#Fuuko Izumo is best girl!

[bethanysac]

2 yrs reading the Manga and now the anime has me even more obsessed with Andy and Fuuko and I didn't think I could get any more obsessed than I already was, and today's episode, the KISS!!! Gah, fucking magical!

[gatorgrumbles]

Andy and Fuuko cause they make me want to scream

[tiny-evan]

Peak Fuuko Drawing right here

Undead Unluck is so good and it needs way more appreciation

(I love Fuuko so much)

[ilovelumity3000]

Momo Ayase and Fuuko Izumo arent just love interests, or main female leads, or heroines or whatver - theyre THE main characters of thier respective stories... in long running battle shonens.

Not only that, theyre also great characters by themselves, as well as very strong fighters, in a genre (yes, i know, shonen is demographic, im specifically talking battle shonen) where powerscaling is usually the #1 topic among fans.

And theyre not just seen as "best girls/best waifus" - they are a lot of people's favorite characters, period, where their appeal isnt really how attracive they are or how many fanservice moments they receive

What im trying to say is: give me more female shonen protagonists! Cuz so far, theyre all incredible characters from incredible stories

[dropintomanga]

The Accidental Trauma of the Negators (Undead Unluck)

The past few years, the word trauma has been thrown around a lot. Everyone's going through something. While one can argue who is suffering more, there's one thing that's certain - we still don't know how to talk about trauma in a healthy manner that heals everyone involved.

And I see this in the case of the Negators in Yoshifumi Tozuka's Undead Unluck.

Undead Unluck starts off with a young girl named Fuuko Izumo wanting to kill herself after causing a lot of death around her. She curses how unlucky she is until a mysterious person named Andy shows up to save her. Andy is someone who is looking to die as he is living a virtually-immortal existence. He believes Fuuko is the key to dying and decides to drag her on an adventure that would end up joining an organization made up of people with unique powers like themselves called Negators.

The Negators are individuals that have abilities that negate certain rules placed by the God of their world and by beings known as Uma. These abilities usually start with an "Un-" prefix, so Undead and Unluck are on the list. How those abilities are activated can be random, but there's consequences. Once Negators awaken to their power, they end up causing tragedy to those they love and most of the time, they kill them.

I'll talk about 3 Negators in particular.

Fuuko Izumo (Unluck) - Due to her ability to generate extremely bad luck on those she loved the most, her parents were killed in an airplane crash when she was 8 and with them. Three years later, Fuuko kissed her grandfather and he ended up dying some time after

Tatiana (Untouchable) - Her Negator ability activated at the age of 5 and destroyed an entire town as anything near her would be incinerated, including her parents.

Chikara Shigeno (Unmove) - When his Negator ability activated, he accidentally caused his parents to not be able to move by looking directly at them in front a speeding truck. Hence their imminent deaths.

You can guess why I want to talk about those 3 in particular - because they accidentally killed their parents.

In mental health, there have been cases of people living with mental illness who killed their family members. While this may not be shocking to some, it's still harboring to hear and a risque subject to talk about. Years ago, while working the front desk at my local NAMI, I took a phone call from a woman who was looking to inquire about what to do regarding her brother, who killed their parents. She was in tears and I said I understood and transferred her over to the helpline.

I recently listened to two stories about people who accidentally took the lives of others. One story focused on a woman who ran over a homeless person near an expressway. While she was mourning the loss and processing what she did, everyone around her was like "Oh, that person was just an outcast to society. You don't need to mourn them." The woman didn't know how to take that. The second story was about a man who was struggling with alcohol addiction for years. Things came to a head when he killed a small group of family members while drunk driving. While the man is making amends through advocacy work against drunk driving, he can't help but wonder if he will truly be forgiven for what he did.

What's scary is when you accidentally kill someone, it's easy to let the trauma define your entire identity. Fuuko, Tatiana and Chikara were like this before meeting Andy. They were afraid that their powers couldn't help anyone. They felt that they couldn't redeem themselves no matter what. If the 3 of them can't get close to anyone anymore, then so be it.

Thankfully, all three have managed to find ways to cope and grow. Fuuko realizes how much her power can save lives and knows how much her parents loved her. The best thing Fuuko can do was live and protect those she cares about just like her parents once did. Tatiana felt the same after Fuuko befriends her without judgement of her past actions. Chikara admits that his parents want him to live first and foremost while being kind to those who need it.

I will not lie that society will always judge anything violent in a black or white manner. I just wish that those who know they did something devastating are treated with compassion by more than just people similar to them. In Undead Unluck, the Negators only get sympathy from fellow Negators. The God who "blesses" them only sees them as pawns to be played with.

