Episode 4

Warming Dead SAGA  is the fourth episode of Zombieland Saga.

Synopsis
As the group's budget runs out, Kotaro has the girls perform at a hot spring resort for a pharmaceutical company, hoping for a partnership.

Without funds
Kōtaro gathers all the girls for another meeting, explaining that their goal and the group's funding is falling, he said that they no longer have funds left. Given this Kotaro announces that he has managed to schedule a meeting with a pharmaceutical company called "Hisonaka" at the Hotel Kasuien, with which he plans to form a society to obtain funds for the group. For this the whole group to the city of Ureshino, a city famous for its hot springs, where Kotaro would have a meeting with the president of the company. Given this, the girls are excited at the possibility of staying at a resort and being able to go to a public bathroom, but Kotaro prohibits them from using the hot springs, since this implies that they are without their human costumes.

Ureshino
Kōtarō takes the girls to their reserved hotel during the day. He noted that he has rented space for them and hopes that they will start practicing. He "runs away" without going into details. With the girls alone, Saki suggests that everyone take advantage of meeting Ureshino, Sakura insists that they follow Kōtarō's instructions. Yūgiri suggests to everyone that they should take time to relax and expresses interest in exploring the modern city. With everyone in a unanimous decision, the girls decide to go explore the city.

Meanwhile, Kōtarō meets with the executive of Hisonaka Pharmaceutical, where the two enter into a friendly negotiation to help finance a group of idols that Kotaro leads, while they talk, the girls pass outside the premises where they were both talking, Kotaro becomes nervous but comes back get serious and pretend nothing happens.

The girls visit a nearby foot bath where they take time to soak their feet. They express their current situation where they are still alive, even when they are dead, but then wonder how Kōtarō brought them back to life. Saki dismisses it saying that they should enjoy their second life. Sakura then asked Ai if they could all survive as zombie idols. Ai remains silent, but Sakura decided that she is completely willing to see the ideal come true. The rest of the girls agree with her and hope for the best in her career.

Upon returning to their inn, the girls decide to learn more about their sponsored product called "Saganship Z" before their presentation. They find it to be a patch of medicine for back and shoulder pain. When they try it on, they immediately feel that all their fatigue is alleviated, it is where the girls decide to promote the product during the show. With the show arriving, the girls began to patch the people in the audience to show their effectiveness.

Thermal waters
After the show, Kōtarō goes to relax in a hot spring and the girls go to sleep. Saki decides to sneak into the bathhouses and confidently invites Sakura, who is concerned that they may be caught. Junko  overhears their conversation and wishes to join them, Sakura headquarters and the three of them sneak to the hot springs. After soaking, the girls are relieved to refresh their skins in the hot water in the bathroom.

As they reflect on their performance on the show, the pharmaceutical executive enters the bathroom, so the three girls cover themselves. Saki suggests that they hide underwater, the three of them go below the waterline, but Sakura accidentally hits her head and ends up being seen by the executive who immediately panics, surprisingly Saki and Junko leave trying to save Sakura, scaring even more the executive who runs away from the place, before the screams the rest of the group wakes up and go out to see what happened, they bump into the executive in the corridors of the resort, panic reaches the point that Saki slips and collides with the executive.

The next morning, Kōtarō approaches the executive to thank her for her affairs, only to see her in a fetal position and in shock, then they tell her that she was scared to the point of having forgotten everything that had happened the day before. Once everyone returns to the mansion, the girls saw a newspaper that read vague reports about the night the executive suffered at the resort, apparently being a kind of "joke", at which point Kotaro arrives to scold them.

The entire group gathered and discussed the situation, which Sakura apologized for her carelessness and vows to be more careful, while the rest said that there was no way that would affect the group.

Yūgiri considers the positive side of her entire experience that she is glad to have gotten along with everyone during the trip, and hopes that the girls will strengthen their ties for the future. Lily agrees and hopes they get along with each other. The rest of the girls proudly agree to know more about each other.

Appearances

 * Sakura Minamoto
 * Kōtarō Tatsumi
 * Saki Nikaidō
 * Ai Mizuno
 * Junko Konno
 * Yūgiri
 * Lily Hoshikawa
 * Tae Yamada
 * Romero

Kotaro Diary Synopsis
''They ended up naming their group "Franchouchou" without my permission. ''

''The role of the group leader is now on Saki's shoulders. ''

''It seemed like a good idea that I deliberately made myself known as the producer. ''

''Speaking of which, it's not a bad idea that they ended up operating more independently. ''

''Now these talkative zombie idols who are a little motivated to make money can start earning a living. ''

''We will go to the hot springs to reach a commercial agreement. ''

Hopefully, the secret that these girls are just makeup zombies won't be unraveled, or it will all end.

Trivia

 * Kotaro is teasing the zombies once again at the beginning of the episode ... and Saki punches him hard enough that his glasses fall off. It says a lot about how much of her shit she won't take.


