Chapter 6
Lots of Catching Up To Do

Lily was seated in front of the television, watching SpongeBob SquarePants happily. Passing by and seeing this, Ai said to her, "Watching SpongeBob, huh?"

"Yeah, and it's the latest episode," he replied. "Can you believe that it's still airing even all these years? It's in its twelfth season already!"

"Wow... That's really long...!" commented Ai. "Didn't think it would be so popular to last this long..."

"It's really fun! I like it!" said Lily.

Sitting on a couch in the same room, Saki was reading a Shounen Jump magazine. "Are you kidding me?! One Piece has 938 chapters already?!" she said in shock. "There wasn't even 100 chapters yet when I died!"

Sakura leaned over to look at the magazine and said, "Wow, it really lasted so long! It must be really popular for the author to continue for over 20 years!"

"And why's the setting in ancient Japan? I thought this is a series about pirates?" wondered Saki. "Looks like I'll have to read from the very beginning to understand things... Where can I even read old volumes nowadays?"

"You can rent manga from rental stores," Sakura told her.

"Or you can read them online," Lily said to the blonde zombie while turning around from the TV. "They have websites where manga are scanned online."

"Really? That's convenient!" said Saki.

"Oh, speaking of manga... I remember there being some at the bookshelf," said Sakura. "I don't think I've actually taken time to properly look through its contents yet. I'll go see if there's anything noteworthy." She stood up and went over to the bookshelf and saw that there were indeed some manga series there. "Let's see... Is there anything I'm familiar with?"

She then noticed one particular manga and so reached out to it. "Oh! Crayon Shin-chan! I really love it!" Looking at the title cover, she noticed that the actual title was "New Crayon Shin-chan," and the volume number is only one. "Huh? Is this an old volume, but the art style is like the newer ones... And what's with the word 'new' in the title?"

"The author of Crayon Shin-chan passed away," said Kotarou, showing up at the doorway of the room. "Died falling off a cliff while hiking. Since then, his team took over the series and started the volume count from one and adding the word 'new' into the title to differentiate it from the original 50 volumes."

Saki, Sakura, and Ai were shocked to hear this. "Crayon Shin-chan's author is dead?!" said Ai with widened eyes.

"Are you kidding me?!" said Saki.

"Yeah, I saw it on the news," said Lily. "He died in 2010. I did hear that his team would continue the series for him, though as far as I know, they still haven't begun work yet when I died."

"That's horrible..." said Sakura in disbelief.

"True, but it's not like the series's quality declined because of a new team," said Kotarou. "I think it's still good, so give it a try." And then he left the room.

Sitting down on the sofa and opening the book to begin reading the first chapter, Sakura said with a sad look, "How tragic... He created such a great series, and then he left just like that..."

"Sucks, doesn't it...?" said Saki while flipping through her magazine. "By the way, I don't see KochiKame in here anywhere... Is it on break, or did it finished already?"

"It was still running when I was alive," Ai told her.

"Same here," added Lily.

Kotarou suddenly popped his head out from behind the doorway and said, "KochiKame ended back in 2016." And then he left again.

"Wow... It finally ended..." said Ai in disbelief. "And people are calling it the longest running manga series ever with no end in sight..."

"Oh right, I'm wondering about a particular series I read when I was a kid that I really liked," said Junko as she sat down on the sofa next to Sakura. "It's... Doraemon."

"Oh, you like Doraemon too? It's really fun!" said Sakura.

"I know, right? I always thought how awesome it would be to have a pocket containing objects from the future that can help you with lots of things!" said Junko happily. "Is that series still running?"

"I think the manga already ended publication, but the franchise itself never actually ended," replied Sakura. "They had a new anime series that started back in 2005 and was still airing when I died."

Hearing this, Lily whipped out his smartphone and began looking up info. "I found it. Wikipedia says that the same anime series is still airing even to this day."

"Wow! It's still airing?!" said Sakura in surprise.

"And it will air later today too," added the young zombie.

"Wow! I can't wait to watch it!" said Junko happily. "I wonder what's changed since then."

"Oh yeah! I'm just reminded of something!" said Saki, looking up from the magazine. "Shrimpy, can you look up to see if there is anything new on Dragon Ball?"

"You a fan of that series?" Ai asked her.

"Of course! It's really awesome! Many young people back then were inspired by this series when it comes to fighting!" said Saki. "I have to admit that I got fighting inspirations from it too!"

"Found something I'm sure you'll like," said Lily while looking at the smartphone. "It says here a new anime series called Dragon Ball Super aired in 2015, serving as a sequel to Dragon Ball Z. Only ended last year."

"Huh? They made a sequel?" said Saki with interest. "What does that make GT? I've heard that GT isn't considered canon because it's not based on the manga."

"Super is considered canon," said Lily while continuing to look up info. "The anime came first, and then the manga adaptation, but even so, the Akira Toriyama is responsible for the plot of the new series, which is why it's considered canon."

"Interesting! Gotta find time to watch it! Where can you watch old reruns nowadays?" Saki asked him. "Let me guess, the internet?"

"I'm sure," replied the young zombie.

"Man! The internet sure is handy nowadays! You really can find anything!" said Saki.

"Oh, there was another series I enjoyed reading about. It's called Glass Mask!" said Junko.

"I heard of that too!" said Sakura. "I think it's still being published."

"Really? Wow! I can't believe it!" said Junko happily. "It actually served as an inspiration in me becoming an idol!"

"What's that series about anyway? I've heard of it but never bothered reading it," asked Saki.

"It's about a girl aspiring to become the greatest performer and the hardships she face to become one," explained Junko. "It's a very touching and romantic series!"

