SakuTaro

"I have what it takes! Whether or not you have what it takes is irrelevant because I do! And I’m telling you this, I will never and I mean never abandon you!"

- Kotaro to a depressed Sakura, "A One-of-a-Kind SAGA"

SakuTaro is the het ship between Sakura Minamoto and Kotaro Tatsumi from the Zombie Land Saga fandom.

Overview
The ship first started gaining traction when it was revealed in "A One-of-a-Kind SAGA" that the reason why Kotaro is going above and beyond to make Franchouchou a well-known idol group (and in extension, making Sakura's dream of becoming an idol before her death come true) and make Sakura (re)gain her confidence is because he is revealed to be her classmate that shared her interest in listening to her favorite pop idol group, Iron Frill. In which the latter accidentally drops her CD of one of their albums to which Kotaro, who was timid and softspoken at the time, picked it up for her. She flashes him a sweet smile while thanking him, which eventually etched itself in his mind as one of his most unforgettable memories of her, only to realize she died in a truck collision not long after.

Fast forward to ten years after the flashback, Inui, now going by the pen name of "Kotaro Tatsumi", has decided to take up necromancy lessons to revive his dear classmate alongside six other "legendary" girls and makeup lessons along the way in order to conceal their identites as zombies using his cosmetology skills he picked up from Hollywood. Because of this, he forms Franchouchou, the one and only idol group consisting of zombiefied girls from different walks of life in order to save the declining tourism rates of the Saga Prefecture, while simultaneously keeping the unspoken curse of the prefecture at bay and making Sakura's dream come true in the process.

Kotaro is usually seen teasing Sakura the most out of the girls, but also giving her the most attention, while also thinking that he is being subtle about it, as pointed out by Yugiri in "No Zombie, No Idol SAGA".

Season 1
In "Good Morning, SAGA", Kotaro saves Sakura from being further physically assaulted by a local police officer by knocking him unconscious with a shovel after the officer finds out her identity as a zombie. After she regains consciousness, Kotaro tells the very confused and undead Sakura her current predicament. How she was killed by a truck ten years prior and is now a zombie, to which he has made it his personal job to become her (and the other six girls') manager for an undead pop idol group to "save the Saga Prefecture from its declining tourist rates". Before explaining to her his master plan, he carefully takes her by the chin and forces her to look him in the eyes (hidden behind the shades he never takes off since the day he took on his new persona) to which she blushes in response and tries to change the subject by wondering why he has bits of a dried squid snack sticking out of his vest pocket.

Later in the episode, she understandably bombards him with questions to which he teasingly tells her how it was because of "a little stimulation" that she was the first to gain consciousness amongst the seven girls. She then demands for him to elaborate to which he lesves her hanging (though, it is later revealed this "stimulation" is nothing more than exposure to death metal music), while continuing on and complimenting her on how "she is looking radiant (that day)".

After convincing her to go along with their first ever performance as an idol group at Geils Death Metal Live Stadium, he tries and gives her a pep talk before she and the still "unconscious" six other zombie girls are called onstage.

In "I Love Hiphop SAGA", after the rest of the girls gain consciousness at the end of the first episode, one of the first things he talks about during their daily meeting is how Sakura "gave a stimulating performance" during the night prior, which was effective in waking the girls up a few hours afterward.

After complimenting her on her performance, he tells the girls how their performance for the day would be their official debut as idols (not including the one from the night before, as it was only to get them to "wake up") as they are tasked to sing "Rise Again" at Saga Castle.

Their performance later escalates into a rap battle between Sakura and her fellow idolmate, Saki Nikaido after the two's squabbling onstage nearly costed them their identities after they accidentally knock Tae Yamada's head off of her body. Luckily, the audience buys that it was all a magic trick and after realizing what the situation has turned into, Kotaro doesn't hesitate to start beatboxing as background music accompanying Sakura's raps against Saki.

After their successful performance, despite the turn of events, Kotaro compliments Sakura on her rapping skills in their morning assembly of the following episode. Telling her how she "got the beat" and how "(her) rhymes are neat" and how she "bought the heat" to which she sheepishly accepts his compliment, only for the former to wuickly cover it up by yelling at her saying how she should not let it get to her head this early on, in fear of the rest of the girls finding out of his soft side for his former classmate.

