FIF#196-Undead Murder Farce

It is a time when the creatures of the night walk the Earth alongside Humanity.  Tsugaru Shinuchi is an Oni Slayer cursed as a half human/half Oni hybrid.  One evening, he meets the immortal Aya Shindo and her trusted maid Shizuku Hasei.  Aya is in search of her stolen body, now living as a severed head and her thieves are connected to those who turned Tsugaru into a monster.  Teaming up, Aya, Tsugaru and Shizuku travel to Europe to track down the illusive Mastermind who’s wronged them both.  Along the way, the trio work to solve the mysteries of Humans and Monsters as Paranormal Investigators, hoping that one of these cases will bring them face to face with their ultimate target.

 
So stop me if you’ve heard this one before: An Oni Hunter, an Immortal Head and a Maid walk into a bar… Ok I don’t have anything more than that but as far as set ups go, that’s not a trio you assemble everyday.  Undead Murder Farce comes highly recommended from a good friend of mine and I can kind of see why.  It’s a world of tense relations between Monsters and Humans that is going about as well as you’d expect.  It’s got several tragic figures all hurdling towards tragic fates if they cant find ways around them.  Then there’s the promise of actual mysteries to be solved.  And when it comes to supernatural cases that can’t be solved, why not turn to a beautiful bodyless detective, her goofy sidekick and her stalwart maid?
 
I’ll admit, I originally intended to watch only the first episode of UMF to get a feel for it but I’m glad I watched Episode 2 right afterwards. Maybe it’s just me but the goofy theatricality of Tsugaru rubs me the wrong way.  There’s a moment where Aya is asking him to count up as she runs through her theories on a Vampire Murder Mystery when he reminds her he only has five fingers.  She tells him to use his tongue and…man I bet if Aya had the rest of her body she’d smack him constantly.  I get there’s a reason for this IDGAF attitude of Tsugaru.  He’s a performer who is on borrowed time as his half Oni side threatens to consume him, which will lead to Tsugaru being taken down by another Oni Hunter cause he’ll be too violent and dangerous. So, he decides to live it up and go big and be as much of an idiot for the sake of ticking people off cause it’s how he wants to go out. Call me crazy but that’s more depressing than endearing.
 
Thankfully, when Aya appears, things improve tremendously for the show.  I could listen to Aya explain the details, share the theories, and come to inevitable conclusions about mysteries for hours and I was actively trying to follow along and see if I could reach those same conclusions.  And this is a character who, again, is just a head.  Yet she’s so fascinating and, creepily enough, incredibly beautiful.  It’s so haunting that you cant help but glue yourself to the screen as Aya explains it all while Tsugaru carries her around and purposefully tries to piss her off just to get a rise out of her.  I just love watching her work and I’ll admit, having Tsugaru to bounce off of does work.  Their banter is both respectful and volatile.  Like I said, Tsugaru is a goofball and Aya just wants to smack him over the head whenever possible.  As for her maid, Shizuku, there’s not much to her in the first couple of episodes besides her being Aya’s loyal to a fault servant who has a musket as her weapons of choice.  Neat and all but she’ll have to do more to impress if she wants to reach the heights of Roberta from Black Lagoon aka the Most Dangerous Maid in Anime.
 
Undead Murder Farce’s art direction is also interesting.  There are a lot of quick quits, close ups, and continuous changes in the scenery.  Multiple angles, zoom ins and outs, it’s like Studio Lapin Track is trying to do more than not just use the same shot twice.  Every shot feels the need to be extravagant and theatrical.  It fits with how Tsugaru sees his life as one big show or Aya’s the perfect stage for her job as a detective.  Nothing ever reaches the Avant Garde, read between the frames, level of Neon Genesis Evangelion or Revolutionary Girl Utena.  It does, however, give Undead Murder Farce an identity of its own and the editing of all of these different shots and angles reminds me of an old school murder mystery film, especially those of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Pierot films directed by Kenneth Branagh.
 
I might not really care about Tsugaru but I am very enchanted by Aya, her current state and her mission to stick with Undead Murder Farce for a little bit longer.  I didn’t even mention much about how this world is set up and how some Monsters are actually working to live in peace with Humans, as tricky as that can be for obvious reasons.  It might be worth a weekend binge to see if our heroes get any closer to their main objective or if there’s a chance a possible cliffhanger will lead to a season two.  Plus, it’s October and this fits the criteria of a creepy, spooky and fun little horror romp with a nice twist of mystery to set it apart.  Lead the way, Lady Aya, the Game is Afoot.