Feb 6, 2025
This series totally subverted my expectations. At first, I had assumed it was going to follow the usual shounen plot route, but no. To think there was a point where I had gotten bored of the anime and almost dropped it - until I reached the Autumn arc.
Up until the Unknown and Autumn arc, I felt absolutely no attachment to the characters - if you killed Fuuko, Andy, or any of the other Union members at that point I wouldn't have really cared. It wasn't until I reached those last few episodes of Season 1 that I thoroughly enjoyed and started wanting to root
...
for the characters of this series.
After the first season of the anime finished, I binged the manga until around Ch 200 last August 2024. All I can say is I'm so happy I didn't go through with dropping this when I mistakenly presumed it was another typical shounen story. What it lacks in style (I mean, even the author acknowledged that his art style's sort of outdated for a manga published in the 2020s), the manga makes up for with an ABUNDANCE of substance. This series is one of the best I have encountered since the pandemic.
First, UxU has one of the most unique power systems and world-building elements I've seen in a manga. I thought the negation abilities were confusing at first as some characters would technically break the conditions required for their negation abilities to work (and there would be little to no explanation for it other than "s/he expanded their power/range/interpretation of his/her abilities"). But after Andy's power up in the Autumn arc and the end of the first loop, I developed a deeper appreciation for the "it's all about perception" message the author was trying to push.
Point is, at some point the author made me forget about all the technical stuff and just enjoy the series for what it is.
For those who want to start reading this series, I think it's best if you go into it not dwelling too much on the world's mechanics. When I was still trying to get into UxU before the Autumn arc, the existence of universal rules as UMAs and the nature of "Revolution" as Ragnarok made it difficult for me to follow and reconcile some of the technical aspects of this show with what I know intuitively about the world. I'm not sure, but something about the exposition felt lacking and too axiomatic to me at the time which made me want to drop it. But again, I'm so glad I didn't. EVERYTHING makes sense now.
Lastly, UxU doesn't have the most unique ability users, but it does have one of the BEST and most LOVABLE ensemble of protagonists there are. The author has the uncanny ability to write arcs that will make you appreciate every single union member, even if there are over two dozen of them.
- On a side note: some will think Andy's new perception of "death" after meeting the Fuuko in his memories to be cliche and overused. But what I can say with 100% certainty is that this series, through Fuuko and everyone's interactions, really made me think long and hard about what Andy's definition of "death" means to me and makes me want to go out in the world in search of the greatest death possible for myself too!
Tldr: UxU is wicked sick, please go read it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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