Episode 16

"Baby, listen to your soul! That thing’s cryin’ out to you! To smash it and shred it! Shred those excuses, smash that Like Button and Subscribe to rock! Don’t limit yourself to one lane! If there’s something that you want in this life, then rise up and take what’s yours! You might be undead, but you still got a light inside you. Shine bright, and the world will follow!"

- Kotaro to Junko.

Pure-hearted Electric SAGA (純情エレクトリック SAGA, Junjō Erekutorikku SAGA) is the fourth episode of the second season of the Zombie Land Saga series and is the sixteenth episode overall.

Synopsis (Kotaro’s Diary)
"Franchouchou can't afford to lose on the new battlefield born in Saga. However, it seems that the members of the group are having trouble with each other again. I'm going to have to come up with a plan to deal with them. How should we fight this huge enemy called Iron Frill? Let's go for an impact game that will destroy everything. That's exactly what I said. Why did it turn out the way it did?"

- Kotaro Tatsumi,

Plot
Junko Konno and Sakura Minamoto are unsettled by the thought that Ai Mizuno would leave Franchouchou for Iron Frill, although they reassure themselves that Ai would not truly leave them. Nevertheless, Junko insists on keeping it a secret, and throughout the next day is distracted by her own thoughts. Excusing herself, she leaves to get fresh air while Sakura helps Yugiri make food for Ai.

Meanwhile, Iron Frill is preparing, with Shiori Baba determined to put on one of their best shows yet in order to impress Ai into joining. However, Yui questions Shiori's decision to unilaterally invite Ai, wondering if her fondness for their original center performer has gotten the better of her. However, Shiori brushes this off and insists it's only for her individual talents. She then leaves to practice with the rest of Iron Frill.



Later, Ai sees Junko outside and asks why she isn't practicing. Junko tries to leave, but Ai stops her, and insists she reveal what's bothering her. Rather than do so, Junko asks whether Ai preferred being in Iron Frill over Franchouchou, and when Ai doesn't give a straight answer, Junko accuses her of not turning down their invitation to join. Junko then runs away in anger, eventually arriving at a beach where the water washes away her cosmetics. A policeman comes by to offer her comfort, seeing that she was sad, but when she turns to look on him he faints in horror. Kotaro Tatsumi observes as this all unfolds, and Junko then walks glumly home.

At home, Junko reveals everything to Kotaro. Hearing her concerns that Franchouchou might not be good enough for Ai, Kotaro blasts his electric guitar at her to get her attention, then yells at her that she's essentially admitting her own worthlessness and the worthlessness of Franchouchou, that she is too busy beating herself down to realize that she must have pride and be assertive in winning Ai back. He blasts her again and then finishes by encouraging her to persevere and smash through it, before lending her his favorite electric guitar.

Revivified, Junko now has a plan to succeed during their opening performance. She eats with the others, and the next day Kotaro applies fresh cosmetics to each of them. Before they begin, Ai has a conversation with Shiori, telling her not to underestimate Franchouchou, but Shiori is unperturbed; the crowd itself is also uncertain about Franchouchou's performance this time. However, as the show begins, Franchouchou opens with Tae Yamada playing at the drums, and shortly afterward the rest of the girls enter the stage with heavy rock music, the crowd applauding that "the death metal girls are back".



After an excellent first song, Junko dramatically smashes the guitar on the stage, horrifying Kotaro, and invites Ai to join them. Ai rushes to the stage takes Junko's hand, but her arm nearly comes out of socket (being a zombie), and they both crash to the ground. There they find a sparking electrical cord and use it to imbue themselves with electricity, causing the entire Franchouchou group to glow as they dance for an electronic number this round. Shiori herself is impressed by this, wondering at their special effects, but still offers to invite Ai after Franchouchou has finished. However, Junko now confidently pulls Ai to her side and says she won't be leaving, the other girls of Franchouchou staring daggers at Iron Frill, so they take this as rejection and move on to perform their own set. In an interview after the fact, Shiori identifies Franchouchou as their chief competitors going forward.

Characters

 * Kotaro Tatsumi
 * Romero
 * Franchouchou
 * Sakura Minamoto
 * Saki Nikaido
 * Ai Mizuno
 * Junko Konno
 * Yugiri
 * Lily Hoshikawa
 * Tae Yamada
 * Iron Frill
 * Shiori Baba
 * Yui
 * Julia
 * Makoto
 * Hikari
 * Takeo Go (non-speaking cameo)
 * Dorami Biker Gang (non-speaking cameo)
 * Maria Amabuki
 * Migikawa
 * Sayama
 * Journalists (non-speaking cameo)
 * Arata Ookoba
 * Inubashiri
 * Skull and Bull
 * Policeman A
 * Little girl (Episode 3) (non-speaking cameo)
 * Little girl’s mother (Episode 3) (non-speaking cameo)
 * Maimai Yuzuriha (non-speaking cameo)

Locations

 * Saga Prefecture
 * Franchouchou Mansion
 * Kotaro’s Office
 * Saga Arena
 * Karatsu Station (flashback)
 * Drive-in Tori (flashback)
 * Arpino Stadium (flashback)
 * Tosu City (flashback)
 * Ekimae Real Estate Stadium (mentioned)

Songs

 * ”Furious Survival”
 * ”Mezame Returner (Electric Returner) Type "R"”

Instrumentals

 * ”O Saga, Cry with Me!”

