With the show ending on a cliffhanger as if they're already certain they can get s2 green lit, I can't help but feel the last 3eps were rewritten from original plans.
The characterization and jokes became much weaker, with Sakura's moping arc being basically a rehash of Junko but made worse. Her backstory of "I'm so unlucky I ruin everything" seem half-baked and the story's attempt to push her misfortune only manifests after her memories return. It's like Looney Tunes' "I walk off a cliff but won't fall because I'm not looking downward therefore gravity doesn't affect me as long as I don't acknowledge its existence".
My theory is that they planned to make a proper finale at first, with 10 being Yugiri's ep, 11 and 12 being the climax brought forth by either Koutarou or an awakened Tae revealing the secret behind Sakura's past life and/or the entire mystery behind their zombification.
But alas once they saw how successful ep1-4 was, they thought they could save all that climax for an entire s2 instead, so now they just have to wrap up s1 nicely with a cliffhanger, and that's where Sakura's half-baked arc comes in because as the protagonist she need an arc to finish the show off. As such an arc was simply rehashed from Junko's, only switching her inability to cope with the changes of times to poorly set up personal angst in a way that can give a conflict large enough to be a climax, but not disrupt the status quo and allow Sakura to start off s2 with the rest of Franchouchou once again.
I love this show, and sure I would love it to be successful enough to get s2, but not at the detriment of the quality of both seasons.
I'm not sure you understand how production of most animated shows work. This isn't South Park.
Tons of animes start without having an ending in mind, and more have their endings changed during production because of audience's reaction.
Yes, it takes at least a month to create a single episode, which was why I said this ending was a response to the first four episodes. The change can still be made, especially if it was an order to make an ending more suitable for s2 because you know how the anime industry works, originality always takes a back seat to making safe bets.
Zombieland Saga was the dark horse they did not know would succeed to this extent, which was why when it transitioned into being a "safe bet", it's easy to see why MAPPA would wanna make preparations to milk the hell out of it right away.
Otherwise, please explain this out of the blue "we're absolutely gonna do an s2! But we're not announcing it just yet!" way of cliffhanger ending. For a TV original show no less.
Or are you one of those people who downvote comments just because it's a criticism?
Tons of animes start without having an ending in mind, and more have their endings changed during production because of audience's reaction.
Yes, it takes at least a month to create a single episode, which was why I said this ending was a response to the first four episodes. The change can still be made, especially if it was an order to make an ending more suitable for s2 because you know how the anime industry works, originality always takes a back seat to making safe bets.
It would make sense for an extension to be made if it's 25 episodes long, like with the original Precure. However, this is a 12 episodes series, so there should be already a storyboard ready. The whole "Need at least one month to make an episode" is mostly spent on drawing the animation. To be honest, I doubt that the series ends in just one season because of one obvious thing; too many subplots.
Even discounting the entire zombie thing, there are seven girls with different backstories. Ai and Junko's episodes, while closing neatly their conflict regarding their 'fish out of water' problem, don't really do anything about their personal life like Lily's. It's impossible to finish it conclusively. Madoka Magic only has five main characters and the end is pretty open. Girls und Panzer is similarly prefecture advertising anime, but it's not character-driven show, so it doesn't matter what the Mallard or the Leopon's backstories are.
Beside, why would they make Sakura an amnesiac if there's nothing to it? If you notice, the song in episode 12 is actually foreshadowed in episode 2. Hell, the entire rap scene is a foreshadowing.
Was GuP Prefecture advertising? I thought it was more of a case of "write what you know."
As far as last-minute changes, I'd imagine the biggest sticking point is VA wrangling. I assume that VA work is blocked out well in advance, with other things being on the schedule making an impromptu session either expensive or unworkable.
It would make sense for an extension to be made if it's 25 episodes long, like with the original Precure. However, this is a 12 episodes series, so there should be already a storyboard ready. The whole "Need at least one month to make an episode" is mostly spent on drawing the animation. To be honest, I doubt that the series ends in just one season because of one obvious thing; too many subplots.
Even discounting the entire zombie thing, there are seven girls with different backstories. Ai and Junko's episodes, while closing neatly their conflict regarding their 'fish out of water' problem, don't really do anything about their personal life like Lily's. It's impossible to finish it conclusively. Madoka Magic only has five main characters and the end is pretty open. Girls und Panzer is similarly prefecture advertising anime, but it's not character-driven show, so it doesn't matter what the Mallard or the Leopon's backstories are.
Beside, why would they make Sakura an amnesiac if there's nothing to it? If you notice, the song in episode 12 is actually foreshadowed in episode 2. Hell, the entire rap scene is a foreshadowing.
Again, it's only my theory. It could just be this weak ending was planned from the very start, but I highly doubt it. Even as open-ended endings goes, if it wasn't for the trust they're going to get s2 from very early on, this would be one of the very most amatuerish writing I have seen. And with how 12-episode animes are already notorious for being a risky investment, I doubt they started producing Zombieland Saga with an s2 in mind, especially with how no official announcements of s2 occurred either by the anime itself or on social media.
Even 12 episode animes, especially mid-tier budget ones like Zombieland, can go into production without that much careful planning, it's common for studios to not even finish ep5 by the time the show started airing. Which is why even adaptations can have the last few episodes that felt rushed but cause the directors didn't realize they just ran out of episodes to do the plot they wanted to, or why some 12 episode animes has to resort to throwing in a recap, if not cancelling the airing of the ending altogether.
And even when I said ep4, since ep2's rap seems to be the biggest point Zombieland Saga's popularity exploded, if the higher ups changed their mind to have s2 since that episode, there could have been plenty of time to rewrite the script and animate the entire thing. Yes, most of the production time required is taken by drawing the episode itself, but it's not like writing the script for 3 episodes is gonna take THAT long either.
It's one part of why anime production is said to be hell for the mid-lower level employees, plans can change at a drop of a hat and sometimes entire episodes can be rewritten even after already being half animated. The might-as-well-be-minimum wage isn't the only bad part.
And I'm not saying Sakura's amnesia wasn't supposed to be dealt with. It's very obvious her past is connected to Koutarou and the entire series had been setting up to that reveal. So yes, if 12 eps are meant to be a finale then the series could have cleared that conflict out. The truth of her relationship with him being revealed was supposed to be the climax of s1, but now we have her amnesia cleared only to create an artificial , poorly set up conflict that doesn't actually help solve up the main mystery presented since ep1 because "Oh you gotta wait and see that in s2!"
Saladofstones said:
As far as last-minute changes, I'd imagine the biggest sticking point is VA wrangling. I assume that VA work is blocked out well in advance, with other things being on the schedule making an impromptu session either expensive or unworkable.
It's not hard, actually. I mean unlike in America, all seiyuus and recording studios are located in or around Tokyo anyway, and most seiyuus really aren't THAT busy as to be unable to drop by for a short recording session on short notice. It's actually common for seiyuus to come record their lines a week before airing, depending on how well-planned the entire project has been.
Which was why when you hear of a seiyuu being replaced because the former seiyuu was hospitalized for an instance, the character's voice could very well change the very next episode.
