Back in January 2026, I was feeling emotionally burned out from being a dementia caregiver and hastily packing up my room for a big move from Georgia to Virginia that would happen in March. While I understood that moving in with my sister would give me more help as a caregiver, it was extremely difficult to leave a place I lived in for thirty years. As a result, I was pessimistic because I was reluctant to start over in a new place. Everything was changing and it felt like I had more to lose than gain. It was around this time that I decided to read the manga Zom 100 because I wanted to see how a burned out person found joy in life again.
Written by Haro Aso and drawn by Kotaro Takata, Zom 100: Bucket List of The Dead tells the story of office worker Akira Tendo. Overworked by an abusive team leader, Akira is a victim of a toxic work environment resigned to his circumstances. However, when he wakes up to go to work one morning, he finds a zombie apocalypse has descended upon Japan. Relieved that he doesn't have to go to work, what starts off as a beer-run becomes a realization of how many things he didn't get to do because of work. From there, he makes a bucket list of 100 things he wants to do before becoming a zombie while surviving his new circumstances.
After I read Volume 1 of the manga, I decided to make a bucket list of my own called, "100 Things I Want To Do To Avoid Feeling Like A Zombie." I titled it this way because being an unpaid family caregiver sometimes made me feel invisible, unappreciated, and very tired. If nobody else was going to appreciate me, then I'd show myself appreciation by doing things I've wanted to do. I started with what I wanted immediately, followed by things for my birthday in February, and finally things I wanted to do after I moved. It included things like reading an entire Miles Morales comic book run, spending time with a friend before I moved, and cooking food with my sister.
Although Zom 100 is a fictional horror-comedy, it provides painfully accurate commentary on how exploitative a capitalist society can be. From toxic workspaces to overly strict parents, there are many people who choose to make others into the walking dead for profit and power. A powerful arc that illustrates this is when Akira's crappy boss takes advantage of the zombie apocalypse to lure others to do manual labor in exchange for food, medicine, and shelter.
Initially, Akira's desperation to help his friends Kenchiro and Shizuka causes him to give into his boss' demands and become mindless. Then Shizuka uses her own experience with being demeaned to empathize with Akira, telling that always doing what needs to be done is no way to live, because some people abuse that for their own gain. Shizuka reminds him that his wants are important, that he still has a whole bucket list of wants to fulfill. It is then Akira comes back to himself and tells off his boss.
For more than a decade, I sacrificed my own wants to satisfy my mom's needs as her caregiver. With the help of therapy, I started to see my own worth and started acknowledging my wants in 2025. To savor this progress and enjoy Georgia a little more before I moved, some of the initial items on my bucket list would involve eating pizza from a local shop and visiting a Black-owned bookstore for comic books.
Although I didn't have a hundred things I wanted to do, I kept adding things as time passed because it gave me things to look forward to. Even though I was in a month-long depressive episode after moving, I did comforting things on the list such as making a reading nook in my new room.
As Zom 100 progresses, Akira starts using his own bucket list to help others fulfill their wants as early as Volume 1. Akira's desire to "drink beer with his best bud" causes him to not only save Kenchiro's life, but causes Kenchiro to remember his dream of being a stand-up comic. There are instances that I've done the same with my bucket list, such as learning to meal prep my own food and then later meal prepping my mom's food.
In Zom 100, zombies are used literally and metaphorically to discuss how an exploitative environment can turn a person into the walking dead. With no energy to have a life and take care of themselves, some people literally work themselves to death. We all deserve better. I'd rather acknowledge my wants and feel alive, than be a zombie for someone else's needs.
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