This is a pure comedy post that parodies the series of Zombieland Saga. Spoilers may be used for the sake of comedy. Please take this notice as a forewarning for spoilers ahead should you wish to read onward.
Unbeknownst to most players and fans of the series, Zombieland Saga truly holds a hidden message in its push towards income equality for all. Yamada Tae, one of the main protagonists of the series, seeks nothing more but to fix the imbalance of the corporate world, working to better the lives of workers and bring justice to all.
Miss Tae was born to a humble common folk family. She was a happy young girl, living joyfully in the shade of her parents’ shadows. However, when the striking claw of capitalism attacked the family, Tae was left alone after her parents collapsed in an accident with no medical insurance to support them. Tae was forced to wander the world alone, desperate for the financial aid to support herself from a young age.
Ever resourceful and hard-working, Tae pushed herself by starting at the bottom of the ladder. Though the work was tough on her body, even causing her physical self to deteriorate and break into pieces at times, Tae struggled onward. She used whatever means she could to survive, eating any meal presented to her for the sake of survival. Tae’s days were tough, and with her paltry pay, there were days where she would cut her meals and roam the streets as if she were a zombie.
Her effort and talents were eventually rewarded. Tae was able to sneak into her dream career of choice as an idol, working to better the world and put smiles on everyone’s faces. For a moment in Tae’s life, she saw herself as a voice of change, bringing prosperity to all. Her life rapidly flashed as she no longer lived on the streets struggling and hopping from places with month to month. Tae had begun to be stable in her financial career, living in a mansion with shared company of warm folks who welcomed her in.
However, this reality was cut short as she continued working in the business. She became like a drone, a lifeless model that would perform as the company needed. She found her identity being crushed and changed to fake lies from her company. Through an incident one night, Tae saw and became aware of the differences in compensation between her and the other employees of the idol group. She was heavily underfunded in comparison. A passing joke between her colleagues and producer showed that they did not value her voice or athletic prowess at all. They openly stated that Tae’s dance motions were like that of the living dead.
Bewildered, confused, and sad, Tae’s voice disappeared with her last remaining vocal abilities limited to groaning and barking. She realized that she was simply another cog in the system. She could be easily replaced, only existing to perform the company’s needs and nothing more. She was devalued and treated inhumanely. The corporate world was without a heartbeat, just like exactly how Tae felt.
ZLS/W93-082U 煌めくステージ たえ (center)
ZLS/W93-060U 飛び入り参加 たえ (right)
At first, Tae wished to reject this notion. She thought for a second that this was just an overreacted belief on her part. She chewed away her problems, trying to make sense of the situation. But this was just a coping mechanism as Tae became aware of the truth. Never had the group considered making her the center lead. She had never even sung any bits of the chorus at all. She was like a character in the backdrop, voiceless and secondary.
She realized the truth of reality. The idea of a humble low class worker ever reaching the ideas of success and prosperity was just a paper dream. The system was a mockery, meant to drive this false pretense in the hopes that young talent would be baited and fooled into throwing themselves into cheap labour. She was destined to live a life dedicated to hard labour without fair return.
Her narrative had always been silenced from the start. The whole system was rigged to begin with. There was never any chance of her becoming successful through raw talent and effort alone. Capitalist society would never recognize her contributions, seeing her work as simply essential services only worthy of low pay. Though she had risen to the ranks of becoming a public idol, she would always remain as another low class worker with just a shinier badge and title.
Tae worked her face (literally) off despite her realization of this dystopian society. She had to play into the capitalist game merely to survive. She had to work around the system whose tendrils had already long penetrated all bits of society. And on top of it all, she knew that she had to change the ways of her workmates as well. They deserved to know the truth.
They squabbled. They fought. This was exactly what capitalism had wanted. Her corporate overlords chuckled as they watched Tae’s struggle to take a stand against this rigged system. They had purposely seeded dissent amongst the workers to blindside them from their true enemy. This was their objective from the very start. However, Tae was never going to let this fight end easily with a loss. Tae rallied her fellow workers. By voicing her truth, regardless of the corporation’s pressure and efforts to push her down, she convinced and converted her subordinates into allies.
Tae worked tirelessly without rest. Some say she would be awake deep into the night without even a wink of sleep. With renewed zeal, Tae could transcend the needs of the living, becoming superhuman in fact. Though without a voice, her grunts and scowls reached out to the many, adding more power to her cause. Capitalism may have taken away some of her functions, but it would take way more to rid the passion for her cause.
Despite being battered and tossed around, with physical injuries that made them resemble living corpses, Tae and her brigade marched on. Capitalism was always lurking around, constantly forcing their backs against the wall. However, Tae and her crew were stronger. Though they were many, capitalism’s grasp on society was powerful. Progress was slow, but progress would continue on. With bright glittering determination in her eyes, Tae’s shining voice reached out to the many, becoming a familiar beacon of hope in this doomed world of inhumanity.