Fans debate whether Undead Unluck was a failure

February 25, 2024

With an interesting premise and an entertaining house like David Production behind, the anime adaptation of “Undead Unluck” was shaping up to become one of the dominant series of the season Fall-2023 (October-December). However, in the opinion of quite a few fans on social media, The series remains disappointingly received even though the quality is completely what was expected.

With Yuuki Yase (Fire Force, Monogatari Series, Mekakucity Actors) at the address, Gakuto Haishima (Fire Force) as a screenwriter and Hideyuki Morioka (Fire Force, Monogatari Series) as a character designer, “Undead Unluck” seemed to have the perfect formula to stand out in its premiere season. However, different situations came together against this project, preventing it from completely taking off and remaining “just another regular series.”

But what caused this sensation? Fans began to debate about it on a popular comment forum, and the arguments are more than interesting:

«Obviously, I can’t definitively say that the anime is a success based on this or that metric, but I do have a fun observation that I can share. I recently returned from a several-week vacation to Japan, and while I was there, I couldn’t help but notice the variety of anime products I encountered and, in some ways, perhaps even the lack of variety. Of all the seasonal anime currently airing, I watched a lot of Undead Unluck and Tokyo Revengers merchandise, but very little to no anything else, including Sousou no Frieren. While I’m sure Frieren will sell more volumes of manga than Undead Unluck if online purchases are included, I found it interesting that, from my point of view as a consumer, Undead Unluck was currently more marketable in terms of physical merchandise. If an anime is meant to boost manga and merchandise sales, then I was definitely pretty excited to see that. I’ve been following this manga since the first chapter, so I would love for it to have more traction here in the West».
«It seemed to have very little publicity or building hype prior to its debut, not to mention the Disney Plus exclusivity that ended up killing it. I love this series and I’ve been trying to get all my friends to watch it, but for some reason they just aren’t interested. I hope people are encouraged because I would be devastated if there is no second season».
«If the main goal of an anime adaptation is to increase manga sales or have good merchandising sales and it does neither, then yes, it is a failure. We love Undead Unluck and most of us have been fans for years, so it’s a bitch to admit that the anime – despite its incredible quality – is so unpopular right now, but it’s the honest truth».
«It’s not damning to say that so far the anime hasn’t boosted the series’ popularity at all. Yes, it is saying that the manga will be canceled because of this or that it is guaranteed that there will never be a second season. That’s definitely doomposting. But pointing out that the anime has not worked as well as we expected is not to be catastrophic.».
«I don’t think it’s a failure yet, I still say that maybe when the English dub comes out, people will give it more hype. And who knows, it could be a niche anime with a large underground audience. For now we do not have all the episodes. Unfortunately, not every series becomes a success overnight.».
«I hate that mediocrity is now considered a failure, how is being average a failure? You meet the standards of quality and popularity, you just don’t surpass them, that doesn’t mean you’ve failed, it’s like scolding someone for crossing the finish line but not running 15 more meters or something.».
«I knew it wasn’t going to be at the level of the big ones, not even close, but I hope it does well enough. I really like this series, especially the second story arc and I have been reading it from the beginning».
«No idea, since I haven’t been able to watch it because Hulu has the exclusivity. What a stupid idea they had».
«I usually pirate my animes (I’m a minor with no income and my parents hate anime), just by watching them on pirate sites, and the good thing about this is that you can see which animes are new and which are popular. Undead Unluck has reached at least 6 on the leaderboard, and I first discovered it there because I like to try all new anime and this one seems really good to me, probably the most unique and special anime of the season».
«The reason it’s probably not as popular elsewhere is because when an overrated streaming service has the rights to a NEW anime, I’m not sure many people are going to watch it.».
«Mass appeal is a strange thing that no one knows how to capture. It doesn’t matter if something is good if it is launched in a market that has little desire for it. The series simply only has niche appeal».
«Many things start out strong and struggle to maintain their strength at all times, Undead Unluck is the complete opposite, it starts out weak but gets stronger and better over time, until we get about halfway to where we are now and It peaked and basically never stopped. If Undead Unluck has more seasons and goes further, it could attract a lot more people in later arcs».
«Also from personal experience, the original “hook” of the series in its description throughout (“unlucky girl helps a guy who can’t die find a way to die”) didn’t draw me in to watch it. It seems like a strange black comedy. I didn’t know that bad luck was a real power that is used in creative and interesting ways, for example; I was only expecting things like “ha ha, our protagonist is clumsy.”».
«The only thing that worries me about new anime is if mangakas start receiving too many hate messages, like the author of Attack on Titan. At least an anime means the manga can last as long as intended, rather than being canceled or rushed. It’s best to ignore how other fans act if it bothers you, since you can’t control them. Find users you like who post content for Undead Unluck, and continue to focus on them as it gains popularity».
«It hasn’t received a big boost in sales as would be typical for a series like this. That being said, a second season may not be completely out of the question, especially considering that David Production loves the series and that they have a tendency to work for 2 seasons of 24 episodes for all the series they release. And we’ve already confirmed big news for the series dropping right after the anime ends which could very well be an announcement for a second season or possibly movie».
«No, he’s doing his job. Undead Unluck is not the type of manga that has traction like Jujutsu Kaisen or Chainsaw Man, and there are still many people who start anime with dub or manga. For its scale and despite the problems, it is doing very well».
«Honestly, the anime would go up an entire issue or possibly two for me if it just didn’t have all those flashbacks, especially to the events that literally just happened two minutes ago. I’m also not a big fan of freezing frames every time you use special abilities».