The story begins with cars littered on thestreets while blood is splattered all over the road. A man is being chased by zombies as the worlddescends into madness and chaos. However, this is just a movie. But for Akira Tendo, this is heaven. For the last three years, he spent his lifeworking for what he thought would be heaven, but it was worse than hell. Akira skipped the nine circles of hell andwent straight to the hundredth circle. Also known as “a corporate job”.
It all started three years ago. Akira was just a 21-year-old graduate outof college when he landed his dream job. After the tough life of being a student forthe past few years, he’s finally become an adult. Now, he has to work, pay taxes, and enjoylife…. probably. Akira works for a Production Company, whichhandles ads and commercials for many popular celebrities and companies. On his first day, when his boss introducedhim to his co-workers, he had a very optimistic outlook and was passionate.
Akira was very eager to work for a good company. But what was even more exciting was the factthat there was a beautiful girl working in the same department as him, Saori Ohtori,one of the company accountants. When their eyes met, Akira was stunned andbumped into her. But he snapped back to reality like Eminemand picked up the papers that Saori dropped. He would’ve ended up on Twitter for staringtoo much. After a hard day of work, Akira and his co-workerswent to the local bar to celebrate. He got to know his co-workers, who seemedecstatic to have him in the office. But Akira can’t help but look at and admireSaori.
Akira wanted to make sure to put in extraeffort to impress her by working extra hard. Akira was about to go home after their drinkingsession, but all of their co-workers went back to the office to continue to work. Akira was culture-shocked. For the next three days, Akira stayed up allnight and barely took breaks or slept. In his first week, he spent five days straightworking in the office. But, he can finally go home now. Akira gets home and falls down on his bedwhen he realises something: he isn’t working just for any Japanese company, but for a companythat takes advantage of its workers.
It’s a beta male grinding machine and onlythe strongest sweatshop worker survives. Akira doesn’t feel like going to work anymore. But he knows he has to handwave those feelingsaway because he’s a man. After 3 years, Akira learns that his crush,Miss Saori, is the boss’s mistress. Despite her getting railed every day, Akiralasted for three years because apparently, Saori kept him sane. Akira walks to the train that night and realizeshe is standing just a few inches away from permanent holiday six feet below. He finally accepts his exhaustion and hopesnot to wake up ever again.
But when he wakes up and leaves his room,Akira sees a paper. His bike parking space is already due. He needs to pay it, so he visits the landlord. But when he enters the room, the next thinghe sees snaps him out of his funk. The landlord is eating someone’s corpse. Once he sees Akira, the landlord immediatelyattacks him, forcing Akira to dodge his attacks. Akira runs outside and sees more zombies. A small horde chases Akira all the way upstairs. After crashing into a door and falling onthe floor, he gets a few seconds to see what’s.
Happening: real zombies. Another zombie attacks him, and he immediatelygets up and starts running to the rooftop. He makes his way to the other side of thebuilding as an airplane is crashing to the ground. Upon the madness, the first thing that comesto his mind is that he’ll never need to work ever again. The riveting realization sends a rush of serotoninand dopamine from his brain throughout his body as he leaps five stories below, accidentallykilling six zombies and turning them into a colorful paint explosion.
The adrenaline rush of never working againsends his body into Mirror’s Edge mode, granting him insane physical prowess and theagility of Superman as he makes his way out of the building. After a few minutes of building-hopping, Akirastarts thinking of what to do now that he’s free from Corporate hell. He can’t help but feel happy at the possibilities,but first he decides to visit Saori’s apartment, and bikes across the zombie-riddled streetsof Tokyo to visit his first love. Akira has been holding his feelings for threeyears and he wants to confess. He arrives at her apartment and upon openingthe door, he is greeted by his boss, who turns.
Into a tubby zombie. But Akira has finally tasted freedom and formallyresigns as a sweatshop worker. He throws his boss down the building as hisletter of resignation. However, Akira turns and sees that the loveof his life is already infected. With a few seconds to spare, Akira finallyconfesses his feelings. But he is chased away by his first love, andhas no choice but to leave her to her own devices. That night, Akira realizes that human lifeis so fragile and short. With the limited time he has left, he canonly do so much.