 * Most of the girls scare the sponsor just by accident: It started when Sakura unintentionally poked her head in after hitting a rock, while Saki and Junko jumped out of the water to call her and return directly to her room. Ai and Yugiri wake up from the commotion, the first only screaming after the sponsor yelled at her, and Yugiri calmly asks if the old woman needs help (but her face gave her away). But Lily? oh boy, with the amount of Nightmare Fuel Horror tropes associated with her scene, especially when she pounced face to face with the sponsor and contorted her zombie body in unusual ways, all without even speaking, it can easily be assumed that Lily freaked her out. by the way. How would a zombie perfectly take advantage of teleporting when the light flickers? Only ghosts do that!
 * While Lily made a slight movement and didn't say a word to the sponsor, it was Tae, not Lily, who fell from the ceiling, fell backwards, and pounced on her. She couldn't say why she did this, but she would attribute it to the same reason why she attacked Sakura in the first episode. Maybe zombies are unconsciously drawn to fear?

Funny information

 * The episode begins with another conference. However, Tae is sleeping the whole thing with a big snot bubble.
 * Kotaro exposes his plan to bring in some money by having the girls perform for a company at a hot spring hotel. The girls are encouraged by the idea, but Kotaro yells at them telling them that they are not going to go to the sources, then he launches himself into one of his acts and starts making fun of the girls ... at that moment, Saki just gets angry and she hits him
 * Continuing with the episode, when Yugiri suggests that a trip to the hot springs could be an opportunity to remove some of Franchouchou's decomposition, Sakura, Saki, Ai, and Junko are horrified and start sniffing just in case he wants to tell them.
 * The girls have arrived at the hot spring hotel, and Kotaro makes it clear: stay in the room and practice. When asked what he will do, he offers this expressionless answer:
 * Kotaro: Sightseeing. (Heartbeat) GONNA SEE ME THEM SIGHTS!! * Leaves like a cartoon *
 * Saki of course doesn't have any of that, she convinces the girls to spend at least a little time having fun, of course she has situations as peaceful as all the girls pressed against a window to see a cake, Sakura and Junko scatter desperately water on a fish sculpture that she says improves her skin and health, and Tae rings a Shinto bell like a bungee cord.
 * Of course, they inevitably pass in front of a window where Kotaro is talking to his sponsor. Kotaro's incredulous reaction is priceless ... just as he prevents that sponsor from looking out the window: grabbing her face.
 * Once they return to the hotel, the girls enjoy a small foot bath ... and Tae's hair covers her face, like an onryo. It is a small detail, but it is funny. The following conversation also contains this little gem:
 * Yugiri: What can we do to please our guests tonight?
 * Sakura: Yugiri! Do not talk like that!
 * The girls read the details of what their sponsor sells: pain relief patches. Sakura mistrusts things a bit ... but then Saki just slaps her and instantly gets excited. The other girls apply it to themselves and the others, commenting on how being zombies makes them absorb the substance easily, and wonder how to apply it to their performance. It's a bit of mindless crazy fun.
 * Disclaimer, more fun because of the fact that it is apparently real.
 * After the performance, Saki tries to convince Sakura to escape to the hot springs, but Sakura has none of that. Then Junko appears, and reveals that she overheard their conversation and wants to come. Hearing this, Saki gives the biggest smile possible and tells exasperated Sakura that they are leaving.
 * While enjoying the hot springs, the president of the company that supports the band gets to take a bath in the spring, leading Sakura, Saki and Junko to hide. Unfortunately, Sakura loses her head until the sponsor finds her and starts screaming. And then she starts running until she meets the other girls. The poor woman acts like she's in a horror movie.
 * Bonus points to Tae for her exaggerated entrance from the ceiling, landing face down on her hands and feet like the girl from The Exorcist.

Comforting

 * The conversation after the girls' trip, where they admit that they would never have met if it wasn't for Kotaro's crazy plan. Also where everyone puts their talents and skills and agree to work together to become the best idol group they can be.
 * In the hot springs, Saki jumps to Junko's alleged defense. Admittedly, it was just a cloth in the water, but she tried quickly.
 * All three reflect on how well the day went. It is just a moment of understanding that, yes, they can do what they set out to do. Too bad the sponsor fell apart and accidentally ruined the moment.

Source of nightmares

 * Sakura, Saki, and Junko sneak away on their journey to reach the hot springs, and it quickly becomes this for their sponsor. First Sakura loses her head trying to sneak in, only to have her body float towards the sponsor. Then Saki and Junko jump, scaring her further and sending her running. The screams wake up the rest of the girls, who go out to investigate, and the sponsor meets each of them while trying to escape. It scares her so much that she completely forgets everything that happened the day before.
 * Amongst the zombie girls the sponsor meets, Lily's scene is easily the scariest and makes use of numerous horror tropes. Dark and flickering hallway with someone approaching as soon as the lights go out? Check. A view from the first-person perspective of the "victim"? Check. Someone's face instantly taking up the entire screen as soon as she reveals her eyes? Check. Bend her limbs like contortion movements and jerky movements? (However, that part was Tae.) And the background music during this scene? Sounds creepy.
 * Shortly after Lily's moment in that sequence, we see the sponsor bump into Yugiri, who is elegant and beautiful enough to trick the sponsor into believing that Yugiri is someone he could ask for help. Unfortunately, Yugiri does not have her makeup on and involuntarily tries to help the sponsor, and Yugiri performs a Revealing Turn facing the sponsor. We never knew if Yugiri was really trying to help her or if she was doing it on purpose.

Gallery
Image gallery

Warming Dead SAGA