Romero

"A zombie dog?!"

- Ai, after seeing Romero through the door,

Romero (ロメロ, Romero) is the undead pet poodle of Kotaro Tatsumi and the mascot for Franchouchou. He is also the first zombie to be successfully resurrected, the first to gain consciousness, and the only known zombified animal.

He is later revealed to once belong to the Momozaki Family in “Episode 20” before being given to Kotaro at some point, thus also becoming the animal companion of the group of girls.

Regular Form
Romero is a zombie dog with stitches and bandages over its body, it has different fur in two shades of blue, as well as what appears to be a bruise on the side of his right arm. He has a doll-like right eye and has long blood-stained fangs sticking out of its mouth.

Monstrous Form
In his monstrous form, Romero grows larger and appears more detailed. His only eye is shown to stick out of the socket, and the Saga-shaped scar on the right side of his body is more visible. In his monstrous form he can scare away unwanted passersby effortlessly, and whenever he is with one of the girls it is to prevent people from discovering that they are zombies.

Personality
He is Jofuku's zombie poodle and has accompanied him since ancient times, showing attachment to him when he shows signs of weakness. He was handed over to Kotaro Tatsumi as part of the Zombie Land Saga Project to be a fundamental part of Franchouchou and watch the girls closely, as he is also a zombie.

Due to Romero's zombie appearance, he appears to look and act aggressively, but actually behaves like a normal dog. As he spends more time with Franchouchou, he becomes attached to them. He is very loyal to both Kotaro and the girls.

Like Tae, he generally tries to eat things that aren't even meant to be edible. In Episode 5 he swallows a baseball whole, and in Episode 10 it is implied that he ate a grasshopper that was unlucky enough to get close to him.

He has also proven to be friendly with Sakura; joining her on her morning jog and becoming fiercely protective of her after he is hit by a truck of hers in Episode 10.

Tae and Romero show some form of friendship, the first being a human zombie and the second a zombie dog. They spend an entire episode of Revenge running errands and interacting with the locals together.

Natural Abilities

 * Enhanced Senses—As a dog, Romero has better senses compared to humans.
 * Immortality—Similar to the girls, Romero is given the ability to not physically age and stay the same appearance as the age he died, as well as immunity to circumstances that could normally be fatal to humans and animals.
 * Detachable Limbs—Parts of Romero's body are detachable and can easily be reattached.
 * Phosphorescent Vision—Although Romero has not shown this feat yet, it is assumed that his eye can also glow in the dark.
 * Wide Intellect—Romero is shown to be smarter than the average dog.

Skillset

 * Fishing—As shown in “Episode 10”, Romero can swiftly hunt for aquatic life in his savage form.

Unique Abilities

 * Monstrous Form—A feat Romero and Tae Yamada shares, they can both morph into scarier versions of themselves that highlights their aggressiveness.

Etymology

 * The surname Romero is a Spanish and Italian surname meaning: A person on a religious journey or pilgrimage from Rome (possibly to Jerusalem); procession of elevated holy items.
 * Romero is likely a reference to George A. Romero, a film director who is well known for the cult classic zombie movie called Night of the Living Dead.



Trivia

 * Romeo's first drawings came out like this and ended up leaving the design as it is. He was pulled purely from instinct, though they weren't sure if that “instinct” was good or not. It goes along with the zombie-like Franchouchou, but it was conceived at a time when they weren't really sure what kind of image they would go with. Stories from everyday life are difficult anyway, so they followed the current form. They added the Sakura ribbon and all that to give it some distinction during the time when the other characters were zombies.
 * Romero died one month after his third birthday.
 * Additionally, he shares his date of death with Junko Konno.
 * Like the girls, it is also unknown how Romero got resurrected.
 * The only times wherein Romero does not make an appearance (excluding the previous episode recap, next episode preview and outro) is in the fourth, seventh and seventeenth episodes.
 * Technically speaking, Romero is the first to wake up among the eight zombies Kotaro Tatsumi has resurrected. With Tae only being the first in terms of the zombie humans he has resurrected, and Sakura Minamoto being the first zombified human to gain consciousness.
 * He is also the first zombified creature and only (conscious) zombified animal among the eight.
 * Both Romero and the floor of the basement of the Franchouchou Mansion share markings that resemble the Saga Prefecture on them. The basement floor of the mansion has a stain in the shape of the prefecture, whereas Romero's is his bruise.
 * In “Episode 20”, it is revealed that Romero was once the pet dog of the Momozaki Family during the late 1800s. And that, at the time, he was already living as a zombie.
 * Despite being also being a zombie, Romero does not seem to need to hide the fact that he is undead. Whenever he joins Kotaro and the girls in public, as he can be seen without his head during the shooting for The Drive-In Tori commercial in the fifth episode.
 * Romero also makes an appearance in the Zombie Land Saga manga Gaiden: The First Zombie, though only as a background character.