Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – Season 1 Episode 9 Recap & Review

Treehouse of the Dead

Episode 9 of Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead begins with a flashback of Akira speaking with his father about his dreams. In the present, Kencho informs the others that they are almost at Akira’s hometown. He, Shizuka, and Beatrix can’t wait to introduce themselves to his family. Akira questions how his father will react to him being out of work when they arrive there.

Suddenly, Akira stops the RV after noticing a pile of cards blocking the tunnel that’ll lead him and his allies to his hometown. Akira exits the RV to investigate and discovers there’s a horde of zombies inside the tunnel. He confirms that none of the zombies in the tunnel look like the people from his hometown. Our heroes take an alternative route to the village.

During their expedition, Shizuka tells Akira she believes the villagers are safe since they successfully sealed away the zombies in the tunnel. They encounter and save a man named Masaru from a zombie boar. Masaru explains his situation to them and leads them to the treehouse he’s working on. Akira gets inspired and asks Shizuka, Kencho, and Beatrix to help him assist Masaru in completing his project.

As they work on Masaru’s treehouse, he shares his philosophy concerning trees and the voice forest with them. Akira ponders Masaru’s beliefs while he’s working. He relates the concept to how he perceives others, himself, and the world around him and questions if it’ll make him more mindful. Furthermore, he questions how it’ll affect what he writes on his bucket list. Masaru praises Akira for his hard work and shares that he once was working on a treehouse for his son.

When Akira asks Masaru what his son’s been up to, Masaru’s tone changes. He tells Akira he had to murder his son because he turned into a zombie. Akira comforts Masaru and they continue working on the treehouse. With Shizuka and Beatrix’s help, they finish the treehouse and have fun. After celebrating, Masaru tells them he’ll reside here for the time being but to give him a call if they ever need help.

Akira and his friends continue their journey to Akira’s hometown. He shares insight about his homeland’s history and locations with his friends. Eventually, they arrive and Akira points out his home to Beatrix, Shizuka, and Kencho. When they get closer to town, Akira notices no one’s outside and everything looks disheveled, causing him to panic. He rushes home, only to find the townspeople partying hard.

The townspeople inform Akira’s parents that he’s arrived. Akira thanks his father for everything he’s done for him and apologizes for not doing much for them. His father hits him on the head and scolds him for spewing “nonsense.” His father informs Kencho, Beatrix, and Shizuka they have empty rooms they can use and suggests they get some rest. He tells his wife he’ll be heading to the fields and suggests she take over from here.

Akira’s mother hands Akira and his friends some food and explains how everyone has been functioning in the village before and after the zombie outbreak occurred. As for the zombies in the tunnel, Akira’s mother says people attempted to seek refuge in town. However, some were infected and ended up infecting everyone. Akira’s mother said they had no choice but to seal the tunnel to prevent the infection from spreading.

Fortunately, his mother said some people survived and are comfortably living amongst the villagers. Beatrix gets inspired and tells Akira he should add a historic home renovation-related item to his bucket list. Akira thinks it’s a stellar idea but wants to focus on repaying his mother and father. Kencho, Shizuka, and Beatrix depart to explore the town, leaving Akira alone with his mother. He attempts to help his mother with things to fulfill his repayment goal.

His mother thanks him for worrying about her but suggests he get some rest after his long journey here. His father returns home and asks him to help him with some farming duties. After failing to connect with his father, Akira leaves to wash his face. He ponders what he can do to make his mother and father happy. Meanwhile, Akira’s father succumbs to pain as it’s revealed he’s extremely ill. 

Akira returns with green beans and follows his father back to their home. They cross paths with some people who came from the city, but Akira feels like he’s seen their leader somewhere before. The city people head to the tunnel and alarm the zombies. We cut to a flashback involving the gentleman Akira was familiar with and learn about his life and motives before and after the outbreak occurred.

During the outbreak, the man finds three other people and a spare notebook. He starts jotting down his and their ideas, which are anything but wholesome. In the present, the gentleman closes his notebook which shares a similar title to Akira’s bucket list. The episode closes with him and his companions preparing to do something reckless.

The Episode Review

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead delivers a comfy yet emotional chapter for fans to sit through this week. From Akira and his friends’ treehouse-building shenanigans with Masaru to Akira reuniting with his folks, this episode contained less action than the previous episode and more of the comforting vibes they received during Akira and Shizuka’s conversation at the mountain’s hot spring. 

That said, it was touching to hear Masaru share his forest-related beliefs with Akira, but saddening to discover what happened to his family. It not only foreshadowed Akira’s father’s sickness reveal that occurred later in this chapter but shows how much of a toll the outbreak can have on overly optimistic individuals. On that note, it’s nice seeing Akira want to repay his family for all they’ve done. 

After being away from them for so long, what son wouldn’t want to shower his family with kindness? Nevertheless, it’s going to hurt seeing Akira realize that his father doesn’t have much time left to live. Hopefully, they’ll share an intimate moment together before he turns into a zombie. As for the male at the end, it’s interesting to see how similar yet different he is in comparison to Akira. 

Although more time could’ve been spent fleshing out that gentleman’s character, it’s interesting to have a sadistic version of Akira and his friends around. It’ll likely lead to thrilling confrontations between the two groups, especially if that gentleman’s party survives.

Overall, this was another fun chapter to observe. Unfortunately, it may be a while until episode 10 airs. We’ll be sure to cover that chapter when it does though.