Consider the Lilies of the Zombie Land Field

Somehow, if my Twitter feed is correct (and since when is it not?), Zombie Land Saga has replaced Goblin Slayer as The Most Controversial Anime(TM). And not because of something like on-screen rape. No, it’s because adorable little Lily-chan… is apparently a boy. And the cues are so subtle that, I kid you not, I missed it when watching the episode in question.

It wasn’t until afterward, as I browsed Twitter, that I discovered from other folks The Truth About Lily(TM). And you know what I did? I said, “Oh, that’s interesting. I missed that.” And got on with my life.

But apparently this was really shocking to some people. And I frankly don’t get this. If the super-subtle trans theme in ZLS caused some heads to roll, why not Golden Kamuy, which just depicted five men stripping in an otter-induced gay orgy? Why not Double Decker, the cast of which includes an androgynous lead (a man who in the last episode dressed up as a bride), his trans sibling, and a lesbian couple which includes a robot?

Is ZLS really the series you want to fall on your swords for?

Clearly there’s a double-standard at play here. No, I’m not talking about gender and diversity standards. I want to call on all like-minded souls to stand up and say: It is time.

Time for what?, you ask.

Time to stop discriminating against zombies. Why should we hold our zombies to a different standard than we do our “normal” anime characters? (As if there were such a thing!) Where are the gay zombie orgies? Where are the lesbian zombie robots? Enough with the bionormativity, people. Zombies weren’t exactly “born this way”, but they should be free to discover their own identities in their own undead, frequently anthropophagic way. Undead rights are human rights.

PS

Clearly I need more sleep. Good night, good people!