English Dub Review: Undead Unluck “Undead and Unluck”

Overview

Based on the Manga Series written and illustrated by Yoshifumi Tozuka.The story follows Fuuko Izumi an 18-year-old girl who is cursed with the power of Unluck. Anyone who touches her directly receives an extreme case of bad luck. Fed up, she decides to commit suicide. Before she can, she meets a muscular semi-nude dude that she percieves as “Undead” (later named “Andy”) mainly because he cannot die and regenerates from any injury faster than Deadpool. Andy then proceeds to kidnap Fuuko and forces her to explain her powers at his hideout. Unbeknownst to either of them, they were followed by a group of agents who plan to capture both of them to study their powers…


Our Take

At first the whole beginning sequence for the anime is anime-original, was based on the a book Fuko Izumo was reading from her favourite manga to the very end which really threw me off a bit as the artstyle felt quite different. But much of the story so far doesn’t really pick up until Andy makes his presence known and it’s here when much of the chaos happens. Along with that, Andy & Fuko encounter a mysterious group of dudes who want to experiment on them leading to some well done action sequences and animation from David Production of “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure” and “Pop Team Epic” fame that’s nothing short of spectacular.

What’s easily the best highlights are the scenes that put Andy’s healing powers to greater effect such as finding clever and creative ways to dispatch foes, jump off buildings, use them each time a limb or a finger is chopped off in some form or another. We do learn a bit about Fuko’s past since her bad luck powers only function through a number of factors (mainly skin to skin contact, how much love she has for the person, etc.), but so far Andy’s could be a good mystery that I hope gets unraveled soon…

Overall, the concepts are intriguing, and the characters are both entertaining and well-designed. In combination, this was the first episode done right and one hell of a way to start a new series. And with TMS Entertainment  in charge of the Dub along with their cast members such as Jackie Lastra, Ben Balmaceda, Aleks Le and Tony Oliver involved who all have decent track records. Normally I’d find some of the sex jokes objectionable, but Andy in comedic ways that are “Final Destination” levels of brutal, swiftly faces consequences through a brief death, highlighting his unstable mental state after enduring such a long existence. I’m curious about the origin of his cursed fate, and I’m compelled to see where this goes next!