Un-Go

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

An anime by Studio BONES, airing as part of the Fall 2011 lineup. Un-Go tells the story of two people, Shinjuro Yuki and Inga, working together to solve mysteries in the near future. The story is based on the works of Ango Sakaguchi (Aoi Bungaku Series' "In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom"), a post-World War II Japanese novel and essayist. It is directed by Seiji Mizushima, with character designs by pako (sic) and Yun Kouga, featuring a script by Shou Aikawa.

Rinroku Kaishou, head of the Kaishou media empire, uses information gleaned from his vast network of technology and contacts to solve crimes all across Japan, making himself a hero in the eyes of the Japanese people. On the surface, an old-fashioned detective named Shinjuro Yuki and his odd assistant Inga always show up at the wrong time and reach the wrong conclusion, earning Yuuki the nickname of "The Defeated Detective" and usually mocked by the public.

However, the truth is a little more subtle: Yuuki and Inga are called in to solve cases that Rinroku finds too delicate to handle on his own. Upon learning about the truth of the case, Rinroku decides to spin them to comfort a nation still reeling from the shock of multiple terrorist attacks and a major war. Though Yuuki is mocked in public, in private he's "The Last Great Detective."

Has a Prequel named Episode 00: Inga-ron

Compare to Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro

Un-Go is streaming in various languages on Crunchyroll and Hulu.

Tropes used in Un-Go include:
  • A God Am I: Why the events of Episode 0 took place, especially when Yuki's ex-high school classmate Makiro Serada's obsession led to his death.
  • Amateur Sleuth: Rie Kaishou takes a stab at it before her father gets involved.
  • Ambiguous Gender: Inga's child form. The adult form is a lot less ambiguous.
    • He's referred to as a boy in general, but gender probably isn't that much of an issue for him.
  • Anime First
  • Augmented Reality: The "Idol Application" Dol-Pli.
  • Bare Your Midriff: Inga's Adult form.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Done liberally by Inga in the next-episode previews.
  • Broken Pedestal: Rie admired her father a lot.
  • Censorship Bureau: Rinroku does this for the government thanks to the New Information Privacy and Protection Act. A few of the characters had fallen victim or had a hard time working due to this law.
  • Chekhov's Gun: See the doll in Inga's hand in the preview picture for the anime? Later on, Sasa Kazamori possesses it and joins the detective group of Inga and Shinjurou.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Sasa Komamori is this for the RAI arc.
    • A non-real human example, Yonagahime 3+1's plot is the way Kaishou let's Yuuki know he's alive.
  • The Chessmaster: Rinroku Kaishou.
  • Creepy Child: Inga
  • Cyberpunk: surprisingly, considering the not-gritty art-style. Has themes of over-powered government, computers and technology, surveilance, censorship and The Last DJ Hardboiled Detective (though our protagonist isn't too hardboiled).
  • Deceptively Human Robot: Kazamori Sasa
  • Determined Defeatist: Shinjurou, "The Defeated Detective"
  • Did Not Do the Research: Public Prosecutor Office agents having firearms. But there can be a case for this as Artistic License, given that Japan had just went through a war and had strict laws due to being a victim of terrorist attacks alongside its Cyberpunk setting.
  • Eyes of Gold: Kazamori's humanoid body.
  • Fictional Counterpart: The Fuji TV building is seen in "Rinroku Kaishou's Crime". But it is most likely a stand-in for another TV station as Fuji TV is not referenced in any way in the series.
  • Foreshadowing: In "Rinroku Kaishou's Crime", a commentator suggests that Rinroku was taking a phone call to have the anti-Rinroku critics assassinated by a bomb. Moments later, an explosion took place in the TV station where the debate was suppose to take place.
  • Funny Background Event: In a blink and you'll miss it moment on the first episode, Hatsune Miku is visible for a few frames [dead link].
  • Grey and Gray Morality: See Information Wants to Be Free.
  • Government Conspiracy: With the cases and all. Shinjuro and Rie don't like this, but they're powerless against it. Izumi thinks that it doesn't exist.
    • It goes much further than that. Shinjurou uncovers numerous conspiracies throughout the show's run, but has no way of getting proof. It just goes to show how FUBAR Japan's gotten, given that these conspiracies are basically necessary for it to run.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: The culprit of the final arc: Seigen Hayami.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Shinjurou doesn't seem to think that highly of himself.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: "The Defeated Detective"
  • Hypnotic Eyes: Inga's adult form has the power to compel another person to answer one question truthfully.
    • The Novelist's companion one-ups Inga with the power to make another person see and act out a completely different reality than the one in front of their face.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: One of the murder suspects in the 8th episode decided to sacrifice her life as an ordinary housewife to protect her family from war by trying to bomb the Prime Minister when he refused to end the war even after Japan was defeated.
    • Hayami's reasons for using Bettenou in order to impersonate Rinroku.
    • Mihara confessing to Mizuno's murder in the last episode to help Rinroku hide.
  • Information Wants to Be Free: Shinjuro wants this, but the Japanese government (with some help from Rinroku) oppose it in the name of public security. Rie too is falling into this, angry at her father after she sees him repeatedly and gladly conspire to "cover up" the truth. His conspiracies are occasionally the cause of Shinjurou's cases.
  • In Space: Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro with Cyberpunk!
  • Jade-Colored Glasses: Looks like Shinjurou's got them superglued on.
  • Kaiju Defense Force: The JSDF has the Public Security Force (or known by its abbreviation, PSC), a law enforcement paramilitary-type unit and the Insurrection Countermeasures Office, an office that specializes in all potential threats to the government from riots to terrorism.
    • Makiro Serada was an ex-JGSDF officer prior to leaving the force and becoming a Southeast Asian-based guide to assist Japanese nationals in the region. Of course, an extremist faction in the JGSDF and in the government ordered him to do this in order to allow the Constitution to be revised and allow JSDF forces to be deployed out of the country after he knows that fellow Japanese were in harm's way, putting any legal challenges to Article 9 as a check and balance against such a move to non-existence.
  • Masquerade Ball: The first episode.
  • Magical Realism: Inga and Bettenou are the only overtly supernatural elements in an otherwise gritty sci-fi mystery. No one cares beyond the explanation that Inga is Shinjurou's partner or boss; her powers are not the focus of the plot, though they're sometimes instrumental in resolving it. Possibly averted in and around episode ten; magic is used to further a character's schemes, and it crowds out the actual mystery. Even then, the thrust of the plot revolves around mundane, human motivations, and magic only ever remains just a tool, interchangeable with "powerful hypnotism".
  • Man Child: Inga, bordering on Psychopathic Manchild. It should be noted that s/he is a child, half the time.
  • Media Watchdog
  • Mind Screw: Episode 7, full stop. Fortunately...
  • Pandaing to the Audience: Inga's child form wears a panda costume, the adult form's skin is colored like one.
  • Playing Against Type: Inga is this so much for Aki Toyosaki.
  • Police Brutality: The PSF. In "Rinroku Kaishou's Crime", one of them shoots an anti-government protestor.
  • Private Military Contractors: The status of the PSF in Episode 0 prior to the TV show.
  • Ridiculously Human Robot: The RAI's. So realistic they can imitate human thought.
  • Shaggy Dog Story: Despite the time and effort Yuuki puts into solving these cases, Rinroku cheerfully informs him afterwards that the reported conclusion will be completely different from the truthful one to maintain the post-war status quo.
  • Shout-Out: DolPli is compared to Vocaloid.
  • Spoiler Title: The title for Episode 10: Rinroku Kaishou's Funeral.

