English Dub Review: Undead Unluck “Under”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

The younger looking Rip explains to Fuuko and Andy that he did actually die, this is just the “new” him. He also gives them a revolver-shaped Artifact that, when touched, gives them visions of the end of the world. He then tells them the goals of his group of Negators: Under, who wish to rule over the world before Ragnarok occurs, whereas the Union want to defeat the god that would cause Ragnarok in the first place. He lets them know that they will carry out the plan in three months and departs. This just leaves Fuuko and Andy to talk to Chikara, who is initially hesitant after hearing all of that, but also explains that his powers killed his parents when they first manifested, and so wants to use them for good by saving the world from the god that would destroy it. With that, he tearfully says goodbye to his old life, with the memory of him being erased from everyone he knew before, and he joins the Union as the eleventh member of the Roundtable. Nearly three months later, he and Fuuko have learned a bit more about how to fight, and the group reconvenes to hear Apocalypse announce the new Quests.

OUR TAKE

That wraps up the “Unrepair” story arc on a bittersweet note, but first off, new Opening and Ending this week! Usually these come at the exact halfway point, so you’d expect them to start at Episode 13, but then I guess they would’ve spoiled the fact that Chikara ended up joining the Union…even though they ended up spoiling that in THIS episode, but alright. Aside from that, it also shows more members of Under, the Negator Hunter group that Rip is involved with who look like they’ll be the main antagonists for the remainder of the season. But we then see a battle between Andy and Victor, which shouldn’t be physically possible considering they’re the same person, but considering Victor’s whole Magneto-ish deal regarding Negator Supremacy, it’s possible Under has a plan to separate the two and make Victor their leader. As for the Ending, it has a good contrast with the first Ending, which was Andy focused and had a softer female singer, whereas this is Fuuko focused and has an excited male singer. Both endings also show a connection between Juiz and Andy, although this time it shows Juiz with Victor, showing they knew each other, which a brief scene in this episode further confirms.

As for the episode itself, it’s kinda just a cool down from the last few episodes, mostly focusing on setting up Under as a recurring threat and showing Chikara commit to a new life using his powers. Yeah, I got it wrong thinking Rip would be the one to join just because he had the more interesting design, but I guess it does make sense that Chikara ended up joining. Even with the translation device, he was still in danger of being kidnapped again anyway, and he only had that one friend at school, so there wasn’t really much to leave behind. Still, that’s three for three backstories where a character ends up killing their parents the moment their powers come in. Fuuko starts off that way at the beginning of the show, we just saw Tatiana’s past where that happened too, and now Chikara. Like, I get that these are potentially very dangerous abilities but surely there’s one of these people who still has a solid familial support system. Anyway, next week brings us the next arc, which will apparently be about a disruption taking place before the group can start their next mission.