Juuni Taisen

Every season nowadays, we get one of those “dark, edgy” shows that can make our stomach growl. From this year, we had plenty of those. Titles such as Kakegurui, Chaos;Child, and even Vatican Kiseki Chousakan tried to sell its ideas to viewers with mixed results. Then, there’s Juuni Taisen, a show that features a battle royale theme. Based on the signs of the Eastern Zodiac, it’ a character battle for the ultimate grand price of having a wish fulfilled. But honestly, Juuni Taisen is a show that betrayed expectations. It didn’t fulfill my wish of a show that is memorable. Instead, it delivered a half-assed ... TV anime that makes headlines for the wrong reasons.

Juuni Taisen is interesting to note for its creator, the brainchild behind the Monogatari novels. While that franchise takes on a more narrative approach, Juuni Taisen tried to do something different. It became a show that heavily focused on its characters, ones that I honestly found to have many problems by their standards. That’s another subject by itself though. For this anime to succeed, it had to really get viewers invested into the story and be something unique of itself. Unfortunately, the battle royale theme is hardly original. The popular Fate franchise already had a similar premise while other shows in recent years also took on such an approach. (ex. Btooom, Mirai Nikki) What Juun Taisen failed to really do is not bringing in characters that are worth watching for but instead kills them off like they are some failed experiment. To say the least, that’s just awful to realize.

Watching this anime will probably get you to realize what it wants you to like. The bloodthirsty action, tragic drama, and emotional storytelling is what people should really expect from a show like this. Unfortunately, it only capitalizes on a small percent of that. Its straightforward storytelling is very predictable as you’d expect from a battle royale theme show. Every time you see an episode filled with storytelling based on a certain character, almost always expect that character to die sooner or later. As for the storytelling itself, this show took a risk and it didn’t truly pay off. Most of the characters in this anime has some sort of background story, motivation, and apparently goal for themselves. However, it doesn’t really evoke any feelings in the end as it’s hard to get attached to them. With perhaps the exception of the Tiger, almost every episode made me feel less sensitive about the characters. I don’t feel much sympathy for them because there’s really no point to after realizing what their fate awaits them. It’s so predictable that you can almost guess exactly what may from scene to scene for some episodes. The worst offender is the Usagi (Rabbit) because this anime omits any sort of character development for him. He is literally portrayed as a psychotic abomination who tries to make “friends” and enjoys the thrill of killing. It doesn’t also help that the character lacks a personality and is there to fill the bloodthirsty action part of the show. By storytelling context, I do want to say that the show provides reasons for the battle royale itself and that there’s a larger end-goal than just making a wish come true.

If you came for a show with graphic content, then this may end up being somewhat of a crowd-pleaser. The body horror, bloodshed, and overall psychology lives up to certain expectations. So really, if you plan to watch Juuni Taisen, you won’t be disappointed for a show that offers its violence. I also have to add that through its battle royale theme, the show sometimes gets creative with how characters uses their approach to kill. While it’s far from being an intelligent anime with strategies and clever psychology, some characters are deceptively cunning. The anime makes it clear that there will be one victor so death is something that you’ll see often. The way these are carried out can occasionally be impressive despite the extreme predictably.

Adapted by studio Graphinica, I will admit that the overall visual quality gave me some favorable impressions. From the character introductions to the battle choreography, Juuni Taisen knows how to get viewers pumped up for some of its episodes. As dark and edgy as this show can be, it does live up to some expectations in regards to its technical content with graphic horror. Body parts are shredded, blood is spilled, and mentality is tested through facial character expressions. There isn’t much censorship either. Tragic background stories has a black and white stylish tone that expresses a sense of vulnerability. Most of the animation also remains fluid without questionable raw quality. The character designs are interesting to take notice ranging from Usagi’s man service to some of the sci-fi gimmicky outfits such as those wore by Tsumita siblings. The animal motifs and characteristics are also evident to represent the Chinese Zodiac.

When it comes to soundtrack delivery, there are several qualities that makes this barely watchable. First, the battle OST is far too generic. It just seems to be there and isn’t unique by any standards. Second, there are the character voices. Some of them really doesn’t make an impact while others are memorable just by their voice alone. The guiltiest example is Usagi, a character voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto. His voice from this show channels the craziest and ridiculous lines I’ve seen from this show. On the other hand, the theme songs gives a feeling of melancholy and grimmer mood. I mean, it is a very moody anime after all.

Should you really watch Juuni Taisen? As a light novel adaptation with 12 episodes, it’s about as predictable as it can get. Expectations were shattered in pieces once you realize what you’re in for. Beyond the predictably, the anime fails to get over most or if any of its character cast. Even when there are characters that you try to feel sympathy for, it ends up being wasted in the end. It’s a show that I tried to accept for what it is but ended up being a dumb action flick that ran dead on its shoes.

Juuni Taisen is one of the best examples of a bonafide "what if" anime: What if the show was 24 instead of 12 episodes? What if the art and animation were more consistent? What if half the show wasn't pure flashbacks? What if the character deaths weren't so laughably predictable? I really could go on, and it's a shame imagining what could have been an outstanding show.

The anime is plagued by a myriad of small problems which by themselves would be insignificant and ignorable, but when you account for so many of them, it becomes detrimental to the viewing experience. On its surface, Juuni ... Taisen aspires to be an epic, exhilarating battle royale where 12 warriors representing the signs of the Chinese zodiac volunteer or are chosen to partake in the brawl, with the winner to be granted any one wish.

Naturally, comparisons will be made to the Fate/Stay Night series, and while that juxtaposition isn't too far-fetched, Juuni Taisen is far more character driven and in that fact lies the show's greatest strengths and weaknesses. On principle, most of us can't get attached to characters if a said character received little to no screen time, or barely any development or backstory. To meet this principle, the anime dedicates one episode to most of the characters, where we see the conflict from their point of view and learn about their past. The problem here is that their backstory is told through an often intruding and abysmally long flash back that takes up the majority of their episode. I'm not one of those guys that hates flashbacks, heck I loved the original Naruto, but the difference here is that Naruto had dozens of episodes to tell its story and flesh out all its characters; Juuni Taisen does not have that time or liberty, so to see almost all of a character's screen time be dedicated to a flashback feels like a superfluous disservice to them, however effective it might have been to their development.

