(L) UN-GO (noitaminA, BONES)

[Kanon]

Excellent episode indeed.

Originally Posted by shmaster

Kaishou is enjoying this isn't he? He did on purpose isn't he? I mean he could have explained that the children were alive in the first place. He stayed silent just he can ominously make Shinjuro looks bad, isn't he!?

I'm surprised Shinjuro didn't ask him straight out why he didn't reveal the children were alive sooner. It's as if he wanted Yajima to kill his wife. You could argue he had no idea Yajima would get it in his head that his wife was responsible for his children's alleged deaths... except we all know Kaishou knows everything

I don't believe he is in cahoots with the novelist but his actions are definitely suspicious. Speaking of him, the novelist looks like he'll be a great villain. I like how subtly he manipulated Yajima. Amazing work.

Kazamori proved herself to be a great asset to Shinjurou. The three of them make a great team. Kazamori handles the forensics, Inga the questioning, and Shinjurou points them in the right direction and eventually puts everything together. It's perfect.

[felix]

Great Episode! I love this series, I hope it gets a continuation after then 11 episodes are up.

Also Kazamori was really awesome this episode.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I'm surprised Shinjuro didn't ask him straight out why he didn't reveal the children were alive sooner. It's as if he wanted Yajima to kill his wife. You could argue he had no idea Yajima would get it in his head that his wife was responsible for his children's alleged deaths... except we all know Kaishou knows everything

I don't believe he is in cahoots with the novelist but his actions are definitely suspicious. Speaking of him, the novelist looks like he'll be a great villain. I like how subtly he manipulated Yajima. Amazing work.

I think they key isn't that Kaishou knows everything, but that he thinks he knows everything. As well, his default mode is secrecy - everything is on a "need to know" basis. So he doesn't give the kids back and doesn't make their existence known because he knows what's best and no one else needs to know. There's also the fact that Yajima hadn't been out of stir for very long, so perhaps Kaishou would have told him soon - or perhaps he was waiting for Yajima to come to him rather than vice-versa.

Suspicious? Yeah, and arrogant as hell - but in this case, I think Kaishou did what he did out of genuine concern for the kids. And I definitely don't think he's in league with The Novelist.

[Kaoru Chujo]

What a pleasure to be watching an anime that gets better as it goes along. Professional writing. Interesting characters. Inga (Toyosaki Aki) is terrific. And so is Kaishou (Miki Shinichirou).

[ookamigirl]

So Kazamori joined their little group for good I guess.
That will sure be pretty useful.
Well, it was pretty interesting this time too.

[felix]

Originally Posted by ookamigirl

So Kazamori joined their little group for good I guess.
That will sure be pretty useful.
Well, it was pretty interesting this time too.

She kind joined since last episode.

And yeah, it has improved the whole relationship with Inga too.

[Quarkboy]

I went to see Episode 0 in the theaters tonight.

(Part of my job, I guess, but I paid for the ticket ).

I think the story is pretty dang crucial... It explains completely where Shinjurou and Inga came from and what happened, and also how he came to become a detective and help out/antagonize Kaishou.

Spoiler for major points only:

Shinjurou is an orphen who couldn't find purpose in life, so went to a 3rd world country to show children films, ends up with a 5 person non-profit singing group and they all get attacked by rebels. Shinjurou's killed in the accident, but ressurected by inga who eats everyone's souls except for Yuka (the girl in the beginning of ep 1). Yuka kills herself to prevent her soul from being revealed, which frees Shinjurou, and he makes a deal with Inga possessing Yuka's body to feed her/him souls as long as he/her doesn't kill people.
Bettenou (the girl you see with the novelist) originally was attached to shinjurou's old friend and member of the group. She has the power to make people see a different reality, whatever her master says becomes the truth for the people in the vicinity. In the end Shinjurou helps solve the case with her for Kaishou and he's given a new name and identity and becomes the "Defeated Detective" as he has to keep feeding Inga souls...