Trivia

 * This episode takes place in June 19, 2019 up until their performance at June 22, 2019.
 * The episode title having “electric” included in it may allude to electric guitars, the alternate to acoustic guitars, which Junko was seen playing for the majority of the previous episode.
 * Additionally, the term “acoustic” is also incorporated in the title of the previous episode.
 * The title could also be describing Junko (純子, “pure child“) during this episode, as she is considered the most pure-hearted one of the group and she is seen leading the song with Kotaro’s electric guitar, thus, “Pure-hearted Electric SAGA”.
 * The “electric” part could also be a pun based on the fact that Junko and the rest of the girls used the electricity coming from Kotaro’s broken axe to power themselves up, similar to that time in “Episode 7”.
 * An instrumental version of the opening starts playing during the scene where Junko joins the rest of the girls for dinner.
 * It is revealed that Kotaro has replica wigs of the girls stored in his office.
 * It is revealed that Yugiri is an amazing cook.
 * Kotaro’s diary entry for the episode is written sometime after he has witnessed Junko’s change in behavior after Ai was sent on her solo performances.
 * It is revealed that Tae is an amazing drummer.

Dub Differences

 * In the original dub, the police officer responds to Junko yelling “Why are you so stupid, Ai?!” asking if she has also been dumped recently, thinking she was referring to the idea of romantic love as idiotic since Ai’s name means “love” in Japanese. This line was skipped in the dub since it would not make sense in English.
 * Although it did not have a name in the original, Kotaro’s guitar is named “Mamacita” in the English dub.

Cultural References

 * Kotaro’s pep talk for Junko in the English dub included him referencing the concept of liking videos and subscribing to the channels of content creators of YouTube.

Continuity

 * This episode picks up right after where the previous episode left off.
 * This is the second time wherein the ending theme of the season is not played during the credits. Instead, it is played during the girls’ performance of “Electric Returner”.
 * The first time this happened was with “Episode 8” wherein the credits played during the performance of “To My Dearest”.
 * This episode has a handful of parallels to “Episode 7”.
 * This is the fourth episode to focus on Ai and Junko, with the first being “Episode 6” and the second being “Episode 7”.
 * This is also the second time an episode followed by an Ai and Junko-centric episode continues where the previous episode has left off.
 * This is the second time the girls get powered up from the help of electricity during their performance, with the first being in “Episode 7”.
 * Franchouchou’s control over elemental absorption has gotten better compared to the first time they used it.
 * Junko also holds out her hand to Ai similar to the way she did so in “Episode 7”.
 * The girls are seen performing “Mezame Returner” again in this episode.
 * This is the third time a different variation of “Mezame Returner” is performed, with the first being “Electric Returner” in “Episode 7”, Ai’s solo version in “Episode 15” and an improvement of “Electric Returner” in this episode.
 * Officer A sees one of the girls without their makeup again. But this time, it was with Junko rather than Sakura.
 * Junko’s flashbacks throughout the episode included multiple scenes from previous episodes.
 * Her first flashback included the following scenes: Her and Ai witnessing Sakura and Saki’s rap battle in “Episode 2”, her and Ai looking at Sakura after she asks them for their opinion in “Episode 4”, her and Ai meeting halfway through their escape from the Abandoned Mansion in “Episode 2”, her and Ai after being confronted by Kotaro in “Episode 3”, her and Ai during their guerrilla performance in “Episode 3”, her and Ai wearing chicken costumes during their commercial shoot for Drive-in Tori in “Episode 5”, her and Ai arguing over the former not wanting her picture taken with the fans in “Episode 6”, her and Ai during their performance at Saga Rock in “Episode 7”, her and Ai supporting Sakura during her depression in “Episode 12” and her and Ai during their performance at Arpino Stadium in “Episode 12”.
 * Her second flashback includes the following scenes: Ai playing with her food in “Episode 13”, Ai and Junko doing warm up exercises in “Episode 14”, and Ai using Kotaro’s computer in “Episode 15”.
 * The third flashback includes the scene wherein Ai left a like on the video featuring Junko’s commercial song in the previous episode.
 * There are a handful of callbacks to “Episode 13”.
 * Junko recalls Kotaro’s spiral into depression from “Episode 13” during her one-on-one talk with Kotaro.
 * Franchouchou’s failed performance at Ekimae Real State Stadium is bought up, once again.
 * Yugiri, Lily and Saki recall how they could never match Kotaro’s skills when it comes to applying their human make-up.
 * The Death Metal fans recall the girls performing as “Death Musume” from “Episode 1”.
 * Saki recalls wanting to conquer the country by becoming well-known idols, as she did so in “Episode 2”.
 * Kotaro having a collection of replica wigs of the girls in his office is a callback to him threatening to shave their heads bald the next time they get caught as zombies back in “Episode 4”.

Errors

 * Romero is drawn smaller than average throughout the dinner scene.
 * The colors of Junko’s irises in her human disguise washes off after she trips on the beach, albeit the fact that she is supposedly wearing contacts.