Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 擾乱 THE PRINCESS OF SNOW AND BLOOD

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 12

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 7, 2021 to Jun 23, 2021

Premiered: Spring 2021

Broadcast: Wednesdays at 01:29 (JST)

Producers: Dentsu, Tatsunoko Production, Bushiroad, Nippon Television Network, Bushiroad Music, Sonilude, HJ Holdings, Bushiroad Move

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Bakken Record

Source: Original

Genres: Action, Fantasy

Theme: Historical

Duration: 22 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 6.10¹ (scored by 29,416 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #9210²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #2146

Members: 95,069

Favorites: 380

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6.10

Ranked #9210Popularity #2146Members 95,069

Spring 2021TVBakken Record

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Episodes: /12

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Synopsis

In 1931, the Tokugawa Shogunate remains in power, marking the 64th year of the Meiji era. Holding a monopoly over the newly discovered "Dragon Vein," the government is leading Japan toward an advanced Edo period. During this time, an elite force of executioners called "Nue" is tasked with defending the Shogunate from a rebel institution known as the "Kuchinawa."

As the owner of the Tsuyukasa Bookshop, Sawa Yukimura runs the store's day-to-day business inconspicuously. But behind the scenes, she seeks vengeance against the man who slaughtered her tribe and family. With a special ability to transform granted by her blue blood, Sawa joins Nue after being promised information regarding the target of her revenge: Janome, the leader of the Kuchinawa.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Episode Videos

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Characters & Voice Actors

Yukimura, Sawa

Main

Mimori, Suzuko
Japanese

Tsukishiro, Makoto

Supporting

Aoi, Shouta
Japanese

Hanakaze, Elena

Supporting

Raychell
Japanese

Kuzuhara, Jin

Supporting

Kobayashi, Chikahiro
Japanese

Nakamura, Asahi

Supporting

Itou, Ayasa
Japanese

Book Selling Boy

Supporting

Kuraoka, Mizuha
Japanese

Takemichi, Rinko

Supporting

Tanezaki, Atsumi
Japanese

Janome

Supporting

Sakuya, Shunsuke
Japanese

Shimozono, Kyouko

Supporting

Tomita, Maho
Japanese

Oikawa

Supporting

Kondo, Takashi
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Oomatsu, Yutaka

Producer

Kikuchi, Ruriko

Producer

Oyama, Hiroyasu

Producer

Nakao, Yuuko

Producer

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Opening Theme

"Exist" by RAISE A SUILEN (eps 2-11)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Exist" by RAISE A SUILEN (eps 1)
	2: "Embrace of light" by RAISE A SUILEN (eps 2-12)

Reviews

Jun 17, 2021

Luubie

Recommended

"The Suffering Tale of a Sweet and Poisonous Young Girl" - Jouran can be defined simply by those words. As a new experimental work from 2021, Bakken Record Studio has the show as its second production and first broadcast weekly.

The show begins with a perspective that intersperses underworld, government corruption, and work lurking and in the dark. Nue is a very strong and influential group in Japan, especially when it comes to their most important function: to ensure the security and political integrity of the country at any cost. In the same act we meet Sawa, the main character of the show, taking care of ... Asahi, her "sister". In fact, the very coexistence of Asahi and Sawa is a matter to be considered as important for the construction of the show. It is interesting to realize that even though they appear to be good friends, the two hide a bloody past. Imagine that you are a very young child who lost your parents in a conflict. Asahi would be one of the thousands of children who would have this fate. Just as in reality, life is cruel and the anime does not hide this at any time. Even though Asahi internally seeks revenge, his immaturity and lack of experience is the cause of his failures. And even after his death, the show shows with a very impactful visual discomfort. Nowadays, there are few shows that can really have this creative freedom in using elements like these at every point in the story.

Remember when I said that Jouran was a Tale? In fact, Jouran is a theater, composed of characters with exposed roles for the sake of the continuity of a drama that moves forward and reformulates itself over time. Our protagonist? A woman who, before the show even begins, has experienced immeasurable pain and loss, simply for her clan. In the anime, Sawa finds herself on a quest for revenge on her family, especially revenge on her brother. The drive that has driven Sawa since childhood is a prominent factor in the decent progression of the entire show. Even though Sawa fights and switches sides and opinions during her life, she always fights for justice and retribution of accounts. Tsukishiro is another important character within the show, in fact, a character to be better explained. He is the complete example of someone who has sold out to pursue a personal freedom. Even though we don't know his true intentions (for example, when he allies himself with Janome), Tsukishiro fulfills the role of a supporting villain as his role in revealing the mysteries and goals of the government are shown, based we treasures and by the blue blood of the Sawa Clan.