Speaking of disservice, one thing I'm sure that bothered others besides me was how suddenly the majority of the characters are killed off. About 80% of all the characters perish instantly to a sneak attack or die sacrificing themselves for another character. You can hardly call this an action anime if only 2 or 3 of the characters die fighting, while the others never really even got a chance to shine in the combat they so loved. Again, I'm not an action enthusiast, but if you're going to dump a huge flashback on us only to suddenly kill the character off afterwards, you've wasted any potential for growth that character might have had, as well as what could've been a great fight.

And that leads to the other problem: Predicable deaths, very predictable deaths. The anime is very formulaic --- The episode focuses on one character, they get a 15 minute long flashback, and about 2 or 3 minutes after the flashback ends, they die, usually without a fight. While this isn't always the case, you can usually guess with surprising accuracy the next character to be killed off by just figuring out which character that previously got no screen time is suddenly getting lots and go from there. In this anime, flashbacks are the death flags, and screen time is the precursor to that.

The last bit of bad news if you're interested in this anime is the often wonky art and animation. It's all over the place to be honest, bouncing between amazing and sluggishly lazy. Honestly, at the times when the animation is downright jaw dropping, it only irks me even more for the lack of action scenes that could have greatly utilized it. Even the CGI is fluid and alive, might even be the best CGI I've seen in anime. But again, it all varies as sometimes the art devolves significantly past the point of saying its the anime's art style and just leaves me wondering "why?" But of all the negatives, this one is probably the most ignorable.

As for strengths, the biggest one is that its very character driven and knows how to make us care for characters in such a short amount of time, but it comes at the cost of the above negatives and due to the nature of the anime, the characters would not live long enough anyway to solidify a deep connection to. More episodes would have been amazing for this show, but we have to consume what we have been served. I can also say with certainty that not one of the problems I listed was enough to affect my overall positive enjoyment of the show, and my lower overall rating of 6 is mostly due to objective critique. I'm a firm believer of watching a show for the enjoyment rather that to look to criticize it, so if the synopsis interests you at all, I still recommend you give it a try. Just bear in mind the above qualms and perhaps lower expectations accordingly.

In all, Juuni Taisen presents a simple yet effective story with compelling characters, though both of these are mired down by easy predictability and a lack of focus on action where there should be more of it. There was a lot of missed potential here, but at the same time it hit just enough right marks to distinguish itself as something truly unique in its field.

Juuni Taisen offers a unique and intriguing concept. To summarise it it is a battle royale featuring twelve warriors, each taking the forms of different Chinese zodiac signs, competing for the ultimate prize: a wish that could change their lives forever. The series blends action, strategy, and character exploration to create an often intense viewing experience.

One of the standout aspects of the anime is its diverse cast of characters, each possessing distinct personalities, abilities, and backstories. As the show progresses, viewers are treated to decently executed flashback sequences that delve into the past of each competitor, revealing their motivations for participating in the brutal Juuni ... Taisen and the events that shaped their lives. This approach adds depth to the characters and enhances the emotional investment of the audience.

The animation and art style of Juuni Taisen are generally well-done, with fluid action sequences and attention to detail in character designs. The fight scenes are choreographed creatively, showcasing the unique abilities of each warrior. However, some viewers might find the animation occasionally inconsistent in certain episodes.

The series blends action with psychological elements, as warriors strategize and adapt their tactics to outwit their opponents. The unpredictability of the battles kept me and many other viewers engaged and curious about the outcome, as alliances form and betrayals unfold. This psychological aspect adds complexity to the narrative, making the story more than just a straightforward battle for survival.

On the downside, some viewers might find the pacing a bit uneven. The balance between character development, flashbacks, and the progression of the battle can occasionally feel disjointed. Additionally, while the character backstories provide depth, they can sometimes overshadow the present-day events, making it challenging to maintain a consistent focus on the ongoing battle.

In conclusion, "Juuni Taisen" offers a unique and intriguing take on the battle royale genre, blending action, strategy, and character exploration. The diverse cast, well-executed flashbacks, and psychological elements contribute to an engaging narrative. While there are some pacing issues, the anime remains to be worth the watch for those interested in a darker, more complex take on the concept of a deadly tournament.

Overall rating 7/10

Junni Taisen is the definition of "generically unique." The story is okay. The art is okay. The sound is okay. The characters are okay. There are some worthy moments, but there are also some terribly-made episodes (like the animation is SUPER bad for one episode).

I recommend this for viewers who want something NEW, however. A deathmatch is nothing new, but its the ambiance of Junni Taisen that's different. Firstly, the story is told without a main character. The attention latches you in with a mystery aspect concerning many of the characters, but these are held out just as long as they need to be. ... The characters have pretty unique designs too, but don't expect anything too deep.

Unlike many shows, Junni Taisen actually ends and everything is answers, which is rare. Was it satisfying, not really, but it was complete.

Junni Taisen is for the enjoyment. Do not think too much and consume the fight scenes.

Ah Juuni Taisen, Incredibly a Nishio Ishin work, but I rather not enter in that area because, between all his works, this Anime lacks plenty of the twists he does on his stories, and I don't mean head tilts entirely. So what exactly is Juuni Taisen? I'll try not to write any Spoilers on this review, but you are warned.

