#nico x ichico

[missazune]

Andy, Fuuko Izumo, Shen Xiang, Mui, Juiz, Victor, Nico Vorgeil, and Ichico Nemuri || UNDEAD UNLUCK

some doodles i made of my fav couples in uu

[manikas-whims]

Ichico: if i run and jump at Nico, he will most definitely catch me in his arms.

Fuuko: whoa! really? 😲

Ichico *running towards Nico*: INCOMING!

Nico: NO! I'M HOLDING HOT COFFEE-

Nico: dammit! *drops hot coffee to catch Ichico*

Ichico *smirking with a cigarette in her mouth*: told ya

[wickedsick]

Thanks for the explanation, Gintoki Book

Color pages and a spread?

WATCH UNDEAD UNLUCK STREAMING OCTOBER 6TH, 2023

I mean, it is a master rule

It's interesting that SICK works in "waves".

Oh my God is that SICK

He's awesome

Alternately this is Ruin but Ruin would never wear pants that cool

I want those pants. I will kill SICK specifically to get those pants. I hope we get a color spread so I can see what color those pants are.

Oh, that's interesting. Not only can SICK see people's internal structure, but Fuuko's body got remodeled through the Ark.

Another interesting bit of world-building; the Vision abilities are traditionally more offensive. Seeing people like Shen, Rip, and Juiz, that makes sense, but Chikara's a very defense-oriented Negator.

Precocious little kid, isn't he?

Love this spread. Guess we're going into a high-gear arc now against more UMA. Are all of the First Ten going to be human-ish?

HEY WAIT A SEC WHO'S IN THE BATTLE ARMOR ON THE LEFT? I JUST REALIZED VOID IS ON THE RIGHT WHO THE FUCK IS ON THE LEFT

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.192 thoughts

[RULES OF NATURE!!!] or [We Live in a Society]

(Contents: thematic analysis - rules, character analysis - Top)

Undead Unluck is now officially as long as Medaka Box! Well, 'cept it doesn't have any special chapters in Giga or anything like that, so I guess technically Medaka Box had two more chapters? Come to think of it, wasn't getting two bonus chapters kind of a big deal? Can't think of too many Jump manga that get ANY bonus chapters...

Gettin' sidetracked, focus!

We finally get to see our boy Top, and oh no! He's become a Bad Boy(TM)! Using his powers to steal when his previous self was willing to stop running so his friends could win the prize money he needed...how heartbreaking! No wonder Haruka is trying so hard to stop him, especially since she was around to stop his tragedy - she's probably already as attached to him now as she was in the previous loop, and it hurts her to see him like this

It does seem a little strange for a family to get run out of town for illness in modern society, but maybe that's just what it's like in a poor Brazilian neighborhood? That doesn't sound right, but even if it isn't, it's fiction and I'm just going to ignore it for the sake of the drama

Top's mother tells him that he shouldn't be stealing, not necessarily because stealing is inherently wrong, but because it breaks society's rules - in the traditional sense, an outlaw is someone who doesn't obey the law, and therefore is not protected by it, so from her perspective, her son living as an outlaw justifies their isolation from the rest of society. To her, living within the law should eventually result in their family being accepted back into society, as surely the law must protect those who live within its borders

This is a fallacy, though: the law punishes those who live outside of it, but it is not obligated to protect anyone at all. The Rules of the UU world make Tozuka's stance on this topic abundantly clear, as their very existence is explicitly meant to cause suffering, and the only way to end that suffering is to either find loopholes within the rules or to negate the rules themselves. You can either cheat the system or break it, but staying perfectly in line is only going to give the advantage to those who seek to abuse the rules for their own benefit and the detriment of everyone else. The poor stay poor while the rich get richer

Top's way of doing things isn't necessarily right, either, though. While the law won't do anything to help, stealing from the community is a surefire way to lose sympathy from the people who may be willing to help. It's one thing to be an enemy of the law, but making an enemy of the community will only make one more isolated. UU is all about banding together to make things better, but Top is turning his back on everyone else to shoulder everything himself. If he makes a name for himself as a criminal, making the wrong members of the community his enemy, there's a good chance that no amount of money will let his mother get whatever treatment he needs. This is the kind of town where they can kick you out for being sick, there's a very good chance they'd refuse service to the kid who stole X amount of money from them. Money is a construct of society - becoming society's enemy is a surefire way to make your money lose its value

