Zen Kubota

**WARNING:** This page contains spoilers for *Zanki Zero: Last Beginning*. Proceed at your own risk.

## Title

### Japanese

憤怒の農家
*fundo no nōka*

## Portrayal

### English

Alan Lee (adult)
Sean Chiplock (child)

> "*Only you can decide where you belong. Maybe there's some truth to that, but you don't always have the luxury of choice. For example, you don't choose family, and I didn't choose who I live with in this sea of ruins. Only those who were dealt a good hand can play for the win. Those with a losing hand of mine can only endure, waiting for the opportunity to strike. Even if it ultimately leads to my own downfall...it would still be better than ending up as the sole loser.*"
> ― Zen Kubota
>
>

**Zen Kubota** (玖保田ゼン, *Kubota Zen*?) is a main character in *Zanki Zero: Last Beginning*. His title is **Farmer of Wrath** (憤怒の農家, *fundo no nōka*?).

In the Japanese dub he is voiced by Mitsuki Saiga. In the English dub, he is voiced by Sean Chiplock (child), and Alan Lee (adult).

## Appearance

As a 25-year old young adult Zen has violet eyes and chin-length pale mauve hair with bangs which meet between his eyes. He wears denim overalls which are rolled up and cuffed half-way up his calf, and only buttoned on one shoulder with the other strap hanging loose around his thighs. Underneath he wears a black undershirt with a pink heart logo on his sleeve with "FARM" written underneath it. He wears black laced work boots, white gardening gloves, a sun hat which he hangs off his back by a tie around his neck, and a short white silk scarf with a blue pattern featuring the Japanese kanji "田" which means "rice field". As a child, his hair is ear length and he wears a sailor school uniform with shorts. In old age, his hair is chin-length and white and wears the same outfit as his young adult self. In the swimsuit DLC, Zen is shirtless and wears an unzipped pastel green hoodie with a white sprouting plant symbol on the lapel.

## Personality

A farmer who works deep in the mountains, and knows more about survival than the average person. Contrary to his cute face, he's cynical and often makes fun of others. Zen's favourite food is sweet things, he dislikes sour things, and he is allergic to fish.

## History

### Early Childhood

As a small child, Zen Kubota was enrolled in Kaiyo Academy along with the rest of the group. While attending the school, the London Bridge Serial Killer attacked. He gave the children an ultimatum: he would spare them if they chose to sacrifice one of their classmates. The group, all reasoning that she was the most popular classmate and so mistakingly believing she would not be voted by the others, unanimously voted for Sachika, and Sachika was subsequently murdered and mutilated. The event was subsequently covered up, and the group all lost their memory of the event along with other memories of their early childhood.

After both of his parents lost their jobs, Zen and his family moved out of the city and into the country to live with his paternal Grandparents on their farm. Zen's Mother and Father were able to find work at the Monkey Tree House Village, an outdoor resort owned by the Mashiro Group. Zen took quickly to country life, and enjoyed working on the farm in his spare time.

### Zen's Trauma

At around 12 years old, Zen's Father sent him on an errand to fetch his Mother home from work. When Zen arrived he walked in on his Mother having sex with his Grandfather, though due to his young age and not fully understanding what he was seeing he perceived them as monkeys rather than as people. Through overhearing them talking, he learned that his Father was in fact not his Father at all; Zen was infact the product of his Mother and Grandfather's affair, and who he knew to be his Grandfather was infact his Father, and his Father was infact his Brother.

After learning the truth, Zen was left extremely confused, disgusted at the lies he had been told, and unable to understand the dynamics of his family tree anymore. His confusion came to a head at his Grandmother's funeral, and he ended up vomiting at the wake. He began to see himself as subhuman, as the "Son of a monkey". He violently confronted his Mother, kicking her repeatedly while demanding she tell him who his Father is, and she confessed while begged him to keep it a secret. Unable to deal with his anger, Zen then began to extort his Mother for money on a daily basis, beating her if she refused, a pattern which continued for years. Zen became estranged from the rest of his family, who celebrated his older Brothers' successes as a college graduate with a fiancée, while they all looking down on Zen as a violent delinquent. Zen's Brother's fiancée Rumiko moved in, and though Zen initially rejected all her attempts to bond with him, she eventually became the first person apart from his Mother and "Grandfather" who knew his secret. She did not look down on him, and over time Zen became closer to her. She encouraged him to go to college and study agriculture, which he did succesfully.

All seemed well until one day Zen heard that his "Grandfather" had called and asked for his Mother to go collect something from him, but Rumiko had gone to collect it for her instead. Memories of walking in on his Mother and "Grandfather" rushed back to him, and he ran off to the farm to confront him. It was then he learned that his "Grandfather" had been extorting both his Mother and Rumiko for sex in exchange for paying off their debts for many years. While his "Father" and "Older Brother" thought they had found their spouses by themselves, Zen learned that his "Grandfather" had arranged for them to get into relationships with his family members in order to keep the women accessible to him. Zen refused to believe what he was hearing, and in his anger attempted to murder his "Grandfather" only for Rumiko to shield the blow, breaking her arm.

Covering up the incident, Rumiko and Zen's "Grandfather" told his parents and Brother that Zen had attempted to rape Rumiko, and that he had injured her in the process. Zen was exhiled from his family and their home. For the sake of the rest of his family, Zen still kept the family secret from them, and Zen's "Grandfather" told Zen that he should be his successor after he dies. Rumiko met up with Zen at the bus stop and they said goodbye one last time, Zen finally calling Rumiko his Big Sister like she'd always wanted. Zen left his family's farm to go find work on another farm in the mountains.

### Arriving on Garage Island

As with the other survivors, Zen quickly learned that they had all found themselves on Garage Island with all their belongings stolen and an x-shaped button attached to their belly button. The group surmised that they must have been kidnapped to appear in some kind of reality TV show.

## Title

* Japanese
* English

## Etymology

* The name **Zen** is written in katakana and therefore has no known kanji reading, but it most likely refers to the Zen school of Buddhism.
* Zen's surname **Kubota** means "beautiful black jewel, nine" (玖) (**ku**), "protect, guarantee" (保) (**ho**/**bo**) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (**ta**).
	+ **Kubota** contains the kanji for a form of the number nine that's often used in legal documents (玖, *ku*?) and associated with the Japanese word for "suffering" (苦, *ku*?) due to them being homophonous, "to protect" (保, *bo*?) and "rice field" (田, *ta*?).
		- **Kubota** is also the name of a well known farm equipment manufacturer based in Japan.

## References

1. ↑ **Siliconera:** Meet Zanki Zero's Main Characters Based On The Seven Deadly Sins (March 26th, 2018)