The story of this anime goes around 12 War Assassins that are gathered to participate on a "Battle Royale" fest, the last man standing will have the power to have a wish. But Juuni Taisen is not exactly what you think it might be, take it ... this way: Juuni Taisen is NOT an action anime, at first I thought that Juuni Taisen would succeed if the fights were good despise not having story at all, sadly the fights were just a predictable slaughter fest to get rid of characters in order to have a winner. The true purpose of this anime, the one I found, were found in the very end, the wish. If you are the winner of the Juuni Taisen you get a wish, but what wish will you choose? Wealth?, Safety? World's Peace? "Not even 100 wishes could end a man's ambition" is an interesting quote I found at the end of this anime. Story: 4/10

The animation were smooth in the first episode, but each week the animation went downhill to the point of having CGi Models for the last fights, and it didn't just look bad, but pretty out of place after that amazing first episode and the animation that were set on it. Still some fights are quite good enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. Art: 6/10

The OP sequence is quite catchy, there were some interesting fighting generic soundtrack included on this Anime as well as the sound effects, nothing really impressive, but it is quite enough. Sound: 5/10

This anime consist on the formula of setting death flags each time a character's back ground story is told, so there isn't a significant development to almost any character on this anime, except for the winner. Gladly I liked how it won and how much it struggled to get its wish. This end up being an interesting way to fill the lack of character development that this anime generated, it was interesting enough to redeem (Just a bit) this anime. Characters: 6/10

I won't lie, I did like this anime, even if it were predictable, it was enjoyable enough, specially towards the end. Sadly it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. It could have been better, specially if it didn't have such stupid and pathetic way to kill off characters after showing up their background stories. At the end I discovered the true purpose of this anime, which wasn't a Battle Royale, but the wish, which was meant for the viewer to think about it, to elaborate what it is to have a wish to fulfill. What will it be? will it be enough? Is it right? That's up to you. Enjoyment 7/10

Overall 5,6 (6)/10: So Juuni Taisen isn't entirely a bad Anime, but it isn't that great either, it has its highs and its lows, This anime could have been a masterpiece if it were polished on a different way rather than being predictable.

Junni Taisen technically is an anime following the same concept as the Fate series. Yet it effectively looked so bad in comparison.

Character development is just dump a long frustratingly annoying backstory then kills them in the instant. The character-viewer connection is near non-existent so we've given little reason to root or like them in any way. And personally the lack of recognizable protagonist makes it hard to invest in this anime.

Seems like its only purpose is blood, guts and actions with little character development.

All in all, its a frustrating to watch and just painfully hard to see this anime as anything but ... a shallow action anime that I can easily forget once its all done.

Only positive is that at least it has a relatively interesting character in Ox but even then we'll never know if he'll bite the dust next either.

Only action-centric people can enjoy this purely for its action but for people like me who needs excellent characters to enjoy any anime, its just not my thing. I've only rated it 6 out of generousity and hope it gets better soon but I have my doubts.

***SPOILER FREE***

Blurb: Lost in translation.

Stop me if you've heard this one. A group of warriors with special abilities are asked to engage in a battle-royale and the last warrior standing will be granted any one wish that they desire.

While it sounds like a Fate/Stay Night rip-off, it's not. Not even close. Because while the Fate franchise manages to balance the deeper meanings behind wars, their aftermath and it's futility with jaw-dropping action sequences and well developed characters, Juuni Taisen barely manages to deliver a cohesive plot and on more than one occasion falls flat on it's face.

The standout qualities of the show are ... undoubtedly it's Art/animation and Soundtrack. The fight sequences (although few) are well animated and the soundtrack does an adequate job of keeping up with both the action and the moments of calm. Another positive quality of the show is that it delivers on the concept of a battle-royale very well. The shifting alliances and inevitable betrayals come with blistering speed, sometimes so quickly that it's upsetting.

Characterization and Story are of little consequence as at no point in time does the show really make you care about the characters and their respective motivations, although some of them possess curious (if not badass) abilities. Indeed the only 'twists' that come in the show are the rate at which participants are killed. However, given the long and tedious flashback that is shown immediately before their deaths, one can't help but think of some episodes as a monumental waste of time.

Conceptually, Juuni Taisen had all the ingredients of a proper and even fun Battle-Royale story, but it took itself too seriously by trying to attach deeper meanings to it's plots and characters. The only reason I'm giving it a score of '5' is because despite all it's flaws, the show still prompted me to binge watch it in a single sitting. Maybe it was like reading a bad novel. Once you're past the halfway point, you want to see it through to the end. If for no other reason than to satisfy yourself by saying "When I start something, I finish it."

Juuni Taisen 5/8/6/6/6/6

First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry. Which can be found through my profile.
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✦Story✦
Essentially a battle royale with edgy and quirky characters with some backstory to them. Nothing else to add, simply a battle fest with a straightforward plot-device and goal, but feels it's just absolutely pointless. Anyhow, the story aspect is simply dull and disappointing.

✦Art & Sound✦
Art and animation is probably the best part about this Anime. It had some cool action and odd designs.
...
Music on the other hand, can't remember anything memorable. Fair enough.

✦Character✦
All sorts of character with their own past and reasons of being in the whole "battle royale game". All have their own skill sets and surprisingly enough dumb "progression and finale" for the most of them. I just couldn't care less about characters for the most part. And somehow, my first guess who would "win the game" after first one fell in it. Was spot on. And that characters ability was as well rather easy to guess and just dull usage in this Anime.

Variety of stereotypes and backstories were nice. Aside that it was rather boring.

✦Enjoyment & Overall✦
I remember seeing trailer before this Anime got released. It seemed edgy and fun. Something right up my alley. But now that I watched and saw it being simply a "battle royale" ... with rather disappointing combat, characters and the whole ending and how it ended. I simply feel I got scammed. It wasn't anything about being hyped or not. It simply felt dull as I were watching.

In another words.. it wasn't my cup of tea and almost everything in there felt so pointless by the end of it.

Juni Taisen is the story of a proxy war, set up by mysterious people to bet on the winner! Supposedly it's pretty high stakes with even countries possibly being on the line. The proxy war is being fought by people who represent the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Think Fruits Basket, but a fighting anime.

The way this story is told, we're not really following it from one certain point of view, so there is no real main character. As the viewer you're more so expected to pick a person to root for and hope they win I suppose. As it goes along we see ... people get cut down. Death can be pretty sudden! Which is a nice change of pace at times, when you watch a lot of fighting anime you know how people can seem to be able to survive most anything. Basically this is a story about fighting, for fighting.

