The bar’s pretty high on zombie movies these days. Show us something fresh, maybe with a bit of subtext, and surprise us. Or don’t bother.

“Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead” is a Japanese multi-media franchise riff on a genre Americans invented and expanded on, Brits did well by and Koreans utterly-mastered with those alarming “Last Train to Busan” pictures — both of them.

This cutesie Japanese tale began life as a manga, migrated to TV and is now TWO films — one anime, the other live action, which I’m reviewing here.

The effects are as good as any zombie movie of recent vintage. But it’s not scary on a par with any of the “Living Dead” movies, much less “28 Days Later” or “World War Z.”

There are jokes, but it’s not “Zombieland” or its sequel, not by any means. “Cute” is about all it can manage. On occasion.

Truth be told, the picture this most resembles just opened in theaters — “The Meg 2.” And that’s not a good thing.

But there is a distinctly Japanese political subtext, albeit one that seems a trifle dated now. It’s about a young “salaryman” who is relieved when the zombie apocalypse arrives because of what it means in relation to his indentured-servitude job in a “toxic” workplace.

“Could this mean — maybe, just maybe — that today I don’t need to come in to work?”

That “loyal-to-the-death” commitment to work and your employer seems to have faded in recent generations, along with the desire to start families.

What Akira Tendo (Eiji Akaso) decides to do, after he’s fleeing the staggering legions of walking dead, is everything he EVER wanted to do, but never had time for — a “bucket list.”

“Clean up my room,” (dubbed, or in Japanese with subtitles) for starters. “Set off a fireworks display.” “Have drinks with a stewardess.” “Tell someone I’m in love with them.”

Pretty mundane stuff. But being a good guy, he tries to help his pregnant neighbors first. He makes up with his college (American-style) football teammate Kenichiro (Shuntarô Yanagi), whom he’s held a grudge against for choking in the Big Game. But before they make up, he’s got to rescue the dude from a “love hotel,” a brothel-like operation full of naked, seething female zombies.

And Akira would really like to add the fetching survivalist with the mad martial arts skills (Mai Shiraishi) to their “team.” But Ms. I Travel Alone won’t even give up her name. At first.

As is the way of such narratives, there’s a “quest” to get to “safe harbor.” The hard-to-get martial artist finds herself “Saved” by the “super hero” delusional lads and drawn into Akira’s cracked “Bucket List” — “surf yoga,” “soak in a hot spring,” etc.

But at some point we’ve got to underscore that metaphor, that “salarymen” are zombies in their own way, as Akira’s bullying boss (veteran character actor Kazuki Kitamura, superb) re-enters his life.

The story is simple to the point of simplistic. And once it’s made its big satiric point, it goes off the rails into goofiness that isn’t goofy enough and a desperate struggle to survive one last big challenge that isn’t all that scary or interesting.

One twist to this Japanese zombie movie that differs from the British, Korean, Malaysian and especially the American films in this genre is a reluctance to kill the legions of the walking dead who crave your flesh.

Sometimes, that post-war Japanese pacifism makes it into a movie. Not a yakuza movie, mind you.

Cultural novelty aside, I found “Zom 100” to be pretty tame and tepid going, start to finish. Some decent chases, adorably doable but DULL bucket list items, and cute leads are about all there is to it.

It’s not enough.

Rating: TV-MA, graphic violence, profanity

Cast: Eiji Akaso, Mai Shiraishi, Shuntarô Yanagi, Yui Ichikawa and Kazuki Kitamura

Credits: Directed by Yusuke Ishida scripted by Tatsuro Mishima. A Netflix release.

Running time: 2:08