With the flurry of recent anime news coming to light, it’s possible you might’ve missed the reveal that the Yoshifumi Tozuka manga Undead Unluck’s anime adaptation started airing this season. I, for one, knew it was confirmed, but much to my surprise it’s already over halfway finished with its first cour.
That said, if this series has been on the periphery of your animated attention span, you might be curious what to expect from Undead Unluck. Specifically, in this series about individuals with abilities that cancel out laws of nature, how does the power system work? That’s what we’re here to explain.
Undead Unluck’s power system in no uncertain terms
In the world of Undead Unluck, it would appear there are three different parties to consider when talking about its power system. The first are UMAs, or Unidentified Mysterious Animals; the second are Negators; and the third are known as Regulators, though there aren’t many of those.
UMAs are extraordinary, non-humanoid creatures that are themed around a specific principle or concept. An UMA’s principle or concept dictates their abilities. For example, the UMA known as Galaxy has abilities like Galactic Creation, Phasing, and Flight. UMAs have the ability to create “Juniors,” which are effectively their children. They are by no means immortal, as it is up to The Union and its Negators to do battle with these UMAs in order to fulfill their ultimate quest.
Negators are humans who, like an UMA, have abilities themed around nullifying a specific principle or concept. In essence, Negators are the natural foils for UMAs, as they practically erase the rulebook for better or worse. For example, our two main characters Andy and Fuuko Izumo are known by the names Undead and Unluck respectively, because one has the power to nullify death and one has the power to nullify luck. It would seem that Negators are divided up into two sub-categories: one whose abilities target themselves, and one whose abilities affect those around them.
And finally, Regulators are beings that are slated to become the top dogs of both UMAs and Negators. It’d seem as if only two Regulators exist as of writing, but this could change as the manga is published. These Regulators include Ruin, the “King of Negators,” who has abilities that center around his nickname, Unruin; and Seal, who claims to be the “King of UMAs,” and has abilities that let him trap both humans and UMAs within scrolls, thereby sealing them. Incidentally, Seal can use abilities of those he seals.