Taste: The show has a decent taste, but I think it really needed some more seasoning. What I mean by that is that they don't really go off the, at least from my point of view, the obvious path. The winner seemed obvious and there was never a reason for me to doubt it. They had a few ways they could have tried to have thrown me off the scent, but they didn't really seem to try.

Another issue is in how the story is presented, and what I mean by that is that we have no real main character to follow. If the person who I wanted to win died off early. I lack much in the way of incentive to keep watching, apart from just the nifty battles. Sadly those also didn't do much for me, we lacked a real tense fight, and even the final confrontation was a bit lack luster. If you're going to give me a show about fighting to the death. Give me some intensity!

Still, I did make it to the end, and there were some interesting characters. I suppose I wish that we could have followed one of them, or that one of them pulled out in the end. Instead we got a meh winner, and a meh finale, so it really dragged it down. Taste gets a 5 out of 10

Presentation: We had some good animation here. I thought we were lacking in the gore department, but that's just me wanting a bit more spice to the show. The opening to the show was cool and the characters had some neat looks. Man the rabbit, so daring! They didn't have anything that really stood out to me in the art or music area, but they also didn't slack off. 2.5 out of 5 here

Originality: When I saw this show, I was brought to thinking about the Fate series. Buncha people get to together, and the winner gets any wish they want granted. You don't see this sort of thing all that much in other shows, and how it was presented was also pretty original if you ask me. Some of the people also had some pretty neat abilities that you don't often get to see. I wish they could have shown off more! 3.5 out of 5

In conclusion I'd say this is a show to watch if you wanna see some people fighting for no real reason. I'd probably watch it again, but I'd more likely just make silly comments as I do. I think the show starts off really well, but dies off as it loses steam. 11 out of 20!

SPOILER FREE

story (7/10):
the plot wasn't that interesting. it had a few nice plot twist and overall it wasn't really bad but it wasn't good. it had parts that didn't made sense and it wasn't interesting most of the time. the thing I liked the most about it is the twist at the end and nezumi's powers. overall, it wasn't good.

characters (5/10):
the show took the time to do every character it's development. it didn't do it well in a lot of the times. there were some characters that were fine and nice but nothing really good overall.

art (3/10):
in the beginning the art looked like it's ... going to be fine. nothing too special but nothing bad. and then it became hard to watch. I wont get in details here but it just looked bad.

sound (7/10):
nothing special with the soundtracks. they were fine usually but nothing exceptional or amazing.
I give most of the points here because I enjoyed the va work. I think they did a fine job and were great fits for their characters.

overall (5/10):
I think this show didn't do anything special and I don't recommend to watch it. I honestly watched it because I kept hoping for that plot twist to change it all but it didn't give me anything I liked expect to nezumi's powers.

May Contain Slight Spoilers

Normally a show like Juuni Taisen would get quite a low score from me. From very early on you could figure out the order the battle royale was going for, and even if you couldn’t there were plenty of other hints to let you know who would die and who would be the winner. However, I just couldn’t bring myself to hate it. What saved the show from going below 5/10 were the characters. I, like many others, love a good villain, and a show that has such a variety of messed up individuals was able to slightly make up for the ... lacklustre action and deaths.

For any show to work, it needs interesting characters. For all that Juuni Taisen did poorly, the characters it created were pretty great. Each one is a warrior, doing jobs that no one else could with the lost lives of thousands in their resumes. Of course, not everyone goes about this the same way, and it creates a cast that you want to get invested in even though they'll probably die. You get a deceitful Robin Hood that causes both the rich and poor to suffer, a beast-like soldier that drowns their PTSD in alcohol and blood, and a master manipulator with some special eyes in the sky, just to name a few. Almost every character felt unique in the way they act upon and view their surroundings, making it quite a grim experience as you watch all their planning go to ruin. Even some of the abilities were able to capture my curiosity as I watched them either raise an army of the dead, create poisons and bombs as their weapons or just simply rip people to shreds in a variety of different ways.

Unfortunately, for as much as I enjoyed the characters, the rest of the show just didn't quite hit the mark. For an action show, the fights were so lacklustre. You rarely got to see them battle it out and when they did it felt pretty messy with it either jumping from scene to scene way too much or using off looking CG animation for the characters. To be perfectly honest, the backstories of each character showing them outside of the Juuni Taisen was much more fun to watch than the actual show. They were a perfect representation of how fucked up war is and how it affects people differently, even the ones that you’d think are used to the everyday slaughter. Grief, joy, trauma, ecstasy, and a plethora of other emotions can be found across the cast as they continued their awful ways of living. The only characters that I wasn't too fond of in terms of personality and backstory were Dog (an assassin who specialises in poison) and Horse, (a science experiment soldier afraid of losing) as they felt a bit shallow compared to the rest of our cast, but ignoring them the show really nailed its flashbacks.

So, you’re probably asking how exactly does a show about killing each other work if there isn’t much action, and sadly it just doesn’t. Most of the deaths are too quick and lack impact, with only a few occasional ones that are given enough time to give a little more depth to the characters in their final moments. I get that the show is trying to say that if these people make even just one simple mistake, they could die on the battlefield as quickly as snapping your fingers, but watching such nice characters get such swift ends is just not as enjoyable as it could have been.

I really wanted Juuni Taisen to be amazing, but it just couldn’t reach the expectations I had for it. It was still an enjoyable show, but it could have been so much better if it hadn’t been a battle royale. Give me a spin-off series where it’s just the characters on the battlefield instead of the arena where we watch them do what they do best, and I’ll fall in love. For what I have right now… I’m a little disappointed knowing that recommending it to others will probably just add to the number of people that hate it.

Battle royale between 12 character for getting any one wish. What wish? Who gives it? Why is city empty? Who cares. Lets have some amazing fights........or lets just go looking at 12 backstories of some random guys just so you can see them dying 5 minutes later.

