UN-GO doesn't work well as an engaging detective series. When you are doing mystery show in an episodic format, it's hard not to notice its formula, and the formula in this show is one character, "Inga" who's both the main attraction and a drawback to the series. Inga's identity is unknown; for most of the show, 'Inga' appears as an annoying Shouta who can transform into a beautiful woman (and many other forms, apparently) and can make any human confess their truth. In return, Inga can feed on their souls but only once a person. Since the anime follows an episodic structure, this ability feels like a cheat because no matter the amount of investigation that goes on, the overall mystery collapses when Inga does the questioning. But what's reassuring is the show being aware of this. It never pretends to make a mystery any more complicated (or simple) than it already is.
Which really begs the question, "What's the point of a mystery that is obvious?" Many mysteries work on the good old question of "Whodunit?". Introduce many characters, throw them into a crime-possible setting, give a reason for every character to commit a crime (even to the protagonist if you will), and bring the detective at the end to close the case; or to speak in a broader sense, "the Pursuit of Truth" is what drives a mystery. The same is true in UN-GO, but the truth here is less about being engaging and more about taking a look into the adverse effects of an international phenomenon.
In UN-GO, you tag along with this detective named "Yuuki Shinjirou", the 'Defeated Detective', whose pursuit of Truth is not just simply a who how, or why. Our protagonist believes that the hidden truth is what characterizes a person, which goes against the ideals of the antagonist, "Kaisho Rinroku", who believes that some truths are worth hiding in order to make a better world. This truth is always tied to the war and how war tore the lives of people. Ango Sakaguchi's novel the anime is based on was released way back in 1945s, just after Japan's loss in WW2, and provided a fictional world to show how Military can change its society if it ever to take control over its people. Many of us can't even comprehend the horrors of war and how much war influenced today's society and people's lives. We look at those Ukraine war footage videos, might hear some speeches, or watch war dramas but the most we can do is empathize with them. Shows like UN-GO will shed light on the topics of war to people that really don't know the cruelties of war and how war will shape and shaped a society.
TL; DR - It's less about the mystery and more about the commentary on militarism in a war-torn society.
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OP & ED
I want to make a separate section for this as I really liked the songs so much. The ending actually hints at a certain event in the second half and it's also the only few cases in the Anime that has some wonderful animation sequences. The series mostly have still frames with animation no more than lip flaps, which were well balanced with some good direction, so it won't be that much of a bother. The OST is pretty standard, it reminds me of some outdated mystery movies with the main detective always pointing at things while a supercool OST playing in the background to make a supercool scene. Not bad though.
There's a 48-minute prequel titled "UN-GO: Inga-ron" which I recommend watching between episodes 6 & 7, rather than just watching this before the show itself. Inga-ron focuses on Shinjirou's past, and a certain being called Bettenou, which is a major plot point in the later half.
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If the description...
A mystery drama with supernatural demons set in a futuristic Japan where the internet and the media are monopolized by its Militaristic Government?
... sounds good enough then watch it anyway.
The concept of truth and souls is something akin to "Ghost in the Shell", though UN-GO is not as cyberpunk-Ish as GITS and differs in its subgenres.
The supernatural detective mystery is something akin to "Bungou Stray Dogs", though UN-GO is not as comedic and doesn't have as many characters as in BSD.
It's a waste of time to get into a show without knowing anything about it. Of course, you can check out UN-GO even if you don't like the Anime I mentioned.
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