The Rules of UU work similarly - by working with the Rules, new possibilities are created, like Lucy and Andy materializing their souls after the introduction of Ghost, Nico mastering electricity to turn Ichico's eyebags into eyeshadow, the Union warping with Move, etc. The Rules are not inherently bad, they just aren't designed with protection in mind - they're made to restrict or enable specific behaviors, which can be used to either guide or manipulate those they apply to. How this theme will develop for this arc remains to be seen, but it's very clear that Top's situation is meant to be a more realistic or practical parallel to the fantastical setting of this world as a whole

Reading this chapter also prompted me to reread Top's backstory chapter, and I noticed a fun little parallel: at the beginning of this week's chapter, Fuuko says that because of her Unluck, she killed her parents, just like Top says that because of his Unstoppable, he killed his friends, and in both cases, Juiz/Julia insisted that both of them were blameless, and instead God was responsible for those deaths. Of course, both Fuuko and Top still insist on shouldering the responsibility to make things right by defeating God

I wonder if perhaps Top not killing anyone is part of the reason he went down this path: before, he wasn't responsible but couldn't help feeling like he was, but this time he really is just a victim of circumstance, so blaming everyone else and lashing out is a natural reaction. I'm not saying he was better off with his friends' blood on his hands (shoes?), but it's interesting that the worse circumstance forged a stronger and kinder heart

I imagine that's going to lead into the deeper explanation that Fuuko started at the beginning of the chapter: why the Negators are chosen. It's a question that we've been asking for a long time, and I always assumed that God just liked to pick on whoever would be the most ironic in the moment, so I'm excited to see what kind of answer Tozuka is gearing up to give us. I imagine it'll sound esoteric and weird at first, but it'll undoubtedly give me a lot to talk about, so I'm greatly looking forward to it

Until next time, let's enjoy life

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.153 thoughts

[Goodbye, Buroja]

So Unfair works a little differently than last chapter led us to believe, but mostly in a way that makes it a bit less broken

Last week we were told it’s based on Billy’s acknowledgment of the target’s strength, which is still true in a sense, but now we know that it’s based on the envy that Billy feels through that acknowledgment

It’s like an accusation, in a way: “it’s Unfair that you’re so strong, how am I supposed to compete with that?” And the answer, of course, is to throw that Unfairness right back by copying their abilities

Of course what this means is that Billy likely won’t be copying Unruin this time as Ruin himself is fairly unenviable [note to self: consider Unenvy as a Negator ability] as a pawn of God. He blindly worships God and doesn’t seem to really have any autonomy as far as he’s concerned, so he’s more pitiable than enviable

On the flipside, though, it should be very easy for Billy to get Undead this time, as Andy’s strength is absolutely something Billy could envy (especially if he envies Andy and Fuuko’s relationship)

I do appreciate the revelation that Fuuko didn’t anticipate Billy getting Undraw; she really thought that he was only going to be off balance from Disc tilting and that she’d be able to beat him with that alone. For a moment I thought she was playing 4D chess, but her plan was a lot more down-to-earth than it seemed, and somehow that feels more appropriate

It also leads nicely into her not realizing that Nico was the target of her Unluck, as she doesn’t have everything figured out to the tiniest detail. She had only intended to use Unluck on Disc specifically, but I was tricked by the narrator specifically pointing out that Nico had taken on the Unluck last chapter. That made it seem like Nico was a part of Fuuko’s plan, but in reality he was a wrinkle in it. Perhaps that was the real Unluck the whole time: she touched Disc and gave it just enough Unluck to prompt Nico to touch it, amplifying the Unluck to result in Disc’s death

Damn, though, Fuuko must really love Nico for the Unluck on him to destroy an entire island and ancient superweapon. I hope no one lived on Buroja!

