The color pages for the first chapter of Undead Unluck are a hell of a one-two punch, starting with our main character preparing to die and our freak of a romantic lead with his hand up her shirt. On one hand, eye catching! On the other hand, can't blame anyone who immediately backed out. Welcome back, if that's you! I swear to god this series isn't a weird ecchi!
...also, if you're new: Shonen Jump has the first three chapters available to read for free! No need to resort to shady means yet~
Saving Fuuko from jumping off the bridge was just a side-effect of aiming to die, and saving Fuuko from falling off the roof was so he could keep experimenting with Unluck...
...so this is the first time Andy shows some actual care for Fuuko as a person, rather than just a "tool for death". He's already tormented her plenty, and he doesn't really need to do this for her, but when she bursts into tears he just happens to be able to fix the problem. And does, without hesitation or fear!
And YES, it's still a chance to experiment with Unluck, but it's a sweet gesture none the less! It's cute, the way he encourages her to see her new look, and the close contact feels more genuine than anything we've seen up until now.
...and it means a lot to Fuuko. It was a small bit of suffering, but he still came in and blew it away without a thought.
The height of the building gives Fuuko time to reflect in a way that her bridge plan wouldn't have... and it's here that her true feelings emerge. She doesn't want to die, even with all the pain she's experienced! What she truly wanted was the chance to live!
The things she mentions, fashion, love, lady-like things... even her yearning speaks to a limited world view. They almost feel shallow, but they're the most important things in the world in a shoujo manga. Fuuko's never even had the chance to develop her own thoughts about the world around her or find her own dreams! All she's had is "To You, From Me" and so it's colored her perception of happiness!
Ultimately, given the chance to live, what she wants will change and evolve. The only thing that truly matters here is love, and even her image of that has room to grow and expand.
And there's juuuust a hint of it here. Andy's rescue is bloody and dramatic and his dick is extremely out, but the general sentiment of "No way I'm letting you die, now that I've found you" could fit into a romantic story. Even the way he's holding her is intimate, clutching her tight and dipping her low, face close to her own.
It's NOT romantic, but it could be! There's a glimpse of potential!
He's crude, he's rude, Fuuko wants nothing to do with it, and we come to the end of our first chapter with as much insane energy as we entered in! They had a momentary connection, but it's going to be a while longer until Andy and Fuuko can find something more~
Luckily, Andy'll change tactics by page 6 of the next chapter, so we can enjoy this as a goof rather than a long-term running theme! You know the dick game is insane.
Phew...! Just this first chapter ended up taking a lot longer than I expected! I'm hoping I'll be able to speed up once we've got less ground to cover, but this still might be a pretty slow book club. I'll wrap things up in my next post, but for now... if you're just coming in here, you can start from the beginning of chapter one here!
Our antagonist doesn't seem particularly bothered that all his men are dead, huh? All that matters is getting Undead, and Fuuko's life is reduced even further to a means to an ends... maybe he'd have let her go free after this? Maybe! For a while! Andy certainly believes it!
This is a major turning point for the way we (and Fuuko!) see Andy. After showing her some kindness and busting out to save her, even going so far as to kill a bunch of guys... when her life is in danger, he doesn't hesitate to turn himself over.
Fuuko has lived her life hyper-conscious of all the ways in which she hurts the people who try to help her. Anyone who gets close to her suffers, but even when Fuuko pleads in tears, begging for him to save himself, Andy doesn't care!
It casts him in a slightly different light... he's pushy and crude and blunt but all those same traits that made him such an asshole earlier are also the ones that make him push right through Fuuko's attempt to sacrifice herself. He doesn't give a crap about her request--he's the one who gets to decide to help her or not. He doesn't hesitate to put her first, and he looks forward to seeing her again one day.
It's not ideal, nor romantic, but it's what Fuuko needs. The thought that someone would face her Unluck without fear, connect with her, and want to connect again... it's a spark of some emotion that pushes her to move for both their sakes.
...and give up the secret she's been trying to keep from him.
Poor Fuuko... she tried so hard to keep anyone else from getting hurt. I really like the stupid little image of Andy rolling his head over to her.
If I were to recommend ONE thing to watch in the anime... it'd actually be a fight an arc from now, BUT this moment where we see Andy regenerate for the first time is a STRONG second. It really captures the disgusting, visceral bloodiness of his body pulling itself together! The manga doesn't do a bad job either, with the heavy hatching shadows, violent gushes of blood, torn edges of his body, and hint of his exposed spine. Andy's manic, blank eyed grin through it all is great, too~
That censor bar shall become our friend and constant companion. Everyone say hello and thank you to Censor Bar.
I COULD complain that this scene loses a touch of impact because it's the first time we've seen Andy fight--we haven't been given a chance to know what he can do normally, so there's no comparison to be made without the card.
But like, I have EYES. Andy's clearly more vicious, he's clearly skilled, he SAYS he's going off the rails, and every single enemy around him is dead in an instant. PACING WISE, the story works best with Andy getting killed with no chance to defend himself before raging back!
Andy is right back to normal afterwards, too... no worries and no hard feelings towards Fuuko! In fact, he's ready to get right back to testing (once this last guy is murdered).
His words also reveal that his capture wasn't Fuuko's fault--on the contrary, he's only able to escape because of the Unluck from his momentary kindness. A nice little glimpse of their future potential!
Blasting ahead, it's time to address that card in Andy's forehead! It's been given a lot of visual prominence, forcing his trademark lopsided squint, and now we find out what it's for...
BRAIN DAMAGE!
...which I ALSO like a lot! I already said I adore the weird gore elements, and a guy who just deliberately destroys parts of his brain to avoid overloading himself with past memories is right up my alley! We'll learn a lot more about this in the future, but in the meanwhile...
We can catch some tiny glimpses of his past! We can make out images of him fighting with people, cutting someone's hair, taking a bullet for someone... enough to convey that he's lived a long life and it's involved a LOT of fighting.
and hey! SPOILERS AGAIN for Chapter 36!
THIS is why I wanted to do a deep reread! Looking for things like this!
Hidden in the vague images of past events, we've got at least two meaningful hints... the vague figure of Juiz (helmet and sword included) with another figure (Nico?), and a glimpse of the Union symbol!
These COULD be Andy's own memories, since he was captured by the union... but they could also very easily be Victor's from past loops, buried even deeper. Either way, it's cool that these are here~
