Netflix is to release its Japanese live action film “Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead,” on Aug. 3.
The horror comedy film is based on the hit manga (comic book series) by Aso Haro and Takata Kotaro that debuted in the Shogakukan magazine Monthly Sunday Gene-X in October 2018. It has also spawned an animated series that plays on Hulu in North American and other territories.
The underlying comic is a wackily original melding of the salaryman gag manga – a popular genre in Japan seldom exported abroad – with the sort of zombie holocaust story that has become a Hollywood staple.
The story follows overworked office worker Akira (portrayed by Akaso Eiji) who, in the wake of a zombie apocalypse, is more excited at not having to go to work than worried about fending off the undead. He comes up with 100 things to do before turning into a zombie himself and embarks on a journey with Shizuka (Shiraishi Mai) and Kencho (Yanagi Shuntaro) to check off his bucket list.
A new trailer also features the first look at the zombie shark which is one of the fan-favorite elements from the manga.
The film is directed by Ishida Yusuke from a screenplay by Mishima Tatsuro and production by Morii Akira.
Earlier this year Aso told Variety that the Japanese media landscape was over-saturated with zombies, in everything from comics to TV shows and movies, but he still wanted to try a new angle. “I wanted to try a different approach [..] I wrote (the manga) to be a little offbeat, a little silly,” he said. “I’m OK if people see it as ridiculous. But there’s also a message: Do what you want to do, as fully as you can.”
Aso is also the creator of “Alice in Borderland,” a sci-fi-fantasy survival-game comic that was made into a hit 2020 Netflix live-action series that is now in its second season.
“Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead” is the latest title in a string of local live-action films from Japan debuting on Netflix in recent months. It follows “Call Me Chihiro” and “Re/member.”
Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhbWaJaYDiY
