MANGA REVIEW | "Undead Unluck" - Volume Fourteen
If you were given the chance to relive your life, what would you do differently? Would you avoid the mistakes you made in the past? How about seek your life friends early and avoid the toxic ones you’ve dumped? Could you save the world from its unmaking, or would you once again sit back and watch the whole thing burn to the ground? For Andy and Fuuko, protecting humanity is always in sight, and as Volume Fourteen of Undead Unluck shows, they’re raring to become heroes again.
However, there’s a matter that needs to be dealt with: reuniting Fuuko’s body with her spirit. To do this, Andy needs to one-up his usual outside-the-box techniques that have saved him and his friends from plenty of pickles. Achieving such a feat sounds ungodly, but doing something that would do against their biggest enemy just so happens to be Andy’s specialty. And that thing is, well, pretty damn soulful.
It leads to some good closure between Billy and Tatiana. Their friendship was built on something pure and kind, and seeing it crumble when Billy formed Under was heartbreaking. Here, Tatiana finally sees that she’s been right all along, as their reunion is filled with many tears and hopes. Even with the world crumbling all around them, Billy and Tatiana take the time to appreciate their friendship in a sweet and heartfelt way.
That’s when Undead Unluck opens the readers to what should be an interesting arc: Andy and Fuuko experiencing the loop. Re-meeting their friends and taking on past challenges again has a sort of New Game+ mode feel to it. Will author Yoshifumi Tozuka do something of a speedrun of these past 13.5 volumes, or will he find new ways to bring these lovable characters back into the fold? But we’ve no time to speculate; there’s one piece of the puzzle that’s finally put into place.
For a while, we’ve never gotten a good idea of what Andy or Victor’s real deal was. That all changes thanks to Juiz, who lays out everything for our immortal hero. And the big surprise: the card in Andy’s forehead can play a major role in the next loop. What it is and how it can work is best suited for you to find out yourself, but if Andy and Fuuko can implement it into their loop plan, then God is certainly in a shit-ton of trouble!
Yes, the world of Undead Unluck is about to reset itself, but now the fun can start once again. Will Andy and Fuuko easily find themselves in the new loop, or will something come around to make their reunion a bit more challenging? And what of their old friends and even bitterest of enemies? Will everyone be the same, or could there be a change or two in the characters we both love and hate? We’ll soon see for ourselves, but until then, consider this attempt to save the world a delightful try, even if our Union pals couldn’t get it right this time.
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided by Chantelle Sturt of VIZ Media.
