The Saga Sagako Busters (佐賀サガコバスターズ, Saga Sagako Basutāzu) are a group of Sagako hunters who dedicated themselves to fighting curses in Saga.
They were first introduced in the spin-off manga, Zombie Land Saga Gaiden: The First Zombie.
Overview[]
They call themselves pure, beautiful and righteous. They fought against the curse that plagued Saga in the late 80s.
Ten years before the events of the Gaiden manga, in 1979, the Sagako Busters group is founded by Jofuku. Thanks to MJ, Tae was able to form a team that is willing to give their lives for the good and prosperity of Saga.
Without Yuko's power, the team would not be able to seal the Sagakos that appear in Saga, so she was an essential piece of the team. Thanks to the “love” the land received from years of cultivation, it made the onions at Hyodo farm special, and the Hyodo twins were given the power to seal curses with these onions. During this time, Hanako Hakase also joins.
After the founding of the group, many applicants for that job joined, including an occultist, a self-proclaimed fortune-teller, and a medium. None of which lasted for more than 3 days within the group. One day, a mysterious girl named Anna Shuri arrives willing to help them despite how crazy it sounds to fight against supernatural beings. In addition to adapting to Hanako's inventions, she is also excellent at battle and solves problems by being very observant of small details. With her help, the group was able to defeat many Sagakos more effectively.
However, Yuko's power weakens over time, and she reaches a point where she seals herself in an onion along with another Sagako as a sacrificial act.
The last to join is Eikichi Hyodo, Yuko's brother, who joins against his will when his sister turns into an onion and is forced to fight the Sagakos because he also has the power to seal these curses. Along with Tae's training, Eikichi dedicated himself to fighting and learning with the Sagako Busters to defeat the curse and get his sister back.
However, the curse grows stronger every day, generating more and more Sagakos, so the Busters must find new ways to fight this threat. During his participation in the group, Eikichi slowly shows himself to be just as effective as his sister with Sagako's seals.
The Busters' most difficult challenge was fighting the spider Sagako, which turned out to be none other than the girl that Tae's parents found and raised. Magatsuhi splits up the group by kidnapping Anna and Hanako, leaving Tae and Eikichi on their own. The group meets again at the Takeo Ureshino Marchen Mura Village Amusement Park, where Tae and Eikichi are kidnapped by Magatsuhi and discover that the onions Eikichi put a blanket on have hatched and the Sagako inside have been released. Thanks to the purified Sagako, they fight Magatsuhi with all of their might.
Tae, who was already wounded from the battle, makes the ultimate sacrifice by using the Misogi power of the onions to seal Magatsuhi within her body. Wiping out the Sagako and the power of the onions in the process. Yuko is freed from her onion, now with the antlers of the Sagako she fused with, and realizes that her twin brother is now bigger than her. Hanako then cuts off her antlers with an electric saw.
By 1994, the Sagako Busters girls have moved on with their lives; Yuko gets married and is now a mother, Hanako now does scientific research, and Anna became a police officer and reconciled with her family. Jofuku has rejuvenated and opened a new adult store. The group gathers on the fifth anniversary of Tae's death for their “promised day” at the cemetery where her grave is.
Timeline[]
| Date | Events | Image | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Tae Yamada is born. | “Chapter 5: Cheers! Wait, What's In The Shot?!” | |
| Sagako Outbreaks | |||
| 1969~ | Tae's parents find a strange-looking baby, a creature that later ends up killing them when it is born as a giant Sagako. Soon after, Jofuku takes care of Tae, making her his adoptive daughter. | “Chapter 12: Reminiscence, What I Should Really Do” | |
| 1970~ | Anna runs away from her old family of phantom thieves, searching for a “normal” life. She later meets Higashino, who takes her in exchange for helping him with his career. | “Chapter 8: Tell Me Your True Feelings!” | |
| Late 1970s | Anna escapes from Tokyo after an incident where several people die due to police brutality. She ends up in Saga Prefecture, where she manages to go unnoticed thanks to its remoteness. | “Chapter 8: Tell Me Your True Feelings!” | |
| 1979 | The Saga Sagako Busters group is founded to fight the Sagakos. | “Chapter 5: Cheers! Wait, What's In The Shot?!” | |
| 1989 | The manga “Zombie Land Saga Gaiden” takes place. | “Chapter 1: The Guy Who Smells Like Onions is Naked and in Full Swing!” | |
| Yuko turns into an onion—Eikichi obligatorily joins Saga Sagako Busters. | |||
| Early 1989 | Eikichi's training begins—Eikichi seals his first Sagako. | “Chapter 2: Delivery! Onions Straight to Your Heart!” | |
| The Busters seal a Sagako at the Maryina club. | “Chapter 3: Aim for the Trifecta! Shining Disco Ball!” | ||
| Mid-1989 | Thanks to Eikichi, Tae and MJ manage to save their last food stall. | “Chapter 4: MJ Shows Up! The Order is a Squid with a Pretty Smile!” | |
| MJ tells the truth about the curse to Eikichi, and the Busters attend an alleged possession case. | “Chapter 5: Cheers! Wait, What's In The Shot?!” | ||
| Thanks to Saga Sagako Busters, Takeo manages to confess to Sachika. | “Chapter 6: A Guy Who Never Gives Up! Good Luck Sachi-ng For Love!” | ||
| August 01, 1989 | Detective Keiji Higashino arrives in Saga searching for a former thief on the run. | “Chapter 7: What A Guy! A Man from the Past and the East!” | |
