Undead Unluck

Episode 17

I feel like this is all my fault. I really ought to know better by now. Last week, I was fool enough to type out the words, “I have high hopes that the show won't go around killing time as it has in the past before we get to the good stuff.” Then, after I essentially begged the anime gods to punish me for my hubris, I had the unmitigated temerity to follow that up with, “I'm so Undead-pilled at this point that I am asking for filler.” So, naturally, Undead Unluck decided to respond this week by starting “Outsmart” with a full seven minutes' worth of recapping last week's episode. We technically get thirty seconds of a teaser before the credits hit, but after that, we have to wait nearly 420 seconds before seeing any new footage that follows up Billy and the Under crew's massive betrayal of Union. As a Coloradan, I can tell you that it personally offends me to have any anime besmirch the good name of the number “420” like that, and that goes double for a show that I go to bat for week after week.

The worst part is that the fifteen minutes of new material we get in “Outsmart” is fun! We get some excellent cuts of stylish animation throughout the big battle against Billy, such as the lovely sequence of Andy and Fuuko practically dancing through the air on Andy's blood-geysers. The initial struggle to take down Burn and stop Billy from destroying Union is an exciting one, striking just the right balance of letting our heroes get in some wins without making Burn's true defeat something that happens less than one episode after his arrival. The only major downside is that everything ends up feeling a bit rushed.

Gee whiz, I wonder why that could possibly be?

The more emotionally charged fight against Billy himself is also a good one. Billy's copying power (which I have to assume is called “Unfair”) forces Union to think beyond the simple terms of how they usually fight other Negators, which boils down to figuring out the fatal flaw of a single ridiculous superpower. Billy's got all of the superpowers which means he can force Fuuko to fling herself off a cliff with Unjustice while healing himself using Andy's Undeath, and making sure to do some damage with Unstoppable at the same time. So far as Big Bads go, Billy is proving to be quite the formidable foe, mechanically speaking, which makes up for his current lack of any particular depth as a character.

Naturally, there has to be some way to beat Billy, at least temporarily, and it makes sense that Tatiana is the one to do it. Not only has the show set up the Unjustice power enough for us to understand how Tatiana's love for Billy was weaponized against him, but the past few episodes have given enough focus to Billy and Tatiana's bond to make the scene feel like a great emotional payoff, too. The big finale also hints at the larger mystery at play when Fuuko is force-fed a bunch of memories from Apocalypse, showing the younger versions of the first Union members (including Victor and Juiz) going through some major trials…including what seems to be the same battle against Spoil that we've already seen, albeit one that ended decidedly worse for Shen.

Don't be surprised if the gang ends up having to deal with some kind of time loop/time travel/alternate universe shenanigans, and that's on top of the looming threat of Ragnarok, the nefarious schemes of Under, and that fact that Apocalypse's next penalty might fling the whole planet into the sun. It's dark times for our heroes, and I couldn't be more excited to see what happens next. However, I will no longer get my hopes up about Undead Unluck fixing its bizarre pacing issues anytime soon. I'm fully prepared for next week to consist of twenty full minutes of recap and recycled footage, and that's not including the OP. (You see, anime gods: Two can play at this game! Prove me wrong again, you monsters!)

Rating:

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.