Zom 100: Zombie ni Naru made ni Shitai 100 no Koto
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

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I know the guidelines say to not comment on others reviews but this is not it for me. I enjoyed this work alot and anyone who can appreciate strong realistic themes with high levels of enjoyment can agree with me. The main character is a strong representation of freedom and the true purpose of the life given to us. This is reflected through heavy real life topics like "social pressure, regret, anxiety, fear and depression" with very fun but strong execution. This manga teaches us to not only value our life but to appreciate the moment. Before i get into ratings i ask you this, ... "If you are living mindlessly, by order and what's in front of you, what makes you fundamentally different from the zombies? This Manga attacks the concept of sense of self and it really makes you think about the true priorities in life and what to take for granted.

Overall: I gave this a 9 as the pacing was good, chapters are extremely enjoyable, and characters are not only very strong, but superbly realistic. Art is good and character designs are diverse from one another, with very nice visuals and facial expressions that will make you pee from laughter. Themes are strong and the antagonist are integral to the story. Must read for those who appreciate what i listed above

Zom 100 has one of the best first volumes that I have ever read. I laughed out loud many times, and those laughs were interspersed with bursting out into tears – no exaggeration – as many as three times in the span of four chapters.

The first volume sets up a zombie apocalypse story like no other: it's unbridledly optimistic. Faced with the end of the world, our main character is overjoyed that he doesn't have to work anymore. With people scared and dying around him, he goes on foolhardy excursions with an unbreakable smile on his face. He's content with life as long as he ... can have a beer. He encourages his best friend to pursue his dream now that he's out of a job. The mix of overwhelming adversity, and then silly irreverence, cheerful optimism and the romance of the little things in life… It's truly special. I've never experienced a story quite like it – by eschewing zombie drama in favor of extolling the joy of life, it brings a refreshing, uplifting perspective that really resonated with me.

Alas, it wasn't meant to last. In volume 2 and on, the story turns into oil and water: it toggles back and forth between being a straight-laced B-movie-style zombie drama – angst, action, and astonishingly ludicrous villains – and having the main characters doing sundry activities with nary a zombie in sight. No longer are the two elements mixed and contrasted, but rather separate. Neither element is particularly interesting on its own.

After straying from its winning recipe, cracks start to show elsewhere. The characters' motivations turn to the more stereotypical “save the world”-type fare, robbing the story of its uniqueness. The manga is considerably “trashy” throughout – licentious and fanservicey – and with as low a tolerance for tastelessness as I have, the fact that I loved volume 1 despite this says quite a bit… but having lost that je ne sais quois, that starts to grate as well. Moments that focus on the bucket list are still occasional bright points, but by and large, the manga quickly loses its spark, loses its indomitable joie de vivre, and loses my enthusiasm.

Zom 100 won't stick with me as an incredible story, but I will keep volume 1 on my shelf as a token of the time I was reminded that even in a tired genre, there is always potential for a fresh, beautiful perspective.

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As an aside, the translation (by Nova Skipper; edited by Karla Clark) is absolutely stellar. I was taking notes; that's how good it is – absolutely buy volume 1, half because it's fantastic, and half to raise your bar for how natural and funny a translation can be while still maintaining accuracy.

As somebody said... it went from 100 to 0.

This is manga is about survival of black company employee during zombie apocalypse and trying to fullfill list of wishes.

The art is decent, the story has shounen tropes in it, meaning protagonist being naive/saintly, villains being on occasion nearly comical and inhuman and so on. It was a decent read for duration of manga, touching on tougher subjects, not overly silly and with plenty of black humor in it, but around chapter 17 they introduced a story turn which, as far as I can tell, flushed everything they were building for down the drain. A pity.

In greater ... detail:

Story: 4/10.
It is mostly decent not super realistic but with shounen-like overtones (exagerrated characters, mostly, either overly good or overly malevolent), all the way down to chapters 16-17. Past that point they screwed up.

Art: 6/10:
It is kinda unique and fairly detailed. There's slight resemblance of "Mairimashita, Iruma Kun", but it is not very strong, and in general the art is somewhere halfway between comical and serious.

Characters: 4/10:
Exagerrated emotions/motivations, shounen style. It isn't truly horrible, but shounen-like behaviors with preachign, overly moral or overly malevolent characters is definitely there.

Enjoyment: 4/10:
It was mostly okay, but after chapter 17 I decided to drop it, as the direction story took felt too uninspired to me.

Overall: 4/10.
Maybe worth checking out up to chapter 15 or so.