Zakos who are technically doing the right thing (1 Viewer)

[Henchgirl 29]

I made this thread because one of my favorite zako tropes is that in which the nameless enemies are actually technically the good guys, but due to the nature of the plot are still treated as if they are bad.

Some examples off the top of my head are the red leotard girls from Lupin who are technically brainwashed victims guarding the property against theivery. And in retribution to not letting a random man take their masters possessions are left permanently disfigured. (There are a fair amount of Lupin antagonists who are just trying to protect their shit or steal in the same exact way Lupin does)

Other examples could include zakos who go against protagonists who are anti-heroes. Like this assassin who was contracted to kill Harley Quinn only to be brutally cut in half.

Or Tammy from Rick and Morty who works for the Galactic Federation and attempts to kill Rick in order to prevent the potential of universe-ending consequences from his actions. In response, she is brutally killed and her corpse is desecrated.

I was curious if any of you guys had any more examples of zakos doing heroic actions yet who are still condemned by the plot.

 

[Stuelpner_Karl]

This woman from "Farewell my love", who is shot by the good couple and later made fun of:

And there es another one, who was flirting with the hero earlier and then is shot by the heroine, while being hesitant to fire her own weapon.

They work for the evil Mafia family, but have nothing to do with the murder of the heroine's parents, which happened many years ago.

 

[meditions]

Another example of would be the guards in the Space 1999 episode "Devil's Planet" which was mentioned recently on the Live Action Zako thread.

The prison warden was evil but the guards were just doing their jobs.

By the way, what is the Lupin episode with the Red Leotard girls?

 

[Zufallx]

This woman from "Farewell my love", who is shot by the good couple and later made fun of:

And there es another one, who was flirting with the hero earlier and then is shot by the heroine, while being hesitant to fire her own weapon.

They work for the evil Mafia family, but have nothing to do with the murder of the heroine's parents, which happened many years ago.

No clip?

 

[Kimblis]

Another example of would be the guards in the Space 1999 episode "Devil's Planet" which was mentioned recently on the Live Action Zako thread.

The prison warden was evil but the guards were just doing their jobs.

By the way, what is the Lupin episode with the Red Leotard girls?

That would be Episode 21, Part 2: Lupin in Paradise.
There's a video of it on YouTube:


My favorite part is from about 17:10 to 18:00. I'd say at least a dozen of these zako go down, though we don't see them all.

First we see the zako lounging around before going out to fight the heroes:


Then we see the zako fighting and falling against the heroes. Several of them faceplant after meeting the samurai hero's blade:


Finally, we get a few shots of zako laying motionless in the grass. Aftermath shots like this are rare, but I really appreciate them.



These zako have been covered a few times in these forums already.
Here's my post about them, though I focused more on the newer version: Animated TV Zako Part Three: Lupin III - Bloody Angels
Here's ZakoFan's post, which focuses more on this classic version: Original Lupin Bloody Angels

There are even quite a few fan artworks of them on Pixiv. Here's one depicting the samurai hero's encounter with these zako:

The artist's other work, including many zako works, can be found here:
Jaga on Pixiv

On the topic of this thread: I like when the henchwomen are only quasi-evil, especially when they receive a more brutal defeat at the hands of the heroes than the actual villains do. That's arguably true in this case, where many of the henchwomen are gunned or bladed down, while the lead villains are not.

I didn't realize they were brainwashed. They always seemed like they knew what they were doing to me, but even so they are mere henchwomen, not criminal masterminds. They are guarding the installation because that's what they are paid to do (although they may be aware of their leader's nefarious schemes).

Although I like zako in general, my favorite scenario is when the zako are neither pure, absolute evil nor "doing the right thing", but rather just the Diet Coke of evil, as Dr. Evil might put it:

 

[smthng]

Priestessess from Sonja is the sole reason of my zako fetish.

 

[wj1905]

This woman from "Farewell my love", who is shot by the good couple and later made fun of:

And there es another one, who was flirting with the hero earlier and then is shot by the heroine, while being hesitant to fire her own weapon.

They work for the evil Mafia family, but have nothing to do with the murder of the heroine's parents, which happened many years ago.

Here is the movie in full.

Watch Farewell, My Love Online | Watch Full Farewell, My Love (2000) Online For Free

Watch Farewell, My Love Online | farewell, my love | Farewell, My Love (2000) | Director: Randall Fontana | Cast: Gabrielle Fitzpatrick, Phillip Rhys, Robert Culp, Ed Lauter

wat32.tv

Scene starts at 28:00. Indeed, the two "heroes" practically run in and rob them, sure they worked in organized crime but the main characters weren't harmed by them before (since she doesn't recognize them). And the other blonde zako is simply shot in the gut when she refuses to rat on her boss. The third black haired one, I was surprised she even returned given that she was blind drunk when she left. Quite cold also that the guy totally made it seem like he likes her before he let his real girlfriend plug her.



At the end we even see that they threw the blonde long haired one out of the chair she died in sitting, and flopped her over the other zako's corpse.

Btw, your copy of the movie seems far better, can you share it? Can't find it anywhere on torrents.

There are two more zakos (who also double as concubines for the russian mob boss, and have a nice naked bath scene earlier in the movie) who get shot by the irish mob at 1:19:30

 

[Ezzy]

Amazons from the old movie Zan, King Of The Jungle (1969) or Tarzán en la gruta del oro
Tarzan helps the Amazons defeat two gangsters who wish to take over the sacred gold treasure from a women's tribe.

 

[Ezzy]

Another amazons from another old movie Gold of the Amazon Women
An adventurer searches for the fabled Golden Cities of El Dorado and allies himself with a tribe of Amazon women against a murderous villain who is also after the treasure.
Amazons attacked at 1:01:55
At 1:23:40 they attack their enemies

 

[Pangcake22]

This woman from "Farewell my love", who is shot by the good couple and later made fun of:

And there es another one, who was flirting with the hero earlier and then is shot by the heroine, while being hesitant to fire her own weapon.

They work for the evil Mafia family, but have nothing to do with the murder of the heroine's parents, which happened many years ago.

From what i remember about the movie was that the main character Brigit decides takes revenge on a mob that killed her family leaving a trail of bodies including this blonde who's gun down because she was an associate to one of the mob bosses. Another one I remember from the movie was another henchwoman busted down the door in trying to save her boss only to be gun down because she was outgunned. The thing that interested me was her death stare. Her death stare was unsettling as if she didn't die a pleasant death.

 

[captain3366]

I made this thread because one of my favorite zako tropes is that in which the nameless enemies are actually technically the good guys, but due to the nature of the plot are still treated as if they are bad.

Some examples off the top of my head are the red leotard girls from Lupin who are technically brainwashed victims guarding the property against theivery. And in retribution to not letting a random man take their masters possessions are left permanently disfigured. (There are a fair amount of Lupin antagonists who are just trying to protect their shit or steal in the same exact way Lupin does)

View attachment 128043

Other examples could include zakos who go against protagonists who are anti-heroes. Like this assassin who was contracted to kill Harley Quinn only to be brutally cut in half.

View attachment 128044

Or Tammy from Rick and Morty who works for the Galactic Federation and attempts to kill Rick in order to prevent the potential of universe-ending consequences from his actions. In response, she is brutally killed and her corpse is desecrated.

View attachment 128045

I was curious if any of you guys had any more examples of zakos doing heroic actions yet who are still condemned by the plot.

this assassin who was contracted to kill Harley Quinn looks so good!Is there any more information?Which comic?