Episode 5

"“Nice Bird.”"

”The Nice Bird SAGA In Your Heart” (君の心にナイスバード SAGA Kimi no Kokoro Naisu Bādo SAGA) is the fifth episode of the first season of the Zombie Land Saga anime, and is the fifth episode overall.

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

''They go beyond my imagination. The opportunity for the link with the pharmaceutical company was completely eliminated. However, there is this producer Kotaro Tatsumi, this time I got the commercial appearance right of a super famous company that everyone knows. "Franchouchou" will make its fame roar throughout Saga. The phoenix covered in mud flaps into the sky.''

Plot
After the incident at the ureshino hot springs, Kotaro mentions that they will go to Drive-in Tori. Saki gets up and gets excited, and then gives us a flashback of her and her gang after a race going to eat at that restaurant where she is seen eating wildly. Sakura mentions that she was very wild, Saki mentions when they are going to go. Kotaro says that already and they both scream with emotion.

When they arrive, it is seen that Saki is quite excited. The owner of the Drive-in Tori greets the girls. An excited Saki continues screaming. So it is seen that she was a fan of that restaurant. Later they are seen eating chicken and Tae on her own. Kotaro yells at them to hurry. The owner tells him that they can wait. Kotaro puts his hand on his chin and looks him in the eye as if he could control his actions. Maybe he is only handsome. The girls act in a commercial for the Drive-in Tori fried chicken restaurant, which at first for Tae does not go well. With Sakura's help, the commercial goes well, is edited with images of Tae trying to devour the company mascot.

The commercial is then seen in different places, and a journalist appears and seems to recognize one of the girls. Later, Kotaro appears with a baguette and a French accent. He tells Ai that if it is a Saga jeune, she nonchalantly affirms. Kotaro hits her, but Ai returns the blow with the bread. Kotaro mentions that now they will go to the gatalympics. Saki jumps again with excitement, Junko is seen with her head down, perhaps out of pity.

The girls participate in the Kashima Gatalympics while wearing Franchouchou promotional t-shirts as a publicity stunt. Junko mentions that once she participated in a swimsuit contest, Tae breaks her shirt. Sakura puts another on her without knowing it was a Drive-in Tori shirt.

The journalist appears and begins to be suspicious because it seems that he recognized a girl. The girls participate in a bicycle race, and all fall enthusiastically, mud without their shirts being washed. But they are forced to stay dirty to prevent the discovery of their zombie appearance because the makeup fell silent, which ruins their advertising.

It is seen that Kotaro participated in the same exercise. But he is more shy than usual, even though the girls wanted him to shut up, he manages to pass the test without problems.

Now they participate in a rope game where the one who jumps the most and with style wins. Tae wins the first prize because the others did not achieve much. Sakura remembers giving her a spare shirt. She tells her to take off her dirty clothes, just to discover that the clean shirt underneath is actually for Drive-In Tori.

Meanwhile, a journalist named Okoba recognizes Junko, says he remembers her because he says he remembers something, their relationship is unknown or if they had one, and he decides to investigate it.

Characters

 * Kotaro Tatsumi
 * Romero
 * Franchouchou
 * Sakura Minamoto
 * Saki Nikaido
 * Ai Mizuno
 * Junko Konno
 * Yugiri
 * Lily Hoshikawa
 * Tae Yamada
 * Officer Suenaga
 * Journalists (debut)
 * Arata Ookoba
 * Inubashiri
 * Dorami Biker Gang (debut)
 * Reiko Amabuki (flashback)
 * Drive-In Tori staff (debut)
 * President of Drive-In Tori
 * Coco

Locations

 * Saga Prefecture
 * Abandoned Mansion
 * Drive-in Tori (debut)
 * Kashima City
 * Gatalympics Arena

Songs

 * “Drive-In Tori jingle”

Trivia

 * The president of Drive-In Tori in this episode is voiced by the actual president of the yakitori fastfood chain.
 * It is revealed that Yugiri is shown to be quite athletic, this may stem from her being an entertainer from when she was alive.
 * Despite being a zombie like the girls, Romero is shown to be able to freely roam in public as his undead self. As shown prominently during the shooting for the Drive-in Tori commercial where he reattaches his severed head to his body.
 * The line in Kotaro’s diary synopsis for the episode, “The phoenix covered in mud flaps into the sky”, foreshadows how the girls are going to help shoot the commercial for Drive-In Tori as well as participate in the Gatalympics.
 * Additionally, his diary entry is written sometime after the president of the pharmaceutical company has witnessed the actual identities of the girls and right before their shooting for the Drive-in Tori commercial and part in the Gatalympics.
 * Despite being charismatic and visibly narcissistic, Kotaro is revealed to have stage fright, or, is at the very least, afraid of public speaking.

Dub Differences

 * This is the only time wherein the word SAGA is not the last word of an episode title in the English dub, but is instead put somewhere in the middle.
 * In the original, Kotaro describes how he is “collecting dirt (off the ground)” after he is consecutively striked down to the floor by Saki and Ai after physically assaulting them. The bit about collecting dirt is a reference to the commonly known ritual for the loser teams to take the dirt from the baseball field in Koushien games in Japan.
 * And because this was difficult to explain in English, they simply changed his line to him explaining that he is simply “sweeping up his dignity”.
 * Lily called the shirts Kotaro showed "trash (ゴミ Gomi)". In the dub, Lily called the shirts "ugly", completely different from being trash since Funimation dubs are now known for changing dialogue, rather than translating from the original Japanese language into English.
 * Kotaro exclaims how the gang is missing the energy that is akin to the “crow of a chicken (on a burning grill)” during their shooting for the commercial whereas in the English dub, he tells them to “Cok-a-doodle-do (their) job”.

Cultural References

 * Drive-in Tori is an actual restaurant located in the Saga prefecture.
 * Additionally, The Gatalympics is also a real-life event.
 * The voice actors of the main cast have also participated in the real-life Gatalympics with Minami Tanaka, Lily’s voice actress, winning the bike race.
 * In 16:13, the audio of the ReDead from the game, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, can be heard.

Continuity

 * Kotaro knowing French is brought up more prominently this episode.
 * This is the second time Kotaro is seen using his charm to distract the person he is talking to.
 * In this case, he does this to stop the president from finding out that Tae eating raw chicken would not affect her negatively since she is already dead.
 * This is the first time Ookoba takes notice of the girls from their commercial shoot for Drive-In Tori. Particularly focusing on Junko.
 * The girls once again forget that they are undead, so they warn Tae about how eating uncooked meat is bad for her.
 * This is the first time Tae yells out her signature chicken squawk.
 * This is the first of many times that the Drive-In Tori commercial showcasing the girls is shown.
 * This is the first of many times that the president of Drive-in Tori is shown to spectate Franchouchou’s performances.
 * This is the second time the police officer does not cross paths or directly interacted with anyone from Franchouchou or their affiliates despite also participating in the Gatalympics.

Errors

 * The colors of the girl’s eyes in their human disguises are washed off alongside the mud, despite the colors being a part of their contact lenses.