Ranked #600

UN-GO episode:0 Inga-ron

UN-GO has always been an anime about mysteries, and in this prequel movie we deal with an important one; just how did Shinjuuro and Inga meet, and what were those events we saw in the very first scene of the series?

Despite the fact this is a film, it is more of a double length episode, so don't go expecting a massive improvement in the art or a whole new soundtrack, because you will be disappointed on both counts. However, the art and music for the series was great, and so it still is here, so whilst it isn't movie levels of animation, it's still more than satisfactory, and the music still does it's job as well as ever.

The story does not start with the meeting, but with Shinjuuro's back story. This was well done as it shed some unexpected light on him as a character, and also explained some of his traits, which I appreciated, since it's nice to be able to understand more about a character. Strangely, the film decides to deal with a separate mystery dealing with a religious cult as well as the encounter. Whilst the characters involved all have relevancy to Shinjuuro and the meeting, I thought the mystery was unnecessary, and the time could have been better spent on looking at the events leading up to the fateful encounter, which developed the relationship between Shinjuuro and the members of the travelling group of singers, in particular Yuuko, who is of painful significance.

Despite the fact I said the time could have been better spent, the mystery isn't bad (although if you've watched the series you'll know what's going on from the very start) and it is does give some context to the relationship between Inga and Shinjuuro and the deal they have. Because of our prior knowledge of Bentenmaru there is no mystery for us which is a little disappointing, but the way Shinjuuro solves the mystery is still interesting, and the climax had a lot of tension, so I'm summarizing it was done well.

UN-GO episode:0 Inga-ron is enjoyable and has a lot of intrigue, and is a must watch if you have watched the original series; the mystery was decent and it did a good job of explaining and revealing things regarding the original series. It also gives quite an amusing look at some of the characters of the original series before they knew each other properly, which brought a smile to my face at several points. It could have been better, but it was still a solid movie that should be watched. read more

Like its title suggests, Inga-ron is a prequel to the mystery/supernatural story UN-GO. It explores the origins of Yuuki Shinjuurou and answers any lingering questions that the anime, which is rightfully criticized as occasionally confusing, left behind.

And as someone who thought UN-GO was surprisingly decent, the prequel surprisingly didn't disappoint either.

Yuuki Shinjuurou, who remains nameless for the first thirty minutes of the movie, starts off as an orphan who is picked up by a variety of incredibly nice and caring foster parents, who all tell him that the best payment is to go out and help other people. Taking this payment to heart, Shinjuurou goes on a life seeking journey to help find himself. Ironically enough, by the end of this journey, he summons a monster whose soul purpose seems to be exactly that. There's a mystery that springs up in between, but that's not too important.

On the surface, the plot sounds contrived and cliche when thinking about all the sob stories that are around these days in anime, or any medium for that matter. But what really makes Inga-ron good isn't necessarily the plot, because the plot follows the same formula that the original anime occasionally used: an out of order sequence of events that build up to the main climax of the mystery. What made Inga-ron good was the attention to detail and its ability to make us actually care about the characters.

Whether it be Shinjuurou shaving the morning after a particular character pokes herself trying to touch his face, or the little pictures on a roll of film that Inga looks at near the end of the episode, Inga-ron makes small little jabs of humor and character development that does't make it painfully obvious. It's those small little touches that constitute a good character, and I appreciate the well put in effort.

By extension then, Inga-ron also does a nice job of making us like the characters that get screen time. I say that, because there are quite a few character introduced, and as much as I enjoyed the movie, the amount of characters that I didn't like definitely overwhelmed the amount that I did. In a 45 minute movie, that's kind of expected, and I have to hand it to the show to give the most important characters enough development for us to like them. Inga's identity for example, turned out to be quite a surprise, and the actions of that identity near the ending of the show really earned a lot of my respect. The movie was really able to build on themes that the main story was grasping at, that someone's truth and desires belong to that person alone.

I'd definitely recommend Inga-ron to anyone who liked UN-GO. It's definitely a prequel that gives the characters in the main storyline justice, and gives a new spin on the story too.

After this, I'm tempted to even rewatch UN-GO again... read more