It's okay if you can't forgive yourself as long as you don't fall into total despair. Try to make the world around you a better place. If you can't, then definitely make your inner world a better place. And definitely find a community that you can feel safe and at peace with. This is why I appreciate Undead Unluck and understand why it was made a big deal at Anime NYC in 2023. Community (and some professional help) goes a long way to heal the trauma.

And more importantly, try to honor the victims as best you can. Do good for their sake.

There's absolutely no good card for this at all, but shrinking yourself to the abyss and wanting to die like some Negators have felt is not a good answer to live up to any grave mistakes you made. Do the UN-believable and prove to the awful voice that unfairly blames you that you are so much more than what you did.

If you are or know someone who accidentally hurt or killed someone, the Hyacinth Fellowship is a place to find help and I totally recommend visiting their website at: https://hyacinthfellowship.org/

[dianagpeppermintnightmare]

I'm not gonna disagree with the validity of some of these points, but I still feel the need to make some of my own.

So, "shonen", of course, is merely a demographic. It isn't a genre. When people outside of Japan use "shonen", they're often just using it as shorthand for what's an actual genre: battle manga. Shonen encompasses a great deal of genres, from sports manga, romance manga, slice of life manga, and gag manga, and even those can blend together. It still amuses me a bit that smaller slice of life gag series like Nichijou or Azumanga Daioh are both shonen and nobody seems to notice. Even a yuri manga like Bloom Into You is shonen, and was published in the same magazine as Azumanga Daioh.

It should also be noted that the vast majority of battle shonen that takes off outside Japan are the ones published by Weekly Shonen Jump, which has a particular brand and image. When people harp about alleged clichés in battle shonen (regardless of whether these clichés are actually that prevalent or if they're just going solely off Dragon Ball and Naruto), it's usually the tropes frequently utilized in these particular mangas. Which, to be honest, reflects a very narrow view? It's like simplifying American comic books to just Marvel. I'd also argue that some of them don't get enough credit for their female casts (I'd point to Gintama and Black Clover as good examples), but overall...well, splitting mangas by gendered demographics naturally leads to the aforementioned issues with female representation.

Dandadan is an example of a shonen that exists outside of the Weekly Shonen Jump bubble. It's published on Jump+, which has a looser guideline for what fits the image. It could never have been published in Weekly Shonen Jump. And I think that's a big reason why people are touting it as being this big shakeup, because it's from a different publication (still by Shueisha, sure) with more room for experimentation. There's still only a limited amount of Jump+ series that have been big hits, which is partly down to it being relatively newer. It could be a good sign for the future if Jump+ keeps having hits with this level of good writing and representation.

But seriously, don't limit yourselves with the shonen manga you read. There's still a couple with genuinely good female characters, some even protagonists! I'm gonna list a few for people to check out:

1. Undead Unluck. Great romance, great action, genuinely insane plot twists, very well-characterized female cast who all get moments to develop, and Fuuko Izumo is genuinely one of the best shonen protagonists out there. 10/10 character development. There's definitely some iffy stuff early on, but hey, same with Dandadan. And if you like romance, Undead Unluck does it VERY well.

2. Akane-banashi. So imagine a sports manga, except it's not about sports, it's about rakugo. That's this series. Incredibly engaging, Akane is a fun MC, and then you delve into deeper themes about the power of art and storytelling and you start crying.

3. Magilumiere Co. LTD. More proof that locking anime adaptations of good manga to Hulu and Prime is bullshit. A Jump+ series about magical girls as an actual business for responding to monster attacks, the main protagonist is a newbie to the world of adulting and job hunting before becoming part of a small magical girl startup. The only manga I've read where "privatizing the magic industry" is an actual plot point. And yes, there is commentary on aspects of capitalism and how valuing profit over people is bad.

And those are just the ones I'm reading. That's without going into Kindergarten Wars or Shy, both series with their own cult followings and female MC's. Or hell, Frieren got super popular, and some people don't seem to realize it's published in Weekly Shonen Sunday.

So, in short...yes, Dandadan bucks a lot of clichés associated with the most popular battle shonen, but it's still speaking from a limited point of view. There IS more variety out there, you just have to look. Don't just focus on the stuff that gets the big social media reactions from the anime adaptations, focus on the smaller cult hits too.

Ways I can think of that “DanDaDan” differs from other shonen series:

* Female MC is as important as male MC

* Canon romance gets consistent development through the series. I think that’s part of the reason why the MC ships with the rivals (Aira, Jiji) aren’t as popular with the fandom for once. The main ship is actually getting good development, so the fanbase doesn’t have to make up headcanons to fill in the space.

* Flips the found family trope on its head by having the main group despise new people whenever they show up and they even actively try to kick them out. The new people only end up staying because they keep lingering around to the point that the main group just gives up and lets them stay.

* The rivals aren’t emo or angst-ridden. Aira is a delusional tryhard popular girl while Jiji is a himbo drama queen. I’d even go as far to say that the MCs are the ones who are emo and angst-ridden.

