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Jan 17, 2022
(This is a spoiler-free review)
Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood is something I went into hopeful and came out of upset. While it's presentation is excellent, Jouran's plot is convoluted and contrived. I would not recommend this anime to anyone. And it's a shame how much seemingly genuine effort went in service of a lacking story.
Story - 2
The story is easily Jouran's worst aspect. Like a lot of bad mystery stories, it starts off intriguing, and quickly devolves into confusing motives and bad pacing. A lot of storytelling decisions feel like they were made just to have a cliff hanger at the end of
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the episode. I got to the end and wasn't sure why all that rigmarole had to happen. Very disappointing.
Art - 8
The art is actually very nice! Jouran is animated very well all the way through (with some dips in quality here and there). Facial expressions are really nice, the fight scenes are good (although the fight choreography has some pacing problems), and scenes are well conveyed in both space and tone. There is an effort to use a strong style sometimes, and it looks quite nice, but it's not always used when it could have been useful.
The character design is also really good for most characters (although on a few it's awful). The clothing designs are especially good.
Sound - 7
Voice acting is really good (sometimes a bit quiet) considering the nonsense plot it's impressive how much emotion is conveyed. The music is also good! Using a mix of traditional Japanese music and more modern sounds. Engages the viewer within the period.
It's possible the music is used inconsistently (like it was composed for one purpose and re-used without consideration) but I wasn't really keeping track, so we'll say it was intentional ;p
Character - 4
The main character is exceptionally passive (although you won't notice it at first). She interacts with the plot a lot but does almost nothing. All important decisions happen divorced from her. It's frustrating. Other characters have stronger motivations. But some of them are just confusing. And characters consistently make stupid, baffling decisions. The most sensible character there is Asahi, who is 7.
There is a chance that some of this was on purpose, but personally it was just frustrating to watch.
Overall I gave Jouran a 4/10. And I'd recommend avoiding it (but maybe watching a few clips to check out the animation).
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 29, 2019
I have mixed opinions on this show. Especially since I've been a fan of the manga for a while. I'll try to make my points stand on their own but comparisons will be made.
I'll put my TL;DR here: Average and low budget, not bad but poorly produced. If you're interested in the story read the manga it's better.
Story: 7/10
Pacing is well done, I love how the different arcs are short and mixed together, flowing into each other through clear set ups. I also love the consistent tone through the story arcs themselves. Nothing is very subtle I should add (not necessarily bad just something to
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keep in mind), and some points are explained even more through exposition than they are in the manga (A bit baffling given that the extra dimension of movement). I don't think it's presented as nicely as it could be however, many of the arcs are quite simple and the show may actually have benefited from more, short episodes rather than
Art: 3-4/10
Awkward, poorly coloured, barely moves, environments feel weird, bland, too small or too large. I have issues with the art for this series. It's coloring is kinda ugly? Especially when the characters are outside. The manga does establish these colours so I do think the anime was in a bit of a bind since the manga is in black and white and can get away with it. But the constant pastel pink-bright green combo (Which I usually love) is a little eye-straining. The shading is also pretty lazy, being awkward gradients on anything you'll be looking at for longer than a few seconds and basically non-existent on everything else.
This is my biggest problem with the show. It's clearly very low budget and is not doing the manga justice in my opinion. While the manga is not the best drawn thing in the world it uses block shading which works far better with the art style.Also there are some crowd shots that are just that default head shape with a flat blue colouring on it. One of which almost covers the whole screen for a moment. I underpants the massive limitations of budget, but the quality does lack something.
It also doesn't move much, some of the magic animations are quite good, but they're sooooo rare. I like how they've been clever with Clara. Since she moves around so much they cheated and repeat a ton of looped animations which have little transitions, it looks fine and was a good solution to the problem given that the style is used in a couple anime more sparingly, it seems less jarring.
Sound: 2-3/10
Every piece of music in this show feels like it was taken from a free sound library. Not even from the same album. The opening is generic, doesn't relate to the show and honestly sounds bad. I skip it every-time.
The little music hook they use in the middle of episodes is quite nice and some of the songs they choose don't sound bad, they just don't relate to each other. This actually kinda makes them stand out and feel awkward. The genres are also a little wild and all over the place. The low budget here strikes again and it's a real shame.
Voice acting is decent but a little repetitive. Not the actors fault (more a fault of the repeating gags, something that is exaggerated in the anime to fill time and another reason why this show would work better in lots of 10 minute episodes rather than 20 min ones) but to be noted. I actually really love Iruma's actors voice performance here it's really fun, but I don't have enough experience and understanding of voice acting to really compare and rate it.
