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As for me, I always used to do things alone. That’s why the thought of being a team…doesn’t always sit well with me. With that said, if the rest of you feel really strongly about this, then maybe…I better do my part, too. Right?
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| — Junko to the rest of the girls, about being an undead idol group, Episode 4. | ||
| Junko Konno | ||
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| The beautiful zombie with a sad expression.
The legendary idol who ignited the idol boom during the 80s and overwhelmed the world. While she's reserved and sheltered, she has a strong conviction as an idol and is the best singer among the seven. However, she is bad at dancing. Tae keeps biting her on multiple occasions, and she tries to run away from her. | ||
Junko Konno (紺野 純子, Konno Junko) was an idol from the 80s whose popularity caused the idol boom of said decade.
She is a member of the zombie idol group Franchouchou and is titled as The Legendary Showa Idol (伝説の昭和アイドル, Densetsu no Shōwa aidoru).
Appearance
Human
Junko has short white hair that wavy near the bottom with her bangs bunched in the middle, and she has ice blue eyes. Junko sports a rather very slim and slender figure which is proportionally identical to those of Ai Mizuno with only slight differences in sheer numbers.
Normally, Junko wears a navy sailor dress with white accent lines and a white tie. She also wears white socks and black shoes.
Zombie
Like the others, Junko has grayish-blue skin like a zombie and stitches all over her body with different skin tones in each section, which is a homage to the Monster of Frankenstein.
Junko's body is full of Frankenstein-style patches, the impact of the plane she was on caused a large explosion destroying her body completely and burning some parts more than others, so she has different colored patches.
Idol
Junko's idol outfit changes throughout the series; in episodes 1-6, Junko wears a white T-shirt with the word “Four” written on it, along with a white skirt with white ruffles. Using makeup, she and the other zombies make their skin look like normal humans. Junko also wears contact lenses to achieve the blue eyes that she had as a living person.
After Saga rock, her idol outfit changed to a red jacket with a plaid decoration, a blue skirt with cotton inside it, and knee-high boots.
Personality
Before Death
Junko in life
She was already a professional idol before her death. In her case, she was considered a pioneer of the idol genre, as it was during the 1970s and 1980s that solo idols first took off and solidified in Japan. One of her signature songs is called “50 and 4 Things Left Behind”, and it is still used today for commercials and is incredibly popular online.
Afterlife
Junko always seems to be calm, collected, and a bit shy of her surroundings. As the series progresses, she manages to take more security about herself, both on stage and with the group.
Junko is quite discreet with her comments. Both she and Ai believe that the whole plan of the “undead idol singer group” is doomed to failure, but while Ai's complaints center on the lack of experience of others and the legitimate difficulties of the industry; Junko often reminds the girls that they are real zombies. With all that that entails, she remains nervous about the one member who still hasn't regained her consciousness, frequently commenting on how ridiculous the situations they are in are.
The reality of being hunted down and rejected by the living for being a zombie leaves Junko deeply discouraged, to the point where she and Ai barely have the will to act. Like Ai, she also begins to recover after covering for Sakura when the latter changed the lyrics of their guerilla performance, deciding that she wants to try singing in a group.
Junko does not hate the idea of acting in a group, but she is not sure that she can work well in one since she had always acted alone, which compounds her reluctance to cooperate with Kotaro's plan. Defends the idea that idols should Be figures of perfection for fans to admire and showing any imperfections in front of them is unforgivable. Just the idea of interacting with her fans makes her uncomfortable because they can find fault with her person offstage.
Along with Ai, she refuses to join Franchouchou's guerilla show in Episode 3. Seeing Sakura's determination inspires them to the point that when Sakura messes up her lines, they band together to save what little they can of the performance.
She leaves Franchouchou in Episode 6 after both Kotaro and Ai scolded her for refusing to participate in the photoshoot, feeling that the idols' expectations have changed too much for her to feel comfortable since she died.
After being shocked by the drastic changes in the idol industry while she was dead, she barricades herself in a room (with warning signs and “no crossing” tape) and sulks in her place for weeks. Even growing mushrooms on her head.
Junko fixes the door that Tatsumi broke down
After Kotaro kicks down a door by its hinges to give her a pep talk, he nonchalantly asks Junko to fix the door after him. Surprisingly, she simply picks up some power tools and puts the door back on competently.
She is very reserved and soft-spoken and is deeply intimidated by Tae. She is also very uncomfortable with the idea of fan photoshoots, both because of her shy nature and because idols didn't interact as much directly with her fans when she was alive. The group decides to circumvent this and start marketing by simply handing over signed “candid” photos of her as “The Shy One” of the group, instead of doing meet and greets. Junko's soft, meek voice turns into a hoarse alto when she sings. She is frequently shown to get nervous when it comes to heights. The fact that she died in a plane crash probably contributed to this fear.
It is mentioned repeatedly that Junko is not a very good dancer, but actually, she only appears once in practice, and she is on par with everyone else in every performance. Even more evident is the fact that Junko can dance perfectly at Saga Rock after not practicing for two weeks.