* Supporting cast is more than just important, they become integral to the story. I’d say that the further you read into DanDaDan, the more it becomes an ensemble cast where everyone is a protagonist in their own right.

* World-building is all over the place, but in a good way. Most other shonen are pretty consistent with what kind of world their characters live in. MHA is superhero-based, Naruto is ninjas and magic, Bleach is spirits, and so on. DanDaDan feels like the author just throws whatever cool shit they can think of into the story. That’s actually the reason why I wrote in a different post that DanDaDan reminds me more of Marvel/DC than any other shonen series, it manages to capture the catch-all insanity of those comics.

* Doesn’t rely on hidden power-ups. The main characters either have to outsmart the villains or they have to train to get better with the powers they already have.

* The pervert comic relief guy is actually endearing for once. Not because of his pervert tendencies, but because he’s so oblivious to how socially inept he is that it’s kind of funny. This is gonna sound strange, but he sorta reminds me of Thor in Thor Ragnarok. Full of himself and oblivious to how dumb he can be. He’s Thor without the good looks lol.

* Flips the “nerdy outcast loser somehow gets a harem” trope. Instead of making Okarun cooler than how he actually is, the story emphasizes that the women who fall for Okarun are as weird as him. Momo is a weird outcast, Aira has main character syndrome, Vamola doesn’t understand how to human because she’s literally not one, Rin thought Okarun was a vampire (and wanted him to be).

* Flips the “elderly figure in charge of the teenagers” trope. I don’t really get motherly figure vibes from Seiko Ayase, I get more “cool wine aunt who is stuck with her niece” vibes. In fact, there was the arc where Okarun showed up to her in spirit mode to get her help with fighting off the alien invasion and Seiko’s response was, “Well, I’m not in the area and I have other shit to do, so you kids figure it out.”

* The series takes the piss out of the trope of mystical/magical items that the group acquired to get their powers. I mean…the main mystical MacGuffin in the series are Okarun’s balls.

* Okarun was about to go into an “I’m weak / I wish I was stronger / I want to get stronger for my friends” breakdown, but Turbo Granny told him to shut up and keep fighting.

* Not afraid to put the “cool girl” in as many funny situations as possible. Off the top of my head, the series built up Momo as this cool, tough girl who doesn’t take shit from anyone…then several chapters later, Okarun found out she got a job at a maid cafe.

(Feel free to add to the list!)

[mujeemangacorner]

Undead Unluck Manga Review

Genre: Dark fantasy, Action, Romance

Published: January 6th , 2020

Synopsis: Undead Unluck is a manga about a girl named Fuuko Izumo Who's powers brings unlucky happenings to whoever she touches. When Fuuko attempts taking her life, she is kidnapped by Undead, a being who cannot die and can regenerate from any injury. They go on a wacky quest to find the greatest death. Review: Undead unluck manages to mesh comedy, action, romance and supernatural together so well, it is one of the most absurd stories and premise I've ever seen but it very rarely falls flat with its execution. The magic/power system in this story is one of the best I've seen from a lot of Shonen series and it really takes it time with establishing these characters and make you feel for them , and i mean, every single one of them. There is not a single character in this story that doesn't get at least a little amount of shine, really making you feel for their found family bond.

[maguro13-2]

Lain's Anniversary or a Birthday Surprise

Lain : Happy 25h Anniversary to me! I can't wait to show everyone to invite my anniversary party! Woo! Let's begin!

*crickets chirping*

Lain : Hey, where is everybody? Okay, who's idea was it for us to have a single anniversary?

Alice : Hey, Lain. I guess our 25th anniversary has a little mix up.

Lain : A little mix up. Where are all my friends?

Alice : You don't remember. They all went to a birthday party for Shounen Jumper. I don't remember who her name was, I think it was, Fuuko was it.

Lain : Fuuko? Who the hell is Fuuko?!

*Zoom!*

Lain : Alright, whoever is missing out my 25th--Huh?

(Looks at the banner)

(BANNER : HAPPY BRITHDAY FUUKO-CHAN!)

Lain : WHAT THE NUTS!?!

(scene flips)

Lain : Alright, Mrs Fuuko-chan! Jokes over!

*nobody was here at party as it's nothing more than a mess*

Lain : Where did they went off too?

Alice : Uhh, Lain. I think that girl we just saw, actually Fuuko's birthday was on this day that show premiered over a year ago. Turns out that birthday surprise of her's was bit of a much failure.

Lain : So where is my friend at?

Alice :I think she went of a restaurant called the Cheesecake Factory, and I believe she goes to that girl's party for some free cake. Screw anniversary parties, let's go the cheesecake factory!

Lain : Of course, Cheesecake Factory it is!

*Meanwhile later at the Cheesecake Factory..."

All : Hey, Happy Birthday, Fuuko-Chan!