"Doesn't sound like my cup of tea..." commented Saki.

"I'd imagine you to like more action-oriented series," Sakura said to her.

The commercials were currently airing on TV, and a TV spot for an upcoming movie appeared on the screen. Lily widened his eyes when he saw it. "Whoa! A new Godzilla movie is coming!"

Hearing this, the others turned to the TV to watch the TV spot for the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

"Oh, they're making a new one at last?" said Ai curiously. "And it's made by Westerners?"

"What do you mean at last?" asked Saki. "You sound like they haven't made a Godzilla movie in a while."

"Well, I did hear that they're taking a hiatus for the series in 2004," Sakura told her. "There has been no news on the series ever since."

"There was still nothing when Lily died too," said Lily while looking through his smartphone.

"They're still making Godzilla movies?" asked a curious Junko.

"Yeah, it was all the rage during my time," Saki told her. "They came out, like, on a yearly basis, but the last one I remember before I died was in 1995."

"Found some interesting stuff," said Lily while looking at his smartphone. "America made their second Godzilla movie that has nothing to do with the 1998 version in 2014, and unlike the latter, it is very well received, so much that a sequel, which we saw just now, is coming out this year."

"America made their own version back in 1998?" asked Saki curiously.

"Right, but I never watched it, and I heard it's not good at all," said Ai. "Bad plot, unfaithful design, and all..."

"I think the new design looks pretty neat if you think of it as a different monster," said Sakura.

"Then in 2016, Japan made their own Godzilla movie again, and then after that, they made three animated movies," continued Lily. "Oh, and check this out, they're making another King Kong versus Godzilla in 2020!"

"Wow! This series sure was on the roll while we were all dead!" commented Sakura.

"I would love to give them a try if possible!" said Saki with interest.

"I assume they use what you call CGI nowadays to make those movies, right?" asked Junko.

"Well, they still use rubber suits in the 90s, but I'd imagine that to be the case nowadays," said Saki.

"Yeah, CGI is the norm nowadays for movies," said Sakura.

"Why do people find pleasure in watching giant beasts destroying things?" asked Yuugiri.

"Well... Different people have different interests, I guess..." said an unsure Sakura.

"Because watching things blow up is awesome!" said Saki with a grin.

Another TV spot popped up on the TV, and the zombies watched with surprised looks at what it was. "Is that a live-action Pokemon movie?!" said Ai.

"Wow! That realistic Pikachu is so cute and fluffy!" commented Sakura.

"Yeah, it's called Detective Pikachu and is coming out this May," said Lily, look in at his smartphone. "It's made by Westerners as well."

"This should be interesting," said Ai.

"Pokemon must still be really popular to last to this day," said Saki. "I remember kids going crazy about it back when it first came out in 1996."

"Yeah, it was still a worldwide phenomenon in 2008," said Ai. "They create new batch of Pokemon every three or so years."

"Apparently, the anime is still airing, with over 1,000 episodes already..." said Lily in disbelief after looking up info. "And they're making the eighth generation this year for the Switch."

"Wow, I think it was just the fourth generation when I died..." said Sakura.

"Man, there's a lot of catching up to do for the series we all know about!" said Saki.

"I know, right?" said Ai.

"What exactly is Pokemon? When we were out there, I sometimes hear children and teenagers talking about it," asked Junko, "and when we were playing that Smash Brother game some time ago, you said some of the characters in there are Pokemon."

"It's a video game series about catching monsters and training them for battle," Sakura explained to her. "It even got an anime adaptation. It was really popular when it first came out!"

"Making monsters fight each other? Is that ethical?" asked Yuugiri.

"Well, it's just a game... and in that game's universe, it's perfectly legal. Plus, they're monsters, so they can take hits and easily survive," replied Sakura.

"You know, we should find some time to watch TV shows and movies together," suggested Saki. "There's a lot we haven't caught up on all these years. Since we don't have anything to do nowadays, I'm sure we have lots of free time to do that!"

"Great idea!" agreed Sakura with a nod.

"I wonder if Tatsumi even has any movies here, though," said Ai.

Their producer popped up at the doorway and said, "Have you even checked out the cabinet underneath the TV?"

"But it's locked..." said Lily, proving it to him by trying to open the cabinet the TV was placed on and failing to do so.

"Silly me... I'll get the key. Be sure to put the discs back when you're done watching, okay?" said Kotarou before leaving to find the key.

"Great! Let's have a movie night tonight!" said Saki with enthusiasm as she punched the air, and all the others agreed with delight.

TO BE CONTINUED

The idea to bring up KochiKame and Glass Mask actually comes from a ZLS fan comic I found on Pixiv.

Yes, SpongeBob airs in Japan too and even has a dub. You can easily find them on YouTube, so check it out if you're curious about the casts' dubbed voices.

Anyway, some movie reactions will be coming next chapter, and just so you know, I won't be, like, going through the entirety of the movie, but rather, make them react to parts that I think they will find interesting. It's going to take forever if I type about an entire movie, you know.

I said this before in Justice of Two Worlds. I DON'T AND WILL NEVER write Marvel-related stories, so there WON'T BE any reactions to Marvel movies, especially MCU ones. I don't hate Marvel, but thanks to Marvel fanboys who can't say a good thing about DC, especially DCEU, the franchise has more or less been ruined for me. While I do still watch Marvel movies, I don't get hyped by them at all. In fact, Avengers: Endgame is nowhere on my most hyped list of movies this year.

So I apologize beforehand if you are expecting MCU-related reactions here. You won't find any, and you can thank all those rabid Marvel fanboys and DC haters for this.