Episode 13

"“They’ve been doing your reckless orders and have been overcoming every obstacle. Including the reckless stuff that even you found impossible. Which, isn’t wrong, in my opinion. And besides, it all started with your ego to begin with. Therefore, you have to end it with your ego, as well.”"

Good Morning Returns SAGA (グッドモーニングリターンズ Guddo Mōningu Ritānzu SAGA) is the first episode of the second season of the Zombie Land Saga series and is the thirteenth episode overall.

Synopsis (Kotaro’s Diary)
(Note: This is an unofficial English translation of the synopsis from the website.)

"The living corpses continued to wriggle in their destiny. Even when the seven wishes covered with despair as a false mask. When I saw their gazes pierces my flesh, I'm laughed fearlessly. People will hear the sound when the light from heaven shines on the revived corpse. A scream that echoes in the madness.

Our scream of revenge."

Plot
One month after Franchouchou's show at the Arpino, the group's success plummets when their performance at the Ekimae Fudosan Stadium disastrously bombs, leaving the group in massive debt. The girls spend the following months working at various jobs across Saga to cover expenses, while Kotaro abandons his efforts to save Saga and falls into a slump, despite the girls' repeated attempts to motivate him. Believing their success to depend on Kotaro, Franchouchou books another performance at the Saga Live House Geils, where they intend to unveil a new song that Kotaro had prepared for their previous show as an encore. However, Sakura fails to persuade him to attend, forcing them to continue the show without him. Kotaro is confronted by the bartender of Bar New Jofuku, who reminds him of his reasons to support the girls. Although Kotaro arrives at Geils in time to call for the encore, the song receives a tepid response from the audience, resulting in the show's complete failure. The next morning, a fully revitalized Kotaro greets the girls to help them revive their careers.

Characters

 * Kotaro Tatsumi
 * Romero
 * Franchouchou
 * Sakura Minamoto
 * Saki Nikaido
 * Ai Mizuno
 * Junko Konno
 * Yugiri
 * Lily Hoshikawa
 * Tae Yamada
 * Officer Suenaga
 * Dorami Biker Gang (non-speaking cameo)
 * Maria Amabuki
 * Mikigawa
 * Sayawa
 * Korosuke Biker Gang (non-speaking cameo)
 * Death Metal fans
 * Metalhead A
 * Metalhead B
 * Takeo Go (non-speaking cameo)
 * Bartender

Locations

 * Saga Prefecture
 * Abandoned Mansion
 * New Bar Jofuku
 * Geils Deathmetal Stadium
 * Kojima Dried Squid Factory (debut)
 * Arpino Stadium (mentioned)
 * Ekimae Real Estate Stadium (debut;flashback)

Songs

 * Kojima Squid Factory Anthem
 * REVENGE

Instrumentals

 * Mezame Returner

Trivia

 * The jobs that each member of Franchouchou takes are as follows: Ai works for the sole dried squid company in Kyushu, Sakura and Tae are in charge of maintaining the pasture of a nearby farm, Saki works as a construction worker, Junko works to paint display figurines, Lily works as a milkman, and Yugiri works as a bartender.
 * It is also revealed that Ai has a keychain of Romero hanging on her work locker at the dried squid factory.
 * Yugiri working as a bartender may be a nod to her connection with the Old Bartender.
 * Policeman A’s name is revealed to be Mr. Suenaga.
 * It is revealed that Kotaro has been barhopping and has not returned home for over a month ever since he spiraled into his depressive state.
 * It is revealed that the Deathmetal Fans can both fair well in a battle of fisticuffs and that Metalhead A has done so once before, albeit long ago.
 * It is revealed by Kotaro that the Zombie Land Saga project has a deadline. Though, not much else is revealed aside from the fact that they are running out of time.
 * The scene wherein a disheveled Kotaro raises his arms to the sky by a cliffside with roaring waves is reminiscent of the official poster for the second season, with the only difference being that his hair was not as long in the official poster as to avoid spoilers.
 * It can be assumed that Kotaro’s diary entry for the episode was written sometime between the girls’ encore performance at Geils and after he decided to pick himself up again.
 * The theory wherein Kotaro harbors good luck as opposed to the girls’ bad luck is slightly supported in this episode, as shown in the scene wherein all of the pedestrian lights simultaneously went green amidst traffic just before he started running back to the Geils Deathmetal Stadium.
 * The scenes of the first episode and episode 13 show the same time (7:31 AM), the first where the situation leads to the death of Sakura and the second where Ai marks the time of entry to her work. The start of two incredible seasons.

Dub Differences

 * TBA

Cultural References

 * During the scene wherein the girls are helping each other apply their human make-up, Junko can be seen vaguely resembling Roxxie, the Poison Type Gym Leader, from Pokémon Black and White 2.

Continuity

 * This episode has a lot of callbacks and parallels to “Episode 1” and “Episode 12”.
 * With Sakura’s first flashback shows the girls’ performance at Arpino Stadium in “Episode 12”.
 * The mirror Sakura unintentionally broke (which Saki then exacerbated) in “Episode 12” has not been fixed since then.
 * Franchouchou once again performs in the Geils Deathmetal Stadium in a similar fashion to that of “Episode 1”.
 * Additionally, they are seen performing at the same event called “R.I.P. Nightfes” which is held every year on the 27th of April. The same date that the rest of Franchouchou gains consciousness in the previous year.
 * It also went similarly as before, with Franchouchou performing somewhat badly at first but then recovering their impression in a last-minute attempt.
 * The songs the girls sing in the twelfth and this episode were regarding one to overcome their setbacks and to keep fighting for your goal. And with both performances receiving an “encore”.
 * This is the third episode to have “Good Morning” in the title and the third episode to have someone yell “Good Morning” as a means to end the episode. With the first time being Sakura yelling “Good Morning” to the rest of the girls in “Episode 1”, and again in “Episode 12” but to their audience.
 * Both the first well as this episode shared the same opening and ending sequence of an eagle circling above the Abandoned Mansion.
 * Sakura recalls Kotaro’s pep talk to her in “Episode 11” when she confronts him in the bar.
 * Albeit, in this episode, the roles of the two were swapped, with Kotaro being depressed with no sense of hope and Sakura attempting to reignite his passion and confidence. But in Sakura’s case, she does not do a double take and come back after Kotaro chases her off.
 * The Bartender once again recalls the name of the “Zombie Land Saga Project” and the girls’ group name, “Franchouchou”, as two entirely different things. Albeit, this time, he does so on purpose in an attempt to make Kotaro gain his spark back.
 * Kotaro’s flashback of the group’s performances include the following scenes: Sakura and Saki’s rap battle from “Episode 2”, their guerrilla performance in “Episode 3”, their performance at Saga Rock in “Episode 7”, and their performance at Arpino Stadium in “Episode 12”.
 * During the fight scene in Geils Stadium, the part wherein Kotaro yells “Eat my foot. Boom!” while kicking an audience member right before cueing for the music to start is a callback to how he said something similar while kicking the door of the Isolation Room down in “Episode 7”.

Errors

 * Even though it has been stated twice that it has only been a month since Kotaro let himself go, his hair has grown long enough to reach his shoulders. Having one’s hair grow that long from his standard hairstyle would take at least a year or more.