Juuni Taisen

Every 12 years, mercenaries who possess the highest caliber of brute strength, cunning wit, and deadly precision gather to participate in the Zodiac Tournament. Each warrior bears the name and attributes of one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. With their pride and lives on the line, they engage in vicious combat until only the victor remains.

The 12th Zodiac Tournament begins in a desolate city, devoid of any evidence of the half million people who recently lived there. To raise the stakes, each warrior ingests a poisonous gem, thus setting a time limit on the tournament—and on their life. With one wish for the victor up for grabs, the Zodiac Warriors start their cutthroat battle for survival.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Usagi Main

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Nezumi Main

Horie, Shun Japanese

Tora Main

Igarashi, Hiromi Japanese

Ushii Main

Umehara, Yuuichirou Japanese

Sharyuu Main

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Niwatori Main

Sakura, Ayane Japanese

Inounoshishi Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Tatsumi Kyoudai Ani Main

Eguchi, Takuya Japanese

Tatsumi Kyoudai Otouto Main

Toriumi, Kousuke Japanese

Dotsuku Main

Nishimura, Tomohiro Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Kamei, Hiroshi Producer

Shioya, Yoshiyuki Producer

Reviews

Dec 19, 2017

RebelPanda

Recommended

I'm sick and tired of seeing people treat Juuni Taisen like trash because the plot is predictable.

It might just be intentionally predictable!
I know, how blasphemous!
As if its intention was to besmirch the name of our beloved Fate and the tarnish the genre it birthed into existence!

Did it really take everyone 12 episodes to realize that the show reveals the order of every characters’ death by the end of the first episode?
Would it be so far-fetched to imagine that Juuni Taisen actually wanted to put an original spin on the battle royale genre?
Or does every battle royale show have to be like ... Fate to be deemed “good”? Instead of trying to stand out with spectacular visuals, Juuni Taisen offers compelling characters and lots of new spins on the genre to keep you engaged.

Positives:
+Exhilarating Music
+Interesting Character Backstories
+Tense Action
+Solid CGI
+Innovations to the Genre
+Grimdark Aesthetic

Negatives:
-Lacking World Building
-Dragon and Snake's episodes
-Visual Quality Inconsistencies

[Story: 6.5/10]
In coming up with the score for the story I included both the actual plot and the way that the story is delivered because it is a crucial part of the experience.

Juuni Taisen understands how predictable stories in the Battle Royale genre can be, and it plays with this idea of predictability. It’s a show that acknowledges the nature of its genre, all of the opponents in a death game but one will die eventually. It rubs its predictability in your face and forces you not try to figure out who will die next, but to analyze the show’s other aspects. Namely, the characters, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

As for the setting and plot themselves, they are fairly barebones but sturdy enough to hold up the exciting action and character stories. Whenever the show draws attention to the behind the scenes of the zodiac war it feels very apparent that it’s the most undercooked part of the show. Occasionally we see anonymous bidders watching the battle, but there is little reason for these segments other than showing us important people view the game as a form of entertainment. In the backstories side characters offhandedly mentioning how the zodiac war is some myth that is typically referred to as very important, but that doesn’t come across at all during the actual war itself, as it mostly focuses on the characters.

The city that the competitors battle in is entirely devoid of life, with little explanation to the why and how. Characters have special powers connected to their zodiacs, although the powers are cool and well implemented into the action they have no explanation for their existence in the real world. Very little of the actual plot is clear, but each character’s backstory is enough to make up for its issues. The backstories worked so well to get me invested that whenever the characters engaged in combat I was on the edge of my seat hoping for the more developed character to survive despite knowing the inevitable would come.

The ending will no doubt disappoint some people, but its tameness didn't bother me. For me, it concluded the characters' stories in a satisfying way and it gave me everything I expected from the ending.

[Character: 8/10]
Most of the entertainment from Juuni Taisen comes from the characters, as you’d expect from a battle royale show with a paper-thin plot.

The cutthroat cast of twelve mercenaries/warriors are each represented by one of the twelve zodiac signs. Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. They all have special abilities related to their sign which are revealed over time, another mystery that adds a layer of tension to the thrilling atmosphere. Even their deaths are directly tied to their zodiac sign. This opens another avenue for analyzing each character, and frankly, it's not surprising to see a writer as impressive as Nisio Isin try to innovate the battle royale genre like this. Also, they’re all edgy as hell. All of them, it's funny how on point they are to the edgy battle royale genre style the show is aiming for and successfully hitting it. Their personalities are all very distinct and are represented by their character designs. Their designs also have elements that represent their zodiac sign. Whether it be Usagi’s bunny ears and high heels or Niwatori’s chicken style outfit and pitchfork for a weapon. They all look absurd and have the strong personalities and backstories to justify their designs.

Their personalities are quite overdone, but once you see the explanation for why they behave the way they do you’ll be more inclined to embrace them. Although a couple of the character backstories didn’t quite do it for me (namely Dragon and Snake) because of their stories, while funny and full of action, blatantly disregarded what made the other character so well developed. Even with all the absurdity, a majority of the challengers evoke empathy from their backstories and make you think, oh now I get why that character is trying so hard to look cool. At first, they’re vicious killing machines, then the show makes you pity them and you'll become endeared in their struggle to win, no matter how futile it may be.

