Undead Unluck

Episode 15

It's funny, for as much as I have complained about the shaggier pacing decisions made by Undead Unluck in the middle of its major storylines, I've come to appreciate the more slowly paced and considered interim episodes that we get whenever one of those arcs comes to a conclusion and we transition to the next phase of Andy and Fuko's Excellently Bogus Journey. Case in point: “Under” is another one of those episodes that consists entirely of exposition dumping and dialogue exchanges between a small handful of characters, and it can even be neatly divided into two very simple segments. In the first half of the episode, the tiny boy incarnation of Rip comes by to drop off a handgun artifact that hints at the larger scope of the Negator Hunter's battle for supremacy over this doomed reality, and in the second half, we spend time with Chikara, who is deciding whether he wants to join in on Union's mission to kill God. It's very simple, and you could hardly say that it “moves the story forward”, but it's still a great time, all the same.

A lot of this comes down to the direction, which continues to play with those abstract “Shaft-isms” that is so reminiscent of an Akiyuki Shinbo joint, such as any given entry in the Monogatari franchise. All of those pillow shots, extreme close-ups, and thematic visual tags go a long way towards making the entire package of Undead Unluck into an extremely effective mood piece which helps to elevate and differentiate it compared to many of its Shonen Jump counterparts. The fractured and constantly shifting world that Andy and Fuko live in is already filled to the brim with fascinating nuggets of lore and foreshadowing; the sleek presentation that Studio David is providing just makes all of those details pop even more, especially when the actual events being depicted on screen consist mostly of people standing around and talking.

Also, it helps that the character work in this show is just as excellent as its visuals. None of the Negators that we've met so far are exceptionally complex or unique individuals, but Undead Unluck tells their stories with such empathy and such efficiency that you end up loving (or loving to hate) them, anyways. It reminds me of a Satoshi Mizukami story, in that way, like one of my all-time favorites: Planet With. In both series, I can forgive the occasional cliché or storytelling shortcut because everything we get is done with so much enthusiasm and heart. Take Chikara's whole story, for example. His tragic “I accidentally murdered my whole family with my Negator powers” backstory follows the same formula as every other sympathetic character in this show, like Fuko and Tatiana, but you still end up feeling for the kid when he declares his intention to live with pride and serve Union. You'd have a heart of stone to not get a little emotional when the kid finally ties back his bangs and takes one final opportunity to look at his old school pal straight in the eyes to tell him how much their friendship means to him.

It's just good storytelling, plain and simple, and good storytelling can make any kind of episode sing, no matter how it's paced or what its narrative priorities are. I don't think “Under” will go down as one of the best episodes in Undead Unluck's history, but it's still a good half-hour of television, and that's what matters the most in the end.

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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.

Undead Unluck is currently streaming on Hulu.