Episode 19

"After hearing Sakura’s story, I have made up my mind. I thought I was the same as you all, but I was wrong. It’s not about the difference of our skin color. I’m sure you all struggled to survive your short lives in your respective times. However, your radiance will continue to glow even in the afterlife. It’s the kind of strength that says “This time, I’m going to make it through life!”. To shine brightly like you all, I have to live my best life in Saga, first. That’s why I’m going to graduate from Franchouchou and do my best to live in my era!"

- Maimai Yuzuriha, to Franchouchou and co. about her sudden resignation.

Maimai Revolution SAGA (マイマイレボリューション SAGA, Maimai Reboryūshon SAGA) is the seventh episode of the second season of Zombie Land Saga and is the nineteenth episode overall.

Synopsis (Kotaro’s Diary)
"Kotaro is not bad. Absolutely not bad. In this Saga, something unexpected suddenly happens. They blamed me as if I had taken the demon’s neck. But I’m not a zombie, so I can’t detach my neck. And Franchouchou never ends. It rains and solidifies, and once it solidifies, dig it up. A pinch is a chance. A zombie chance."

- Kotaro Tatsumi,

Plot
The episode begins with the cheerful introduction of Maimai Yuzuriha. Despite accidentally tripping over and causing her eyeglasses to crack, she made her way to a public bathhouse and mistakenly enters the men's bath, where Kotaro Tatsumi is taking a bath there (because his bathtub in the mansion was broken). As she gets inside, Tatsumi accidentally causes Yuzuriha to slip as he loses his grip on a bar of soap. While this occurs, the intro, similar in style to Episode 1 plays; albeit it was played in the faster pace, prematurely ending with Maimai landing by her head on the floor, unconscious and leaving Tatsumi in grave shock.

At the mansion, Tatsumi; in his emotionally unstable state, introduces the “corpse” of Yuzuriha as Franchouchou's No. 7. When the girls asked him questions on how did she die, Tatsumi angrily insisted he didn't kill her. Just then, the “corpse” suddenly wakes up and begins running around, scaring Kotaro, Sakura, Ai and Junko, causing Tae Yamada to gnaw at the corpse and removing the head bandage; thus the girls were able to see that the living person is in the house, while Yuzuriha was capable of seeing Franchouchou's true identity as zombies.

Later, Maimai said that she recognizes Franchouchou claiming she is their group's No. 1 biggest fan, revealing that she was attending in previous live shows that Franchouchou hosted, and also said she was intrigued, and was less shocked to see Franchouchou as zombies. Yugiri initially suggests that they should kill Maimai; fearing that she might expose their secret to the world, but immediately decides it is “not possible” for them to do so. Tatsumi, kneeling, convinces Yuzuriha to keep the zombie identity a secret, to which she agrees and said she wanted to be a member of Franchouchou, much to their surprise. After some time, Kotaro Tatsumi accepts her request. She leaves the mansion to return home because of the curfew.

Next morning comes, Maimai skips her school to see Franchouchou. Despite having remembered most of the songs from Franchouchou, her body cannot handle such dance moves performed by the group, but she is willing to continue practicing to become Franchouchou No. 7 as soon as possible. While on their way home with Sakura and pet dog Romero, Yuzuriha tells Sakura how Saga had changed since Franchouchou had become a hit, describing that she wanted to live in Saga with that spirit, referring to Sakura who is also experiencing the similar thing; when she watched Iron Frill. She even mentions the Ekimae Stadium. Yuzuriha tells Sakura that no matter if she is a zombie, she still sees Sakura as a living person, and encourages that they should do a live event without their make-up on.

At Maimai's school, with the Saga's South Carnival's Executive committee running out of ideas for the next event, Yuzuriha pitches on the idea that Franchouchou perform live at her school, to which Tatsumi later agrees, officially debuting her as Franchouchou's No. 7. Yuzuriha then continues on practicing her dance moves. The day before the upcoming school live performance, Franchouchou explores around her school, while Tatsumi tries to seduce the school's principal, shocking the two female students nearby. While separated from the group, Sakura explains to Yuzuriha about her past high school life, how her life ended abruptly before she could even attend for the auditions, and the most recent crisis of their group like the Ekimae Stadium and the ¥20,000,000 debt, causing the latter to leave, becoming speechless upon hearing her story.