Story: This is one of the main reason why its mediocre at best. More than half of story is flashback for every character which also mean that this character will die very soon. In these flashbacks it always is about some pseudo-philosofical teory why somebody fight or what is and isnt good or another bullshit. This is not reason ... i started to watch these series. I want to see good fight, i want to see intrique, betrayal, suprise atacks, guessing who will die first. None of this is here. Every fight with one exeption end one minute after it begins many times with some deus ex machina move. First time is really suprising and refreshing after many shonens which can have 5 minute of fight have in 3 episodes. but after third episode it gets boring and predictable. Another problem is that it is not suprising who will die next. There is way to know it and you dont even have to give it much thinking. I knew who will die in episode 9 after i saw just 3 episodes. So you have series who wants you to guess who will die next but also it will just tell you before it even begins. 3/10

Characters: I must say characters are little bit interesting. Every character have his way of killing which could be interesting to see. Every character have some reason to go to this deathmach some of them even know they wont probably survive but they still go there. Some of them have even some kind of special power which can make fight even more interesting......but there is one who is reason why it isnt nearly as good as it could be. There is little bit of spoiler. One of the character is necromant(it was shown in first episode so not much of spoiler). So instead of seeing some interesting fights with clash of ideals or protecting someone. we have fight agaist corpse. which can move even without head. How can be this interesting? Also this whole ability have some really big asspulls. Some of the charactercs can be little bit interesting but thats about it. 5/10

Sound: Unfortunately i never give much attetion to music so cant say if its good or bad because without opening/ending i dont remember any of music. I must say that i quite liked them so i dont see any problem here. 6/10

Art: It started good. nothing exeptional but not bad either. But with every episode it gets worse to the point you can see bad links without even trying. It may be because lack of funds or more probably lack of time. But still its not good. 4/10

Enjoyment: Like i said it started really good after first 2 episodes it would be clearly 9/10 but then it started to go down really quickly. Seeing flashback every episode with it taking it at least half of episode gets boring. And because i already know winner and even order of dying it takes away every little suprise. And the bigges problem its anime about fighing almost without fighting. How can this be any good? 4/10(and gets lower)

Summary: It had really good potetial being first true battle royal without clear winner from begining. Unfortunately it got lost in endless backstories with actual fight taking less than 5 minutes in every episode. Overall 5/10 with one point taking it for having potetial.

Juuni Taisen is not a bad anime.

I wanted to start this show once it finished airing. I mean, a battle royale theme? Different and distinct characters? Survival? Sign me up!
However, I got caught up in life and forgot all about it until last weekend but when I checked its page, I found many negative reviews and 3/10 ratings here and there and all over the place.

Naturally, I started it with mixed feelings. I will be lying if I said I didn't think it was crap from the first two episodes.
However, once I finished the third and fourth episode, I started to re-evaluate my opinion. ... Was that opinion in the beginning really mine? I couldn't judge just yet.

As the series went on, I realized that my thoughts on the beginning were affected by the reviews I have read and a sudden realization hit me: "Hey! This anime isn't bad at all!"

My overall rating of it is 6, which is above the average.

I tried to understand why people have been quick to bash it, and I came to a few conclusions:

1- The very short fight scenes:
If you go on wishing for very long, epic, fight scenes, you will just be disappointed. This is not Dragon Ball or One Piece, where the fights stretch off for weeks. In Juuni Taisen, a fight will end within 3 seconds. But I grew to love this aspect because it took me off guard and the creators just found a different 'killing' way each time that I wasn't expecting.

2-The 'flashbacks':
Sixty (sometimes forty) percent of the episodes are background stories of the characters. I loved them because it made me feel sympathy for them and get to know them. If there wasn't any background story, how would we know of them? We would end up just watching twelve strangers fight.

Juuni Taisen was a very entertaining show. It mixed elements of thriller, paranormal, survival, drama and in my opinion succeeded in giving a fun anime to enjoy.
I loved the introductions of each character before each fight. I loved their individuality.
What lowered my rating would have to be the story. If there was more of a plot explored in depth, my rating would have been a solid eight. The concept of twelve countries fighting against each other, each one with a warrior that represented it, seemed to lack a lot. What is the cause of this conflict? Who are the people that bet on the winner? Why? What happens to the countries that lost their warriors?

All in all, this was a decent show that I enjoyed very much. I would definitely recommend it for a change of pace in the survival genre. Oh! I LOVED THE OP!

It's been a long time since an anime pissed me off so much with ending. Let's get non-spoiler part of review out first:
It's not worth it, there's some cool animations and fight scenes, sure, but there's even more poorly written "character background" which I recommend to just skip with 5 second intervals and I'm pretty sure you'll get everything you needed. Tbh you should just skip the whole show and look up gifs and videos/amvs from this, there's nothing else valuable here, just super-badly-written-overly-edgy-fate/taisen.

Now, SPOILER part:
Ok, it started out pretty well with that Boar lady, and backstory was one of the better ones, ... so I could easily get into the show, and visuals/fights surely made it worthwhile, but after first episode it was all downhill. It's not like I hated everything, where else can you see "mostly-naked-necromancer-bunny-on-heels vs monkey with a THICC ass" fight?! Ox stabbing chicken in the face was so well made scene as well. And episode 11? Brilliant. I had high hopes for the last episodes after that! Just to be backstabed by show like the rest of the cast.

Normally, I'd rate Enjoyment part of the show a lot higher in a case like this, but story was so badly written and some of the characters so bad, it sucked most of it out. Character backstory just before they die - I'm sick of this already god damn it, is this so hard to learn that it doesn't work that way? Character isn't more likeable because it has more lore, it doesn't give their death any weight at all either. One of the most likeable characters in this show imo was that Bunny dude, and look at how much backstory he has - none. Does he need? No. Did others need? Some - maybe, but only if 12th episode doesn't fuck up and just throws everything under water. Show gave us 0 conclusions, and it's a pure form of frustration of finally getting to the good part - just to be denied. It's the laziest and most pretentious of all writings to just act like it was a wise thing to do when it in fact was a very poorly put dot on a story writer had not skill to pull of in the first place.
....
wait I just looked it up and the author is Nisio Isin? Wait wha... Jesus. Please don't let this man get near to anything other than monogatari stuff. I love monogatari too much to go on shit-talk about him more, so I'm just gonna assume he put himself in a corner where he had no good way to finish story and just ended it as quickly as he could.