He decides to buy a notebook and a pen, towrite all the things he wants to do before he becomes a zombie. And so, his three-year-long vacation begins. The next day, Akira wakes up from a corporatenightmare. But he realizes he’s basically on paid leaveand begins to sort his life out. Three years' worth of garbage goes down hisapartment room like a firebombing run as he finally cleans his room for the first time. And to make sure that he’s enjoying hisfirst day, he immediately downs a can of cold beer.
Akira plans to make his first vacation daya beer-drinking day. But there’s a problem, there’s no morebeers left. So, he decides to go on a beer run to makeit worth his while. On the way down, he comes across a coupletrapped inside a room, who are surprised it’s not a climbing zombie who’s talking to them. The man offers him a place to stay, but Akirarefuses, stating that he needs to get his fill of beer. Instead, he asks them if they need suppliesthemselves. The couple tells him what they want, and hegoes down the street to get his supplies.
His carefree attitude attracts a lot of zombies,causing them to follow him to the store. Inside, he meets a young lady straight outof Crossfit Academy. Akira realizes he was sing a stupid song aboutbeer and tries to talk to her, but the young woman isn’t really interested and decidesto leave the store. As she’s leaving, Akira asks for her Instagram. But the gym girl rejects his offer, sayinghe would easily lower her chances of survival. Unbeknownst to her, Akira is protected byJapanese Labor Laws and is the protagonist, so he’s pretty much guaranteed to be safethroughout the entire series. The group of zombies that followed Akira crashesinto the convenience store and lunges forward.
But Akira throws himself in front to savethe girl, only for the girl to throw him to the ground and save him from an incoming isekaitruck. Akira almost got sent to another anime, butthanks to the girl’s quick thinking, he’s spared. The girl then bikes away to safety, leavingAkira flabbergasted at what happened. But he learned th at he needs to take risksmore seriously. He snaps back into reality and looks for anescape vehicle. The truck attracted too many zombies in thearea and he doesn’t want to get trapped without at least getting a gulp or two ofhis beloved beer.
He gets a scooter and then realizes that almostall the vehicles have keys in the ignition. So he gets a Harley Davidson Motorcycle asan upgrade. It took him quite some time, but he arriveslater that afternoon at his apartment. On the way up, he brings good news to thecouple. But they were eaten by zombies which dampershis mood. That night, Akira remembers how short humanlife is and starts writing down the things he wants to do before he becomes a zombie. He spends the next couple of minutes writinghis bucket list, eventually crossing out a couple of the things he did earlier that day.
He settled with 31 ideas for the time beingbefore closing his notebook and going to bed. Earlier that day, we see the morning routineof the young woman that Akira met at the convenience store. Unlike Akira, she’s methodical and analyzesrisks. To survive the apocalypse, she works out,takes vitamins, and watches a lot of zombie films to determine the zombie archetypes toboost her chances of survival. What’s more, unlike Akira, she only picksthe essential items, even opting not to take the mochi because eating more sugar is badfor her diet. When she met Akira, it didn’t make senseto her how he managed to survive the apocalypse.
In her mind, Akira is the type to die earlyduring a zombie outbreak. When he tries to save her from a group ofzombies, she saves Akira in return and uses the truck to kill the zombies, stating thateven generic B-movie zombie flicks are useful for gathering data. The next day, after spending some time tryingto look like Ryan Gosling, Akira finally receives a couple of messages on his phone. For some reason, the internet is back andhe’s getting messages. He immediately replies to all the messageshe received in the past and while scrolling through his contacts, he comes across a veryfamiliar name, his best friend Kencho.
Akira calls Kencho straight away. Kencho picks up and Akira is overly enthusiasticthat he picked up and his best friend is still very much alive. His friend is confused at how he could beso easygoing. Akira asks where his friend is and Kenchoreplies that he’s in Shinjuku. For the past three days, he’s been stuckinside the love hotel at the heart of Shinjuku and there’s no way out. What’s more, his partner, who is tied upthanks to their night time activites, has turned into a zombie.
