While all of the girls and Kotaro deserve the title ābest girl,ā I personally think that Ai Mizuno has become my favorite character in Zombieland SagaĀ since she went through the most development. While I didnāt like her or understood her motivations when I first started watching the series, I went over and noticed how she subtletly started to change & grow through most of the episodes. Her arc kind of has similarities to tropes weāve mostly seen in sports & fighting shows such as the āinjured athlete who lost their confidenceā or the ācrusty retired mentor,ā and the fact that they did this with a zombie idol show was really interesting .
When Aiās character is first introduced in episodes 2-3, she seems to be more against the idea of being an idol than she is about being a zombie, which can be confusing to some people during their first watch. However, once you get to episodes 6-7 and see how she died, it all starts to make sense.
As she stated, Aiās old group Iron Frill was just starting to become popular when she was alive since their CD was #1 in Japan. This is also shown in later episodes since they had major events such as the Arpino concert and the tv special Sakura was watching (which could have been showing them as rising stars for dominating the idol wars in the 2000s.)
However, just as her old groupās career was getting started, Ai lost everything when she was killed by lightning in the middle of her performance, leaving her to only become a legend who was stopped at the start of her prime. Once you make this connection, you see that the show portrays Aiās death as being similar to someone who had a serious injury and had to give up their passion while their friends moved on without them (ex- a triathete who gave up running after injuring their ankle).
Because of this, it makes sense that Ai didnāt like the idea of being an idol again partly because itās what caused her serious injury (dying) and partly because she lost her confidence due to being killed after working so hard and just started to achieve her dream. On top of that, she was the only member of Franchouchou who knew what she was doing from the beginning(aside from Junko). Even though she was reluctantly willing to follow Kotaroās plans since she had nowhere else to go, she more than likely felt that she was forced to play babysitter for a random group of misfits so they can play make believe with something she didnāt want to be a part of anymore. So, it makes sense why she gave up when training for the guerilla performance and insisted she knew they could never become idols. However, after seeing the others struggling with the show, she joined the group out of pity & her instincts as a performer. Eventually, after hearing Sakura & Junkoās statements at the end of episode 3, she realizes that she still has a passion for performing and, even though sheās still hesitant, she ultimately decides to try becoming an idol again in order to get back everything she lost from Iron Frill.
Throughout episodes 4-7, Aiās character changes to more of a serious workaholic since sheās determined to get back what she lost after being dragged back into the idol life. While she has no problem performing, she seems more pessimistic towards the rest of the group whenever they make mistakes or feel they arenāt taking being idols seriously. This is shown the most in episode 4 since sheās seen as frustrated at Franchouchou when they were sightseeing and trying out the Saganship Z dermal pads. To her, they were just playing around when they shouldāve been practicing.
This is shown again in episodes 6-7 when she starts to micromanage the performance rehearsals and sneaks into Kotaroās room to research modern idols on his computer. Additionally, after seeing how successful Iron Frill has become and the fact that sheās treated as a legend who died too soon, she starts to become even more obsessed with being a successful idol again to the point that she lacks any empathy for the others. This is especially shown through her fight with Junko. Being too focused on her own goals, Ai believes that Junko NEEDS to do things her way without even taking Junkoās thoughts or ideals into consideration (it also didnāt help that Junko was equally to blame by insulting Aiās way of being an idol & interracting with fans).
By episode 7, her situation gets worse after learning about Franchouchouās upcoming performance at Saga Rock. On top of struggling with her regrets from her death and lack of empathy, she starts to act as though she needs to take care of everything on her own. This is shown by how she nonstop practices(even without the others), the fact that sheās working so hard her limbs are falling off, and how she tries to push back the PTSD-like trauma of her death by herself and brushes it off as nothing. However, when she freezes in fear during their performance, she manages to come around after Junko steps in to help her and they do an auto-tuned performance after being struck by lighting again.
After the Saga Rock Festival, Ai finally seems to have made peace with her past life and realizes she doesnāt have to do things in her own. While she takes the backseat in episodes 8-9 in order to give Lilly & Saki more development, she does show how sheās changed over the past few episodes since sheās more comfortable and open with the group, acts more like a parental figure than a bossy leader, & is more willing and optimistic when trying Kotaroās crazy schemes.
Finally, Aiās arc comes full circle during episodes 11-12 when she becomes a major role in Sakuraās depression arc. While Ai had to go through her own personal demons throughout the series, Sakura was a major factor in her development since she either gave Ai the motivational boosts she needed or she helped other characters like Saki & Junko grow so they can be there for Ai when she needed them. However, once Sakura got back her memories, she was essentially in the same dark place Ai was in episode 2-3, if not worse. This time, itās Ai who needed to give Sakura the push in confidence just as she did when they were both alive, showing that with Sakuraās help she regained the confidence and optimism she lost after her death. This is especially shown when she says the same phrase that motivated Sakura when she first saw Ai on TV (which I also feel is the main theme of the show).
This is why I feel that Ai is my favorite character in Zombieland Saga. While sheās not as hilarious as Kotaro or the legendary Tae Yamada, she has some of the best development in the series and (like Sakura) can be seen as inspiration to people who need to find the confidence to pursue their goals again.Ā
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