Episode 3

Dead or Alive SAGA is the third episode of Zombieland Saga.

Synopsis
As Kotaro plans for a live flash mob performance, the girls try to decide on a name for their group, and eventually settle for the name Franchouchou after the sound of Tae's sneezes. While the others are motivated to practice their routine overnight, Ai and Junko remain skeptical, leading the others to start the performance without them. The performance struggles after Sakura forgets her lyrics, but Ai and Junko step in to save the show, managing to attract at least one fan.

Meeting
Back at the mansion after the performance at Saga Castle,  Kōtarō  congratulates the girls on their impressive and intuitive performance. But then Kōtarō makes plans for another task: a "Guerrilla Performance", where the girls will perform a show in a public area. He schedules them to perform at the Karatsu station tomorrow morning. But the girls say they can't train in less than a day to prepare, but Kōtarō doesn't mind and suggests that they train all night.

Training room
Before the girl's training routine,  Lily  suggests that the girls choose a leader among themselves so that they can be in charge of everyone in the group. Saki  stands up and boasts of being their leader, as she has experience being the captain of her old motorcycle gang. Although speechless because of Saki's puzzling attitude, the girls decided to let Saki be their leader. Lily then suggests that they come up with a new group name, as she says Kōtarō's dice are too bland. The girls make suggestions, but they currently disagree. While everyone is lost in thought,  Tae  starts sneezing and interrupting the girls.

Lily is inspired by Tae's sneeze; she suggests they should be called  Franchouchou  . Impressed by the originality, all the girls agree and from now on they will be called "Franchouchou". With all the needs met, the girls now continue with the training.

One night in the park
Later that night, the girls are in the park taking a break from training, and Sakura, Saki, Lily, and Tae are spinning on a merry-go-round while  Yūgiri  is standing. Sakura is currently lost in thought worried about her upcoming performance and rushed experience. As she continues to think of herself, she ends up being thrown off the carousel by Tae. Sakura is sent flying through the air, where she suddenly remembers  jumping off a stage to her delight, before crashing.

Sakura emerges again. She realizes and professes her determination to see through her idol role, even if they are zombies. But the girls already get the point and they don't need her sympathy to motivate themselves, to their confusion that they steal the attention. Meanwhile, Ai and Junko wait for the girls to return, where they are worried that they won't be able to put on a show. The rest of the girls return and continue training.

The girls practice dance and form, but they come across misprints. Ai leaves everyone a little upset, seeing that they are not going anywhere. Junko is still calmly in a suit. Outside, Ai and Junko meet Kōtarō where, seeing the two try to give up too soon, they are ushered in. Ai tries to point out the difficulty of becoming idols, and she still doesn't think they will succeed because they are zombies. Kōtarō then rebukes them by pointing to the other girls, who still show determination trying to live as long as they can. As he walks away, he asks them if they are going to live or not, leaving the two girls speechless.

Plasticine concert
The day comes and the group arrives at the station. The girls disembark, but Ai and Junko remain skeptical. As the rest of the girls prepare, they have no choice but to continue without them. The girls take positions and Saki draws everyone's attention to start her public performance.

Then they begin and begin to act.

But suddenly, they start to wobble and the show finally wobbles, causing everyone to lose interest. Despite this, Ai and Junko eventually bond out of concern and the girls continue the show inspired by a lack of audience. When the show ends, the girls were able to attract a girl's attention, much to Sakura's relief.

The performance concludes, and the girls suggest they leave. So after Saki gives her final statement to the empty audience, she runs over to the girl and promises that they will do better next time. The girl smiles at her cheerfully and is then escorted by her mother. The small waves wave goodbye to the girls as the two leave.

Suddenly, a police officer approaches the girls walking casually to prevent them from disturbing the peace. Kōtarō arrives and yells at the girls to leave now. The gang returns to the truck and everyone drives away from the area.

The girls return to the mansion at night, where Ai and Junko reflect on themselves. Sakura enters. She wanted to express her gratitude for helping to keep the show intact. But it also tells them that even if they are zombies, they will continue to believe that everyone will work hard to pursue their dreams as idols, and then leave. Junko commented that even today it was still a mess, she was happy to feel the difference as a group. Then she leaves.

After reflecting on the words of both girls, Ai decides to motivate herself that she is "starting again."