In "But It's Zombiemental SAGA", Kotaro tells the girls he wants one good look at them before they go onstage for their first huge performance, specifically one for Saga Rock. He stops on Sakura as she gives him a smile, not knowing that she is the first to become victim of his "waterproof spray" he sprays all over the seven girls to keep their human makeup from running in the rain, to which Saki later then confirms to just be regular shoespray.

In "No Zombie, No Idol SAGA", Sakura is hyped up after Kotaro announces to the girls that they are going to be perfroming their second biggest event so far as mediocre idols at the Arpino Stadium. Because of this, she becomes overzealous and ends up getting too far ahead of their practice that the other girls can't catch up to. Kotaro takes notice of this behind the scenes and plans a last-minute trip for them to the alps, specifically the Tenzan Prefectural Nature Park. Sakura immediately voices her disagreement to this, but he only responds by telling her that this was all part of their training for Arpino, and that it's their job to survive until he eventually comes back to pick them up once "they" (just Sakura, but under the guise that all of them should participate, too) "learn their lesson" in hopes of having Sakura calm down a notch.

Not long after, a wild boar goes after Sakura, leaving the poor girl covered in its slobber after being tossed to a nearby tree. She finally has had enough and blows up at Kotaro for the first time, telling him she has had enough of his antics for the day and storms back to the van.

Kotaro is later seen hanging around a local bar, wondering where he went wrong as he drinks away his confusion. He is then visited by Yugiri who takes note on how "he seems to have a soft spot for Sakura-han" followed by literally slapping some sense into him, telling him how he is underestimating Sakura and he should do something about what he has done. Though the slap was unwarranted, as he has already figured out his mistake by the time she does it to him.

After making amends with Sakura in his own way by revealing how he only took them up to the alps to help her clear her mind from her overzealousy, Yugiri slips to his side again and says how she finds his attitude towards his former classmate to be rather adorable, to which he dismisses by telling her he has no idea what she is talking about.

In "A One-of-a-Kind SAGA", Kotaro's diary entry (official episode synopsis) talks about how the girls told him about Sakura getting hit by another truck on her morning jog at the end of the previous episode. Because of this, he is losing sleep over how to fix this as the hit to her head has bought back her memories from when she was alive and has now caused her to revert to what is revealed to be her default personality just moments before her death.

It is revealed in a string of flashbacks that, due to her incredible bad luck, she has finally had enough of the consequences and has converted from the once happy-go-lucky and positive girl to the now depressed and indirectly suicidal individual. She then discovers Iron Frill, her favorite pop idol group, during one of her binge-eating sessions and takes a liking to idol groups as a whole. This is what eventually rids her of her depressed phase and makes her excited for the rehearsal she was heading off to in the first episode, only for her to get hit by a speeding truck that came out of nowhere.

As the flashback ends, the current Sakura reverts to her depressed phase that came with her indirectly suicidal intentions. The girls try to cheer her up to no avail, instead having her cynical responses to each of their individual attempts backfire on them, thus upsetting them in return. Kotaro then takes matters to his own hands and drags her to a scenic view by a parking lot, but only after saving her from being shot a second time by the same local policeman by throwing the zombified family pet poodle, Romero, at the officer's head, effectively knocking him out a second time.

Although Sakura tries to drive him away with her cynical comebacks, he does not budge and sticks by her side. Though, he responds with a fakeout at first, making her think he has finally left after having had enough of her pessimism, only for the idol producer to come back, while asking her in a sarcastic yet deadpan tone if "she missed him". He then gives her a pep talk, by yelling it at her face, and concluding it with him telling her that no matter what she does, what she thinks of herself or the situation, and no matter what happens and how much time passes, he promises he will never leave her side. Because he "does not care if (she) thinks (she) does not have what it takes" but as long as he has what it takes, he will make sure to make her dream come true and make her smile once again.

