Undead Unluck

Episode 11

"Rio de Janiero" is another example of how Undead Unluck does such a skillful job of multi-tasking its storytelling priorities. On the one hand, this is another setup episode that primarily exists to establish the new mission—rescue a Negator from a gang of insidious human traffickers that are auctioning off people in the middle of their swanky cruise—and to introduce a new gang of antagonists to keep an eye on, the so-called Negator Hunters, who seem like a lively bunch indeed. That would be well enough on its own, but Undead Unluck also takes the time to frame this whole introductory chapter as the preliminary stage of a very different but equally important story: It's Fuko and Andy's first date.

Now, anyone who has followed Undead Unluck so far will know better than to expect the show to suddenly turn into the rom-com of the year. This is still the crass, silly, and over-the-top farce that it's always been, and most of the "romance" between Andy and Fuko consists of the former pressuring the latter to wear some skimpier dresses and even going so far as to chase her down the beach in pursuit of another smooch on the lips, like a freakishly hung, zombified Pepé le Pew. That said, those of us who have been here from the start will recognize that there is, somehow, genuine charm to all of these sophomoric shenanigans and that Undead Unluck is defying all of the expectations it laid out in those opening episodes by pulling off its goofy little romance plot just as well as everything else it is doing.

Maybe it's because Fuko's Unluck makes it so that Andy always suffers from a much-deserved shark attack whenever he gets too enthusiastic. Maybe it's because the degree to which Fuko can genuinely come to love Andy is directly woven into the plot's stakes since the strength of her Unluck attacks will only grow stronger alongside her feelings for the big guy. Either way, it was cute as hell when Fuko looked in the mirror after trying on that dress that Andy liked and seemed confident in her beauty for maybe the first time in her life, so I'm going to call it good writing, even if it remains a decidedly acquired taste.

As for the rest of the plot, there isn't much to remark on since so much of it is set up for next week, but I am excited to see where it goes. It has been fun seeing Tatiana get more screentime since I have a general soft spot for characters with such ridiculously idiosyncratic designs, and the new Negator Hunters look like they'll make for a solid set of foes for our heroes to contend against. If this new storyline ends up even half as fun as the last one, then I'd say we're in for a very good time, indeed.

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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.