Inga: Yeah, that's right! He's gonna die! You got a problem with that?!

  • Spontaneous Human Combustion: The victim for the case in episodes 3 and 4.
  • Status Quo Is God: and Rinroku is its prophet.
  • The Cape (trope): Izumi wears one most of the time. It's colored black too.
  • The Last DJ: Or, you know, "The Last Great Detective." (That's Yuuki.)
  • The Wiki Rule: Here ya go.
  • The World Is Not Ready: In terms of the cases Shinjuro investigates.
  • Treachery Cover-Up
  • Virtual Idol: There's a program for some in episode two.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The RAI were treated as nothing more than objects to satisfy sexual desires or destructive urges. Their own creator Sasa Komamori also treats them like things.
  • You Bastard: Izumi accuses Shinjuro of instigating events that forced "Rinroku" to "kill" himself via car bomb in the 10th episode even after she was forced by Inga to confess before Japanese politicians that Japanese security forces had access to software that can be used to manipulate certain events for their own purposes. This confession earns the anger of the politicians, the mass media and the public.
  • Your Mind Makes It Real: The entirety of the 7th episode and half of the 8th.
  • Your Soul Is Mine: Inga eats "souls", which take form when people tell the "truth" in confessions stimulated by her Hypnotic Eyes. The details are still rather sketchy, but its the reason why he/she joined Shinjurou, a great detective and seeker of truth, so she can get them without killing people.
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