Fuuko : Thanks guys! This is truly the best of the best! Having a birthday at the Cheesecake Factory is a huge success!

Andy : I know, right? This is the perfect for you have a perfect cake! It's the birthday girl's birthday! This is truly her unlucky wish!

Fuuko : Classic me, Classic me! Thanks for having this wonderful time at the restaurant, Andy. Who knew picking Cheesecake Factory would be the perfect place for my birthday!

Andy : It's what this gift card told us, good thing I earned money from my U.S bank account.

Fuuko : Oh, look. It's the girl who wrecked my birthday yesterday!

Lain : Yeah, that's me. I'm sorry that accidentally ruined your birthday party.

Fuuko : Yeah, you remembered that party when all of my original friends was there for me?

Lain : Well...

*flashback*

Fuuko : Oh my Gosh! This is gonna be the birthday, ever!

All : Hey, happy Birthday, Fuuko Izu--

Fuuko : Oh my God! Everyone look out! *evades*

*Lain runs over Fuuko's friends*

All : My Leg!

Harry : My English Teabags!

Lain : Sorry about that!

*Steam Whistling+Train whistling*

Fuuko : YOU'RE GONNA REGRET THAT FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS!!!

*flashback ends*

Lain : So I accidentally, ruined your party and it was totally a huge misunderstanding, so I guarantee. That I even made you an apology cake.

Fuuko : Is that so? I guess that apology cake's alright, but sure, I'll take it as appreciation, right after you help me out with washing my abs. My hot shredded abs.

*Record scratch*

Lain : How...dare you...!

Rei : *sighs* Can't we agree this?

Andy : Ladies, ladies. Be fair to each other and not go hostile on ourselves. We're all dudes and dudettes here. Speaking of dudettes, why isn't Julia coming to the Cheesecake Factory?

Fuuko & Andy : *realizing together* OH CRAP! WE FORGOT ABOUT THAT EXPLOSIVE THAT WE FORGOT TO THROW IT OUT!

*Meanwhile...*

Gina : Here, Julia. This is a birthday gift from Mrs Izumo. I hope she could clatter herself with those boxing gloves for the weight class.

Julia : Are you too sure about that? I gotta taste test it first. *About to taste the piece of the pie* Hold on, do you know what this really wanted?

Gina : What's that?

Julia : I could go for some milk with it.

Gina : Yeah, that's really cool. Just be careful not to get yourself hurt and make sure to not stub your toe to the--*Julia trips*

Julia : Oops.

*whistling*

Gina : *in slo-motion* Oh...SHIIIIIII-

*KABOOM*

Julia : I told you. 25 dollars for an explosive pie?

Gina : I did save a lot of money. *coughs*

Julia : Well, you're fired. *collapses*

Gina : I'm not even wearing shoes.

Julia : Then, you're rehired.

Gina : Actually, I do feel little about the shoes.

[Iris out]

~ Happy Birth Day to our Lucky Girl, Fuuko! ~

[b3crew]

REVIEW | "Undead Unluck" - Vol. 1 | B3 - Boston Bastard Brigade

Back in 2012, Sniper Elite developers Rebellion created a video game called NeverDead. It wasn’t the best game around, but it had an interesting concept involving an immortal protagonist who could slice his body into tiny pieces and be put back together. This video game came to mind as soon as I started reading Undead Unluck, the debut series from writer/artist Yoshifumi Tozuka. Unlike NeverDead though, this manga certainly has a lot more going for it!

The story begins with a girl named Fuuko Izumo on the verge of ending her life. She claims that any person that touches her may contract a disease and die. Said claim gets the attention of a mysterious muscleman, who takes the bet and promptly gets hit by a train. Normally this should be the end of this character’s story, but his detached and still-speaking head rolls on over towards the frightened Fuuko. Thus, the truth comes out about the two: he can’t die, and she causes bad luck.

This pairing is soon put together, as the muscleman (who’ll go by Andy later on) seeks Fuuko’s power of bad luck to end his incredibly long life. That’s when a strange organization known as Union arrives, and attempts to put an end to Andy and Fuuko’s free lives. However, upon hearing some tidbits about the group’s exclusive Negator’s club, Andy and Fuuko make it their mission to join their ranks. Otherwise, they’ll either be captured or — in Fuuko’s case — eliminated.

Undead Unluck is filled with a lot of great elements that make for a memorable shonen series. For starters, its action is truly imaginative, as we see Andy lopping off his own body parts to use as weapons. It never reaches grotesque levels of detail, which makes it a series that even the weakest of stomachs can handle, but it never strays from pushing the envelope when it comes to bringing some entertaining violence. (We’re also grateful that Tozuka constantly blurs out Andy’s yarbles when he goes pants-less, which happens very often in this volume!)

Click here to read the rest of the review!