Spoiler for plot of episode 0, major spoilers:

Shinjurou was an orphan, and a near olympic level swimmer in school, but quit swimming when he realized he was never going to be good enough. He heads out to some war-torn south asian country (I think) and shows old films (on film reals) to poor children trying to make a difference, but they all have PSPs so they aren't really interested. Depressed and out of money he runs into an old swimming mate who is a part of a group of 5 people from Japan going around and "singing in the war zone"... a kind of hippy charity thing? He knows the area so gets roped in to drive their van around. One of the other members of the group is the woman in the ending and the opening to episode 1, her name is Yuka and she clearly has a thing for Shinjurou. They drive somewhere they aren't supposed to and get ambushed by RPGs, and Shinjurou crashes the van inside a cave... He smells leaking gas and hurries everyone out of the van, which explodes.
Everyone is knocked out, Shinjurou is impaled through the neck by a wooden shard. This is the scene "Am I dead? You are dead" from episode 1. Inga takes over his body, heals his wound (his blood seems to have unleashed Inga), and he, possessed as Inga begins to eat the souls of all (except 1) of the other 3 members of the group, revealing their purposes to be completely false to what they claimed (and killing them in the process).
When he gets to Yuka she stabs herself instead of allowing her true soul to be revealed. Inga tries to possess her instead, but it's too late, she's really dead.
Shinjurou, freed, threatens to kill himself too and reseal Inga before she/he fully awakens, and they make a deal: He'll show her a place with lots of souls (Japan), and Inga won't kill anyone. Inga takes control over Yuka's body and remodels it.

This all is shown interspersed with the story in the "present" (takes place prior to episode 1 by quite a bit), where Shinjurou is back in Japan with Inga and called to help investigate a new religious cult which is lead by one of the members of his group that was supposed to be dead. A lot of intrigue happens here but basically any non-believers are eaten by some kind of god beast and the police get involved, and the leader of the group has the same girl "the novelist" has with him (she's Bettenou). It turns out that in the same cave Shinjurou got Inga, his old swimming buddy friend found this "kami" and has been using its power... which is that anything he says _becomes reality_.
More intrigue happens and eventually Shijurou is framed for the murder of the group's leader... It's then revealed that Bettenou's power isn't to change reality, but just what people see as reality. The police shoot the mastermind, Shinjurou is exonerated privately, and Kaishou sets him up with a new name (Yuuki Shinjurou) and new job. Meanwhile he has to keep feeding Inga souls for eternity, but he's okay with that since he wants to force people to reveal the truths they keep hidden anyway.
In the very end there's a little scene with Kaishou and Rie, where Rie's like "who's that?"... "It's not like I think he's cute or anything!"... But Kaishou instead looks closely at a monitor that shows Bettenou walking away somewhere, but the feed cuts out. Probably hints that Kaishou is interested in Bettenou...

[felix]

I'm so not oppening those.

Any news on when the DVD release?

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by felix

I'm so not oppening those.

Any news on when the DVD release?

Nothing announced officially but it'd be quite foolish to wait much longer after the last blu-ray release of the tv series which is scheduled for April 20th.

[LKK]

I opened the spoiler boxes and am glad I did. Thanks, Quarkboy! (I'd give you cookies only the system said I couldn't.)

[wandering-dreamer]

Very nice, thanks! One question though

Spoiler for UN-GO episode 0:

Is Shinjuro's old swimming buddy, the one with Bettenou, the guy with messy hair and the long coat seen in the ED? Just curious since I think they're they now the only person in the ED who hasn't shown up so far.

[miketyson]

Quarkboy: thanks so much for writing up a detailed description of episode zero. That sounds absolutely fascinating. In particular:

Spoiler:

If I'm not mistaken, this implies that Shinjuro's current public identity as the defeated detective is essentially another one of Rinroku's cover-ups, no? Is it fair to say that Rinroku is specifically having Shinjuro do the dirty work of finding out the real truth, as some kind of "secret partner", with Shinjuro accepting that role but also chafing against it? It also seems like Izumi and Rinroku must both know the real story about Shinjuro and Inga, correct?

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by Quarkboy

I went to see Episode 0 in the theaters tonight.

(Part of my job, I guess, but I paid for the ticket ).

I think the story is pretty dang crucial... It explains completely where Shinjurou and Inga came from and what happened, and also how he came to become a detective and help out/antagonize Kaishou.

