So I just watched the Zombieland Saga movie, and I don't think this is supposed to be the end of the story. It hasn't answered its central core tension yet!
To me, a "zombie" in ZLS is primarily a metaphor for a type of woman who cannot be or is is unfit to become a wife, and so is not the private property of a husband, but instead public property, and so disposable. The members of Franchouchou (except Sakura as the Audience Stand-in) are all this: idol, trans, disabled, sex worker, and then Saki who is implied to be an orphan or otherwise abandoned by the family structure. The act of becoming this type of woman is framed by the narrative as exactly equivalent to death.
Despite this handicap, they must become idols, which I see as a stand-in for meeting gendered standards other than the ones they cannot, and so conditionally escape being disposed of by the world and their non-zombie peers. They are not deterred by this and give their best at all times, knowing that this is a golden opportunity and chance for real community and redemption despite their status as zombies. They succeed, and the narrative affirms the life of a zombie and zombie idol as one which is worth living, and even enjoyed and celebrated.
They mask their status as zombies and this is mediated through Kotaro, which is a realistic depiction of real public women's lives: when we can, we often must mask the ways in which we are not "normal". We mediate our access to society through gender doctors, through actual doctors, through sympathetic bosses, through shitty boyfriends, through pimps. Kotaro is generally seen as a good man, but he is often unreliable and sometimes has goals and interests which contradict the welfare and happiness of the zombies. He is sometimes abusive. Yet the girls must rely on him anyway, both as a figurative tether to the world as the manager of Franchouchou, and increasingly obviously, as a literal one.
This must be where ZLS is going: Kotaro's illness progresses, and it becomes clear that sustaining Franchouchou is taking a toll on him, to the point where he will die if he continues to sustain the zombies.
The obvious ending here is to frame this as an inevitable tragedy about seizing the day. You never know how much time you have left, so make sure you live life to the fullest, even when life is hard and you are deprived in some way! These unlucky girls were given a second chance, and they used it to the max! They weren't supposed to get it, but they did anyway. Well done Kotaro for reviving and sustaining the zombies as long as you could; I'm sorry but you have to let them go.
And here is the tension. Is the life of the homeless girl, the prostitute, the trans girl really equivalent to true death, a doomed unholiness? A world that increasingly views women as nothing more than men's wives and baby factories seems to think so. But how can the story spend its entire narrative declaring the "zombie"'s life valuable and then dispose of her anyway? How can it pour so much love into all of these girls and allow them to truly shine because of who they are, then pull the rug from under them for that same reason? Will this story really say "Well you've had a good run, but you are 'dead' so should not exist" and abandon them? It wouldn't, would it?
The movie makes it clear that Sakura is the hero of this story. Her defining character trait is that she never gives up on life or the lives of her fellow zombies. This is why the movie is a love story between her and Tae, rather than her and Kotaro, who mostly uselessly whimpers by the sidelines for the whole runtime (and then his fellow men congratulate him for saving the day at the end). Tae falls in love with Sakura because of her care and devotion and solidarity as a fellow zombie; Sakura cannot reciprocate Kotaro's love because their power dynamic ensures they can never be each other's equals.
Maybe this is where the story is going then, should another movie or third season happen: Franchouchou are able to transcend their dependence on Kotaro through solidarity and love for each other. Maybe the world sees them do it as zombies. Maybe it doesn't ever find out who they really are. Either way, they cheat their supposed fate and survive. Oh god I hope they can do it. I hope we can do it.
