Juubee-chan 2: Siberia Yagyuu no Gyakushuu

Often in the world of anime, the first season of a specific anime sets a high bar of what to expect which is why in most cases anime that have multiple seasons tend to struggle to capture the magic and the originality of the very first season. However, in the case of the Jubei-chan the second season completely outshines the first season by focusing on a character driven narrative and not falling into the trap of making the second season of this anime a shallow product by reusing a lot of the same ideas that were used in the very first season of Jubei-chan.

The ... differences between both seasons are incredibly staggering because the second season delves more deeply into the history of Yagyu Jubei and the history of the Yagyu clan and how it was split between two rival clans and also in this anime Jiyu Nanohana has a rival by the name of Freesia who believes she is the sole owner of the lovely eye-patch because she is a the daughter of Yagyu Jubei who was imprisoned in a glacier for 300 years after a battle that Yagyu Jubei had with Kita Retsusai who was the leader of the Northern Yagyu Clan.

At the very start of the series, Jiyu is excited to return to a normal life after the events of the first season but suddenly a mysterious figure by the name of Ayunosoke (who bears a resemblance to Koinosuke who gave Jiyu the lovely eye-patch from the very first season) appears to her with the lovely eye-patch in tow which completely scares Jiyu off because she has no desire to be Yagyu Jubei and she confidently felt that there was no reason for her to use the power of the lovely eye-patch again especially after the events of the very first season.

One of the most enlightening things about this anime is as much as the viewer would like to think they have an idea of where the story of this anime is going, it actually does an amazing job of breaking away from some of the very predictable tropes of what you would expect out of an anime such as this. The anime pretty much abandons the different enemy that attacks Jiyu each episode which was pretty prevalent in the first half of the first season of Jubei-chan and in the grand scheme of things there aren't many villains that Jiyu has to fight throughout the entirety of the second season besides Freesia, Kita Furo, a group effort of the Siberian Yagyu clan, and a secret final enemy that acts as a great twist in the story when you kind of figure that Freesia was always going to be the final battle throughout the entire story. It is always appreciated when an anime does an excellent job of throwing a curve ball on who the true villain is in both seasons of Jubei-chan - the best thought process is to never assume you know where the story is going because who never know who may pop up to become the final adversary of Jiyu by the time the story concludes.

The story is ultimately focused on Jiyu and her reluctance to accept the power of the lovely eye-patch. For the first 75% of the second season, Jiyu does everything in her power to avoid using the power of the lovely eye-patch and during the times that she does transform in the first 75% of the season - she only transforms because she is forced to do it or someone forces the eye-patch on her in order for her to fight the enemies that present themselves to her. She has no interest in becoming Yagyu Jubei and she is incredibly willing to let Freesia obtain the lovely eye-patch in order to become the rightful owner of Yagyu Jubei's power. It's not until late in the season where she realizes that there is no escape with regards to her responsibilities and ultimately her destiny as the rightful heir to Yagyu Jubei's power. She realizes this with help, guidance and encouragement from her dad and the character Mikage who takes a more prominent role in this season of Jubei-chan. I often feel the story is much more mature in the second season because the greatest conflict throughout the entire anime is Jiyu's mind and her desire to have a normal life while constantly dealing begrudgingly with the destined path that initially she does not want because of the lovely eye-patch. On top of that, Freesia constantly intrudes into Jiyu's life unbeknownst to Jiyu that she is the mysterious swords-woman that wants to own the lovely eye-patch and she does this covertly by trying to sabotage Jiyu's life by getting close to her father and telling lies about her in school. Despite all this Jiyu just wants to make a new friend out of Freesia despite not knowing that this girl secretly wants to ruin her life and obtain the lovely eye-patch for herself.

One thing and probably the first thing you'll notice in the second season of Jubei-chan is the obvious upgrade in animation. The animation is a lot more smoother and a lot more colourful than the first season of Jubei-chan. Fight scenes are much better animated, shown in more detail and they certainly last a lot longer than many of the fight scenes in the first season of Jubei-chan. However, much in the same way of the first season - The opening of the second season is pretty much the same as a the first season. You just see Jiyu simply riding her bike forward for about 30 seconds before it transitions into the start of each episode. You would figure for an anime that took 5 years to see a second season of, they would put a little more effort into their opening. The music is pretty much standard for what you would expect out of an anime such as this. There aren't really any musical tracks that are overly memorable but at least none of the music is unbearable to listen to either.

Thankfully this season managed to tone down the horrible comedy which unfortunately is just as bad as what it was in the first season of Jubei-chan. The comedy is pretty much relegated towards Bentaro and his gang with the inclusion of Shiro. Thankfully they have less of a presence in this season compared to the last season and they're pretty much the comic relief along with the Siberia Yagyu gang. The comedy is incredibly poor because I don't recall at any point where I laughed throughout the second season and there are countless times where there are some incredibly heartfelt moments or even an important exposition dump that are ruined when these characters show up that completely take you out of the scene. The comedy is absolutely not needed especially when this season is much more focused on character development than the first season of Jubei-chan. The relationship between Jiyu and her dad is not as strong as what it was in the very first season, but there are a few moments when you get to see that endearing father daughter relationship especially when Jiyu's dad breaks a promise to her with regards to his writing profession.

At the end of the day, Jubei-chan 2: The Counterattack of Siberia Yagyu proves that original ideas can be improved upon and it's nice to see the last aspect of this world and Jiyu's story end on a high note rather to end on a sour note. Once the second season ends you often feel like that this is the true conclusion of the overall story and as far as I'm concerned they did a wonderful job with it. I think if they kept the horrible comedy out of the series, I think it would of had a more positive and lasting reputation with the anime audience. However, it's an interesting premise and journey worth getting into if you can muscle through the less then stellar first season.

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

One word: Disappointed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wriiten by AlterGenesis-X
February 14, 2007