Asahi is also a key player in Sawa's evolution as a character. In fact, Asahi is the main point that changes Sawa's perspective on the world. Since she entered Nue and was trained by Jin, she has had to suppress her more human emotions in order to perform her missions with prowess and precision, as a sign of trust and to further her own revenge. However, when reality is shown over Sawa's eyes, everything becomes a cataclysm and changes drastically. Throughout the show, Sawa has never cared about personal or loving relationships. Even the character in the first episode who teased her in the bookstore and the teacher who taught at the school where Asahi played with other children, all had trouble really effecting a change in Sawa's attitude. The perception of events and the trauma of suffering more prevented Sawa from still judging herself as a human. Many times the anime put her in a situation of internal conflict, where she made up her mind a few times to want to commit suicide, but without effect, because Jin would not allow it. All this exposition of happenings shows that Jouran exerts a depth both in the Japanese period in which it is told, and in the narrative function in which the show creates its plot. When Asahi's supposed death occurs, Sawa actually recognizes that he is still someone who can love and suffer and take someone in.

And the word of the anime is: "betrayal". Jouran has taken up the proceedings with this word. Jin's past, Nue, the allies, the government... All the groups and people who represent the show have suffered or betrayed for their own benefit. The national corruption in Japan, in Jouran, allows for creating situations where the death of characters is the solution to end these pursuits. Hana and Asahi (again) and Tsukishiro are practical and obvious examples. The show has competently and objectively exercised the reasons why it set up the conclusion of the story, without leaving serious problems of plot composition. Of course, this whole applied situation can reach a peak of confusion, where everyone is against everyone else, which can really displease, but I believe Jouran knew how to fit positively into this. The episode director and storyboard creator are to be congratulated, they pushed the show forward.

On the production side, Jouran stands out very well. Even with general inconsistencies, the show uses beautiful artistic elements, such as texture and morbid perspective. The use of placements, mainly blue, red, and black, produce a contrast, while complementing the environment and the night time period, where most of the anime takes place. Not to mention the music, which was well interspersed, with the Opening and Ending being great. The red flowers, the artwork in a watercolor-like portrait, and the culture of verisimilitude managed to stand out clearly within each episode.

Finally, Jouran deserves more recognition. It is a different show from the others, of course, you may not like it. It is an anime that doesn't encompass many positive reviews, but this time I ask: give it a chance. I was a person who looked down on this show, today I want to forget everything negative I said in the past. Jouran is indeed a worthwhile show.

- In the end, everything is a cycle, it will always repeat itself.

I would like to see a sequel to Jouran, with Asahi as the protagonist. It would be nostalgic and fun, I think...