<SHORT REVIEW>

Pros:
1. Great action scenes
2. Upbeat OP and ED theme
3. Characters backstories told
4. Well used CG

Cons:
1. Backstories pretty much similar
... 2. Predictable outcomes
3. Boring characters, except two who I'll be mentioning below

<LONG REVIEW>

"Juuni Taisen" or "Zodiac Wars" is a double edged sword for me. I don't know if I like it or dislike it, mainly because there are episodes where the anime stood out and there are also episodes which, to me, are boring AF.

Now let me clarify first that I like Battle Royale anime. You can see it from my rating of the last Battle Royale-esque anime last year "Magical Girl Raising Project". I love that series. When I found out about Juuni Taisen I was seriously hyped for it.

After watching the first three episodes, it didn't impress me a single bit. It's just characters boasting about how powerful they are and getting killed off easily. To me, I hate that kind of development. I hate seeing characters who seemed strong getting killed off in one shot. I'd consider that lazy writing.

However, after episode 3, I started to enjoy this series more. It didn't go down the route of killing one character per episode and I thank the series for that. But that doesn't change the fact that the character backstories told were pretty much the same and boring. I like MGRP because every character has a tragedic backstory to make me sympathize with them. However in this series, characters backstory often show how strong the particular character is, and I don't like it that much. What's the point of showing the power level of a character if he is going to die sooner or later. The only episode that stood out to me was episode 10, when the backstory of Tiger and Ox was shown, that is how this anime should be like, THAT IS HOW YOU WRITE A GOOD BATTLE ROYALE anime! Cannot believe I need to sit through 10 episodes of mediocrity to see one which actually impressed me.

The characters are also pretty one dimensional. I don't feel any depth in them. Although their backstory were told and I totally appreciate it, but the fact still remained the same in which every character are who they are at first glance, except the two I mentioned earlier. It made me feel nothing about their death and that is sad because a battle royale anime needs to be impactful.

Well I don't blame this anime for being predictable. After all this is based off of the Chinese Zodiac race. So I just want to be more invested in the characters. But each character had almost the same backstory making me feel a bit bored while watching it, especially the story about the dragon and the snake. But I still appreciate that the show actually told us who the character are to let us learn more about them.

The art and animation is pretty consistent. I like the use of CG in this series. The action scenes were well animated and I love it. If only this anime had more of those scenes other than characters talking non-stop about their tactics and telling you how strong they are, then I would love this series more.

The music is upbeat. I love it. I love the OP theme and the ED theme. Background musics, although didn't stood out to me, but were still well placed making the action scenes more impactful.

Overall, as a fan of Battle Royale anime myself, I won't give this anime a shit rating, it's a fair enough/above average anime. I do find myself enjoying this. But whether or not to recommend this, I'd say watch it if you like battle royale anime like Fate. If you hate it, then skip this. It's not for you. That's it. 6/10 Thanks for reading.

In this case, we have characters based on the Zodiac in a battle royale, it is not the most unique way of telling things, but it's nice if you can find a few characters you like. There's a lot of backstories, even the first episode is mostly just world building and backstory.

Honestly, the only reason I'm writing this, is because someone had to tell me this exists. For those that call this story predictable... it is. Because it's the retelling of something. In the 10th episode, one character makes a reference to a specific something. I cannot give spoilers here, ... but if you pm me I can explain if you would like. The reference, is what Juuni Taisen is a retelling of, just in a different setting.

My only real problem, is I told myself midway if I did not like the winner, I would not like the show. Not because of wah I want X to win, but whether I just like the winner's personality, and no, the character was boring. While I liked a few other contestants, he and the 12th episode just leave a sour taste of finishing the story. I hope I've made sense.

Juuni Taisen's premise is straightforward and unsurprising: twelve warriors, each carrying the name and various traits of one of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, engage in a brutal free-for-all battle royale. Why? All for the sake of having any one wish of their choosing granted. If it sounds familiar, it is because it very much is, the premise being a near-exact imitation of the Fate series'. So the question remains: does Juuni Taisen do enough to set itself apart in this bloody free-for-all, wish-granting niche? Or does it fall flat on its face, and accept forgettable mediocrity, achieving little besides its initial zodiac gimmick ... to forge a new identity for itself?

If someone were to stop watching Juuni Taisen after only a couple of episodes, they would probably remain under the impression that the show's strong suit is of a visual nature. In these opening episodes, animation is fluid and crisp, making early bouts of violence and action a genuine pleasure to watch.

If they were to keep watching, however, they would no doubt have to eat their words. As the show progresses, the animation absolutely falls apart, making it increasingly difficult to understand characters' movements, and just downright painful to experience. In fact, the 8th episode is probably one of the worst, visually, that I have seen all year, due to shockingly low-quality animation, and background + character art that is so poorly done that it is, at times, a struggle to even understand what you are looking at anymore.

Visually, it does pick up a bit after the horrendous 8th episode, but it never again meets the high standard the show establishes in its introductory episodes, which is quite a shame.

The artwork is overall okay, maintaining a dark, somber palette throughout, which does complement the show's overall tone and themes appropriately. Most of the character designs are well-done too, going hand-in-hand with each character's associated Zodiac, but some feel a bit over-the-top, especially Usagi's, considering the otherwise serious tone throughout.

Juuni Taisen's narrative effort is an uphill battle, especially considering how similarly it sets itself up to other, much more beloved anime. Unfortunately, it doesn't really do much to distinguish itself from these other works, and what little it does attempt to do, ultimately falls short and ends up not worth investing over 4 hours to get to.

