Takeya Yuki is a high schooler who loves her school so much that she never wants to leave. The hallways of Megurigaoka High are where she enjoys her carefree life as a senior at the school and as a member of the School Living Club. Other members of the club include the club president Wakasa Yuuri, the athletic Ebisuzawa Kurumi, their mature junior Naoki Miki, their teacher Sakura Megumi and the club dog Taroumaru. Together, they make the most of living at school; however, everything is not as it seems and Yuki’s grip on the harsh reality is weak. In reality, the School Living Club exists in order to preserve their lives in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. The girls are the sole survivors, barricading themselves inside the school to stay clear of the hordes of the undead waiting to eat them, all while maintaining the mirage of a joyful school life for Yuki.

While not focused on movies, Gakkou Gurashi is similar to Zombieland Saga with regard to the presence of zombies. The main characters are teenage girls in both series and to some extent, both series explore the effect of the new, undead reality on the overall psychologies of the characters in those situations. Both sets of characters present a moe element which contrasts the incredibly dark nature of zombies as a motif.

After a sudden zombie apocalypse, Japan is thrown into complete chaos. Komuro Takashi is a high school student who is forced to kill his best friend after he is bitten and joins the undead horde currently tearing up his high school. Takashi vows to protect Miyamoto Rei, his friend’s girlfriend, and together with a few other survivors, they escape the hellish situation at school. However, the outside world isn’t that much better off, so together the students go on a journey to find family members and other survivors, as well as the cause of the zombie apocalypse.

Much darker in premise and content than Zombieland Saga is the famous Highschool of the Dead, a classic zombie-themed anime which can never be left out of the discussion whenever zombies in anime are mentioned. Notorious for its… intriguing death and physics-defying characters and the morose reality of its incompleteness, yet loved for them all the same, Highschool of the Dead is a definite necessity if we want to talk zombies.

Karasuma Chitose is a college student who is determined on not doing boring things as she ventures into adulthood. As a result, she tries her hand at being a voice actress and lands a job at “Number One Produce,” an agency managed by her older brother. Chitose believes she is fit for stellar roles; however, her track record of minor roles contradicts this. She clashes with the other women in the agency and soon begins to learn what it takes to become a true voice acting star.

Minus the zombies, Girlish Number is more similar to Zombieland Saga’s centring around the occupational journey of young women in entertainment. Both series give attention to the strain under which the characters are put in order to achieve in their respective fields. Girlish Number and Zombieland Saga also have aesthetic similarities, such as their brown-haired protagonists, as well as their art, which has clear overlaps in style.

A trio of yakuza find themselves at the mercy of their disappointed boss after failing him yet again. After their failure in an important mission, the boss gave them two choices – commit honourable suicide, or receive sex reassignment surgery to become women idols. After an intense year of gruelling idol training, the three successfully debut with resounding popularity. However, this is not the turn of events they quite wished for – are they ready for new lives as famous pop stars?

Gokudolls finds its greatest similarity to Zombieland Saga in the fact that the main characters find themselves becoming musicians, more specifically idols, much like Sakura and the other members of the all-zombie idol group Franchouchou. Both anime are comedies, although the type of comedy is different, with Gokudolls having more a gag approach to its comedy.

One unfortunate night on his way home from the convenience store, Aikawa Ayumu is attacked and killed by serial killer. However, he’s suddenly revived by a necromancer named Eucliwood Hellscythe. Wait, “revive” isn’t quite it – he was reanimated and is now a zombie. Things get stranger when he accidentally steals the uniform of a magical girl and thus her powers! Haruna, the magical girl in question, asks Ayumu to fight creatures known as the Megalo in her place until they find a way to return her powers. Now a zombie magical girl, Ayumu’s life just couldn’t be any weirder… or could it?

Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? is a hilarious combination of two prominent anime tropes – zombies and magical girls! The parallels between this show and Zombieland Saga are obvious – both feature characters who die unexpectedly and are brought back as the undead. Both shows are comedies which follow the “lives” of these protagonists after their zombiefication and their newfound struggles in a strange new world.

Detroit Metal City is a popular death metal band known for its dark and crude style and it is currently ruling the world of indie music. Johannes Krauser II, the infamous lead singer with flashy style is a demonic being who came from Hell to enslave mortals and rule over all… but really he’s just the alter ego of college graduate Negishi Souichi, a soft-spoken individual who enjoys Swedish pop. He performs for Detroit Metal City because he needs the money, but balancing his hectic band life, a budding romance and obsessed fans proves to be quite the tricky challenge.

Like Zombieland Saga, Detroit Metal City is a series which looks into the life of a character who part of a musical act which has a significant impact on their everyday lives. The major similarity between Souichi and Sakura lies in how there is a change in appearance that comes with their musical performance – both sets of characters assume personalities that are not their everyday. The music brings out something different.