Un-Go: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Un-Go: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Is that the same as stop?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 23, 2012

It’s not unusual for detectives to have sidekicks. After all, Sherlock Holmes has Watson, Batman has Robin and Hercule Poirot has Hastings, to name but three examples in widely disparate franchises. Sidekicks are often kind of bland entities who are there to be the “village idiot” to the detective’s overweening brilliance, but occasionally they’re actually at least as colorful as the main characters. Colorful hardly even begins to describe Inga, the supposedly secondary character in the frequently compelling Un-Go, a short form anime (eleven episodes plus an OVA on this collection) that posits a somewhat ironically nicknamed Defeated Detective against a mighty industrialist whose shenanigans keep bringing him into the orbit of various investigations. The so-called Defeated Detective is actually named Shinjirou and we come to understand that he has entered into a kind of Faustian bargain with Inga, a weird creature who is able to change genders (and ages) and who has the wonderful capacity (at least for a detective’s assistant) of forcing anyone he/she touches to answer one pointed question about what their real motives are. While the back story of Shinjirou and Inga is somewhat muddled (and isn’t really helped by this series’ too brief episode arc), their bizarre relationship forms a central focus for the show and keeps it balanced (somewhat precariously at times) between a more or less straight ahead detective procedural and something a bit more on the spooky supernatural sci-fi side of things. There are a number of elements in Un-Go which aren’t adequately explained or fully developed enough, and those may turn off some viewers who want everything laid out in crystal clear declamatory fashion, but the overall feeling of Un-Go is quite distinctive and in fact some of the confusion which is inherent in the series actually adds to its mysterious allure. In other words, you may not know exactly what’s going on at any given moment, but chances are you’ll be more than interested one way or the other.

One of the most interesting things about Un-Go is how it takes an overused anime trope—a post-apocalyptic future—and yet invests it with a completely different feeling than any number of other similarly set shows. Aside from Inga, this isn’t a series with mutated characters or even a lack of technology. Whatever devastating war has happened has evidently been dealt with as best as possible, and life, though scarred, has moved on. Another very smart thing about this anime is its emphasis on the mystery element. No one would accuse these episodes of being Agatha Christie complex (that’s a compliment in my book), but they’re unusually convoluted for anime and almost always have a neat little twist that even inveterate armchair sleuths may find surprising at least a time or two.

The post-apocalyptic angle spins out in the overall arc which includes the kind of villain of the piece, magnate Kaishou, a man whose attempts to provide Japan with energy for the future plays out in several episodes, including the especially complex final couple of episodes. Kaishou’s apparent assassination leads to a seriously labyrinthine wrap up with several sets of doppelgangers that may have some viewers hitting the rewind button on their remotes (more than once, if they’re like I was) to fully catch exactly what has happened. (In terms of remote action, it’s also a good idea to have your pause button handy, as several characters are introduced with very quick explanatory subtitles which at times don’t last long enough to fully read.)

I just talked a bit in my recent Hellsing Ultimate: Collection Volumes 1-4 Blu-ray review about the named of Dracula being reversed as Alucard (or its “Engrish” version Arucard). There’s something tangentially related with regard to Un- Go, at least in terms of its original broadcast history. Fuji Television has been trying to exploit anime and develop a larger demographic for the genre with its self-proclaimed “noitaminA” (Animation spelled backwards) block, which has premiered all sorts of short form series that attempt to wrap up their stories without running for several seasons. In the case of several of these entries (Bunny Drop and Princess Jellyfish spring immediately to mind) that has kept admittedly slight offerings from feeling too bloated and/or padded. However this short form gambit can just as often work against a series’ overall impact, as was the case with the fitfully intriguing Fractale. Un-Go suffers somewhat from the same issue that hobbled Fractale, namely trying to stuff so much complexity into such a short episode arc that it can end up being too much of a chore (at least for some) to keep up with everything.

There’s little doubt, though, that Un-Go is overall a more consistently interesting show than Fractale was. A lot of that is due to the mystery element, especially those that spin out over more than one episode. But the most compelling reason to tune in the show may be a double edged sword. That reason is none other than Inga, one of the most unusual (and patently bizarre) creatures in the whole often extremely twisted world of anime. While an OVA included in this set helps to give the character some context and background, he/she is so instantly intriguing that in a certain way context isn’t even that important. But that very interest also points out how relatively bland some of the rest of the characters—including The Defeated Detective himself—are by comparison.

Un-Go: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Un-Go is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While this is a really nicely sharp and clear looking high definition presentation, the series is oddly colorless at times. Flesh tones are often almost white and the entire series has a sort of brown or beige ambience that may be hinting at something like an anime version of film noir, but ironically has too much color to ever appropriately reference that genre. The result is an odd kind of middle ground where line detail is exceptional, character design and backgrounds are often beautifully rendered, but there's just a lot of consistent "wow" factor. That aspect actually diminishes somewhat toward the end of the series as some more sci-fi elements are incorporated and we get some really cool looking effects, including a kind of "electric skin" meltdown of one character. Despite the lack of a deeply saturated and varied palette, this is a very sharp looking transfer that should easily please ardent videophiles.

Un-Go: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Un-Go features lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mixes in both the original Japanese language as well as an English dub. Once again, the English mix is noticeably more aggressive than the Japanese mix, with music cues especially more forceful at times. Dialogue is very cleanly presented in both of these tracks and fidelity is excellent as well. Stereo separation is fairly minimal but does come into play at times, especially with regard to some of the underscore. There's also some appealing dynamic range in several episodes.

Un-Go: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Un-Go Up All Night Event (1080i; 28:09) is a December 24, 2011 Q&A session with several cast and crew members.


• A Conversation with Ango Sakaguchi (1080i; 22:13) provides some great background on the author. The title of this piece is a little misleading, as Sakaguchi died in 1955, but there's a long Q&A session, similar to the one above, where a lot his biography and writings are discussed.


• Inga Nikki (HD; 3:43) is a bunch of animated bumpers.


• Japanese Promotion Video "Retake" (SD; 3:21)


• Japanese Spots (HD; 14:34)


• Chapter of Inga Alternate Opening (HD; 00:31)


• Clean Opening Animation (HD; 1:32)


• Clean Closing Animation (HD; 1:32)

Un-Go: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The world of anime is littered with series that linger way too long, retreading the same material over and over (and over). Un-Go is in the opposite camp—this is a show that certainly could have benefited from at least a somewhat more leisurely and well developed tour through its ideas and (especially) some of its characters. But while Un-Go isn't entirely successful, it's still riveting quite a bit of the time. The mysteries are usually quite well conceived and if the sociopolitical aspect that becomes especially labyrinthine in the final arc is a bit muddled, it, too, adds to the overall allure of the series. While there's no denying that Un-Go is a flawed anime, way too compressed for its own good, the fact that it manages to be as successful as it is points to a generally well handled attempt to do something at least a little different, and for that reason alone, this Blu-ray set comes Recommended.