Anime Review: Undead Girl Murder Farce (also advertised as “Undead Murder Farce”)
Aya Rindo was turned into an immortal being during the Heian Era of Japan, keeping the appearance of a young woman but gaining knowledge and perceptiveness according to her chronological age. About a year before the story begins during the Meiji Period (Victorian Era elsewhere), Aya was ambushed and her body below the neck stolen. Now reduced to a talking head in a birdcage, she seeks out the half-oni entertainer Tsugaru Shinuichi with the aid of her loyal maid Shizuku Hasei.
Tsugaru, it turns out, was turned into a monster by a mysterious old man with the letter “M” on his cane, who was experimenting with infusing oni blood into humans. Tsugaru was the only survivor of the prototype operations. He has immense strength, and his blows bypass the regenerative capabilities of other monsters. But the excess oni blood is slowly turning him into a full oni, a murderous monster who will attack anyone in sight. Currently, he’s working as an executioner of other monsters in an illegal circus, because a) there are strict anti-youkai laws that prevent him from having a normal job, and b) the rich people who come to watch the slaughter shows are scum, so as and when Tsugaru turns full demon, he’ll have deserving targets to kill.
Aya initially proposes that Tsugaru kill her as he’s one of the few things that can, but when the performer realizes that the man who stole her body was the same one who turned him into a monster, he proposes they team up and go to Europe in hopes of finding what happened to the rest of Aya.
When the story picks up a year or so later, the trio have become known as the detective called “Cage User”, who specializes in monster-related mysteries.
The first case shown is the murder of a vampire. (The vampires in this story are “good” ones who are trying to get along with humans by not killing them for blood.)
The second case is brought to you by the public domain. Aya and company team up with Sherlock Holmes to prevent Arsene Lupin and the Phantom of the Opera stealing a particular diamond from Phileas Fogg. Their putative allies are supplemented by agents from the Royce Insurance company, a riff on Lloyd’s of London but with anti-monster prejudice.
To make matters more complicated, the evil organization Banquet is also after the diamond. This group’s action team consists of Professor Moriarty (who survived Reichenbach Falls and is a mad biological scientist as well as mathematician), Carmilla the lesbian vampire, Jack the Ripper (who also now has oni blood), Victor (Frankenstein’s Monster, who seems to be the least evil of the lot) and Aleister Crowley (who doesn’t actually have magical powers, but is a skilled prestidigitator with lethal tricks.)
The diamond leads them into the third and final case of the season, which involves a serial killer near a hidden werewolf village. There’s a sequel hook as Aya gets clues as to where her body is.
This horror-themed mystery anime is based on a novel series by Yugo Aosaki, which has also had a manga adaptation.
I like the central trio. Aya clearly enjoys playing the Great Detective (though she insists she’s not as good as Sherlock Holmes) and freaking people out by being a disembodied head. Tsugaru is a born entertainer, who enjoys telling humorous rakugo stories and performing acrobatics, as well as bantering with Aya. They laugh at each other’s jibes and jokes. And Shizuku is the “straight man” who shows little emotion or sense of humor; her dislike of Tsugaru appears to be genuine, but she has undying loyalty to Aya, as well as being a skilled combatant with rifle and bayonet.
Most of the guest characters are portrayed well, if not exactly according to their own canon. I dislike that Erik’s character design is more Andrew Lloyd Webber musical than Gaston Leroux skull-face.
There’s a decent display of supporting characters as well. Young reporter Annie Kerber keeps popping up, so presumably she’ll be important later, and we get a variety of suspects and incidental characters in the various cases. I’m not as fond of the Royce agents, who feel shoehorned in.
The opening theme music is catchy, and some of the fights are cool.
Content note: Lethal violence, often gory. Death of children. Implied rape. Female nudity (doll style). Fantastic racism (humans and monsters do not get on well, and the various types of monsters aren’t always friendly.) Ableism. Talk of suicide.
A fun blend of horror and mystery, with protagonists who see how absurd their circumstances are (thus the “farce” part of the title.) For those that can stomach the violence, this is an excellent Halloween binge watch.