Spoiler for major points only:

Shinjurou is an orphen who couldn't find purpose in life, so went to a 3rd world country to show children films, ends up with a 5 person non-profit singing group and they all get attacked by rebels. Shinjurou's killed in the accident, but ressurected by inga who eats everyone's souls except for Yuka (the girl in the beginning of ep 1). Yuka kills herself to prevent her soul from being revealed, which frees Shinjurou, and he makes a deal with Inga possessing Yuka's body to feed her/him souls as long as he/her doesn't kill people.
Bettenou (the girl you see with the novelist) originally was attached to shinjurou's old friend and member of the group. She has the power to make people see a different reality, whatever her master says becomes the truth for the people in the vicinity. In the end Shinjurou helps solve the case with her for Kaishou and he's given a new name and identity and becomes the "Defeated Detective" as he has to keep feeding Inga souls...

Spoiler for plot of episode 0, major spoilers:

Shinjurou was an orphan, and a near olympic level swimmer in school, but quit swimming when he realized he was never going to be good enough. He heads out to some war-torn south asian country (I think) and shows old films (on film reals) to poor children trying to make a difference, but they all have PSPs so they aren't really interested. Depressed and out of money he runs into an old swimming mate who is a part of a group of 5 people from Japan going around and "singing in the war zone"... a kind of hippy charity thing? He knows the area so gets roped in to drive their van around. One of the other members of the group is the woman in the ending and the opening to episode 1, her name is Yuka and she clearly has a thing for Shinjurou. They drive somewhere they aren't supposed to and get ambushed by RPGs, and Shinjurou crashes the van inside a cave... He smells leaking gas and hurries everyone out of the van, which explodes.
Everyone is knocked out, Shinjurou is impaled through the neck by a wooden shard. This is the scene "Am I dead? You are dead" from episode 1. Inga takes over his body, heals his wound (his blood seems to have unleashed Inga), and he, possessed as Inga begins to eat the souls of all (except 1) of the other 3 members of the group, revealing their purposes to be completely false to what they claimed (and killing them in the process).
When he gets to Yuka she stabs herself instead of allowing her true soul to be revealed. Inga tries to possess her instead, but it's too late, she's really dead.
Shinjurou, freed, threatens to kill himself too and reseal Inga before she/he fully awakens, and they make a deal: He'll show her a place with lots of souls (Japan), and Inga won't kill anyone. Inga takes control over Yuka's body and remodels it.

This all is shown interspersed with the story in the "present" (takes place prior to episode 1 by quite a bit), where Shinjurou is back in Japan with Inga and called to help investigate a new religious cult which is lead by one of the members of his group that was supposed to be dead. A lot of intrigue happens here but basically any non-believers are eaten by some kind of god beast and the police get involved, and the leader of the group has the same girl "the novelist" has with him (she's Bettenou). It turns out that in the same cave Shinjurou got Inga, his old swimming buddy friend found this "kami" and has been using its power... which is that anything he says _becomes reality_.
More intrigue happens and eventually Shijurou is framed for the murder of the group's leader... It's then revealed that Bettenou's power isn't to change reality, but just what people see as reality. The police shoot the mastermind, Shinjurou is exonerated privately, and Kaishou sets him up with a new name (Yuuki Shinjurou) and new job. Meanwhile he has to keep feeding Inga souls for eternity, but he's okay with that since he wants to force people to reveal the truths they keep hidden anyway.
In the very end there's a little scene with Kaishou and Rie, where Rie's like "who's that?"... "It's not like I think he's cute or anything!"... But Kaishou instead looks closely at a monitor that shows Bettenou walking away somewhere, but the feed cuts out. Probably hints that Kaishou is interested in Bettenou...

Damn, that's a head-spinner! Thanks for bringing back the details, Quarkboy!

Spoiler for In specific about Ep. 0...:

That drives right into the heart of the classic philosophical debate about whether perception creates truth. Bettenou's power is to adjust perception, so that people act in a way that something other than reality is what is true for them, while Inga operates in pretty much the opposite fashion, consuming souls by tearing away the veil of artifice that people project for the benefit of others' perception. So the two "kami" are, in essence, mirror images of one another. And, of course, Kaishou with his control (backed by the post-war law) over information transmission sits right in the middle of it all as the human equivalent of one controlling these factors...

