Sankarea: Undying Love (Volume 7) - The Zombie Holy Land

Chihiro caught up with Rea and Darin at the airport and told her that if she was going so was he. Once at the Zoma facility, they were introduced to Darin’s father and Rea was subjected to some testing…

Sankarea: Undying Love (Volume 7) – The Zombie Holy Land

What happened?

Rea assumed that she would be able to get through the airport without a passport because she’s a zombie… Obviously, it doesn’t work like that as you can’t really declare that you’re a zombie! That was enough for Chihiro to catch up with them. At the airport, he tried to convince Rea not to go, but she was determined that she would. She needed to do something to help Bub and stop her cravings.

Since she was so determined, Chihiro went with her. She was his zombie after all and he was going to learn whatever he could from Zoma. After a couple of flights, they found themselves on a desert island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. The facility was underground and contained many zombies which got Chihiro more than a little excited. The researchers, however, we all besotted with Rea.

Sankarea Volume 7 Salva Arciento Kurumiya

Rea and Chihiro met Darin’s father who runs Zoma and the zombie girl that he had with him. The first order of business was to document Rea’s story and analyse her body, which she had to strip for, much to Chihiro’s horror. Rea was fine with it and they completed the examination. Later they performed a CAT scan of her brain activity and discovered that parts of her brain were still alive…

This was a shocking discovery and led Chihiro to wonder if they could save her body in the same way. He was a little hesitant as that may make it possible for her father to take her back and he’d lose his zombie girl. They had another test they wanted to perform in the morning, so Rea and Chihiro went to bed. On the way to the bedroom, Chihiro was attacked by Darin’s father’s zombie girl who seemed to have taken a liking to him.

Sankarea Volume 7 Rosarie tries to eat Chihiro

Darin’s father was there to stop her but was intrigued by the event all the same. The next morning, Chihiro woke in a wooden cage out in the open on the island surface. Then, he noticed a number of zombies staggering toward him. They snarled and snapped, bitting one another, although their gaze was fixed on Chihiro.

Back inside the facility, Rea watched in horror as the zombies surrounded Chihiro. She demanded that they stop the experiment, but Darin’s father assured her he was safe as Tora was there to protect him. Rea became more and more annoyed and then finally yelled that he was hers to eat! The experiment was going incredibly well. Then, when Rea became too irate, they sedated her and operated on her brain. When she woke, she recognised Darin, but didn’t know why!

Sankarea Volume 7 Chihiro in a cage surrounded by zombies

What did you think?

I find it impossible to believe that Chihiro has even seen a single zombie movie. He seems to be the least prepared for any of this which is kind of hilarious. The best moment in this volume was when Rea yelled that he was hers to eat and not that she wanted to save him. It was also interesting that she’s not completely brain dead.

However, I couldn’t believe the scene where Chihiro was weighing up whether returning her to normal was a good thing or not. He is the most self-centred idiot I’ve ever seen in a zombie story and while I know he won’t have been eaten as it implied at the end of the volume, I do wish it was the case. I don’t think anyone would be worse off for his absence in their lives. Of course, we need to find out what happened with his mother and how his grandpa is involved.

Sankarea Volume 7 Rea wants to eat Chihiro

What have you learnt?

My gut feeling is that Chihiro was saved by his mother who is now a Terminal Eater on the island and somehow regained some memories. I think she was probably reanimated by Chihiro’s grandpa after the car accident that killed her. Once, she knew what was happening to her, she would have left to save her children.

It’s all incredibly tragic if this is the case, but I still think that seems like the most likely outcome. The question now is what they did to Rea and how has that impacted her memories. I suppose we need to see how Chihiro survived if he did. Anyhow, this is a far cry from the anime and that’s great. I liked the anime and I am enjoying the manga but they are very different stories in the way they’ve been presented tonally.