Zombie Japanese Schoolgirls Star in the Weirdest Apocalypse Ever
This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a “Kawaii desu (It’s cute)!” And a bang, because Sailor Zombie is an arcade shooting game.
No, you didn’t get into the bad peyote. This is a real Japanese arcade game starring popular Japanese pop girl group AKB48. AKB48 is a carefully crafted and image-managed “idol” group that is popular and ubiquitous in Japan, appearing in Japanese commercials, television and a daily show at their own theater in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, where they get their name.
And before you sarcastically ask, no, they don’t have 48 members. They have 140, plus sister groups and an official rival group. The group is a completely artificial bubblegum creation, and a lot of emphasis is placed on creating an image of purity and a sense that they are both desirable and obtainable by the male fans in their audience. This officially involves no dating and a strict morals clause in their contracts to further the fantasy.
The group can be fun if you realize that it is in fact just a fantasy and don’t take it too seriously. Unfortunately, one obsessed fan failed horrifically to do so in May, attacking some of the girls with a handsaw and injuring them.
The group’s popularity means it makes sense that they’d appear in video games. But in no sane moral universe would those video games be games where the girls turn into zombies and you have to shoot them.
According to a Wired article, the gun you blast the girls in the face with is, in the storyline of the game, not a real gun but a delivery mechanism for a “love vaccine” that can change the girls back into human form. But I’m not sure that makes it any less icky.
Unless you live in Japan, look for this to be coming never to an arcade near you.