As of late 2023, a brand new anime series from the beloved studio TMS has come out called Undead Unluck. Based on the 2020 shonen manga series by Yoshifumi Tozuka, the anime adaptation has only been out for a few months and has already garnered considerable popularity amongst the mainstream crowd, especially with its American release on Hulu. Although the show is still going on at the time of this review, it is nonetheless worth talking about for the sake of recommendation. It's hard to say where the show will be headed as it goes on, so consider this more of a reflective summary than a concise review.
The main storyline focuses on a young woman named Fuko Izumo with a misfortune of bad luck that happens when someone touches her and a buff undead man who regenerates at any given wound and is sick of being immoral. Teaming up so they can find the guy's ultimate death, Fuko and Andy (as she calls him) join a team of others with special abilities to avoid being hunted by a mysterious organization. As a buddy anime series, Undead Unluck is carried through the unconventional chemistry of Fuko and Andy respectively. Andy is a lot more experienced in his ability and cocky in personality than Fuko who is otherwise more cautious and emotionally abrasive, and their adventures are built on the numerous obstacles they have to face. Whether it be a creepy organization targeting individuals with unique powers or facing other opponents with unique powers, the duo are ultimately aided by the people within the same organization, especially the bubbly assassin Shen. The numerous adventures the duo embark on vary from set piece to set piece, making the series engagingly unpredictable.
Now although TMS is the main production company behind the anime, the actual animation was produced by David Production, known for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Fire Force. That being said, the studio handled the art and animation direction beautifully with gorgeously crafted detail around the environments and well choreographed action scenes. By sticking close to the subject's shonen genre, the series knows how to blend humor, action and drama in differing ways, and the crew at David Production keep the dynamic between the leads and the people they meet distinct enough to know who to root for. Perhaps some of the humor can lean too much into repetition and obnoxious banter, but the visual sight gags more than make up for it all. In addition, Kenichiro Suehiro's score keeps the series on its toe as the stakes get more and more intense, and Natsuki Hanae nearly steals the show amongst the cast as Shen, almost as much as Moe Kahara and Yuichi Nakamara respectively. Whoever prefers dubs or subs will be their own judge on who sounds more fitting in the end.
While Undead Unluck is still going on, hopefully this review should warrant some positive attention in regards to what viewers should expect. As a tale of an unlikely pair embarking on a journey to do what's right in their lives, there should be just enough material in the show to recommend to people. Since it should be going on into the new year of 2024, here's hoping that it leaves at least somewhat of an impact prior to its first season's conclusion. Now that 2023 is coming to an official end, at least it's leaving us off with knockout series worth consuming on streaming, at least through the winter.
