The Zom 100 anime is set in a zombie apocalypse scenario, with a group of protagonists roaming around Japan and trying to fulfill their ‘bucket list’ of life aspirations, which they were unable to act on under the conditions of modern-day Japanese society.
In episode 9, the group makes its way to the protagonist’s parents living in the countryside; rural Japan is presented as a more resilient, healthier alternative to urban Japan in the face of the zombie apocalypse, itself a metaphor for the dissolution of social order. They meet a woodworker, with whom they build a treehouse, and who explains how building a tree-house is a way of empathizing with the forest. The whole scene closely reflects both skills and values summarized as ‘environmental literacy’ (McBride et al. 2013).