Juuni Taisen is disengaging, inconsistent, annoying, but oddly satisfying right at the last moments.
In terms of story, it sounds interesting at first with the battle arena idea and the whole culture of replacing country wars and conflict with a single tournament, but it isn't even consistent with that. The world building sucks, and seriously required more details because most viewers will be left confused rather than informed and interested. I will talk about the ending later.
Now about the whole concept. When you think of battle arenas, do you think of some cool battles, tension and suspense, not knowing who the victor will
...
be, potentially some really crazy twists that add a big shock to the battle? Well you won't find it here. When there is actual fighting in the show, I'm actually feeling hyped because it seems like the action is going to be really great! But all the fights and non fights were very anticlimactic and the precise word for this is..."stupid." I will say, the idea that each character had their own unique way of exploiting or finding loopholes in the Juuni Taisen was really great - I actually enjoyed seeing the fighters find ways around the rules and ideas of the competition and kind of dive into their minds with their planning and plotting - such a shame there is not enough of this kind of stuff. I will say this though - one of the characters in particular had a specific loophole that honestly didn't really work for me, it threw off the balance of the show and made them OP and boring.
No real comment in terms of art and sound, to me it was okay.
Character. The thing that stands out most in this show but for negative reasons. Firstly the designs are whack. What the hell are half of these people wearing? Some may make sense, for example, military gear or specific clothing for weaponry and equipment. But some have zero meaning and practicality! (I'm looking at Rabbit and Tiger here...) I get that it's supposed to represent the zodiac creature, but you could've done without....some of the things in this show...
So without spoiling too much, the first episode introduces a character and gives their story and then a twist happens. This was okay just for the first episode, the problem is they regurgitated this exact formula for every character and it was very boring and disengaging to watch. Not to mention, they went in full detail for like 3/4's of each episode for some of the backstories of the characters - I believe it was supposed to create an empathetic effect that would make the audience interested and captivated. Instead, like many have already said, made it predictable and in fact have the opposite intended effect and I actually didn't really care for the characters with these obsessively long and drawn out sappy back stories.
(More detail: I will say, some of the back stories were done okay or pretty well. For example, Dog's backstory was actually done well - it was done in a way where it was actually relevant to the Juuni taisen, like the transition into his backstory was done smoothly and his story was short and simple! Because of this, I actually enjoyed his character! Another example I guess would be Rat who also had a short backstory - literally two lines of dialogue, which was actually perfect for his character and made viewers understand him)
Continuing on from before, they skip some of actually interesting characters stories which was actually so annoying - why give 15 minutes of screen time to someone I don't care about when you could give at least a few minutes to someone quite exciting and who seriously needs context?
Please readers, if you ever make a show and want character contexts, under 5 minutes is enough please don't go on for 3/4's of the episode.
Now the ending of the show will either make viewers quite annoyed. Or make some, like me, oddly satisfied. I won't say exactly what it is, but it was the only thing (I suppose you could also apply this to the twins? But they have two episodes of backstory so no.) that was actually different in this show, something that made it not a typical and predictable, not some sob story or some sappy thing. Instead it was a realistic depiction of a real persons thoughts that put things into a unique perspective. And I agree with the character's choice in that episode. It made a lot of sense and it was real.
(TL;DR) So, as you can see the problems with this show lie with character and story and the only good episode was the last. However, if you are looking for a obscure guilty pleasure with weird characters and a bad story then you have found the right show right next to DMMD! If you just treat it like a comedy, the "fights" just get so much better. Nice move leaving out two of the more interesting character's context/backstories out! If I could wish for anything I wish I could unsee Rabbit's character design.
Overall, Juuni Taisen is disengaging, inconsistent, annoying, but oddly satisfying right at the last moments.
Dec 27, 2017
Juuni Taisen
(Anime)
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Juuni Taisen is disengaging, inconsistent, annoying, but oddly satisfying right at the last moments.
In terms of story, it sounds interesting at first with the battle arena idea and the whole culture of replacing country wars and conflict with a single tournament, but it isn't even consistent with that. The world building sucks, and seriously required more details because most viewers will be left confused rather than informed and interested. I will talk about the ending later. Now about the whole concept. When you think of battle arenas, do you think of some cool battles, tension and suspense, not knowing who the victor will ... 
Oct 5, 2016
Karneval (TV)
(Anime)
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Karneval, while excels in its stunning visuals and soundtrack, unfortunately lacks substance in the story. Regardless, it was a very enjoyable and interesting show.
The story was very interesting, and more parts of the plot would be revealed as the show went on, I don't want to spoil too much. The problem is that Karneval is short, only 13 episodes and the last episode doesn't tie the story together, instead only furthers causes viewers to ask more questions. Because of this, its difficult to comprehend what is going on, or the significance of a character. This really disappointed me and brought the show down, because more ... |
