The New Anime That Starts After The Hero Dies Is Surprisingly Profound
In most anime series, we follow characters who literally defy death and who always manage to save the day without getting killed. The new anime Unwanted Undead Adventurer, however, changes things up by actually starting with the main character getting eaten by a dragon. Rather than serving as the end of his story, though, we see the character reborn as an undead skeleton, and his quest to quite literally regain his humanity helps make this new show surprisingly profound.
At the end of this path, however, is a mighty dragon, and instead of slaying it and making a real name for himself, our protagonist is promptly eaten by the mighty monster.
Another quality that Unwanted Undead Adventurer has in common with most anime series is that it is based on a very successful Japanese series of the same name. Rather than starting as a manga, however, the original Japanese story came from an ongoing series of light novels written by Yū Okano and drawn by Jaian that began coming out in 2017. The success of those light novels resulted in the story getting adapted into a successful manga that has been impressing audiences since 2018.
Since the Unwanted Undead Adventurer anime won’t come out until sometime in 2024 (we’re hoping it’s sooner rather than later), most of what we know about this quirky story comes from the manga. In those comics, we follow the adventures of a 25-year-old Rentt Faina. He is the titular adventurer and has been doing it for a decade, but he has very little to show for it: after all these years of hacking and slashing, all Faina ever seems to do is take on low-level threats like Goblins or Slimes for very little money.
Faina is now an undead skeleton who continues his adventuring but with a very important twist: his new goal isn’t to attain fortune and glory but to return himself to the human form that he lost.
Like all heroes of destiny, our Unwanted Undead Adventurer protagonist discovers a secret path. That path is the Labyrinth of the Moon’s Reflection, and Faina goes down the path with dreams of glory (and, of course, dreams of fabulous wealth courtesy of the treasure he is sure to find). At the end of this path, however, is a mighty dragon, and instead of slaying it and making a real name for himself, our protagonist is promptly eaten by the mighty monster.
Unlike many anime titles, Unwanted Undead Adventurer looks like it will have several long-running mysteries going on as our protagonist tries to answer some of the same questions the audience has…
That’s how Unwanted Undead Adventurer starts, but our hero’s real journey doesn’t begin until he re-awakens after being devoured. Instead of ending up in any kind of afterlife or even somewhere otherworldly like King Kai’s tiny planet (that guy might as well turn it into an Airbnb just for Goku and his friends), Faina reawakens right back here on Earth.
However, in a shocking turn of events, he is now an undead skeleton who continues his adventuring but with a very important twist: his new goal isn’t to attain fortune and glory but to return himself to the human form that he lost.
Unlike many anime titles, Unwanted Undead Adventurer looks like it will have several long-running mysteries going on as our protagonist tries to answer some of the same questions the audience has…namely, why did he die and how did he come back to life as a skeleton. All of this is wrapped in the profound quest to regain his humanity and, more philosophically, to relearn more about what it takes to be human. We’re not sure exactly when this new series will be released, but you can rest assured we’ll be streaming it as soon as it lands on Crunchyroll.