A major fault on Juuni Taisen's part is that it decides to spend each of its 12 episodes focusing on one of the Zodiac warriors, revealing their backstories and unfolding the events of the war through their eyes, all in one shot. The problem with this is that no character ends up fleshed-out enough nor memorable enough to garner any audience interest in their ultimate fate. Without a central character arc, the show has to rely mainly on shock twists (i.e. unexpected deaths) to keep viewers watching, which, while not the best way to tell a good story, would be a decent idea. Yet, we are still subject to flashback after flashback, with way too much of the show's airtime wasted on failed attempts to flesh out characters who, ultimately, have little impact on both overarching narrative and audience.

Aside from this significant weakness, a few of the characters' backstories are somewhat intriguing, especially in their relation to the respective warrior's present-day situation.

In the grand scheme of things, it is the Zodiac war, not the flashbacks, that are most intriguing to watch. Fake alliances, rivalries, tricks, bonds being formed, and all of the other various political aspects of the war are cool to watch in action, and benefit quite well from the show's shifting perspective structure, as we are privy to how different characters feel about and approach similar situations.

One thing that I found odd was that the final episode occurs post-war and focuses on one particular character and a dilemma that they are currently facing. The details around their ability and the nature of this dilemma are introduced way too late to have any significant impact on the viewer, and the whole thing just seems kind of jarring and inconsequential, especially considering the climax had already passed.

The cast is a mixed bag for the most part. Approximately half of the warriors are forgettable and are of little importance in the grand scheme of things, while others stand out as power players. Sharyuu's pacifistic personality works well as a contrast to the situation she is placed in, and, ironically, is one of the most exciting to follow for this reason alone. Ushii is also likable and is given standout moments here and there, but is for the most part, appealing for his coolness factor as opposed to multi-dimensional, nuanced character writing. In fact, the majority of the cast is characterized in a rushed, stereotypical nature, but the show doesn't seem to want to be more than a standard action entry anyway.

As a villain, Usagi is satisfactory if only for his unsettling personality alone. Crazed and bloodthirsty, he functions as the main driving force behind the series' bloodshed and does feel like a real threat for the most part. On the other hand, he is also very one-note and is in no way more complex or nuanced than he appears at first glance, which is a bit of a let-down.

If you're looking for a dumb, enjoyable time, Juuni Taisen is not that bad of a choice. Of course, there are other anime that share its battle-royale flair while, in addition, managing to juggle profound themes and intriguing character writing with their action quite well. A prime example of this is Fate/Zero, which should 100% be watched before even considering a show like this. Nonetheless, once you have finished with the brainier shows and find yourself looking for something similar, Juuni Taisen is a watered-down yet still acceptable variation to try out.

Fans of pure action anime may enjoy the series' commitment to violence and bloodshed, but potentially also find themselves let down by the show's selection of fight scenes. Though intense, visceral and competently-choreographed, a large part of Juuni Taisen's fights don't end up lasting very long, which could certainly turn off viewers who have just waded through the endless flashbacks hoping to finally experience some actual action.

At the end of the day, Juuni Taisen does manage to offer its viewers an opportunity to experience some mindless, action-packed fun. On top of that, the typical viewer will likely find at least one character to root for, one fight to take their breath away, and one backstory to find themselves sympathizing with.

Beyond these few positives, the show has too many glaring flaws to merit being considered anything more than mediocre. Flashbacks stunt the flow of the narrative and offer little in the way of satisfaction and enjoyment, characterization is too tropey and simplistic, fights are cut way too short, and the visual presentation makes viewing a painful and confusing experience in later episodes.

TL;DR: If the ending of a show is more important to you than its other aspects, then watch Juuni Taisen. Otherwise, skip it.

Juuni Taisen (JT) is a battle royale anime in which 12 participants, each representing one of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac calendar, battle it out for the sake of having one wish granted. JT tries to do away some of the ‘fluff’ that other battle royale anime (such as Fate Zero, for example) have and the entirety of JT, except for flashbacks, takes place over the course of one night. That being said, while JT does provide some novelty, parts of ... it are mired in bad writing, abysmally inconsistent visual quality, and pacing that is all over the place. Some of these aspects are somewhat tempered by a redeeming final episode. I’m not going to compare it with anime like Fate Zero because JT is an entirely different beast.

Let's focus first on the few things this anime does well: This anime is good at initially subverting expectations. In other words, it initially goes against the viewers' expectations about what will happen, which makes for a few entertaining "did they really just do that" moments. It also captures the battle royale aspect better than other related anime, there is no clear protagonist until the end. Almost no character has plot armor, and the times plot armor is used, it is justified in the story. The final episode is also a surprisingly good conclusion to this story and adds many of the elements that were missing up to that point. The final episode is decent enough for me to increase JT’s rating from a 4 to a 5.

Now moving on to what it does badly: Everything else. Lets start from the worst. The anime sucks at foreshadowing. It makes everything too obvious. The moderately savvy anime viewer can figure out the big ‘plot twist’ from the very start. Most anime viewers can very easily figure out the order of the deaths very early on, and also figure out who has the plot armor. Sure, this was intended, but that doesn’t make it any better.

While the anime is good at initially subverting viewer expectations, this gimmick becomes old quite fast. Not only can you expect JT to try to surprise you, after the first few episodes you can also guess with reasonable accuracy as to how it will try to surprise you.

Regarding the pacing, JT gives almost each character a backstory in the form of flashbacks. The flashbacks are not enough to flesh out a lot of the characters, which I don’t actually mind, since considering the 12 episode length, it is unreasonable to expect JT to fully develop each of the 12 characters. The flashbacks are a problem because they really mess with the pacing of the show. Some flashbacks are very short. Some take up whole episodes. Like many anime with a cast of characters this large, some characters receive decent characterization and some receive very little. Most of the characters in JT fall in the latter category, and even when some characters do receive characterization, it isn’t always very good.

The pacing and narrative suffer from issues that are independent of the flashbacks as well. A built up final confrontation is ended through a contrivance, leading to a very anti-climatic end to the tournament. It also has several plot holes regarding that confrontation, and inconsistencies regarding a very crucial character's powers.

