Undead Unluck

Episode 14

It's been far too long since we last got to check in with Andy and the Gang's ongoing battle against the Negator Hunters, especially since the last episode ended by kicking off the final act of the fight with Rip (aka Unrepair) and his mysterious lady friend. In the show's previous multi-episode arc, it was the last episode of the sequence that provided the most show-stopping spectacle of all. Does “Crimson Bullet" live up to that high bar?

Not really, but it is still a pretty good episode! Most of the drawbacks here have to do with the episode's strange and jittery pacing, which is due to all the flashbacks, recaps, pregnant pauses, and moody (but ultimately redundant) SHAFT-isms that you see in the episode's editing choices. It gets so bad that the titular Crimson Bullet takes up multiple minutes of screen time on its own, and not because it is an especially complicated move, either. Andy just fires an extra bloody finger bullet that would leave him exposed…if it didn't instantly win the fight and save the day, that is. The only reason that the attack wastes so much screentime is that the episode shows us the entire scene as is, and then only a couple of minutes later shows us the same scene again, except this time Madame Narrator is here to pause the action and give us the play-by-play.

I don't know if these choices are the result of some production issues going on behind the scenes at Studio David, or if Undead Unluck is once again scrambling to kill time to pad out a full twenty-three-minute episode with maybe ten minutes' worth of material. Either way, the result is a somewhat underwhelming ending to the Negator Hunter storyline.

It's a shame, too, because this is still an entertaining battle that utilizes our heroes' abilities very well, especially Shikari's. I'm still a bit confused as to why Andy's regeneration powers still worked despite Unrepair's, well, unrepair powers, and some of the wonky effects and choppy animation undercut the night's dynamics, but it's still a fun time! Since I care about all of these characters, and I'm personally invested in the stakes of rescuing Shikari and saving Fuko from Rip's attack, I'm willing to overlook some of the battle's more illogical and/or rushed moments.

If nothing else, it is a sign of Undead Unluck's quality that I still walked away from this okay-but-not-great episode dying to see what happens next. Will Shikari join the Union? What is up with Baby!Rip showing up at the end? When will Fuko and Tatiana get to play Stuffed Animal Tea Time again!? I need to know, dammit, and for a story to have its hooks in me that deep, it has to be doing something damned right, even when its flaws are a little more obvious to behold than normal.

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Undead Unluck is currently streaming on Hulu.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.