Un-Go

Story - Poor. Normally I watch a mystery anime for two things. A sense of resolution, or the satisfaction of a mystery solved. Even the most amateur mystery story can be enjoyable once the tricks are revealed.

But Un-go is different. None of the stories have a decent resolution, because while the mysteries are always solved, they were always covered up. Which defeats the purpose of mystery genre completely. The true genre of Un-Go is waste of time. Because that is what the characters are doing. Searching for truth, but have no real interest in revealing the truth. Hence wasting time.

Furthermore, the plot is ... weak. In the first story, the victim was killed so that he died a hero, while he really was not. But after the killer was found, it was announced that he was a hero anyway to protect his name. There was no point in killing him in the first place. In the second story, the victim was killed because her daughter wanted to be a singer and the victim did not permit her. But the daughter was unable to become a singer anyway because of some random conspiracy by the government against idol bands. Which she was never a part of. So she killed her mother for no reason. In the third story, "omg, the only other person in the room is not the killer, its a curse." How stupid is that? And when the story goes on, it is revealed the victim was killed because he was a spy and broke into the house. But of course the killer was guilty of... self defense and was arrested anyway. And for a crime they did not have proof of. Aside from the detective saying "he did it."

For the three stories shown so far, not a single character has become better off. Not the victim, not the killer, not the victim's family, nor the killer's family. All three crimes can be described as unnecessary. The fact that the crime was done has in no way changed the lives of any of the characters. I'm not even sure if the first 2 killers were arrested because the police told them that the crime is going to be attributed to an innocent scapegoat, for the reason that... no reason. And the 3rd killer was arrested, even when no real proof was linked to him. No, circumstantial evidence, even when strong, is not the same thing. There is NO link at all.

Aside from these, there is no satisfaction in watching the mystery being solved... because OMG OMG there is MAGIC in a futuristic, scientific, post apocalyptic world. But the catch is, only the main character has access to it. And no one even notices it, and just accepts the sudden random confessions. And ignores the random "I want to eat him/eat his soul" comments. There is nothing to make you think, "oh so that's why the main character caught the culprit," or "oh so that's why he's even suspected in the first place." Although it's not hard to point the real killer within 5 minutes of the show for the first 2 stories, because they're both cliched.

The police are bumbling idiots, and the only other detective aside from the main character is a meddling civilian, whom, when the police ask "how can we identify the corpse," answers "do a DNA test." Duh.

Characters - Shit. Main character is an expressionless background character. And his most memorable line is "there is no use in lying, no one can evade answering [my assistant because he has magic]." Big whoop. And he doesn't seem to care one way or another about the truth which is a rather odd trait for a detective. He butts his way into a case, wastes his entire day being a background character, miraculously solves the case, and let the lie be accepted as the truth anyway. Then he closes off each case with "people are ugly inside." End.

The other main character is an annoying brat. He does random stuff that only serves to distract you from the story. He should have been arrested 20x in 4 episodes just for tampering with evidence. And making physically impossible postures just to make the show creepier. But he changes into a woman who can force the truth out of someone. And eat souls.

All the other characters are just as flat. A civilian meddler who is the "best detective," but he hasn't actually solved a single case. Only covered everything with his lies to protect the... Dunno what. And his daughter who's single trait is contrariness. Tell her to do something and she won't.

And the police who knows the main character actually solves cases look down on him because of it. Why should we respect a detective who actually solves cases? No, we must support the meddler who covers everything up because he is more popular. Let us not make the strong-arm police/detective who think he's always right. It's so cliche. Instead, let's just make her have a serious fan-girl adoration of someone who she knows is wrong all the time. Oh, and as I mentioned earlier, how DO you identify someone? By DNA duh.

Give me goth lolis any day. At least they actually have a personality. Even a stock character is better than a main character who is actually a background character. Even those annoying cicadas on trees they show every other episode in slice of lifes are more interesting.

Art/Sound - Annoying. I normally don't comment on art and sound, because story/character/enjoyment are the things I find important. But the sound is ANNOYING. Whenever "magic truth time" starts, the background music suddenly becomes jarring. The first time, I thought my speaker broke. It's really annoying, distracting, and did I mention annoying?

Enjoyment - Blah. I'd rather go to sleep than continue to watch this anime.

Overall - Many words can be used to describe this anime. But the one that defines this the most is... ANNOYING. Annoying story, annoying plot, annoying characters, annoying background music. The fact that they use magic in a detective mystery is annoying. I normally watch a series even when its not that good, but I'm gonna drop this because it actually pisses me off.

good day to all
While searching for a hidden treasure, I came across this anime and thought to myself, "This looks fascinating, even though it only has a 7."

The plot of the anime makes no sense whatsoever. There is no context for the major characters or the story's progression.

Yuuki was the only character who was enjoyable. Some episodes feel like filler that has nothing to do with the story or the anime itself. I wanted the entire anime was as mysterious and action-packed as the last two episodes.


I was really dissatisfied with the quality of my first Hidden Gem anime.