find out, was considered a problem prefecture by the Meiji government, a place that underwent rapid westernization and became a key location during the Meiji reformation. There was an uprising by the former samurai class 7 years prior, and with their sound defeat the glory of Saga was long past. Two years later, Saga was actually split up, its territory divided between the neighboring prefectures of Mizuma and Nagasaki. According to the Meiji government, Saga no longer exists. It has been wiped from the map, and so Yugiri finds herself in the Saga that is no longer Saga. The Saga-esque, if you like.
Several months have passed for Yugiri, and the man who arranged her freedom has died from sudden illness. He left her some of his fortune, and she lives in his old home while occasionally teaching young girls how to traditionally dance. She's financially secure and has a roof above her head, but it's a roof far away from anywhere she ever knew and anyone she ever knew. Yugiri, legendary courtesan, stuck in a Saga that is no longer Saga. Though she doesn't know anyone, she'll soon be making a friend. Now, a cute thing about these episodes is that all the other Franchouchou members get random cameos. It's not really them, they're just side characters who get a line or two (or a surprised gasp in Tae's case) and aren't integral to the plot or anything. You can take their appearance as you like: are they ancestors of the main girls, or is it sort of like a play? I think there's a middle ground, a spiritual link, because of the guy who's about to become Yugiri's new friend. A random guy out in the street is attempting to pass out flyers, petitioning to have the Meiji government restore Saga as a prefecture. This scrappy little upstart, Kiichi Momozaki, shares a voice actor with our own absolutely gonzo idol manager Kotaro Tatsumi. Given that they are both also passionate about saving Saga, there's obviously some sort of spiritual/ancestral link going on here. They mirror each other, in other words.
Yugiri hasn't met Kiichi yet, but she does find one of his flyers scattered around town on a daily excursion and picks it up. Mostly because free paper is useful, but hey. Kiichi nearly gets in trouble with the law for running around being a public nuisance with his flyers, but is bailed out thanks to a distraction by a friend of his. Now this guy, Itou... he's interesting. Unlike everyone else, he doesn't seem to have an obvious parallel with a modern-day character like a shared voice actor or anything. I, however, think differently. The Zombie Land Saga Wiki doesn't have anything to say about this (and trust me, they have a lot of in-depth theorycrafting bullshit I have to reckon with at the end) so I don't know if this is a headcanon or just something any viewer could infer but they never wrote down for whatever reason. Not to spoil what's to come too hard, but Itou is the antagonist of these episodes. His antagonist nature and ideals will shine through in just a bit, but to state my headcanon... Well here, look.
I mean, sure, visually the best I got mirroring these two is the specific messy unkempt nature of their hair and that it's the same length. But thematically? Come on, think of the arc we've had so far. Ookoba found out Franchouchou were zombies. Maimai accepted Franchouchou as zombies, and Ookoba continued to gather evidence. Now we're back in Meiji-era Japan with a cast of folks meant to mirror Saga citizens of the modern day, a story of the struggle to save Saga in a previous cycle... and the antagonist of that arc is a guy who kind of looks like Ookoba. Ookoba and Itou both have very specific beliefs and reasons for doing what they do in their antagonistic roles towards Kotaro and Kiichi, respectively, of course. To simplify their actions enough to slip them both into the same Venn diagram, though? They oppose the material social progress that the Saga saver is trying to bring about. Ookoba isn't doing it maliciously, and has his reasons we'll get to in the next part. Itou, however, will have what he believes aired out here for you all. For now, after he's bailed Kiichi out, Itou's words are telling. As long as Kiichi is making a fuss on his own, nothing's going to change. The Imperial court's still wary of Saga and another revolution, and besides. Even if Saga gets its name back, what then, Kiichi? It's a bit cynical, but not overly hostile. Not yet, anyway.
Some time later, the cherry blossoms are in bloom in Saga, and through a chance gust of wind that makes Yugiri drop a pinwheel, she and Kiichi meet. He pushes her out of the way of an incoming cart (shades of Sakura here, huh?) and falls into the mud, wherein Yugiri tries to clean his face with his own save Saga flyer. Realizing it's his, she wipes him down with her kimono sleeve instead. Kiichi later recounts this encounter to Itou, and Itou knows all about the legendary courtesan from Edo. Again he's discouraging and cynical; she's from another world, Kiichi, may as well forget her. Kiichi, undeterred, goes to her place to repay her kindness because he doesn't care about all that "different world" bullshit. He gets so... either worked up or flustered (man is beet red during this rant) that he straight up passes out in Yugiri's place, and she has to take him back to his own... where she meets Kiichi's grandfather. It's not really his birth grandfather, but an old man who took Kiichi in after his father died in a battle 8 years ago and Kiichi had nowhere else to go. All he wanted in return for taking care of Kiichi was for Kiichi to save Saga. Oh yeah. We've seen this old man before. He's the old bartender guy from the modern day. He's alive(?) and well here in Meiji-era Japan, ranting about how Saga is him and he is Saga and how if he had his full power he could raise the dead. Also he's got the little zombie dog Romero with him. Hmm. Interesting. We will come back to this.