The day of the live performance, Maimai appears in the center stage and dances along with Franchouchou, playing Butchakete for You/To Be Honest With You. After the song ended, Yuzuriha; inspired by Sakura's backstory, announces that she will graduate from Franchouchou, and sang Into the Light as her last song from Franchouchou No. 7. As the performance event came to a close, Maimai gives Saki her colorful Tamagotchi as her rare treasure. Kotaro apologizes to Maimai for knocking her out and for dragging her to the mansion, but she said it was her own carelessness that led to this, and eventually, her new, irreplaceable experiences for her. She told Tatsumi that she will continue keeping the group's real identity a secret. The girls wave goodbye as they head back home, and the scene ends with Maimai Yuzuriha placing the microphone on the stage and leaves.

In the post-credits scene, Arata Ookoba; having looked and identified some members of Franchouchou and their causes of death, reached a conclusion that these girls are, in fact, dead.

Characters

 * Kotaro Tatsumi
 * Romero
 * Franchouchou
 * Sakura Minamoto
 * Saki Nikaido
 * Ai Mizuno
 * Junko Konno
 * Yugiri
 * Lily Hoshikawa
 * Tae Yamada
 * Maimai Yuzuriha (official debut)
 * Arata Ookoba
 * Takeo Go (flashback)
 * Iron Frill (flashback)
 * Skull and Bull

Locations

 * Saga Prefecture
 * Franchouchou Mansion
 * Minami High School‏
 * Class 2-3
 * Principal’s office
 * Music room
 * Cafeteria
 * Public Bathhouse
 * Ekimae Stadium (flashback)
 * Arpino (flashback)
 * Saga Arena (flashback)
 * Geils Live House (flashback)
 * Fukuoka City (mentioned)

Songs

 * “Mezame RETURNER”
 * “Mezame RETURNER” (Maimai’s cover)
 * “To Be Honest With You”
 * “Into the Light”
 * “Into the Light” (Maimai’s cover)

Instrumentals

 * “Into the Light” (Extended)

Trivia

 * This episode takes place in mid-August of 2019.
 * Maimai is the first outsider to figure out Franchouchou’s hidden identity as zombies.
 * Additionally, she is also the first and only temporary member of the group. With her being the temporary “Zombie” #7.
 * As shown during Sakura and Maimai’s one-one-one conversation, Maimai appears to be a second year high school student belonging to Class 3.
 * This is the first time the song “Into the Light” is sung outside the ending theme.
 * This is also the first time an instrumental of the song is used as the ending theme for the second season, instead of “Spending the Days with a Dream and Nowhere to Call Home.”
 * It is revealed in the end-credits scene that Arata Ookoba has finally figured out the identities of the girls as well as their causes of deaths, all except for Yugiri.
 * Kotaro’s diary entry for the episode is written sometime after he kidnaps Mai’s unconscious body into the Abandoned Mansion.

Dub Differences

 * TBA

Cultural References

 * The virtual pet game Maimai has chained to her school bag is a reference to the popular Tamagotchi franchise.
 * The episode title, “Maimai Revolution SAGA”, is a reference to the popular dance-along video game franchise, Dance Dance Revolution. With the transliteration of Maimai’s name being “dance dance.”

Continuity

 * Another variation of “Mezame Returner” is performed within the episode.
 * The introduction to Maimai’s character is a direct parallel of Sakura’s death from “Episode 1.” The instrumental rock song from that intro also plays as well.
 * Saki’s love for Tamagotchi is shown again when she sees Maimai’s.
 * Additionally, this is the first time she sees one that did not just have the standard black and white colors on the screen ever since she died.
 * Maimai recalls reading up about the girls’ performance at Saga Rock in “Episode 7”, attending the girls’ performance at Arpino Stadium in “Episode 12”, and the girls’ performance at Saga Arena in “Episode 16.”
 * Additionally, Maimai is also shown to have attended all of Franchouchou’s performances so far ever since the beginning of the second season. As shown in Sakura’s brief flashbacks, Maimai has attended their concert at Ekimae Stadium, their performance of “Do You Hate Windy Days?” at Geils, as well as their performance at Saga Arena during “Episode 16.”
 * The results of the girls’ failed performance at Ekimae Stadium is bought up again.
 * This is the third time Kotaro is seen using his charisma to get what he wants in a situation. This time, he attempts to seduce the principal of Maimai’s school.
 * This is the third time that the usual ending theme, “Spending the Days with a Dream and Nowhere to Call Home”, was not used during the end credits of the episode. Instead, the extended instrumental version of “Into the Light” is used.

Errors

 * When asked about Sakura’s high school life, she responds to Maimai saying she “never gave her all in doing anything” until she eventually found out about Iron Frill, which contradicts how her flashback in “Episode 11” when she was already trying her best (albeit, ultimately failing due to her terrible luck) before she even started watching the aforementioned idol group.