The show predominantly revolves around our main cast of three characters: an immortal woman, Aya Rindo, who has lived for over 900 years; her loyal maid and servant, Shizuku; and lastly, the absurd and powerful Tsugaru, also known as the "Oni Slayer." Our cast is united by one goal: to find the mysterious man known as "The Professor," who turned Tsugaru into a half-oni, half-human hybrid; attacked Shizuku & Aya Rindo, severely wounding the former and stealing Aya Rindo's body, only leaving behind her head, resulting in her remaining stuck in a birdcage as the brains of the trio.
To find the mysterious "Professor," the trio head to 19th-century-inspired Victorian steampunk Europe as detectives, but not any normal detectives—instead, ones who deal exclusively with supernatural cases involving "monsters." On their hunt for "The Professor," they end up solving a number of complicated mysteries all the while meeting an interesting array of characters that you will recognize from classic fiction and detective stories.
The show's definitive strong suits are the jazz-inspired music, beautiful aesthetics, and characters. Undead Girl Murder Farce really does go all in on the absurdity of what is occurring on screen, resulting in some beautiful compositions and aesthetics, which strengthens the already smooth animation that is standard throughout the anime. While not the pinnacle of animation or art, it is definitely captivating and beautiful to look at.
In essence, the characters, music, animation, and narrative are consistent in quality and enjoyment.
That being said, the biggest failing of the show is how short it is; Undead Girl Murder Farce is only 13 episodes, which forces the narrative to sometimes have faster pacing to finish specific plot elements or 'mysteries.' Each mystery that occurs in the show is a few episodes long, acting almost as its own arc written very similarly to your classical mysteries, even ending on a classical deduction show from Aya Rindo, but at the same time, each mystery also has the main plot unfolding in the background, so in parts the show can feel "rushed." Undead Girl Murder Farce would have heavily benefitted from having a full 24-episode run instead of a short 13-episode run. This alone can be viewed as the biggest failing of the show, as it is what causes a lot of the flaws that exist in the show.
In the end, if you love mysteries and are familiar with some classical detective stories or classical fiction, you will enjoy this show and heavily appreciate the characters and variety of intriguing characters. I heavily recommend this show for a fun time that will have you staring at the screen every once in a while, shocked at what you are seeing.