With this, Yugiri becomes Kiichi's friend, believing in his ideal of making Saga a place where everyone is free to choose their own path. Enough to start helping to rewrite the language of his flyers so they flow better. Itou soon gains an interest in the legendary courtesan who his friend has befriended, and the three meet for dinner and end up chatting. Yet again, Itou is on his strangely cynical discouraging of Kiichi's idealist goals. If Kiichi really wants to help people and make a difference in the world, he could study to be a doctor or scholar or something. He could work to something with a tangible goal that would help people in the short-term, rather than this absolutely wild dream about putting Saga back on the map. You even met a really lovely lady; perhaps it's a sign to rethink things. Maybe even start a family?~ Well, at that (plus probably one too many cups of sake) Kiichi goes beet red again and passes the fuck out. It's just Yugiri and Itou now, and Itou shares a little more of himself and what he believes to her now that the idiot's passed out. He met Kiichi two years ago, a little dumbass passing out flyers he thought he'd go mock... but he kept at it and they became friends. Again, Itou shares his cynical belief with Yugiri this time; the country's changed, and it's going to keep changing, so what's the use of clinging to an old name? It's almost the same vibe of "keep moving forward" that Ai and Shiori share, but it's interesting what follows with Yugiri's response and Itou's rebuttal to it:
Hmm. Interesting. We're beginning to see the true ideals of Itou come forth. We'll interrogate them deeper when he continues to share them in a more thorough fashion, but episode 8 ends with two key events: people are interested in Kiichi's "save Saga" flyers, and Itou walks by a beggar and subtly tosses some paper into his cup which the beggar reads. Very interesting. Episode 9, then, is when the shit really hits the fan. Kiichi is meeting with folks who are interested in his ideas, but it becomes quite clear that what they're talking about isn't the rose-tinted dream of a new Saga. They're talking about getting rid of the crooks who have taken control of the country. Yugiri pulls Kiichi out of the meeting to give him herbal medicine for his old man, and he seems to think things are going okay. They're going to put together a formal petition to the prefectural magistrate about bringing Saga back officially! That's great! What's not so great is that the guys he's got are super riled up and fighting with each other now. Or that Itou, walking by and seeing the petition on a wall, rips it down before the opening credits. Mmm. Not good.
Things are a little sweeter as Yugiri, Kiichi, and Itou get their picture taken. As they finish that up and Kiichi heads off with his new Saga-saving pals, Itou notes that they're the old ruling class of Saga, the survivors of the rebellion from 8 years ago, and tells Yugiri to watch out for herself also before heading off. As it turns out, they should watch out for themselves. The old ruling class is meeting without Kiichi, and planning to arm themselves with guns in secret. Things are going from bad to worse, and as Yugiri talks to the old man about things, he said that what will be will be. Kiichi's accepted that lot as his comrades to save Saga, and so be it. As he puts it, the world of man will always be shaped by the actions of men. An interesting notion that we need to put yet another pin in for later. It's what Yugiri says in response that's quite intriguing. She asks if Saga's fate truly is set in stone and can't be changed, despite Kiichi's best efforts. The old guy replies that the heavens favor him, and that the star of Saga's salvation shines over him. That's very moving and spiritual, but could there be more to it than just a strong spiritual belief? Like everything else with this old guy, we have to put a pin in it for later. I know we must look like a pincushion right now, but trust me. We can't tackle this shit until we have the full picture, terrifying as it will be. Let's talk about something less terrifying. Oh, an ideological clash. Good, that's my wheelhouse.
Back with the old ruling class, Kiichi doesn't take the idea of armed rebellion well. The old guys are too bitter and jaded to be placated by a petition to bring back the name of Saga. It's not about that to them. What they want and need is action, bloodshed, in a word, revenge for the pain and shame they felt 8 years ago in their defeat during the last uprising. Kiichi says they're not trying to start a war, but war is exactly what he's incited. He didn't light a beacon of utopic passion in the hearts of these guys. All he did was re-ignite the sparks of their old way of thinking. He didn't make them want to bring about a new Saga. He made them want to take back their old Saga, by violent force. A tragic misunderstanding, born out of their blinkered inability to change and a little dose of youthful naivete not understanding what was happening until it spiraled out of control. Looking out sadly over a bridge on a river, Kiichi glances at his own petition until Itou approaches. In his usual cynical way, he tries to get Kiichi to get out of this mess. He's done what he could, but there's nothing but destruction and death ahead for both sides. The old ruling class are arming themselves and the army won't ignore that. All that happened 8 years ago is going to happen again. The confrontation that follows, the clash of ideology between Itou and Kiichi... it's straight out of some magical girl way of thinking.