He’s been consuming nothing but water andhe’s at his limit and about to pass out from hunger when he gets the call from Akira. Kencho tells Akira not to bother and leavehim for good, but after hearing from his friend that he’s in Shinjuku, Akira drives on hismotorcycle to pick him up. Both Akira and Kencho go way back as they’recollege friends and teammates from rugby for four years. After college, Kencho became a real estateagent, while Akira become a sweatshop worker. Back then, Kencho was always bragging abouthow rich people spend their money, or how he’s dating models, and pretty much anythingAkira could’ve dreamed of.
Akira was irritated by this. Upon hearing his issues, Kencho advised hisfriend multiple times to quit his job, but Akira didn’t listen. He found Kencho’s humble bragging to betoo much to handle. He lashed out at Kencho, saying how obnoxioushe was for always bragging about his better lifestyle. But in reality, he just couldn’t quit hiswork. So, when he heard from his friend that he’sstill alive, Akira drives to Shinjuku to save his friend.
Shinjuku, for the most part, is crawling withZombies. Suddenly, a horn goes off and Kencho wonderswhat it is. Akira had taped his beloved Rugby ball tothe car’s horn. After a few minutes, the trap worked and pulledaway most of the zombies in the nearby area. However, it didn’t last long as the carwas engulfed by the flames and exploded. Akira hurries inside the hotel to find Kencho,who leaves his room momentarily to investigate what’s happening. Once he sees Kencho, Akira taps his friend’sback, startling him. But the first thing Akira does is apologizeto his friend.
He can’t help but shed tears for realizinghow stupid he was three years ago. He knew Kencho was right about his company,but he got jealous of Kencho’s success and took his anger out on him. Akira cries his heart out, shouting “I’msorry” as he repeatedly apologizes to his friend. But that by accidentally alerts the hordeto their location. A group of zeds starts chasing them from thelove hotel’s hallway, up to the rooftop. They block the zombies behind a steel doorplace a couple of industrial fans in front of it.
Kencho can’t help but feel scared as heloses his cool and asks Akira what to do next. After being freed from modern-day slavery,Akira told Kencho that they’ll have to jump. Unlike before, Akira couldn’t take the leapof fate, like resigning from his company. But now, he’s free and wants to make surethat he completes his bucket list before he becomes a zombie. Kencho tells him it’s impossible to do andthey can’t make that long of a jump. But Akira runs and jumps meters across thetwo buildings, landing with only a few scratches. Kencho doesn’t think he can possibly makethe jump. He doesn’t want to get eaten by the zombies,but he also doesn’t have the courage to.
Jump across with a slim chance of making itacross safely. Kencho steps back and apologizes to Akira. He admits that he can’t make the jump andreveals the truth about his job. Despite his bragging about what he does andhis experience in his job, he didn’t enjoy it at all. Even though he met celebrities, big time politicians,and dates models, he had to fake his smile and lure people into signing bad contracts. The only way for him to get a little bit ofsatisfaction from working in a job he didn’t like was to brag about it to Akira, his onlyfriend.
He finally admits that he was just lying aboutthe job and how he was having fun because he’s not. With tears gushing down his face, Kencho apologizesto Akira for making him feel less Akira realizes that they’re both drainedand tired to the core from working for something they didn’t enjoy. So he urges Kencho to take the jump. Kencho always wanted to be a stand-up comedian,who’s also a nudist. Akira tells Kencho to quit his job and becomeJames Murray during the Strip High Five Episode of Impractical Jokers Season 2.
There’s nothing left for him to do, anyway,because real estate is done for during this apocalypse. Hearing the encouraging words from Akira,Kencho finally takes the leap and jumps across the building, tearing his clothes off in mid-airto become what he always wanted to be, a convicted felon accused of indecent public exposure. But Kencho doesn’t make it all the way andis holding onto the building for his dear life while Akira is laughing about him beingnude. Kencho is about to fall, but Akira grabs hisarm and saves him, both physically and mentally. As the two friends finally reunite, they spendthe entire night drinking and talking about.
Their experiences as corporate workers andwage slaves to both their desires and companies. And that brings us to the end of this episodeof Zom 100. If you want to find out what happens next,make sure to like this video, subscribe to Panorama Anime, and comment for the next episode.