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Jun 16, 2021

Persona111

Mixed Feelings

Revenge, assassination, existence, repression and authoritharianism. All of those sound like ambitious topics for a 1920-ish ambientated anime with industrial fictional elements; sure, good things could come up from here. So then: what novelties does Jouran bring to the table while exploring those topics? Not many, or at least not enough to make itself remarkable over any other anime of its genre. Considering Jouran’s audience is already quite niche, I don’t think I would recommend anyone that is not completely passionate about all the revenge themes to go out of their way to watch it. If you are still interested though, let’s go on a ... deeper analysis of its pros and cons.
Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood, was one of the titles that first caught my eye in this season. The trailer was absolutely gorgeous, and it seemed to have a great setting. So then, watching the first chapter surely was a disappointment; the world-building was messy, the animation was good, but a step down from the trailer and the moments that were supposed to be impacting were actually just confusing. Then once again the story changed completely in episode 4, and again in episode 9, in a way that was sometimes positive, sometimes negative. If you ask yourself about Jouran’s low rating on MAL, I would say that it’s not quite fair with the quality of the anime, but sure is truthful to all its letdowns and mislead expectations.
But firstly, I’ll focus on Jouran’s biggest selling point, one that cannot be overstated: it’s artistic sense. Produced by a brand new studio, with a rather unspectacular staff and a director coming from the infamous studio GoHands, Jouran was likely doomed to be visually mediocre to say the least. Nonetheless, its trailers had already revealed that the staff knew exactly what they were doing, especially with the outstanding drawings of the transformations and battles, portrayed with thick lines of ink. Jouran, as I said previously, doesn’t have a top-notch staff nor incredible freelancer key animators (even though Hironori Tanaka animated the main scene of episode 4), but the production was conscious about its limitations and managed to produce a well-planned, quite consistent product. Even without insane fluidity, some strange filters on flashbacks and the character design getting quite big brain sometimes, Jouran is one of those animes that has a completely unique aesthetic. Impressing fights, gorgeous photography whit backgrounds that remind old japanese gravures are other parts of what I find to be a great planning overall.
Going over the other technical aspects before talking about the story, I might remark that the direction is competent with the use of illumination and symbolisms. VA is fine, I guess, but I really want to highlight a certain scene involving a baby in episode 11, that was really well done. Moreover, sound design is mediocre and OST is good (actually, the op and ed, both from Raise a Suilen, are absolute bangers).
And now, the main point here: Jouran’s plot. To further talk about it, I need to divide it into three parts, each one notably different from the others. I won’t spoil anything, but I might uncover the structure of the narrative.
The first part is about revenge. The setting about assassins that work for an oppressive government and keep opposition in check is quite generic; the characters start being bland and there are some anachronisms, so this start is quite uncomfortable. Nonetheless, the animation sure is dope, there are stylish scenes and the cliffhangers are placed in the exact moments to make you interested in the next episode. Sure, I guess I will continue then… it’s not every day that you find such a bloody anime with good production values and 3 female leads. I guess it’s a 5 out of… man, episode 4 was complete fire wtf! Let’s keep watching then, I said.
And then Jouran turned into something completely different. I didn’t know how to predict the plot anymore, the characters gained increasingly more depth and the anime started discussing a lot of existentialism about what is to live without a goal. Suddenly, Jouran was completely set apart from the similar other works I had seen until then, and a lot of potential emerged about what could come next… then I had hope Jouran could be among the best of the season, be a memorable tale about life… bleh (said the actual me)
And finally, the conclusion. It was not easy to conclude in a satisfying way after all those questions that were raised in episodes 5-8, but Jouran somehow managed to do many of the difficult parts and still feel like it could have been much better. The ending has some questionable decisions here and there, that I won’t spoil, but at the same time the execution fulfilled almost every expectation I had by episode 8; so then, why do I find it underwhelming? Exactly because I could predict it from episode 8. Jouran, as I said, is far from being a bad show, or having a shitty plot, but it falls in the abyss of being irredeemably forgettable.
With those great aesthetics and the potential unravelled by the 2nd part, Jouran could have been a remarkable story, but, far from being bad, it ended up being little more than generic.

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Jun 16, 2021

bulkyhog

Not Recommended

If I was a teacher, I'd give Jouran an A for effort. It's got a pretty unique and interesting premise/world and the right ingredients to make a good show. Unfortunately, just effort isn't enough in life, and things didn't come together the way they could've for Jouran.

Decent action, good animation, and a pretty good OST aren't enough to patch up the holes in Jouran, and I think the final episode does a great job of summarizing the series as a whole; the right ideas but just too messy. The show is "decent" at best in my eyes, but I'll have to settle for a 3 ...

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Poll: Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) KiriSlays - Jun 15, 2021	107 replies	by Catalano »» Dec 31, 2023 12:41 AM
Poll: Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood Episode 9 Discussion Stark700 - May 25, 2021	34 replies	by nameofuser_ »» Mar 13, 2023 8:57 PM
Poll: Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Apr 27, 2021	61 replies	by nameofuser_ »» Mar 13, 2023 5:54 PM
Poll: Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood Episode 10 Discussion Stark700 - Jun 1, 2021	38 replies	by lallo89 »» Jan 5, 2023 12:56 PM
Why is the rating so low? Spenter - Dec 7, 2022	3 replies	by KayKimii »» Dec 7, 2022 6:27 PM

Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood

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Characters & Voice Actors

Yukimura, Sawa

Tsukishiro, Makoto

Hanakaze, Elena

Kuzuhara, Jin

Nakamura, Asahi

Book Selling Boy

Takemichi, Rinko

Janome

Shimozono, Kyouko

Oikawa

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Ending Theme

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Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

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MALxJapan -More than just anime-