Undead Girl Murder Farce

Undead Murder Farce screams exuberance and stylistic achievement from its very first moments, with no qualms about being absurd or perhaps even corny, and as mysteries go, that is the uniqueness that is to be desired. There’s so much media revolving around mystery, from your Agatha Christie novels, to your Conan Doyle stories, to the plentiful mystery anime and tv shows, so it’s difficult to create something memorable out of the vast sea of mystery media choice, and I’m happy to say that Undead Murder Farce stood out nicely, so come one, come all, into the pseudo-Meiji era, and enjoy the fun!

The anime title surely ... tells you nothing, but believe me, this is one of the most unique takes on mysteries I’ve seen a while, combining a wide range of mysteries with compelling action and witty humour, and also adding some major figures in mystery media, like Sherlock Holmes, Arsène Lupin, and many more. It kind of felt like the “Mystery Avengers” in a way, but with less action than your typical superhero flick, but much more focused on dialogue. To give a gist of the premise, it’s set in an alternate Meiji era, where an unlikely duo, an Oni Slayer, and a head in a cage suffered the similar fate of their humanity being stolen by the same person, and thus, they chase after this villain, encountering mysteries along the way, making a name for themselves.

Dialogue-heavy shows can be a slog, but this anime certainly manages to capture your attention without being boring, to the extent of each episode flying by in a matter of what you think were just a few minutes. The characters command each scene very well, and the voice actors are certainly to be praised, especially the two main characters in Tsugaru Shinuchi, and Aya Rindou, voiced by Taku Yashiro and Tomoyo Kurosawa, respectively. Tsugaru kept my attention because of his cheeky personality, often making fun of his partner Aya, as well as not taking things too seriously. His humour is witty, perhaps corny, but he definitely made me laugh quite a few times. Aya commanded each scene so well despite only being a head in a cage. Who needs a body after all? Her voice actor, Tomoyo Kurosawa, really nailed the role, as she had such a presence in each scene she was in, with her deduction skills and her tone of voice that captured every bit of my attention. The duo’s dynamic is in my opinion, the best part of the anime, as it brings forth such contagious eccentricity and energy that sucks you into the world around them.

Another main positive about this show was definitely the directing prowess of Shinichi Omata, who previously directed Kaguya-sama: Love is War, and Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, coming into play once again. The whole show feels like a stage play, with the characters feeling like actors, the dialogue bouncing off each character with such ease, the general flow of the story just so fantastic. The art and animation itself isn’t particularly pretty, and I suspect the budget for this show wasn’t huge at all, but Omata’s directing really elevated the show’s quality to greater heights, as there’s just a distinct uniqueness about how the show looks. The camera work and the storyboarding really embodied a style that felt “extravagant”, suiting the show’s setting very well. Furthermore, it has a sense of rakugo in it, and you can tell that Omata’s previous directing endeavours helped shape the way this show was directed as well.

From the compelling mystery, humour, and incredible directing, this has been one of the hidden gems, and potentially the best of the Summer 2023 anime season, and one of the more unique anime of this year. Was I surprised at how good this anime turned out to be? To be honest, not really, and that’s a testament to how much faith I had in the director. Man, this show really flew by, didn’t it?

"Undead Girl ANIME Farce"

POSITIVES:
- Character-filled
- Art Quality
- Voice acting
- Bop OP, good ED
- MCs chemistry

NEGATIVES:
... - Clickbaits
- Unnecessarily stretching out cases for too many episodes.
- Rushed climax/finale
- Threading two rivers at the same time while clearly favoring the other.

I'm not even gonna talk about its story-- it's interesting to me, personally. Instead, I'd rather judge how it performed as a show, and how it ruined the story-telling of this Anime. And just like the finale of the show, I'm gonna rush through my rant as well.

The first episode had a Dark Fantasy-Action vibe which had the then yet to be acquianted MCs battling each other in a somewhat testing of strength, which concluded in a partnership to achieve opposite goals relating to a common enemy.
It then immediately took a sudden 45-degree turn and became a full-on dialogue-heavy Detective/Mystery the very next episode. It would have been just fine as it acted as the introduction to the protags' now-established investigative team... except it took 3 episodes to conclude and felt like an unnecessarily stretched-out filler arc.
It was then followed up by an arc filled with new characters (I'd refrain from describing them to avoid spoilers) who were the ones that took the center stage in dealing with the case at hand as the MCs get relegated to the sidelines, showing up once in a while on-screen, with smug reactions on their faces implying they are picking the case apart one by one while they were off-screen.
What came next was the climactic first interaction with the villains of the story. This set the tone for what's to come as the show nears the finale... except it didn't come.
What followed is another helluva stretched-out dialogue-heavy case where they teased the presence of the villains just being around, and the presumed chaos that might ensue at any moment...
... which was paid off by a less than 5-minute still image battle slide show, followed by a barrage of words to close the final case and end the series, which took about 15 minutes... but felt like forever.

ART? Good. Sound? Good. VAs? Good. Characters? Fun...
... "Crack-Crack-Crackle" OP by CLASS:y?..... GOOOOOOOOD xD

OVERALL:
I feel so betrayed by this Anime. Even after watching its clickbait-y 1st episode, and reading the complaints of people towards it, I still stuck by it as I found the execution of the Detective/Mystery path it took quite entertaining and fun anyway-- and I did enjoy it. But it's a shame that it had to lie once again, for the finale no less. Not to mention, having to rush that said finale after over-extending most of its chapters. All I could've asked for from this Anime was for it to just be a clear Detective/Mystery Anime instead of trying to be a pretentious Dark Fantasy/Action. It did have a quite interesting arc which had an abundant amount of characters involved. But that was the middle part and barely involved the MCs. What should've been prioritized were the most important parts of a story-- the beginning and the conclusion.
And for that, I can't recommend this to anyone who's looking for an Anime with a good story. Not to say it didn't have one-- it does. It just failed to tell that "good story" properly.
Watch it for aesthetics? Yeah. Sure. Do you. Want me to give at least one good reason to watch this Anime? I can give you one. Here it is...

JIRI-JIRI TOOOOOOO!!! MOTO-MERU GIMME MOOOOOOORE!!! xD xD xD

It started with an intriguing premise and captivating first episode. The initial plot setup was full of potential, leaving you eager to see where it would lead. However, as the series progressed, disappointment set in. It became meandering and lost its direction.
The character designs were interesting, but with average animation and composition, it wasn’t anything special.
The animation quality also suffered, with inconsistent pacing, and lackluster fight scenes. It's regrettable that a show with such a strong start ultimately failed to deliver on its early potential.
... I would not recommend it to others due to its disappointing execution and overall lackluster animation.
The OP song was cool tho.