Juuni Taisen Episode 10 Discussion

BurningSpirit said:
I was being discreet to avoid spoilers, if anyone hasn't figured out the death order yet. The winner is

I'm aware there'll likely be a character background reveal of the winner. But character background reveal is not quite the same as character development over the course of the story. My point is, I'm lamenting the fact that we still know nothing AT THIS POINT, which will make it difficult for the show to make me feel invested in the character at the end, especially with a short background reveal likely spanning 1 episode (given there's only 2 episodes left).

Shicchi said:
Well damn... if it's really intentional even in the source material, that's some bad/lazy writing if you ask me...
I was thinking about putting him in my extended fav character list... but if there's nothing else to the character then meh. What a big disappointment. He is such a crazy character that I was really looking forward to know his backstory.

staranise said:


I'm not sure if it's lazy writing, probably more like straight to the point without going through unnecessary detailed description of the scenarios, just straightforward narration. The novel basically focuses more on the characters' thoughts and less on the actual fighting. It's meant to be a light novel so the length is only about 60K words or less. And Rabbit was deliberately left without a background to give him an air of mystery. Not everything should be explained. Some stories leave readers to use their imagination to fill in the blanks and use their own interpretation. If that's a skill you don't have, you shouldn't be watching this in the first place. What baffles me is I don't even know why this was described as a battle royale in the first place. It should have been referred to as survival game instead. Or merely just a contest since the object is to collect all jewels.

Shicchi said:
WHAT...?! Are you kidding me?!
I mean, everyone is getting a backstory so why not him? Are you saying he is crazy so he doesn't need one? BS.
Listen here, you won't understand because you probably not a fan of Rabbit in the first place but, the way the anime presented, this show is about battle royale, survival game, you name it, and we watchers would root/guess one or more character to win. And apparently, since the very beginning, they deliberately set a pattern, each character will get a backstory and then death.
Do you think I only watch this show for the gore? No, I really do enjoyed each and every characters thoughts and story, it's part of the things I enjoyed the most. Naturally, Rabbit, as my fav character, is the one I was looking forward to the most. But I got nothing in the end. It's not that I can't do some imagination, but there's literally nothing else to the character other than crazy necromantist pervert. And that what hurt me the most.
Not everything should be explained, idk about the source material but the way the anime make it is like "Here new episode, new backstory of each of the characters! But whooops sorry but no backstory for Rabbit! Instead make him as creepy as possible! This mangled zombie is too fucked up do you really think he deserve a backstory?! Fools! He served his purpose already! To attract potential watcher by his over-the-top design and provide gore and creepiness and surprise deaths to other characters HA!"

It's not a mystery if you never plan to fucking unravel it in the first place. Just a cheap bait.

Also, is the source material has the same title as the anime? Because the word Taisen means Battle so there's that.

staranise said:


Juuni Taisen is literally translated as Zodiac War and yes, that's the title of the novel. It refers more to the war between the families and each family represent a Chinese zodiac. Hence, when they introduce themselves, they say 'Warrior of the [insert name of the zodiac family they represent]. The characters are merely pawns.

Rabbit doesn't have a background period. It's been a while since I read the whole thing so I can't remember if it was directly explained why he doesn't have one, just that his details are unknown, meaning unknown to whoever is narrating the story. The backstories of the other characters, FYI, were mostly expanded in the anime. Some characters only had their background told in a couple of paragraphs or so in the novel.

Though there may still be hope to see a glimpse of Rabbit's background, even if it's just a little.

staranise said:
And Rabbit was deliberately left without a background to give him an air of mystery. Not everything should be explained. Some stories leave readers to use their imagination to fill in the blanks and use their own interpretation. If that's a skill you don't have, you shouldn't be watching this in the first place.

MysteriousBanana said:

While it's true not everything needs to be explained (and certainly some things shouldn't be explained, the Reapers in Mass Effect and the origin of the balls in Gantz are great examples), it's pretty unfair to say something like "If that's a skill you don't have, you shouldn't be watching this in the first place". The reader/viewer's imagination has no bearing on whether or not the author successfully created a mysterious character; a good mysterious character shouldn't even need to have any blanks filled, they should be carried entirely by the weight of the threat they present, their words, their presence, and/or the effect they have on other characters.

Rabbit is none of those. He's simply presented as yet another warrior with an unexplained magical power like most of the others and just as tacky a sense of style; he's like the villain of a slasher/horror film, but instead of having normal people as his victims, he has villains from other slasher films, any air of mystery he might have had got drowned out by all the other characters and it doesn't help said characters don't treat him as anything special. If anything, Ox and Rat are better sold as mysterious characters, because the former is openly feared/respected and the latter keeps giving everyone a sense of deja vu.

Zensenjabz said:
Does anyone know the background music title on the scene where TORA wished her death in the hands of USHII?

An answer is appreciated. Thank you in advance.

staranise said:
Rat isn't a mystery. The reason why others have a sense of deja vu around him is because they have either fought against him or worked with him in any of the alternate realities/paths he created and experienced for the Juuni Taisen.