Un-Go - Episode 8

Having been thrown into a world that was more than a little surreal last week, is there any hope of escape for Shinjurou as he finds himself as the prime suspect in a murder case which has a decidedly odd feeling to it?

Of course, with his master (or should that be servant?) missing, Inga soon finds himself inundated with problems of his own, while even Kazamori's technical capabilities can do nothing to get in contact with Shinjurou himself.  What Kazamori does mange to do however is pin down the errant detective's location - East Kantou Social Rehabilitation Program Centre, the private prison where he went to meet the "novelist" of the previous story arc in the first place.  With marked interest in his whereabouts from Rie Kaishou, it's off to the prison we go, with Kazamori handing over a little present for Rie to use if required upon Shinjurou.

The present in question is just what is required to lift Shinjurou from his hallucinations (and a little more beside, amusingly), to reveal to him his actual role as an unwitting prisoner within the establishment - there's still a murder to solve however, with suspects including all of these involved in our previous movie setting.  But who are these people really, and what is the actual motive for the crimes committed and the movements of the other individuals thrown into this bizarre fantasy world?  All soon becomes clear, but there are perhaps deeper questions to be asked behind the so-called novelist who set up this little game, and more importantly Bettenou, who seems to be the real key to Shinjurou and company's delusions.

After a deliciously unsettling outing last time around, Un-Go did a pretty good job of peeling back the mystery behind such a bizarre instalment - okay, it was largely predictable, but the fact that the revelation was delivered with a few touches of comedy helped the concept along quite nicely and the whole thing was bolstered by the fact that we still had an actual living, breathing murder mystery to ponder for a while.  Elements of said mystery might have been a little tough to swallow, but overall this was a solid way to finish this arc, and most importantly of all it seems to be the trigger for what the final few episodes will bring, which holds plenty of promise for a series that has been growing stronger by the week of late.