Sankarea: Undying Love (Episode 2) – It was… Successful
Rea continues to meet with Chihiro as he tries to create the zombie potion to revive his cat, Babu. She even asks him to revive her if she dies, which is something she thinks about often…
Sankarea: Undying Love (Episode 2) – It was… Successful
What happened?
Chihiro has officially run out of poisonous plants to try in the zombie potion and is about to give up. However, Rea has an idea and runs off. While, she’s gone she thinks about her childhood and how she’s been forever putting on a mask of happiness, assuming that everyone else was doing the same.
Rea’s father is overbearing, to say the least. He fires maids for allowing Rea to fall over while learning to walk and for letting her play with a cat in the garden. He’s so focused on Rea, that he’s all but forgotten his own wife. She resents Rea as a result so Re finds herself in the middle of this awful family dynamic.
To make matters worse, Rea’s father has a tradition where he takes a nude photo of Rea on her birthday. When Rea confides in a friend and learns that it’s not normal, she tries to make him stop, but it backfires, showing her that she truly is alone and that if she doesn’t play along, others will get hurt.
After mixing hydrangea leaves into the potion, they give it to Babu, but nothing happens. Chihiro gives Rea a ride home on his bicycle and tells her that he’s going to bury Babu tomorrow. Rea sneaks into her home, but her father is waiting for her.
Chihiro gets home to find Ranko waiting for him. She wants to know what he’s been doing and where he’s going, so she looks inside the icebox. They are shocked to see Babu leap out and jump out the window. The potion worked. Meanwhile, Rea pulls out a small vial of the zombie potion that she took and drinks it. She’d rather be dead than continue living her life.
What did you think?
Hold on! Isn’t this supposed to be a romantic zombie comedy? This episode was far from comedic. If anything it was fairly tragic and I dare say traumatic. Seeing Rea’s childhood was shocking and the way her father dotes on her was even worse. But it doesn’t stop there, he is absolutely deranged. Some of the things he says and does to Rea are textbook manipulation tactics. He threatens to make anyone’s life a misery if she doesn’t do as he wants… because his love for her is more important than her happiness.
As if that wasn’t tragic enough, she decided early in the episode that she was going to kill herself. I don’t think she intended to die by falling off the cliff, but she was prepared for it if it did happen. Seeing her drink the potion and wait for it to take her was so sad, but then she doesn’t know that it works. The zombie potion revived Babu, but will it bring Rea back?
One thing that I am loving about this series is the way it shows regular things and makes them look like they are from a zombie movie. The shot of the students walking to school could have easily been zombies. When Ranko was opening the icebox, she held Chihiro back with her foot. His flailing arms made him look like a zombie trying to catch Ranko. There’s some clever cinematography in this series.
Episode highlights
Rea’s Mask!
Zombie Potion Club!
Rea’s Childhood!
The Latest Potion!
Ranko waiting for Chihiro!
Babu Lives!
Rea Attempts to End her Life!
Other posts in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – Once I… Become a… Zombie
- Episode 2 – It was… Successful
- Episode 3 – Sanka… Rea
- Episode 4 – A Normal… Girl
- Episode 5 – If She’s a Zombie… That Means…
- Episode 6 – It’s Because I… Ran Into You
- Episode 7 – Childhood… Friends…
- Episode 8 – Counterfeit… Freedom…
- Episode 9 – A Mother’s… Hand…
- Episode 10 – Strong… Feelings…
- Episode 11 – Nothing… Really… Special
- Episode 12 – At That Moment… I…
- Episode 13 – I, Too, Am… A Zombie…
- Discussions
- Manga
- Volume 1 – I Only Like Zombie Girls
- Volume 2 – My Decomposing Girlfriend
- Volume 3 – Fear the Foreigner
- Volume 4 – We Always Eat the Ones We Love
- Volume 5 – Boy, Medium Rare
- Volume 6 – Cat Scratch Fever
- Volume 7 – The Zombie Holy Land
- Volume 8 – Daddy Dearest
- Volume 9 – Lights, Camera, Resurrection!
- Volume 10 – Cold Truths
- Volume 11 – A Hearty Meal
- Character Analysis
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Now I have to watch this. More to it than happy-funny. If the potion was designed to make a dead cat come back as a zombie, who is to say what it will do to teen age girl?
Indeed. The anime occasionally flirts with some darker ideas, however, the manga embraces them like a long lost lover. That said, I’d recommend watching the anime first if you have the chance to do both.