[ars89]

Oh man why is the best part in theaters only. Holding myself back really hard from opening those spoilers. Guess i'll have to hold out for like a year to see it.

[Guido]

Concluded episode six, and as I read in a blog this one seemed to be anime-original, maybe that's because Inga did not phase into her true persona?


Ok. This was one got very tense in both dialogue and evidence, because the manner how the hints were shown manipulated me to the very end near the climax to believe that Kaishou Rinroku, actually, had an affair with Takako Yajima which, as everyone before presumed, triggered within her to neglect her children.

The twist for relief, at the end, proved Kaishou the contrary, having solved the code a year ago and helping the children beforehand.

Nonetheless, I feel that Shinjuurou's daily antagonism towards Kaishou makes me to view the latter as a morally and mixed ambiguous character, whose methods although not always aiming at the best interests of the victims, nevertheless, operate within the margin of a blurred, legal gray area.
And, this is mostly because Kaishou must cover for people at higher places of authority to prevent outrageous truths from leaking into the outside world.

[shmaster]

Originally Posted by wandering-dreamer

Very nice, thanks! One question though

Spoiler for UN-GO episode 0:

Is Shinjuro's old swimming buddy, the one with Bettenou, the guy with messy hair and the long coat seen in the ED? Just curious since I think they're they now the only person in the ED who hasn't shown up so far.

The coat wearing person is Shinjuro when he was young.
His old friend who worked with Betsutenou is the guy with bondage over his face in the ed.

Here is a link to the characters on the official site.

http://www.un-go.com/03chara_ingaron/index.html

[monir]

Just watched the first episode. I'm so very impressed with the approach Shinjurou took to reach the solution. The most important question is always, "why?" It's not "how?", "who?", or "what?" Once you figure out why, the rest tend to fall in line all by themselves. There haven't been many detective shows that are good in the past few years. These detective shows also can't seem to downplay the involvement of supernatural which I think is a big flaw to make most of these show enjoyable (for me anyway.) While UnGO is incorporating supernatural too, it is doing in a manner where the involvement has only occurred (as shown in episode 1) after Shinjurou has reached a conclusion. Inga's involvement was to only affirm the idea Shinjurou had.

Like I said I'm very impressed with the opening episode. The ending is just as good. Very catchy. I'll be looking forward to watching more episodes.

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by shmaster

The coat wearing person is Shinjuro when he was young.
His old friend who worked with Betsutenou is the guy with bondage over his face in the ed.

Here is a link to the characters on the official site.

http://www.un-go.com/03chara_ingaron/index.html

Actually it's more complicated than that but more would be spoilers. But basically yes, the trenchcoat wearing person is either Shinjurou, Serata, or Oono.
In episode 0 Shinjurou wears a trenchcoat like that but so does Serata.= and/or Oono.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by monir

Just watched the first episode. I'm so very impressed with the approach Shinjurou took to reach the solution. The most important question is always, "why?" It's not "how?", "who?", or "what?" Once you figure out why, the rest tend to fall in line all by themselves. There haven't been many detective shows that are good in the past few years. These detective shows also can't seem to downplay the involvement of supernatural which I think is a big flaw to make most of these show enjoyable (for me anyway.) While UnGO is incorporating supernatural too, it is doing in a manner where the involvement has only occurred (as shown in episode 1) after Shinjurou has reached a conclusion. Inga's involvement was to only affirm the idea Shinjurou had.

Like I said I'm very impressed with the opening episode. The ending is just as good. Very catchy. I'll be looking forward to watching more episodes.

Monir! Welcome about the UN-GO train. If you liked the first ep, I think you'll be quite happy with what comes after - IMO the show improves significantly after the premiere.

[miketyson]

Quarkboy: I thought of one more question about ep 0, and I don't think the question needs spoilering, so here goes:

Is there anything in ep 0 that explains why Shinjurou is so good at detective work? Does he just have a knack for it? Do his experiences in ep 0 give him a deeper insight into human nature and he uses that? Is it left unaddressed?

I'm really curious, because in the main series he seems phenomenally brilliant and clever with his deductive reasoning, but the background you described doesn't seem to address that at all.