[Art: 6.5/10]
The quality of the art and animation varies, it starts off great but has a noticeable drop-off in quality in the later episodes. While in the actual present-day Zodiac War the visuals are quite good, solid character art, a dark and moody desolate city, and sometimes really great battle animation. During the flashbacks is where the art quality starts to drop. In the early episodes the art and animations look good all around, but as the episodes go by the flashbacks have noticeably less motion and become mostly conversation scenes. Not to say that the conversations aren’t interesting, but the show is at its best during the high stakes action.

It’s understandable that the budget isn’t huge considering it’s a new story from a fairly small studio. I can commend Graphinica for subtly swapping the art style to CGI to save funds in the later episodes because of how great it looks. Don't expect to see low frames CGI like what we got with Ajin in this show. Graphinica previously worked a fairly good looking CGI movie, Expelled from Paradise, so it’s great to see that they’ve only gotten better through practice. I didn’t struggle to forgive the issues with the visuals while watching the show, but I have to knock it a few points for some distracting quality dips during the middle episodes.

The greatest saving grace of the show's visuals is its grimdark aesthetic. You might just call this "edge" and you'd be right, but it's consistent edge that is totally in keeping with the rest of the show. Scenes are full of shadows, dark colors, and the fact that the war takes place during mostly the nighttime with rain and clouds during the day. Every aspect of the show contributes to this style and the visuals pull plenty of the weight. While the art is far from perfect, I can say it makes up for enough of its flaws with a memorable personality.

[Sound: 8.5/10]
A nice tense soundtrack that gets the blood pumping during action sequences. It ranges from orchestral music to EDM and I liked all of it. It’s also present during the slower scenes where characters are conversing to add a layer of tension, reminding you that they have to kill each other as soon as they finish talking. There are times it strikes the audience with some more sad songs to hammering home the brevity of some of the show's tragic situations. I feel safe saying it's one of the best OSTs of the season, as well as having a great alternative rock OP. The ed has a good song that’s more subdued than the show that precedes it.
The voice acting is good across all 12 contestants and there's a dub as well that's not as good as the Japanese voice acting but it's nice to have the option.

[Enjoyment: 9/10]
Despite having exciting action, a majority of the show’s screen time is flashbacks and talking scenes. I liked a lot of the backstories, but as I said earlier not all of them are interesting. Your mileage may vary when it comes to enjoying Juuni Taisen, I really liked it but it may not be for everyone. If you can embrace the edginess regardless of the absurd plot then you’ll probably find it to be an enthralling watch.

[Final Score: 7.7/10]
When it comes to entertaining action, Juuni Taisen pulls it's weight with interesting characters and the lore behind them all. It doesn’t have the luxury of being able to slack off because its visuals aren’t anything to write home about. That's why it devotes so much time to its characters and offers up some intriguing hooks. In the end, it’s just a good time. If you go into it expecting the next Fate you’ll be disappointed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 19, 2017

Stark700

Mixed Feelings

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 19, 2017

dadnaya

Not Recommended

[Spoiler Warning]

Do you know what Juuni Taisen lacked? The music in comedy anime where someone does something stupid. Everything was so stupid here that it might've been better to just make it a comedy anime. And even with that my score would've been maybe 5 instead of 4


After watching all of the show, I want to say that this anime... Had potential. And a lot of it. But it went downhill really fast.

I'm going to talk about the pattern of the anime, which makes almost every episode the same, the poor "border story" and why the anime which is tagged only as "Action"- doesn't do ... anything interesting with action. Minor spoilers but I do not specify names.

So, when I first saw Juuni Taisen, I got hyped "Another Fate? Sounds cool!" and the story is pretty simple. 12 fighters, 1 wish, fight to death, last one standing (probably).

Where did it fall off? Basically at the end of the first episode, but you only realize it later.

Juuni Taisen repeats a pretty bad pattern for almost every episode.

Show flashbacks of character->Show character's amazing plan how to win->Character dies a random, quick death. (You sit there afterwards and ask yourself what the hell has happend)->Show next episode's title which contains an animal and spoils the next death in the next episode.

I have been watching it and hoping- Will the pattern break? And also, we are spoiled the order of the deaths, I do not want to spoil where, but once you see it and realize and doesn't break pattern and unlikely to.... You lose 80% of the enjoyment.

The border story? None. They fight for a wish, that's it. Oh and there's some guy who started all this and introduces them in the first episode to that Juuni Taisen, we don't know who that guy is (....yet?).

I wanna give props to the music (kinda), the OP and ED were top notch. The soundtrack.. Mostly forgettable.

But the art on the other hand... Went downhill real fast.

In conclusion, my score is 4/10. And if you're looking for a Fate alternative, you better watch Kiss X Sis because at least it's better than Juuni Taisen.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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