Ranked #1663

Jubei Chan The Ninja Girl 2

Quite some time ago, I saw Jubei Chan - The Ninja Girl, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Now that I've finally started purchasing anime for my own collection, I decided to get the sequel, hoping to once again enjoy some nice modern-samurai comedy.

One word: Disappointed.

The art is still nice and clean, and the battles are intense, but that doesn't really make up for the lack of other interesting parts to the show.

While I say the battles are intense, this may not be considered a good thing by all, as the battles now consist of simple power Vs power, high-energy fights, which I cannot remember being a focus in the last series. And even then, the fights are few, and they are usually over all too quickly.

Outside the fighting, there is the story, the supporting characters, and the comedy. The story itself is decent enough, following in the footsteps of the previous entry, though this one seems shallow in comparison, and many of the serious scenes seem unnecessarily drawn out, along with seeing the same flashback a couple too many times.

A fair number of the supporting characters from the original have been made almost inconsequential, taking with them a number of interesting and amusing personalities, in particular, Koinosuke no longer being a major character has left a large hole that the writers don't seem to have been able to fill. A few more still present, who were amusingly silly in the previous series, still seem to be silly, though less amusingly so, and are possibly getting a bit too much screen time than they should. On the flipside, the few 'important' supporting characters returning from the last series are well implemented and deserving.

As for new characters, well, if you count the Siberia Yagyu group as one character (since they always appear together), then there really aren't many, not even with the inconsequential ones, and none are interesting enough to make up for characters lost.

And lastly, for comedy. Well, apart from the previously mentioned silliness of some characters, and a few jokes repeated from the previous series (reminders of how good the first series was), there really isn't much to talk about, though what little there is that works, works well.

Despite all that negativity, I don't believe it's a horrible series, but if you're a fan of the original, don't be too excited by the prospect of more Jubei.

Before I go, I'd just like to say, that 3D animated......'thing' is freaky, and should never have existed. Seeing that thing was a real "what the..." moment.....every single time I saw it. read more

Highs: Cool looking action scenes; improved animation; comedy works

Lows: ...Too much of it doesn't; Repetitive storyline; sub-plots that go nowhere; unbelievable amount of filler; useless side characters; elements make absolutely no sense; the reason for the most emotion from previous series is missing

Jubei-chan 2 – The Counter Attack of the Siberian Yagyu, henceforth to be known as Jubei-chan 2, is the continuation of the series that debuted back in 1999. Picking up where the first series left off, Jubei-chan 2 adds a few more interesting characters, but in the end turns out to be a carbon copy of the previous season. Jubei-chan is unsuccessful in creating a coherent plot and is a complete letdown to the series.

The first season laid down the building blocks for the possibility of a great sequel. Jubei-chan 2 fails to capitalize on the great opportunity and ends up being a huge disappointment to fans of the first Jubei-chan. At first glance, the series looks like improvement, as the characters and art are much more refined. Jubei-chan 2 also manages to keeps the comedic style that made the first one humorous, although, the good news stops there.

It would appear that the creators of the series had the creativity sucked from their very souls The 300-years of revenge wished upon Yagyu Jubei by the Siberian Yagyu are exactly identical to the last series. The story follows a similar archetype leaving viewers with a feeling of deja-vu. Thus, leads us to one of the most serious offenses, the incredibly repetitive plot. The plot may not have been such a bad idea, had it not been done exactly the same way the first time. A few new characters were added, but it does nothing to change the overall makeup of the story. It is unacceptable that a sequel does nothing more then regurgitate what we saw in Jubei-chan 1.

Adding insult to injury, elements in the story make absolutely no sense. As the tedious trek through this anime continues, often a viewer can find themselves looking for some kind of explanation to how and why exactly everything is happening. It's simply like having a puzzle with pieces that do not fit. It's stupid. Random events and sub-plots that go nowhere are the theme of this ridiculous sequel. In a 13-episode series, it simply is amazing that there was room for an ungodly amount of filler. In attempt to get a few laughs out of the audience, this useless filler only serves to scar the plot further and honestly, no one is laughing. Side characters purposely do nothing except take up screen time and their antics quickly grow tiresome.

The final pitfall for this failure of a sequel is the lack of development between Jiyu and her attendant from the previous series, Koinosuke. With the abundance of flashbacks and emotional reminiscence of their relationship you would assume some kind of closure was due. But, no, the creators essentially give a huge slap in the face for those fans who stuck this series out. What they give us rather, is his more annoying daughter who could never recreate the same relationship between Jiyu and Koinosuke.

Jubei-chan 2 is an utter failure and a sad joke. It is shows like this that make me lose all faith in sequels that attempt to recreate what made the prequel successful. The best part left over from the first series is completely ignored for a stale, repetitive and absolutely teeth-grinding story. Do not be deceived by the good looking Jubei and Freesia, because it's a trap. In this author's humble opinion, this is one of the most awful sequels of all-time and a complete waste of time. If you have absolutely nothing better to do, watching Jubei-chan 2 is still a terrible idea.

Wriiten by AlterGenesis-X
February 14, 2007 read more