Charater: 7/10
I love these characters. Not all of them are winners, and the anime defiantly boils them down a little more than the manga, but they're interesting! Asmodeus and Clara could have a little more depth I suppose but they're mostly comic relief and Asmodeus' personality shines when it's plot convenient so I don't mind. Iruma is pretty likeable if a little weak and at this point in the show has started to show good potential. The facial expressions are doing a pretty good job of conveying character as well
Enjoyment: 7/10
Aside from me cringing at the colouring, I very much enjoy watching this series. I do skip some of the more awkward jokes sometimes I have to admit. But over all it's pretty solidly enjoyable. I've mentioned the voice performances here previously and they're quite good.
Overall: 5/10
Average by fault of art and sound quality. While I do enjoy this show and clearly it's low budget is causing issues for it's production I can't recommend it. If you're interested in the story I'd have to say read the manga? It's a lot better and obviously further along. I do like the story but it's no where near able to carry the lacking production. Good show but if you weren't already going to see it, I wouldn't recommend.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Oct 9, 2019
My library, while attempting to get the published volumes of the original manga, bought this. And although I had already watched the 2003 adaptation, I read this.
NOTE: The English translation I read had terrible print quality, please seek out a fan translation or the original print if you plan on reading this.
It's honestly not so bad. Some story lines are a little rushed through, but clearly it had some thought put into it. I wouldn't recommend it before the original manga, as perhaps the original tried to say what it had to say clearer. But I don't think this manga should get a bad
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rap.
Story - 6
Some plot-lines get rushed in order to focus more heavily on the altered main story. While I think this was a good idea for this manga it means some characters suffer. The altered main story is a little less dense than the original, probably to appeal to a modern younger audience. Not necessarily bad but it does kind of make the story loose some of its weight, the reasons behind characters actions are just less powerful.
Art - 8
Actually very good! The print quality isn't amazing but I was reading the official English translation, I can't say what the original Japanese print is like. The backgrounds are quite good for a re-adaptation and some panels are genuinely really great to just look at. It's been a while since I read it, and at the time I had read significantly less manga, but I still feel as though the art I can remember was well done. I would maybe seek out the artist's other work even, and it was a real shame the print quality made the lines kind of fuzzy and ink faded.
Character - 4-5
Unfortunately the characters are scuffed a bit by the book's attempts to slim down. Some supporting characters are much stronger, but most main characters suffer hits to their motivation and some characters changes of heart just hold less power. I wish each chapter just had a few more pages just so that each of them had the time to expand the character’s personalities.
Enjoyment - 7-8
Was pretty great. I had fun. If you've already read the original manga or watched the 1980s adaptation or 2003 adaptation (The one with the same plot as this manga and which I can't discern was made before, alongside, or after this manga) I would recommend. I think the anime of this adaptation does a better job, especially in the character department (it's better balanced/paced) but the manga shouldn't be ignored. Panel arrangement from what I remember is excellent. If it's in your local library and you've got time to kill check it out
Overall - 6-7
Better than average and I would recommend over a lot of manga that gets published just to get pages out. Engaging but not a slow long read. I recommend for its art and the supporting characters. It was based off Tezuka's masterpiece after all, it can't be all bad.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 10, 2019
Let me start off by saying that I have not played Ace Attorney. I know some things about it from friends that have played the game, but characterization, plot, story elements and the like are foreign to me.
Story - Strong 6 - Weak 7
Obviously there are only a few cases a season, and this show would have benefited from the long running format of TV anime. But it was decided to make this a seasonal show and so be it. It think the show does its best to speed through the elements it has and while they aren't always done well, I'd say they're entertaining.
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Although I can see why people who had played the game might be frustrated at the cut down abridged versions of their favorite characters.
The first episode is... It's bad. It's rushed, obviously to set the formula for the series and establish characters and set pieces before launching into it's first big case. If you already knew the Ace Attorney games, I'd say you could even skip the first episode entirely which isn't a good thing.
The rest of the cases are pretty decent though. While I don't think it's possible to figure it out the solution most of the time, I also don't think the show is working under the illusion that it wants you to? It would have made the show better, but i don't think it detracts too much.
Art - strong 6
Look. There's like maybe three locations in an episode and the background for the courtroom are used repeatedly. But the art looks fine. There isn't any problems with perspective and key frames are all good. There are even some nice dramatic rotating shots used far more appropriately than in other shows (it should be noted these are all done in the courtroom, where everything at least has a 3D model to reference off)
Nothing particularly of note.
sound - 4
It's not bad sound. The sound effects are just all ripped directly from the game. There's very little inspiration here.
character - 6
The characters here are not the characters from the games. They are far simpler and straight forward because the show doesn't have enough time to elaborate as much as it would like. They aren't exactly begging your investment. But they serve to get the story across.