Appearances

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

Synopsis according to Kotaro's diary
''The event at the Saga Castle, as they thought, would generate a lot of anticipation. ''

''Sakura and Saki couldn't contain their excitement, the brave Yūgiri and Lily worked on the construction of the advertisement, and Tae was doing their thing. ''

''Even though they don't act like idols, they really tried to feel like real idols. ''

''But with Ai and Junko's experience in the mix, everything should be fine. ''

One for zombie, everything for zombie!

Trivia

 * Yugiri mentions "Oh, how to test a sword on someone passing by" when the other girls describe a guerilla performance. This refers to Tsujigiri (辻 斬 り) a real practice (although probably exaggerated by popular narration), although removed years before its time.
 * Tae could have been sucking on that black marker because it produces black pigment, much like cephalopod ink, which squid (her favorite trademark food) releases as an escape mechanism.
 * Sakura insists on a group name that starts with "Fran", then adds the sound effect that Tae made while sneezing. This is likely in reference to Frankenstein, as the girls share physical characteristics with the movie's appearance of the iconic monster, especially Junko, who appears to have been stitched again.

Funny information

 * Kotaro tells the girls, very seriously, that he has to be frank ... they did very well in their last performance! He congratulates them, especially Sakura's rhymes. Sakura is a little nervous but happy about the compliments, at which point he takes her joy away by pointing out that they have more important things to focus on.
 * Try to spell the word "guerrilla" on the board in capital English. But when he realizes that the first two letters are "GE," a long pause occurs, and on the next shot, he crosses out the letters and writes the term in Japanese.
 * When Kotaro explains his plan for a guerilla performance, the girls look at him ... Well, except for Tae, who instead looks at the ceiling.


 * The scene in the dance hall is a one-minute rowdy laugh as the team tries to figure out who's in charge and what their band should be called. From Lily's overly corny ideas to Saki's hot-blooded Edgelord's suggestions, it's all truly a glorious comedy sitcom.
 * Saki's writing with the marker looks like she's using spray paint, which means how delinquent she really is. If you look at the bottom of the board, even the "paint" drips, like graffiti. This underscores how truly awful her kanji writing is, with names like Wicked Rage Void Slacker and Rotten Chaos Stank Gang, leading the girls to tell her not to finally use kanji.
 * Tae puts her hands on a black dry erase marker, and everyone stops to see what she's going to do. There is a moment of tension ... and then she starts sucking on it, as she does with everything else. Sakura takes it out of her mouth claiming that it is dangerous, even as Junko points out that, as a zombie, Tae cannot be poisoned. And then the marker falls into Junko's hands, leading Tae to chase her again, as everyone tries to discover the name.
 * There is a time when Yugiri points out that, as zombies, they might well suck. They literally all freeze up and take a moment to control their body odor, including Junko, who Tae is chasing at the moment. This is even considered fun in the universe, since the girls laugh.
 * How do you come up with the final name of the band? Tae sneezes. That's right, they end up with a word that sounds like a sneeze. Everyone praises Tae for her genius, even as she remains blank-faced.


 * Sakura's revelation is completely silly. She picks it up when Tae spins an old playground equipment too fast, throwing her into the air and plunging her into the head, smiling all the time. She doesn't even go so far as to explain her revelation, as Yugiri mistakenly assumes she needs a motivational talk and gives her the revelation speech.
 * Tae never stops (unintentionally) showing her memetic state even in her street performance - her mouth is full of dried squid as she dances!
 * When Policeman A shows up to reprimand Franchouchou for acting without a permit (and almost recognizes Sakura as the zombie girl he constantly runs into), Kotaro quickly pushes the girls into the van and erratically drives away.

Comforting

 * The zombie girls' guerilla performance could have been a complete disaster after Lily accidentally slipped, causing viewers to stop looking at them. But then it turned out that a young woman was still watching and even dancing to the end.
 * Ai and Junko finally recover from their momentary depression and jump to save the performance after Sakura forgets the lyrics.
 * In the end, Saki thanks the girl for watching and promised to work hard and do better next time. She really got excited about the idea of ​​being an idol.
 * The episode ends with Sakura genuinely thanking Ai and Junko, their speech backed by a montage of the others contemplating and preparing for the future (and Tae playing with Romero). It's a quiet time, but it's enough for Junko to admit that she liked performing with a group and Ai to really consider starting over.

You will cry?
Ai and Junko continue for most of this episode ignoring the group's effort. It certainly doesn't help anything when Kotaro, of all people, points out how others are doing their best to be idols despite having no experience. He even leaves them in the truck without saying a word.

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DEAD OR LIVE SAGA