| August 02, 1989 | Anna finally rejoins the group after disappearing. Keiji seems to be planning something against Sagako. | “Chapter 8: Tell Me Your True Feelings!” | |
| August 03, 1989 | Realizing the danger that Higashino is, the Busters split up to search for and stop him. Unfortunately, Eikichi is the one who must find him and ends up beaten by Keiji. | “Chapter 9: Encounter! A Straight Left To His Face!” | |
| Mid-August 1989 | The group is critical after Eikichi's situation after being beaten by Higashino; he has already been in his room for 2 weeks and shows no signs of recovering. | “Chapter 10: Groping in the Dark, Completely at a Loss, Surrounded by Enemies on All Sides” | |
| With Higashino's help, Magatsuhi begins to regain her power. She manages to manifest into a gigantic Sagako, which destroys the team's mansion. Later, she kills Keiji Higashino when he is no longer useful to her. MJ is weak and old. | “Chapter 11: Clash of Spears! What I Can Do for Someone Else!” | ||
| The Sagako Busters team stays at the Hyodo's house after a Sagako destroys their mansion. Tae prepares for her revenge against Sagako. | “Chapter 12: Reminiscence, What I Should Really Do” | ||
| Late September 1989 | The Busters team is ready to continue after their recovery. Cases of missing women in the Takeo region warn of dangerous supernatural activity. | “Chapter 13: Chase. Unseen Destinations and Writhing Shadows” | |
| Early November 1989 | Several days have passed since the disappearance of Hakase and Anna, so Eikichi and Tae set out to investigate the disappearances on their own. After meeting Magatsuhi and being kidnapped, Tae realizes that the baby that killed her parents years ago is the girl who is kidnapping women. | “Chapter 14: If Our Town Prospers, It Will Die. Decline, Recede Like Plants and Trees” | |
| The battle against Magatsuhi takes place. The previously sealed Sagakos join the battle, while Anna and Hanako fight with all their might. Tae dies peacefully after willingly merging with Magatsuhi. Yuko is released from her onion. | “Chapter 15: Adversity! Curses! Pinches! So, What?!” “Chapter 16: Final Destination. Paving the Path for Saga’s Future” | ||
| End of the Sagako Outbreaks—End of the financial bubble in Japan | |||
| Early November 1994 | 5 years have passed since Tae's death. The Sagako have not reappeared and Yuko was freed from her onion, bearing a child. The Sagako Busters group reunites on the 5th anniversary of Tae's death. | “Chapter 17: See You Again SAGA” | |
Members[]
- Tae Yamada—The founder and leader of the group. She calls herself “Saga's Legendary OL (Office Lady)”, but in reality she works at a food stall together with her father. She performs an act of sacrifice to seal Magatsuhi away and end Sagako's curses once and for all. Later, she is revived to become a part of Franchouchou.
- Hanako Hakase—The weapons specialist and inventor to help her group.
- Anna Shuri—The self-proclaimed beauty of the group. She is a martial artist who was hired because the team lacked manpower.
- Yuko Hyodo—Yuko is the girl who has powers to communicate with onions, and it is she who instinctively knows where the Sagakos are and has the power to seal them.
- Eikichi Hyodo—Yuko's new recruit and replacement. Like his sister, he has the power to communicate with onions and seal the Sagakos.
Allies/Partners[]
- Jofuku—He is the one who raised Tae after her parents were killed and instructed her to destroy the Sagakos.
- Takeo Go—A giant high school student who was helped by the Sagako Busters, so he could confess to his partner, Sachika.
- Yasuko Hyodo—She is the mother of the Hyodo twins and helped the team when a giant Sagako destroyed their base of operations.
Enemies[]
- Keiji Higashino—An acquaintance of Anna's, who came to Saga when he was demoted from his position in Tokyo. He poses a risk to the Busters when he hinders their plans to seal the Sagako away.
- Magatsuhi—The girl who killed Tae's parents and started the Sagako outbreak. She makes a deal with Higashino to get her old power back. Afterwards, she is sealed inside Tae's body.
Property[]
Base of Operations[]
- Sagako Busters Mansion—The Sagako Busters used a mansion in Karatsu as the headquarters of their plans, training place, warehouse. It also served as Tae's house. The mansion is destroyed by the spider Sagako, but by the 90s it is rebuilt again.
- Hanako's Inventions—As an inventor and weapon maker, she has many inventions such as the Del-height and the love potion that are stored in the mansion's rooms.
4th generation Toyota HiAce Long Van 2.0 DX RZH112V; 1989
Mode of Transport[]
- Busters' Van—The model of the truck that the Sagako Busters use is Toyota HiAce (a very similar brand of truck that was driven by Kotaro). And the model of the van they drive is the fourth generation Toyota HiAce which was released in 1989 (the year Gaiden takes place) and is a very different van compared to Kotaro's HiAce. Because Kotaro's truck is actually the 5th generation Toyota HiAce Commuter, Kotaro's truck is much more luxurious and more modern compared to the HiAce of the 80s due to its much boxier design as a more futuristic and modern style than the current HiAce.
Trivia[]
- The group and its name are a reference to the Ghost Busters.
- The group's base of operations is the mansion where the Franchouchou girls currently live. As well as the makeup and other items in the mansion that were used by the group when it was active.
- The girls' meeting room was the meeting place to alert about the new Sagako that appeared in Saga.
Gallery[]
Zombie Land Saga Gaiden: The First Zombie[]
Official Art[]
Plot[]