Enjoyment - 9
I love it. It's fun, it's stupid. It has immense trouble trying to summarize the excuses for it's plot inconsistencies. I often have fun with not quite average anime. I do not think someone who loves the games will find the enjoyment that is probably tainting my review in their watch, because of the sacrifices made.
Overall - 6
So in summary
- Story is cut down from source material and this weakens the plot slightly
- Art is of average quality for this studio and did not impact the viewing experience negatively
- It should be noted the rotating shots are of good quality and appropriately used.
- Sound is fine, OPs are of decent quality. I didn't watch the EDs...
- Characters are a little flat, thiss does somewhat detract from the experience
- I enjoy this far too much
It could have been better, could have been worse. Just a little better then average due to it's animation and presentation.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 11, 2019
This is... Bad. Very bad. Poor story, execution and art and one of the worst manga I have read in a while. Oh did I mention explicit fan service of children.
Story - 1
The basic concept might have had weight if written by... Anyone else. An us vs them and child soldiers OK. But it's dished out by exposition, explaining things in very silly manners. It's just set dressing to get literal children naked.
Art - 1
Boring, flat, poor direction. This combined with it's amateur quality gives it it's low score. I thought about giving it a 2 for it's robots, which have at least some design
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qualities. But it doesn't deserve it.
Characters - 1
I can't really explain how much everybody's character JUST exists for exposition and getting naked.
Enjoyment - 1
I... was cringing and rushing through just to get this finished. Seriously why Is this rated better than Smash Bomber, at least that manga has some cool art!
It's not worth reading. Unless you like children's boobs. Then maybe it'll scratch your itch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Jan 26, 2019
Obviously this manga was created to sell toys. It does a poor job even at that. It's understandable that it was canceled. It's very short, so I'll do a pros and cons list instead of an element breakdown.
Pros
-I like the character designs, they're fun and quirky for the most part and lend themselves to a range of tones and angles.
-I like the art... in places. There are a few rare moments where an angle looks really good. Even if most of the time it's average and sparse.
Cons
-It is very hard to tell what's going on. I suspect if I knew how to use the
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toy I'd understand it better, but as it stands I still have no idea how the game they're playing works, this makes understanding the story comparable to playing a video game where the only description of anything is through useless flavour text.
-The actual characters have no personality beyond "I like this game". It makes it very boring to read, even as a kid I would have dumped this.
-Also the 'training' takes like an hour. This makes the defeating of the bad guy have very little weight. I was kinda led to the idea that it wasn't needed.
Overall this manga is mercifully short. Boring, inspired kids fodder designed only to get people to buy a toy. I don't want to sound malicious though, it is mostly harmless. But I would give it a miss if I were you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 26, 2019
This manga is one that sets up an interesting premise, story and tone. In order to throw it out the window when it thought it had your attention. To be honest I feel a little betrayed by the direction of this work, as I really enjoyed the opening few chapters.
Story - 4
The story is windy and twisty in that terrible kind of way where you get the feeling things change because the author woke up feeling like that one day. Entire ideas are thrown out at the drop of the hat. The first chapters are the best because not only do characters have a
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clear goal, but there are also clear consequences for failure. You feel invested. But then it just goes off in another direction with very little connection the previous chapters. I don't think this was intentional and the whole story suffers for it.
Art - 8
What saves this from being a 5 or even a 4 is it's art. While the panels can be uninspired and the direction can be a little cloudy at times. Overall it is detailed, on model, dramatic and intense. The heavy shading lends itself to scenes and the posing is top notch. I never felt like I was struggling to make out detail and your eyes moved in a very intentional way across images and pages. It's not as spectacular as say, Made in Abyss, but it is pretty great.
Character - 6
What can I say? None of the characters are bad per say, but they do get weaker as the manga goes on and has less time to spend on introduced characters as it tries to explain it's convoluted plot and who knew what at which time. Bichura is probably the most fleshed out and he's my favorite. Strangely, we find out much about our main - Kucabara - through the perspective of others (inspections and inner voices), and it makes him feel disconnected from the story.
Enjoyment - 4
As I said, I feel betrayed, the story the manga gets around to telling after 30 chapters does have a... conclusion? Would have been better without that final chapter wrapping everything up. I did enjoy the first couple chapters, and I enjoyed the art, but I just wish I could care about anything in the story - I didn't because nothing seemed to matter later on. Infuriating, dragged out and fickle.
Overall - 6
The Art elevates this series higher than average, and I do think Some good ideas are tossed around, the means to execute on them even. It just seemed like 'Defense Devil' isn't and never was the story the author wanted to tell.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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