MANGA REVIEW | "Undead Unluck" - Volume Twenty
It’s important to have a good school life. Without it, one won’t be able to take on the world once they graduate. Fuuko feels like this is something that she has missed out on, so it’s great that she gets a second chance. However, as Volume Twenty of Undead Unluck shows, this isn’t just a second chance at having a teenage social life; it’s about finding the next Negator.
That person is Chikara, who loves taking photos. And as luck would have it, his negation is pretty perfect for photography: Unmove. With it, he can freeze any person he looks at, so long as he’s not moving himself. When we are reintroduced to Chikara, those powers have yet to come out. However, with his knack for photography and his desire for that perfect picture, Unmove will somehow reveal itself in some fashion.
But first, high school life. That means culture festivals, sports festivals, and even the classic school trip. Alas, we don’t have much time to see all of these, as most are only in picture form thanks to Chikara. Where Unmove comes to fruition is when he’s chatting with his parents and his dream. In the old timeline, this is the moment he accidentally kills his folks. Thankfully, Fuuko and the Union are here to make sure this doesn’t happen.
Having our team of heroes gain their powers without having to deal with tragedy is a nice change of pace for, well, comic books in general. It can suck watching Uncle Ben die over and over again, as there seems to be no other way for Peter Parker to learn the “great power, great responsibility” lesson. With that being said, if, say, Iron Man were to do a little time traveling, save Uncle Ben, and still teach Parker that ever-so-important moral, then he could become Spider-Man without grief hovering over his head. (If this actually happens in one of the many, many, many Marvel alternate timelines, please disregard this what-if scenario.)
Fuuko is doing exactly this in Undead Unluck. She’s rescuing the Negators from having tragedy form their whole schtick. Because without the things that caused the Negators to be fearful of something, then there’s a better chance at saving the world. No grief, no holding back, no Armageddon! And Chikara can be a lot more happy-go-lucky in battle instead of those trembles that hindered his contributions to the fight.
This also leads to the next Negator to be revealed: Rip, better known as Unrepair. Still a surgeon, Rip attempts to find all the ways to save his patients. The most precious is Leila, the love of his life. Her sister Latla also has negation powers, which she sees more as “fortune telling”. And at first, it seems like Rip is doing a good job helping Leila avoid death.
When a mysterious illness takes over the hospital, Fuuko appears at the nick of time. She tells Rip what he needs to do, sacrificing his legs to gain the power of Unrepair. It leads to a heartfelt moment at the beach between Rip, Leila, and Latla, as the three take in the waves, the stars, and the big, massive crabs! Time becomes of the essence again, as the Master Rule Sick attacks the hospital.
From here, a sacrifice is made, and one that actually took me by surprise. But I don’t think I could spoil it here in this review. While not as super action-packed as previous volumes, the twentieth volume of Undead Unluck makes up for it by giving us some great character development. Yes, we still haven’t found Andy yet, but if I were a betting man, I’d say that he will make his grand return very, very soon. Until then, Fuuko’s got to round up the Union a little bit more.
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided by Chantelle Sturt of VIZ Media.