Although she ultimately doesn't catch anything, she seems to have solid knowledge of fishing, putting together a fishing pole and looking for suitable bait on her own. At the same time, she gives Sakura a surprisingly philosophical lecture that would not be expected from a girl who has spent much of the series in an abysmal spirit. Fishing is even listed as one of her hobbies.
She is very prone to blushing, either from embarrassment or from the rude comments of others. When she saw Yugiri in her Oiran outfit, she blushed in amazement at seeing someone so elegant.
In the last episodes of the series, Junko can be seen with a quite calm and collaborative personality with the other girls, in addition to advising Sakura about looking at what happens around her. The change in her personality upon realizing the new age and accepting it causes her to bond more with Sakura. When Sakura loses her memory, she goes to talk to her, but her shy personality won't let her, and she just gives up and starts crying. At the end of Arpino's concert, she looks happy because Sakura finally recovered her memories.
Don't be fooled by her shyness. She is an experienced performer who will go out of her way to help her friends and bandmates.
Junko sings to herself
Whenever she feels depressed, she will pick up a guitar and sing to herself. When Sakura hears it, she reveals that she sings it to reassure herself. The song itself was one of her hit singles when she was alive.
When Iron Frill arrives at Saga, she cares a lot about the group and says that she is useless, belittling herself for not knowing how to guide the girls. After they witness Shiori trying to recruit Ai, Junko looks nervous and sad because she thinks that Franchouchou is not the best for her.
Junko takes things literally
When she believes that Ai plans to leave her and Franchouchou to meet with Iron Frill, Junko tries to pressure the former for an honest answer and gets an answer that only reaffirms her fears. She then runs to a nearby beach and cries with all her heart.
Kotaro later encourages her to break everything in her path and get Ai back by breaking everything. Words that she takes very literally since she later breaks her electric guitar, but now Junko is determined to get what she wants by giving a great impact and realizing that her time and her way of being must change to have what she wants. Leaving aside once and for all her shy personality and becoming determined. She takes Kotaro's expression “Break it all, Junko!” in the sense of literally smashing his guitar, which she does at the end of her solo concert.
Once she realizes that she needs to take over the opening of Iron Frill; she and the others put on an absolutely mind-blowing metal performance with her as guitarist and vocalist and confront Shiori as the latter makes one last attempt to get Ai to leave Franchouchou.
In episode 11 of Revenge, when Franchouchou's mansion is washed away by a flood, Junko rescues a set of tools for making Ozaki dolls. After the mansion collapses and is destroyed, it is noted that all the group's costumes, instruments, and makeup were inside. Junko apologizes for not rescuing them, but none of the other zombies reproach her.
Abilities
Skillset
- Musical Talent—Similar to Ai Mizuno, being a former pop idol, Junko is gifted with amazing musical talent. According to her flashbacks, she was capable of playing the piano and doing incredible solos.
- Dancing—On top of her musical talent, Junko can also move fluidly to the beat of any music. But unlike the other girls, she is not as talented as Ai or Lily Hoshikawa because she acted more alone, which does not seem to be a problem throughout the series.
- Fishing—In the tenth episode, Junko reveals that she loves hobbies that involved being alone and concentrating, thus showing that she loved to fish as well. In addition to that, it helps Junko see things from different points of view.
- Carpentry—Junko has not only fixed the door Kotaro Tatsumi kicked down in the seventh episode, but she has also re-enhanced it so that even Tae Yamada can not knock it down.
- Lock-picking—As shown in “Episode 13”, Junko can successfully pick the lock to Kotaro’s room.
- Guitar-playing—As shown in “Episode 15”, Junko can play the guitar as a backup to her vocals.
- Hula Hooping—Junko and the rest of the girls can perform while twirling hoops made of electricity during their performance in “Episode 16”.
Natural Abilities
- Non-senescence—Due to being a zombie, Junko is granted the ability to remain at the age at which she died forever without any physical changes after the resurrection process, as well as immunity against death. As she, along with the other girls, can endure circumstances that human bodies normally cannot handle. Like the lightning bolt in the seventh episode; and instead of suffering a third-degree burn, the girls end up becoming luminous and self-possessed—tuned voices.
- Detachable Limbs—As a zombie, Junko can detach and reattach parts of her body from their sockets with little to no effort, either intentionally or accidentally. However, she is one of the zombies to which no part of its body has fallen for now.
- Phosphorescent Vision—Junko's dark red eyes that can glow in the dark after being resurrected into a zombie.
- Element Absorption—Their zombie bodies can accelerate the process of absorbing chemicals like those seen in Episode 4 by instantly absorbing the medicinal patches, causing their muscles to relax and not be as stiff. In addition to the fact that in their following concerts and practices, they continue to use the patches. In Episode 7, their bodies demonstrate a similar capacity to batteries by receiving an electrical discharge from lightning and glowing a pale blue, as well as releasing laser beams with their fingers.
