At first glance, this merely seems like "another" urban battle shonen genre in the current Shonen Jump lineup. You have a one dimensional, bland and perverted main character in the form of Andy and a boring pushover of a female lead in the form of Fuuko. A series filled with lackluster, perverted and overused gags with at least one censor bar in every chapter of the first two volumes (This is no exaggeration I promise you). In short, Undead Unluck is your average battle shonen with bland and one dimensional characters ,in a setting that offers no unique aspects that has not already been seen before, that repeat the same gags again and again every chapter.
The paragraph above is likely what your and everyone else's opinions of the series will be in the first 10 chapters or so. In fact that was my opinion as well. A lot of people drop the series from here on out.
But to those that choose to push through the next 10, next 20 and next 50 chapters after. You will witness the incredible character developments of not just our main cast, but even the side characters with their rich and emotional backstories that exudes a sense of realism befitting of a Shonen in an Urbanized setting. I cannot name a single poorly written relevant character in the series as all of them have been developed in one way or another.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. The power system is one of the most creative and well thought out systems I have seen in the shonen genre. A main character having Undead powers is generic and will certainly put off people's interest. But I personally think that Andy, the main character, should be an example of how to properly write an Undead character. Every battle in the series is not only a feast for the eyes, but also a feast for the mind because of how diverse and rich this power system is.
The story begins to hit off a little later but once it does, the gears really start turning at an incredible rate. I wouldn't necessarily say that the story is as strong as the character writing of the series but it's certainly enough to keep you at the edge of your seat.
This manga is a perfect example as to why a series should not be judged from its first couple of chapters. Once the anime comes out, I am certain people will bash on the series' early stages, drop it and miss out on the amazing latter arcs. As someone who is currently reading over half of the current lineup in Shonen Jump, I am addled as to why it consistently ranks low in the rankings nowadays. Though I must admit that I'm glad to have picked up this series despite it's subpar first impression to me.
