Un-Go [Complete Collection] – Review

Un-Go is about a detective named Yuki Shinjuro, who solves various incidents that happen in his circle of friends. The adaptation will utilize an original story set in the near future, revolving around the detective and a boy named Inga, who continually encounter mysterious cases. his is just one of those rarities ( next to Guilty Crown ) that comes out with no such backstory. That means, no light novels and no manga. Not that I know of. Let’s say it’s like Kamisama no Memochou except a level higher. It’s got your basic mystery genius boy with the girl sidekick that is a minor love interest to the main character. Then you’ve got the detective who’s the rival of the genius, but is in a friendly rivalry. The show is really rather interesting. The quality isn’t bad at all and the plot doesn’t seem that bad. However the mysteries seem a bit to nice. It really takes away the more realistic atomosphere to detective shows. The story of “Un-Go” is broken up into a series of different mysteries that have Shinjurou attempting to find the truth, even after the police tell everyone that Rinroku has already found the true killer. The cases never really have much to do with one another.

I suppose that is where the bulk of the confusion pokes its head out. So, I will admit, the first couple episodes of Un-Go didn’t have me convinced. I had really high hopes for the show and, at the start, it wasn’t quite measuring up to my expectations. Put simply, it was awkward. However, as the show progressed, I found myself increasingly intrigued and excited. Everything began to come together and, though there were times where I honestly had no clue what was happening, it was really fun to try and figure out what was going on. In Un-Go, the main character, Yuuki Shinjurou, is a detective, driven to find the Truth, even though that puts him at odds with the forces of social stability.

Un-Go is a mature addition to the detective genre—but not in the sense that it’s a hyper-violent, sexy mystery thriller. It delved into a number of issues, refusing to pull any punches in the process. The foremost of these themes was that of truth. As this show is of the mystery genre, the search for the truth in the face of deceit and lies is obviously going to be an ongoing pursuit. However, Un-Go went about it in a different matter than most other whodunits. The story reminds me of Majin Tantei Nogami Neuro with the whole supernatural element being thrown into the mix of a detective story except this series has more style in its execution. In fact, the second half of the series is almost one long mystery!

I really like this anime because I love mysteries. What I find to be funny though is that he is called the “Defeated Detective” yet he seems to be more accurate on each mystery that he solves. The other “detective” seems to be more in to covering up crimes then actually holding the ones responsible for them. Like the case with the mother neglecting her children, instead of just taking the children from her; he actually let it get so bad that she actually blinded herself in her attempt to assuage her guilt. How does that help anyone? The father got out of prison thinking his children were gone or dead but come to find out they had been placed into child care until his release. I get the reasoning behind it or at least their attempt, but they made it worse by the secrecy. Truth may never be pretty, but it is there and you really can’t hide from it no matter how you spin it to fit whatever scenario you have made up for it.

All that being said, I do believe Un-go suffered because it was set to be only 11 episodes. The short length ended up making certain aspects to the show feel very rushed. When the time comes for me to think about my Top 10 anime this year, this could be a contender. The result of the show’s first mystery hints at a cynical worldview but what I gravitated most to the series was I was confused, intrigued, anxious, excited, and entertained all at the same time. Detailing in the environment was top notch and the series benefits greatly from the high resolution due to the striking colour schemes used in the design. There wasn’t any noticeable drop in quality that I took note of so I think it’s safe to say that animation-wise, Un-Go is highly polished and consistent. I heartily recommend giving Un-Go a watch.