- Plantlife Fertilization—As shown in Episode 7, being a zombie gives Junko the ability to grow mushrooms out of her head without her intentionally doing so. Though, this feat may only be triggered if said zombie were to not move around as often and stay stagnated in the appropriate environment. In the mushrooms’ case, in a cool, dry area like an attic.
Etymology
- The name Junko means “pure, clean, simple” (純) (jun) and “child” (子) (ko).
- Junko's surname Konno means “navy blue” (紺) (kon) and “field, wilderness” (野) (no).
Junko concept art
Trivia
- Junko is the revived representation of the “Showa” idols of the 70s and 80s. Calm, reserved, and fearful, Junko is the image of what the artists showed the public on the small screen.
- As revealed in the post-credits scene of “Episode 19”, Junko's flight (“DSN Airlines Flight 842”) appears to have crashed into the sea, as reported by the Japanese coast guard that was responsible for the recovery efforts; Other pieces of the article that are glimpsed upon suggest that the plane was “split in two” in the middle of the fuselage and that there was something strange about one of the halves of the plane.
- Junko's body is full of stitched patches, as the impact of the plane where she was caused by a great explosion completely destroyed her body and gave her serious burns, which is why she has patches of different colors.
- Junko's death was probably even more painful, especially when it comes to her zombie mindset and personality. Considering that Junko was trapped in a plane that fell directly to the ground, she was forced to hear the painful screams of many, many passengers who succumbed to her sudden death alongside Junko. While Junko was much more confident when she was human, the whole-death experience she went through literally broke her mindset. This explains why Junko is the most cowardly, the shyest, and the quietest of the group. Because she never got over her traumatic death.
- Junko died three months after her nineteenth birthday.
- Based on the timeline, Junko's actual age is 54 as she remarked in Episode 6 that she would have been a grandmother if she was still alive.
- Her age is indirectly mentioned in her solo “50 and 4 Things Left Behind”.
- Based on the timeline, Junko's actual age is 54 as she remarked in Episode 6 that she would have been a grandmother if she was still alive.
- Junko's fate is similar to that of a singer Kyu Sakamoto, who died in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123.
- Junko has the same cup size and body type as Ai Mizuno, both of them having two of the slimmest figures in the group.
- Junko shares the same English voice actor as Ai Hayasaka from the series Kaguya-sama: Love is War.
- Junko shares the same date of death as Romero.
- Her name might be a reference to other Japanese singers of that time, such as Junko Oashi or Junko Yagami.
- Initially, she addresses her friends by their last name, such as referring to Sakura as “Minamoto-san”. In Episode 10, she has changed by calling Sakura “Sakura-san”.
- According to the events of the Drama CD 1: Secret Before Christmas SAGA, Junko has a Christmas song.
- Despite being the most soft-spoken member of the group, Junko has the deepest vocals during her performances in the original dub.
- When asked if Junko and Ai have the possibility of developing a romantic relationship, the staff responded that they did not consider the two to be such, outside of just “An idol from the Showa Period and another from the Heisei Period.” [4]
- As of “Episode 13”, Junko works part-time as someone who retouches the paint of ceramic figurines at an unnamed establishment.
- There are currently four episodes that focus on Junko, which she shares with Ai. The episodes being “Episode 6”, “Episode 7”, “Episode 15” and “Episode 16”.
- With both “Episode 7” and “Episode 16” being direct continuations of their previous episodes.
- Like a girl from the 80s, her dialogue is peppered with slang from that period. She calls television “the tube”, compares digital photography to Polaroids, and at one point she calls Sakura a fool for not knowing what Polaroids are.
- Since she's from a time before things like desktops and social media were a part of everyday life. She has a hard time typing words into a search engine, for example.
- Shyness aside, she has been shown to have some trouble reading certain social situations.
- She compulsively lampshades any time the girls make a joke or reference about them being dead, as if the others had somehow forgotten themselves.
- She has a creepy habit of eavesdropping on conversations from behind a corner; once when Saki and Sakura plan to sneak out to some hot springs, and again when Saki and Ai are chatting privately on the balcony of the mansion.
- Her literal mindset of hers towards Kotaro's way of speaking in Revenge, causes her to break his guitar on stage.
- Rather than being scared that the audience will see the girls without makeup, she is annoyed with herself for rushing to make the mask.
- There are several indications that Junko cannot tie her tie properly, even being helped by Lily to tie it properly.
- She was the second of Franchouchou (and overall character from the series) to get a Good Smile Company Nendoroid modeled after her. With hers being announced on May 15, 2020, and being released in October of that same year.
- She is revealed to be the idol of Tae Yamada and the reason why the former wanted to become idols alongside Yuko Hyodo as revealed in the thirteenth chapter of the spin-off manga.
References
- ↑ Episode 23
- ↑ Episode 14 of the English Dub
- ↑ Episode 16 of the English Dub
- ↑ Zombie Land Saga Revenge Interview