JT also has issues with world building, it isn’t able to decide on how it wants to incorporate supernatural elements in its narrative and in its characters. In this tournament you have characters with shitty powers like not needing to reload a gun, characters with no powers, characters with useful powers like being able to fly, and characters with stupidly overpowered abilities. This destroys any semblance of the battle royale feel that JT is going for, because some characters have almost no chance of winning.

And then you have the production quality. The anime starts off fine, but the production quality really, really dips after the middle. Clearly the issues of pacing showed in the budget as well. The visual quality is all over the place after the initial half.

However, despite all these issues, JT does have one of the more interesting finales I have seen so far. I don’t feel like I wasted my time watching JT, although it is far from the best, and if I could go back in time, I wouldn't watch it. If you like the destination rather than the journey, watch JT, otherwise skip it, ‘cause the journey ain’t that pretty. Hell, one of the reasons I like the finale is because what came before it was bad. It's like being glad that you've reached some horrible war-torn place because your plane ride was so bad.

The premise of a battle royale anime where the winner can get any wish he desires isn’t anything new or original; this series adds the twist of relating the characters with the Chinese zodiac and giving them special abilities. The premise and concept of this show is actually good and interesting, the series itself however is something entirely different.

The show starts off great with a good first impression. If they were able to keep the quality of animation and story-writing that was in the first episode, this series wouldn’t have such a low rating.

Each episode usually focuses on a character and his/her backstory before ... joining the tournament. This gave a better impression of the characters to the viewers and adds more depth to the series. Doing this in a 12 episode series however is very difficult which is probably why the characters in the latter half of the show barely had any dedicated episodes or backstory given to them. This hurt the show because the characters who the viewers know about, or can relate to were killed off in the series and the characters left didn’t have anything to make viewers more excited to watch. This is clear especially with the winner of the Juuni Taisen, who had the least impact throughout the show and had little to no backstory with the most overpowered ability.

The show tried to aim for a story without a clear protagonist or antagonist and focus on character development by animating each character’s individual stories. Unfortunately because the series was constrained to 12 episodes, they were only able to animate this for the characters who died early on in the series and left the ending feeling like it was rushed. The ending was rushed, but only because the series was poorly planned.

Note: The CG animation in this show is also one of the worst cases I’ve seen. Luckily it’s mostly present only in a few fight scenes toward the end of the show but it’s still really bad.

We've had quite a few edgy shows this season and this is one of them. However, I did keep an open mind while watching it and it was pretty enjoyable.... For a very very little amount of time.

[Story: 6/10]
So the story surrounds a group of 12 warriors, representing 12 families, who're called by the names of the 12 zodiac signs and they each have powers related to the creature that their sign is. They participate in a battle royal, held once every 12 years called the, "Juuni Taisen," and whoever wins, gets a wish of his or her's granted. Now, if someone enjoys shounen and ... has watched a couple of famous shows, they've come across this kind of plot, specifically because of the Fate Series and let's be honest here, the Fate Series isn't always always good but it's pretty enjoyable. Juuni Taisen tries to be the edgier cousin of Fate but it fails. As the story progresses, we learn more and more about each character and delve into their background, we also learn about their individual powers. However, the series mostly follows the 'show and kill formula,' where they show us the past of the character they intend to kill off in that very episode, or in the next episode, this makes the show very predictable as we know who's going to die, for the most part. The answer to who's going to be the final winner is fairly obvious if one pays enough attention as, being the clichèd show it is, the show tries to put less attention on the important character and hence because we know we have the least amount of information about the Rat, we figure out that he is going to win very early on.

[Art: 6/10]
There's not much to share about the art to be honest, it's not bad but it's not good either. They do use a little bit of CGI here and there but it's so minimal that it isn't bothersome. The character designs aren't groundbreaking but they do help you remember who's who and what their powers are. The hand to hand combat scenes are well choreographed for the most part, especially in the first couple of episodes.

[Sound: 6/10]
The sound track tries to make the atmosphere tense and it does succeed in some cases but overall, it doesn't draw a lot of attention to itself. The OP is an electric guitar laden song, not exactly the type that hypes you up, it has more of a melancholic feel to it.

[Characters: 6/10]
Shows like Juuni Taisen rely heavily on their characters because with such a big and diverse cast that demands equal attention, there's really no way to make an overarching and complex narrative that relies solely on the story itself and not the characters. Juuni Taisen throws at us 12 people with varied motives that aren't explained. Simply put, we slowly figure out why these people are fighting but we don't know what they are fighting for. We don't know what they want, sure we do find out in the case of Nezumi but, for the most part we don't know and I refuse to believe that everyone is like Nezumi and they never thought about what they wanted. In the case of Sheep however, we are aware that he is fighting in the place of his grandchild and so we can assume that he doesn't have an ulterior motive.

Since almost every character is explored within the confines of an episode, it's very difficult to figure out wether we like them or not. The actions of these characters have had a profound effect on the battlefields of the world and yet it feels like they're inconsequential. Simply put, Juuni Taisen fails to make us care for these characters.

By far, the most interesting characters on this show are The Rabbit, The Ox and The Monkey. The Monkey makes the interesting character list because of her understanding of the way that peace works, her non violence beliefs should disqualify her as a warrior but she still is one, a rather good one at that. The Ox makes the cut because he is the most level headed out of all of them and he is different because he doesn't have a special power but he has experience and technique. The Rabbit is just bat shit crazy and a crazy factor is needed in shows like these. Nezumi would've made the cut had they put more attention on him and his very interesting but overpowered ability.

[Enjoyment: 5/10]
Juuni Taisen is pretty enjoyable in parts but these parts are few and far between. Being predictable isn't necessarily a bad thing but in this case, it makes the show uninteresting. The fight choreography can be enthralling and do give us moments of joy but that's about it. One isn't really attracted to the OP not the ED.

[FINAL SCORE: 6/10]
I won't call Juuni Taisen a massive waste of time or anything but I would suggest that you only watch it if you're hard pressed to find anime that you actually want to watch. If you enjoy a predictable plot that has some moments of good action then sure, give this a go.