Ai Mizuno/Relationships

## Franchouchou

### Sakura Minamoto (Zombie #1)

Sakura only has the slightest memory of Ai due to her memory loss, but that doesn't stop her from being deeply disappointed that a “legendary” idol like her would rather give up after losing everything rather than find new ways to move on. Once Ai overcomes her trauma to save Franchouchou's performance after Sakura forgets her handwriting in Episode 3, Sakura regains her respect for her.

At first, she did not get along very well due to Sakura's attitude of following Kotaro without questioning anything about his plan. In the rap battle of episode 2, Sakura tells her to stop hiding and start acting like an idol. In the upcoming episodes and with the group formed, their relationship improves enough to be comfortable. When Sakura loses her memories, she is the first to attend her and surely the one who went for her when she was run over for the second time.

Upon waking up in episode 11, Sakura picks up a poker stick, scaring Ai, and then falls unconscious, the next morning she accompanies her when she wakes up and tells her that she died 10 years ago in an accident. Sakura, puzzled, loses her spirits, but Ai says that she will be fine and will come back at some point.

For Sakura, her when she was alive. Learning about Ai's determination to carry on regardless of her failures and mistakes brought Sakura out of the helplessness learned from her, turning her into the hopeful girl who was once in time for the series premiere. When Sakura falls back into despair at the end of the series, Ai's words again prove to be one of the most influential factors both in bringing Sakura back on stage and in getting her back on her feet when calamity hits the place.

In episode 12 she confronts Sakura about her bad luck saying that they all have bad luck and making Sakura realize that the legends that surround her are also like her, and she should not feel distressed.

During the events of Drama CD 1: Secret Before Christmas SAGA, Sakura was very attached to Ai days after she regained her memories to the point of annoying Ai with her behavior.

When the girls discuss how idols would secretly date, an enthusiastic Sakura asks Ai if she ever had a crush on someone, without specifying a gender, to which Ai awkwardly denies.

### Saki Nikaido (Zombie #2)

No connection since the beginning of the series. In episode 6 when Ai leaves the mansion, Saki follows her to see if she is okay and looks for a shelter because it is about to rain. At a playground, they both get safe from the rain and from being seen as zombies. Ai tells her that she is afraid of lightning because that is how she died 10 years ago. Saki worries about that, even more, when Kotaro informs them that they will do an outdoor concert in Saga Rock.

In the next episode, Saki shows concern for Ai for her overtraining that she was doing for the concert.

While Ai is more surly and cynical than an idiot, even in her worst moment, she does raise some valid questions about how feasible it is for zombies to become idols. Sakura doesn't deny it, but, like Saki, she insists that they can try too.

Saki is the leader of Franchouchou's group, and both girls usually talk secretly about their concerns as leaders and how to guide Franchouchou so that the group does well. This confidence in Ai-Saki has been reinforced since Saki helped Ai overcome her death trauma in episode 6.

### Junko Konno (Zombie #4)

Ai hasn't had a great time going from a rising musical talent to a walking disfigured corpse. Her spirit is successively crushed by the realization that she has nowhere to go among the living and the discovery that her death is only remembered in place of her career and talent.

While Junko is a better singer than she is, Ai is a much better dancer and is the only member of the group truly trained in group performances. Her reluctance to make use of her exceptional ability in her early episodes caused much friction between her and Sakura, who admired Ai immensely in her life.

Both are opposite, and from the beginning of the series they give us indications of an ideological fight for the time in which they come. Both flee from the mansion at the beginning of the series because of Kotaro's crazy plan, but they return when they see that they do not have more option than to stay with him. In episode 3 she refuses to go out with the guerrilla concert because she thinks they will fail but when they see that Sakura forgot the lyrics, both come in to help.

However, this good relationship is short-lived because Junko refuses to interact with her fans because of how shy she is and because she was not used to it. In the mansion, she reproaches Junko for her attitude toward her fans, causing her to leave the mansion to cry for what she said. Saki tells Ai that there was no need to use such hurtful words, to which she says that she's not there to make friends, making Lily cry.

