Undead Unluck

Episode 10

In a lesser show, I could easily imagine an episode like “Result” feeling like filler, or, at best, a dull slog of exposition. It is, after all, literally about the Union gang getting the “results” of their recent hash of quests, including the mess of capturing Spoil. If I've learned anything after years of watching crappy light novel adaptations that insist their worlds operate like classic role-playing video games for no good reason whatsoever, it is that nothing good ever comes from a bunch of characters standing around and waiting to have their level-up gains explained to them by an omniscient god-being.

Except, of course, this isn't some lesser show; this is goddamned Undead Unluck, where even the table-setting episodes are required to be a ton of fun by its world's very nature. I have been having a hard time coming up with more interesting and varied ways to say “Shit, this is all so cool,” because that is what this episode kept making me say, even as I was sitting through one of those long, interstitial JRPG cutscenes that you have to endure before finally getting back to the action. The casually reality-altering nature of Apocalypse's rewards and penalties? Cool as hell. The increasingly fun dynamic of the entire Union team is cool as hell. The effortlessly swanky way that Andy catches Fuko before everyone gets warped over to Australia to experience the fallout of the “Galaxy” UMA? You don't even need me to tell you that it was cool as hell. Fuko's raging lady boner says more than I ever could.

Not only is all of this world-building just so consistently—wait for it—cool as hell, but it also allows Undead Unluck to flex its filmmaking chops. The fractured and occasionally impressionistic editing gives me heavy Hideaki Anno vibes, especially when we get the gorgeous images of the sky suddenly filled with a galaxy's worth of stars and planets that didn't exist even just a few minutes before. By the way, about the whole conceit of the team's punishment coming from the naturally occurring presence of invasive alien warriors from another planet that come part and parcel with the general human conception of “outer space”? It's cool as hell, dammit!

The best part comes from Juiz dispatching the entire fleet without even breaking a sweat, which both handily wraps up that potentially troublesome plot development while also making it very clear to the audience that the leader of Union is absolutely not someone to mess with. Andy may be immortal, and Fuko's Unluck might invite the catastrophic destruction of an entire universe that is out to destroy you, but Juiz can ensure the safety of the planet with nothing more than a good old-fashioned Hard Stare. That's Paddington's levels of power escalation, and you don't go messing with Paddington's levels of power escalation unless you aim to give us a work of fiction that is almost too badass for mere mortals to comprehend. Bring it on, baby.

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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.