It is a shame that they won’t be able to use Disc against Sun, though, I have to imagine that would have been a really helpful weapon. Oh well, using a superweapon doesn’t exactly contribute to the series’ Effort value, so it’s probably for the best. In fact, its destruction went a long way in boosting the Friendship value, with Fuuko stepping up as the leader of the team to use everyone’s abilities in tandem on the fly rather than having X amount of time to plan ahead

Ichico gaining forced astral projection is an interesting new angle for her, as it can potentially become a way for her to contribute in combat. Unforgettable allowed Nico to copy martial arts techniques and weaponize the reanimated souls of his fallen friends, and Unhealthy allowed Lucy to unlock astral projection in herself, so there’s plenty of precedent for non-combative abilities to lead to combative skills. Ichico herself doesn’t really seem like much of a fighter, but who knows, with her inventions and the ability to manipulate souls, she might become a force to be reckoned with!

I really like the visual of Billy slicking his hair back once he’s decided to join the Union; that’s the hairstyle he had as a member before, and only had his hair down when he was an enemy or a third party, showing that he has definitively recognized himself as a member of the Union. I do think he’s more attractive with it down, but I’m a sucker for symbolism like that

With the founding members of Under recruited into the Union, Fuuko designates their next target: space, where Phil’s tragedy awaits. This is a wild thing to say for a number of reasons: 1) Phil seemed like he was the youngest member of the Union, looking like he was maybe 10 max, but now you’re telling us that his tragedy is within sight in 1999? 2) HE’S IN SPACE?! I kind of assumed that space travel just never happened in this world so that no one would accidentally tread on Luna’s domain, but I guess I was thinking too broadly

My guess is that Phil was born on the International Space Station or something, cus I can’t imagine they let an infant be an astronaut, but I also have trouble believing that they’d let a pregnant woman on a mission. I’m also pretty sure there’s regulations against having sex aboard the ISS, but hey, it’s fiction, Tozuka can do what he wants

The more pressing question is whether Fuuko means that they’re going to space now or preparing to go to space in a few years. I have to figure now since she said “next,” but this could be a matter of planting a tree now so it will be available later. If it is now, though, then that means that either Phil was born early like Sean (definitely possible, but how would Fuuko have known that?) or that Phil’s growth was stun-...

He was born and grew up in space. There was no gravity. His bones and muscle tissue didn’t grow properly. Phil’s in his 20′s and we just didn’t know cus his growth was stunted by space

Maybe, I don’t know. I kind of like the idea of him being born early cus that would mean that he’d be older during Ragnarok and I wouldn’t mind seeing grown-up Phil, but Phil being a malformed space-baby would definitely explain why he ended up needing to replace most of his body with Artifacts; he probably just couldn’t exist properly on Earth without a good number of prosthetics. I get the feeling that’s not the main point of his tragedy since it’s not really related to Unfeel, but I definitely feel bad for the kid going in

Also, I said last week that I expected the next section to be the 2003 tragedy since I couldn’t see anyone else’s taking place before the 2010s (aside from maybe Shen’s) and thus concluded that Juiz was probably the focus of 2003, but clearly I jumped the gun a bit. I just kind of figured there’d be a four year timeskip to 2003, but if Phil is between 1999 and 2003, there may well be other characters whose stories could happen in the interim as well. I still choose to believe that Juiz is going to be 2003, as even though it would make sense for Juiz to come last, I have some trouble believing that the events of her backstory takes place after 2020

With the mechanics of the loop being what they are, it’s definitely possible, I just can’t quite wrap my head around Tozuka’s intentions right now. As usual, I have absolutely faith that Tozuka will make it all make sense, I’m just getting antsy because this question has gone unresolved for months

What I’m also wondering about is how the loop affects the lives of those who make it through to the next world; Fuuko is still supposed to be born in 2002, but I don’t imagine there’ll be two Fuuko’s running around, so what’s going to happen to her parents and the plane? Victor and Juiz must have had parents at some point, what happened to them in loops 2-100? Will Juiz relive the life she originally did, but this time without Victor? How prevalent was Victor in Juiz’ childhood?

...Is Victor a completely separate soul from Andy? Will Juiz be without Victor after all, or has Victor possibly been freed from Undead by the birth of a new personality allowing the original to “die”? I’m probably overthinking this, but there’s a lot of opportunity for completely off the wall concepts to be thrown at us in the coming weeks and months, and I’m sure Tozuka will find a way to really surprise us