The realization that she has become nothing more than a sensational tragedy in the eyes of the public hits her hard and influences her behavior throughout episodes 5 and 6. She is very focused on getting the public to notice Franchouchou and confronts Junko due to their conflicting ideologies in idol-fan relationships. Her ongoing stress causes her to neglect her well-being and her body to collapse in rehearsals.

With Junko, in regard to how they interact with fans; in Junko's case, she is reluctant to interact with fans face-to-face as she grew up in a time when that was not expected of idols. This doesn't sit well with Ai, who spent her entire career relying on parasocial relationships, and the two get into a heated argument about it, resulting in an episode of lengthy conflict between the two. Fortunately, they can reconcile. She manages to reconcile with Junko upon understanding that there may be a middle ground for her, and after she helped her overcome her trauma to the lightning bolts during Saga Rock. In the following episodes, she is seen to be closer and doing more activities together.

In episodes 3 and 4 of Revenge, she decides to watch some of Junko's old performances online and is “absolutely” captivated by it. She is shown to be a huge fan of Junko and watches videos of her singing on Mytube frequently as if she is listening to a serenade. When Sakura catches her watching them once, Ai reacts as if she was caught seeing something wrong of her and closes the browser in an embarrassment of her.

### Lily Hoshikawa (Zombie #6)

At first, Ai saw her as only a co-worker and not a friend, however, after Saga Rock, she understood that she should not only focus on work and value relationships with close people.

In episode 8 she expresses her concern about Lily being recognized for being a famous person.

## Others

### Kotaro Tatsumi

At the beginning of the story, she is highly critical of the Zombie Land Saga Project, which she feels is doomed the moment the world finds out the truth. She begins to see promise in her fellow zombies after a few episodes, but is still the first to remind them how hard they will have to work to achieve it, proving that she is more realistic than cynical. And given the superficiality with which Kotaro pitched her idea, her skepticism is not completely unwarranted.

In episode 5, fed up with Kotaro's verbal abuse supplemented by hitting her with a baguette, she hits him with the same baguette. Throughout the entire series, Ai is notably the team member who is least amused by Kotaro's antics, and she doesn't share a single moment of her antics.

After being dead for a decade, Ai takes advantage of Kotaro's computer to catch up on the phenomena of the years she's been away, specifically on the trends of idols that have come and gone, to gain a better advantage for the group.

In season 2, Ai goes by the name “San Tatsumi” when she works a part-time job. Although that last name is taken from Kotaro's, the first name “San” is also a play on words; It is number 3 in Japanese, and Ai is identified as “Zombie #3”.

Episodes 3 and 4 of Revenge address the disadvantage of Ai managing the group for her incredible talent in singing, dancing, and choreography. As the girls have become extremely dependent on Ai's opinion in almost everything, Kotaro chooses that Ai distance herself from others temporarily so that they can learn to be more self-reliant and not depend on her professional status. Meanwhile, she works on solo performances and interviews. Kotaro excludes her from the group's performance as Iron Frill's opening act, under the (false) pretense of not wanting her former bandmates to recognize her. So, the others are forced to act in accordance with the expectations of their own initiative rather than constantly seeking her advice.

### Romero

Ai, in the first episodes, she feared the zombie poodle and refused to be with him continuously. During the second season, Ai seems to have gotten more used to Romero, to the point of carrying a Romero-shaped keychain to her work and carrying Romero continuously when their mansion collapsed.

### Police Officer

In episode 2 she meets the police officer and thinks that he was going to help her, she is scared to learn that he shot them. In the following episodes, they continue to meet him and try to flee quickly for fear of being recognized.

## Iron Frill

### Shiori Baba

After arriving in Saga prefecture, Shiori tries to recruit Ai to join Iron Frill because she saw that she was slowly moving away from the group, and she interpreted it as Ai no longer liked being in the group. Aggressively proposes to her to leave Franchouchou and join the best idol group, Iron Frill.

Shiori attempts to persuade her to leave Franchouchou and join Iron Frill, and she almost seriously considers the possibility of her. Eventually, she realizes that she wants to get away from her past with Iron Frill and that she can't abandon her fellow zombies like that. This culminates when the others join in when it seems that Shiori has come to take her away at the end of the concert at Saga Arena; it is Junko who decidedly says that Ai belongs to Franchouchou and that they will not take Ai. And Ai supports them with confidence.