Naïve idealism vs. grim practicality. How we've been here before. Kiichi believes, and Itou doesn't. Simple as that. Later, passing the beggar from the end of episode 8, Itou hears a whispered something and goes to see Yugiri, trying to express the urgency and gravity of the situation upon her. He had noble intentions, but Kiichi helped incite a rebellion and he'll be branded as a fugitive if this continues. He urges that Yugiri take Kiichi out of Saga for a while, to live well together. Yugiri's simple response is to ask if Itou really thinks Kiichi's ambitions are that shallow. He's a bit of a klutz, an awkward and bashful and helpless little goofball, but he has determination and drive and belief. Itou simply asks her to look after Kiichi for him before departing, and Yugiri makes her own plan, writing and sending out letters to people. As night falls, it begins to snow in Saga. The revolution is beginning, but the old ruling class are stopped in the streets by a single mysterious man with a sword. As Kiichi's old man starts to groan in pain, struggling to reach his herbal medicine, Kiichi arrives to see the old ruling class have all been slaughtered in the street by this lone samurai. Who squashed the flame of rebellion, of revenge, of material social progress single-handedly? It was Itou, of course, and as Kiichi questions what in the holy fuck Itou thinks he's doing, we get Itou's cutting response.
With this stroke, this swing of his katana, Itou reveals the true nature of his ideology. I am sure his attempts to dissuade Kiichi and Yugiri were to prevent him from being forced to choose between friend and duty. Better to push them off the path than cut them down, for the choice would always be duty. With all his talk about Japan being twisted and barbaric, he now includes himself among that number, not knowing any other alternative than this, being a sword for the so-called twisted Meiji government to cut down any dissent. Itou stands against material social progress because he cannot imagine material social progress. He has tarred himself and the rest of Japan with the same brush, the same sharing of cynical practical views. He can't imagine it, so Kiichi must be a naïve idiot to be dissuaded, debated, and then cut in two if he still opposes his viewpoint. Itou's little more than a hired blade for the Status Quo, refusing to accept change because That's Just The Way Things Are. So, then, he stands ready to cut down his former friend until Yugiri intervenes.
Yugiri and Kiichi get away long enough for Yugiri to slap some sense into the distraught Kiichi, telling him that too many people who were inspired by his words have died for him to give up on his dream. Naive and childish as it might be, it proved Itou wrong. It got things moving again in Saga, and it will all be for nothing if he doesn't see it out to the end. Yugiri hands him a letter with directions to Nagasaki, explaining she sent letters to ask old friends for help. Under their protection, Kiichi will be safe. What he does after that is up to him... but she hopes she can see the new Saga he creates. As he runs off, swearing to uphold his ideals and create a new Saga, Yugiri simply lights a pipe and waits for Itou. It's time for an honorable duel between blades and ideals, between katanas and the future of Saga. The man who freed Yugiri was no less than a master swordsman, so Itou can't slouch. Given that Yugiri is, you know, a zombie in the modern day with a noticable large stitch circling her neck, you would expect this to be where she falls. You'd expect Itou to behead her in one stroke and for her to die protecting Kiichi. Nope. It's Itou who loses the clash, falling to a heap. As the light of life leaves him, well... here's what happens.
That last frame is the moment that I knew, for certain, I had to write about this goddamned show. Itou dies with the utopic ideal on his lips, and Yugiri looks up to see the moon. The sheer personal symbolism matching my own wild media journey and internal landscape is too poignant to share in a paragraph, and this is already going to be like 4000 words long so let's wrap up. The old man finds a letter by Yugiri explaining everything, and how someone has to take the fall for the rebellion and it will be here. With heartfelt goodbyes in her letter, she asks for the old man to guide the new Saga which Kiichi creates, as we see Yugiri sentenced to death and beheaded by the Meiji government. Damn. Big oof. Dunno how I feel about her taking the fall in order to line up with her dying by beheading, but it is what it is. As the world fades to black, the show tells us than in 1883, Saga gained independence from Nagasaki thanks to appeals from supporters in the prefecture. It got back on the map. It sort of had to, given that we know it exists today, but that's besides the point. Back in the present, then. Well, it's 2019 but even so. Our girls at Franchouchou are performing, and it's quite the interesting song because I'd heard it before. I want to say the single itself came out in the fall of 2019, not long after I finished watching the show's first season. Now the show itself has led up to it. Welcome to Yugiri's song. Sagajihen.
I like to imagine that all the flashbacks to folks in Meiji Japan dancing along to her song are some sort of bridge to the afterlife. Maybe Kiichi and Itou, in the next life, hashed it out and are enjoying the utopic tunes that will save the current Saga. It's a nice sentiment, to be sure. At the episode's close, Yugiri shows up at the bar where the old man is currently bartending, and they reminisce about Kiichi and how his fussing around amounting to something after all. It's her turn now to go on and live freely, in the new Saga he created, choosing her own path. Lucky for her, she has a group with the same goal, and as the episode closes we see that the old man still has that photo of Yugiri, Kiichi, and Itou. Lovely. Well, I've spent a hell of a long time talking about Meiji-era Japan. We had an Ookoba-like directly challenge the utopic ideal with grim practicality and cynicism, ultimately finding some degree of redemption at the end of it all. What will his spiritual successor do with the incontrovertible proof that Franchouchou are zombies he has in the present?
There's a big storm coming to Saga. Batten down the hatches. Time to bear the brunt of this as we finish... Night Of The Loving Dead.
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