Nogizaka46: "Zambi" drama episode three recap

 Start Date: January 23rd on Hulu at 1:00 am
The following day it airs on NTV

Cast:

Asuka Saito as Kaede Yamamuro

Miona Hori as Minori Morodzumi

Manatsu Akimoto as Asumi Saijou

Yuki Yoda as Hijiri Kai

Mizuki Yamashita as Yui Kanenura

Ranze Terada as Sena Sakaki

Miria Watanabe as Suzune Sakura

Junna Ito as Rena Igarashi

Momoko Ozono as Yuzuki Sakikawa

Ayane Suzuki as Marina Fujusaki

Minami Umezawa as Kana Kiuchi

Kaede Sato as Azusa Seki

Shiori Kubo as Honoka Hanamura

Mai Shinuchi as The beautiful woman....

..... plus seven other third generation members.....

 Was going to have a pair of recaps every two weeks but as you can tell that didn't happen. A total of six episodes have aired so am four posts behind but with any luck will be caught up in a day or two as I've watched all six of them. Will have two recaps for today though don't know if they'll be done the day I'm writing them but luckily these recaps aren't huge as an episode is only 22+ minutes in length.
 Seeing as how it's been over three weeks since the last recap will give a very brief rundown on where we stand. This series takes place a the Freeasia Academy which is a private girls school and seemingly an elite one. In the first show most of the school had gone on a field trip, on their way back to school the bus had broken down and the girls had to spend the night in a remote village. Not just any village as later on the girls had learned it was once called 'Zambi Village' and because of their actions the curse of the village had followed them.
 They had taken photos at a sacred temple plus had brought back a pinwheel that seems to be cursed yet it can let a person know when zombies are around. The main character is Kaede, during the second show her best friend Asumi was the first student who turned into a zombie, she tells the rest of the school Kaede is lying but us viewers all know better. The second show ended with Kaede being joined by two other gals, her friend Minori and a shy girl named Hijiri, to find out the mysteries of Zambi Village and that's about where we are heading into the third episode.

 Asumi is the middle person in the top screenshot, that short scene took place during cooking class. It was the last time we've seen Asumi for a while as shortly after she disappeared. But during that class she had been using a grater, instead of grating cheese she was using her hand(!) which naturally became very bloodied. No other student noticed that act though Kaede certainly did, when Asumi approached her best friend Kaede screamed to stay away.
 In the bottom pic is Kaede's second best friend Minori who hasn't been told the full details of what's been happening to Asumi and perhaps other students at the school. After that brief incident in class Asumi seemed to disappear or at least Kaede is unable to locate her. One person we've seen just here and there but could prove to be an interesting character is the girl's teacher. So far they've never said her name nor could I find any info on the cast list so will refer to her as Sensei or teacher.
 Kaede noticed Sensei walking down a hallway and dashed up to her to inform her that Asumi has gone missing. 'Not to worry' replied her teacher as Asumi had been called back home for an emergency. Us viewers and Kaede knew that was an out and out lie but there was nothing Kaede could say to dispute that. It didn't go much further but this would have set up for an interesting scene. Kaede pressed Sensei just a bit further about Asumi, the teacher said she couldn't discuss anything more right then but if Kaede wanted to visit her room privately later she may be able to 'help her'. Kaede was disgusted at her Sensei's advances but wish that became a more important storyline.

At the end of the second episode we met the character Hijiri who is a very introverted and easily scared student. However she's a person who has believed that the Zambi Village curse has followed the students and has been doing much investigating on it. She's now become Kaede's most trusted comrade, it was Hijiri who had taken the picture that proved Asumi was cursed. As in the 'Ring' movies when someone cursed has their photo taken they look so distorted in the pic.
 But now it seems the missing Asumi isn't the only zombie in school as Hijiri has taken another photo showing the distorted face of a student. Problem is the pic was taken from so far away neither could tell the identity of the student, it's time for the two zombie catchers to get into action. One good thing about this show is that many members that don't get a lot of attention, especially Undergirls, have their chance in the spotlight during this series.
 One of those persons is Miria who plays the character of Suzune, she's another very shy person and one who really wants to become popular by joining a group of snobby girls. But those girls look down on Suzune, they're not going to allow her to join their posse but aren't going to tell her that yet as they have an errand or two for her to run first. Just as that group was about to tell Suzune what to do around the corner came Kaede and Hijiri, when they looked at the leader of the group both thought they've found the school's second zombie.

 This will be the final segment, sure all enjoy reading smaller recaps like these. That leader of the group turned out to be Yui, we've seen her on a few occasions and she's a student who is not fond of Kaede in the least. Kaede had screamed at Suzune to run away as Yui was a zombie, she and her group of followers stood there laughing. That is until they realized that Kaede had taken a photo of Yui, now she'll have the evidence to prove she's a zombie.
 Kaede would have had the proof except for one major problem, the photo showed Yui was a normal girl and not a zombie. Being accused of being a monster infuriated Yui to no end, the two don't square off then but it appears something will happen between them in the future. Meanwhile the Yui and her posse left the scene in hysterics over Kaede's accusations, she stood there dumbfounded but was powerless to do anything.
 On to the final scene which took place in Suzune's room. She invited Kaede there to thank her for sticking up for her though in the end run there was no need to save her life. Suzune had been babbling on about some nonsense while she was pouring them some cups of tea. As she was pouring the scalding water both cups had overflowed and the water was landing on Suzune's bare feet, she showed zero pain at being burned. But Kaede had been witnessing her actions, during that time Minori and Hijiri had also entered the room. While all three were watching in horror at what Suzune was doing their that horror level increased ten fold in a matter of seconds.
 That's because they've finally discovered that the school does have a second zombie, it wasn't Yui but instead the student standing in front of them! That was naturally Suzune whose face took on one of a monster and turned to face the trio with killing on her mind. What takes place next is unknown for this episode ended on that mini cliffhanger, actually the next three shows do too and the last five minutes of an episode are the best of every show.

 In the opening credits those words appear but they always show seven days, this is the first time three has appeared and could that be how much time is left for the students to live? Well, didn't get both recaps done in one sitting but am already three weeks behind so sure one more day doesn't matter and that next recap is the post following this one.