As a lethal snowstorm approaches the prefecture later that night, the girls are seen fast asleep inside as Kotaro is shown reminiscing on his past by the balcony, which is late revealed in a flashback that follows, that he and Sakura were formerly classmates in high school back when he was still the softspoken and timid social outcast named Inui (before he took on his persona as the overly energetic and confident idol producer, Kotaro Tatsumi) who shared the same interest in listening to Iron Frill with her. As the flashback ends, he is seen facing away from the camera as he takes off his shades while looking at the moon, indicating that he has been crying over his reminiscence.

In "Good Morning Again, SAGA", the day of their performance at Arpino Stadium arrives and it all goes well, just before the snowstorm hits, effectively making the roof and interior of the stadium collapse, specifically the exact spot the girls were performing on. As the blizzard cuts all the power and starts causing panic amongst the audience, this makes Sakura quickly doubt if she will ever become successful since her bad luck has followed her even after death.

She then hears slowclapping from the audience, later revealed to be coming from Kotaro, who tells her she should not give up, that she has come this far, and that the show must go on while telling her he knows what she is capable of and she must not let a simple snowstorm stop her from living her dream in the afterlife. Not long after, the audience joins in on the slowclapping and encouraging cheers, which makes Sakura finally give in and continue by singing her part of the song from where it got interrupted. After the successful performance, Kotaro checks up on the girls backstage, who are currently celebrating their success, to which he tells them it was too early for them to be celebrating before pushing them back onstage for their encore.

Season 1
"Your vital mission is to assume this new identity as Zombie #1 and work with the rest of your team to save the Saga Prefecture."

- Kotaro to Sakura, about being an undead idol, "Good Morning, SAGA"

"Look, as long as you follow my instructions exactly. I promise you’ll probably be fine."

- Kotaro reassuring Sakura on their first performance onstage, "Good Morning, SAGA"

"Girl, you got the beat. Uh-huh. Those raps were neat, yeah-yuh. You bought the heat, fool!"

- Kotaro, complimenting Sakura's rapping skills, "Dead or Alive SAGA"

"You still haven’t figured it out? Think Nijinomatsubara, a pine forest. Pine as in alpine, alpine as in the alps. Hence, the mountains? Mountain climbing, except with your issues?!"

- Kotaro revealing to Sakura why he dragged the girls to the mountains, "No Zombie, No Idol SAGA"

"I have what it takes! Whether or not you have what it takes is irrelevant because I do! And I’m telling you this, I will never and I mean never abandon you!"

- Kotaro to a depressed Sakura, "A One-of-a-Kind SAGA"

"Thank you, Inui-kun!"

- Sakura to Kotaro, her last smile before her death in Kotaro's flashback, "A One-of-a-Kind SAGA"

Season 2
"As long as Franchouchou exists, I will keep going, no matter what it takes! Your dream doesn’t end at EFS, your dream is to continue forward and be the best idols the world has ever seen! Until the time comes, I will...I will...be the man who will keep doing this, even if it takes forever."

- Kotaro, responding to Sakura's gratefulness "All It Takes is For You to Be There SAGA"

Fanon
SakuTaro is one of the most popular ships in the fandom, having around the same amount of recognition and content, if not more, as Pure-hearted Love. Though, it is more-so only quite popular amongst the Asian fanbase, specifically more on its Japanese viewers as the ship and the series itself is not well recognized in foreign countries. And because of this, the pairing only has around ten or less fanfictions in Archive of Our Own.

Kotaro and Sakura's relationship is between a loud, overly confident tsundere and his caring but oblivious childhood friend whom means the world to him. And it was because of Sakura's strong passion for wanting to become an idol back when she was alive that drove Inui to do a complete 180 on his personality, change his name and identity, and bring back the literal dead all just to see the smile on her face again.

Fandom
FANFICTION

Trivia

 * Because Sakura died only five days after her seventeenth birthday, she retains the physical body of a teenager for the rest of her life as a zombie while still chronologically aging. This makes her around the same age as Kotaro at around 28 years old, as they were both born around the early 1990s.
 * The reason why Kotaro wears his signature shades is so Sakura will never recognize him as Inui, though albeit that being said, Sakura (and the other girls) has seen him without his shades at least once before. Specifically when Saki physically assaults him in "The Nice Bird SAGA in Your Heart" as a response to him mocking her, thus throwing his shades off his face.