Saga Prefecture

"I know Saga from top to bottom, everything there is to know."

- Kotaro, bluffing to Ai,

The Saga Prefecture (佐賀県, Saga-ken) is located on the north side of Kyushu Island, Japan. The prefecture is the main setting for the events of the Zombie Land Saga anime series.

History
In ancient times, the area composed of Nagasaki Prefecture and Saga Prefecture was called Hizen Province. The current name dates from the Meiji Restoration. Rice farming culture has prospered here since ancient times, and vestiges can be seen at the ruins of Nabatake in Karatsu and the Yoshinogari site in Yoshinogari.

Feudal Period
From the Kamakura period to the Muromachi period, it is thought that over 100 feudal clans existed. Also exerting great influence during this time was a samurai clan operating along the Genkai Sea called the Matsuratō. Upon entering the Sengoku period, the Ryūzōji clan expanded their control to include all of the Hizen and Chikugo Provinces, and part of the Higo and Chikuzen Provinces. After the death of daimyō Takanobu Ryūzōji, Naoshige Nabeshima took control of the political situation, and by 1607 all of the Ryūzōji clan's domain was under the control of the Nabeshima clan.

In the Edo period, this area was called the Saga Domain, and it included three sub-domains: the Hasunoike, Ogi, and Kashima Domains. Also within the current borders of Saga Prefecture during this time were the Karatsu Domain and two territories of the Tsushima-Fuchū Domain. Saga Domain and its sub-domains continued to be ruled by the Nabeshima clan, its various illegitimate family lineages, and members of the former Ryūzōji clan. Politically, the area was relatively stable. However, the cost of defending Nagasaki was increasing and difficult from the start. The financial situation was worsened by the great Kyōhō famine and the Siebold Typhoon of 1828. Nevertheless, due to the large area of reclaimed land from the Ariake Sea arable land was able to increase significantly and by the 1840s the annual koku of Saga Domain increased to about 670,000, twice that of 200 years before.

Around the middle of the 19th century, Naomasa Nabeshima strove to set right the domain's financial affairs, reduce the number of government officials, and encourage local industries such as Arita porcelain, green tea, and coal. Also, thanks to the proximity of the international port of Nagasaki, new technologies were introduced from overseas, such as the reverberatory furnace and models of steam locomotives.

After the Boshin War, many people from Saga Domain assisted in the Meiji Restoration. In the Meiji era the modernization of coal mines in Kishima and Higashimatsuura districts, among others, progressed, bolstered by the construction of railroads.

Geography
Kyushu's prefecture, Saga, is located on the northwest corner of the island, bordered by the Genkai Sea and the Tsushima Strait to the north and the Ariake Sea to the south. Saga's proximity to mainland Asia has made it an important gateway for the transmission of culture and trade throughout Japanese history. Largely rural outside of the two largest cities of Saga and Karatsu, agricultural and forested lands comprise over 68% of the total prefectural land area. There are six prefectural parks and one quasi-national park in Saga.

255 BC
TBA

1870-1883
During the Bakumatsu, the Saga prefecture was Westernized faster than other places in Japan, so it was a key place during the reform. But after the samurai revolts in 1874 and the defeats of the wars, its glory remained in the past. By 1876 Saga Prefecture had been divided between Mizuma and Nagasaki, which completely erased it from the map.

After the war, Kiichi Momozaki was orphaned and taken in by Jofuku to restore Saga Prefecture in later years. After 10 years of attempts, Yugiri arrives in Saga and meets Kiichi in the city park. With Yugiri's help, he speaks out to take back Saga Prefecture which attracts Saga's former ruling class, who want to take back the prefecture in a non-peaceful way. This triggers a revolt in the prefecture, which leads to its rising from the ashes In 1883.

1989-1999
Saga succumbs to the plague of curses called Sagako, which are a manifestation of Saga's curse that wants to prevent Saga from prospering and being successful. However, a group of brave warriors are willing to fight against this scourge, giving their lives in exchange for Saga's sake. The Saga Sagako Busters are the group in charge of dealing with the manifestations of the curse, and with the help of Jofuku, They are responsible for preventing the curse from taking people's lives and making Saga prosperous.

2018-2020
During this time, Saga suffers from constant depopulation and threatens to become depopulated. Kotaro Tatsumi gathers a group of zombie girls to bring back attention to Saga being a group of successful idols, causing Saga to have something that people cannot forget.

After the severe flooding in the prefecture in 2020, Franchouchou, with the help of Kotaro's promotion and Ookoba, make everyone turn their eyes to Saga and the disaster that befell. This not only helps revive the prefecture, but also helps those dignified by the floods.

2020-present
Unknown.

The Curse of SAGA
The curse takes different forms over time. For example, during the Meiji era, the curse manifested itself by tricking people into leading to war and destruction. At the end of the eighties, when there was a period of relative normality, the curse was embodied by Sagako, curses with physical forms that terrified the inhabitants of Saga. Currently, the curse appears as natural disasters and/or strange accidents that point to Franchouchou's ascension.

Franchouchou itself was created by Kotaro Tatsumi as part of his Zombie Land Saga project, designed and ultimately to defeat the curse and thus save Saga. Because the curse promises to kill any individual who can bring glory to Saga, the project is Kotaro's attempt to circumvent its power by producing an idol group made up entirely of undead zombies.

Now, that the curse realizes it can't kill the dead, it targets the only living member. The curse already tried to kill Kotaro by attacking him near the sea and through the huge object that fell into the EFS, but in both circumstances, Kotaro survived. Now death will target the Saga itself, creating the Sagapocalypse. In episode 13, Kotaro said, “Is this hell?” which can be interpreted as “Is this the curse that is trying to stop us?”

In the last two episodes, Kotaro will desperately attempt to keep the saga together so that the girls can finally save Saga at the EFS concert.

Trivia

 * The anime's title, Zombie Land Saga, refers both to the saga (story) of the idol pop group made up of zombies and to the prefecture itself.
 * As such, each episode has the word “Saga” included somewhere in the title.
 * In real life, Jofuku did come to Saga and found the elixir of immortality in one of the mountains of the prefecture, which caused the wrath of a Chinese demigod.
 * During Franchouchou's concert “Zombie Land Saga LIVE-Franchouchou Saga, join us!” donations were opened to help with repairs after the floods in August 2020 raising 1.8 million yen (US $16,000)
 * The Saga Prefecture emblem is pretty similar to the emblem of the fictional SCP foundation. Some users theorize that the Saga Prefecture government is some kind of organization that is aware of supernatural activity in the prefecture. However, in real life, this is nothing more than a coincidence.
 * It is revealed in the spin-off manga that if a Sagako were to be taken outside of the prefecture's borders, it will explode, resulting to its demise.
 * Similarly, this is also hinted to be the case for Zombies in Kotaro Tatsumi's dialogue in “The Acoustic SAGA of Love and Youth” about rejecting work for Ai Mizuno that involves going outside of Saga.