I'd swear: take a look at the staff team, and only a minority have works to their name, albeit in varying degrees of success viable across the board. You have old-timer director Susumu Kudou, which aside from the terrifying work that is Dies Irae some years ago, has some impressive work under his belt, like the Mardock Scramble series...that is very dated to more than a decade ago. Sound director Yuuichi Imaizumi has also some notable works under his name (e.g. Jashin-chan Dropkick!, and one of my absolute favorite half-episode length shorts: Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san) that is worth the apt, to even the music director Michiru (Given, Isekai Bookworm and many more). Alas, the other majority that covers the show are no-names, as in the case of the story and plot tremendously holding back due to it sounding like a child's play, and my long-time complaint of creating new studios that are only temporary solutions to a never-ceasing problem.
With even a generic story, if the setting is unique enough, then it warrants some attention, and Jouran's settings are indeed just that: a Princess Princpal steampunk-like alternate Japan where both tradition (Shogunate) and modern (experimental) values meet, even down to the episode titles which are totally 100% like said show. However, unlike Princess Principal, the story while made original, it just feels like a ham-fisted sequence of events where said character(s) are tasked to do what they're told to do because it's a deadly world out there, and failure is not by choice or reasoning. Furthermore, given that the 3 monthly arcs (or books as they're categorized) are meant to showcase the timeline of events that happen in the show, it kinda defeats the purpose of trying to mimic the Princess Principal style of naming them as "Confidential File No. XXX", because they're meant to be unorthodoxies for the audience to watch back those episodes in a chronological order to get the feel for how everything started out with as opposed to the broadcast order. While Jouran managed to imitate that aspect with decency, it lost a lot of its unique appeal by conforming to the orthodox standard (the monthly Book arc pacing) with such a linear story that is easy to follow, yet at the behest of retaining watch values due to how sluggish the story and plot can be, which is much or less a heavily revenge-based show that has no redemption values whatsoever.
Sadly, the characters in this story that are meant to tell that exact story, kinda goes wishy-washy over its convolutional methods of "Must I do this to get back my revenge and my enemies' just desserts?". The central female MC Sawa "Yuki" Karasumori, hailing from your typical family clan but with a cavier's level of caveat: their "blue blood Changeling transformation" power is infectiously powerful, for the one that wields it is able to overthrow enemies, to even being a catalyst of control for a big city like ancient 20th Century Meiji Era alternate Japan standards. Her reason of joining a group of executioners called the Nue is just to seek revenge of her past memories of her clan's annihilation, though the ambition of this secretly-formed organization has been solely made to aid the Yoshinobu Tokugawa faction against insurgents who are aiming to overthrow the Shogunate. From taking care of an abandoned child (Asahi Nakamura) to getting along with the Nue members (Elena, Makoto and leader Jin), the journey of the Princess of Snow and Blood is a deadly one, where personal feelings and emotions will not be tolerated in the face of missions to seek out the embodiments of life so tragic and predictable. Throughout the course of the show, I can get why Asahi is there to help Sawa progress with her character development, but for the Nue organization, its members, the subpar villains (Janome and the Shogunate) and the rest, it just feels like characters designed and monitored to trigger death flag events as and when the story development needs to get going, and that will always be a make-or-break point if the story isn't strong enough to channel back and forth. It sure took some convincing to do, but at a forced level to be put in their shoes.
From the anime announcement to behind-the-scenes production and then full-on release, it only took less than 2 months to get this show done, which is insanely and redonculously fast for a show that mostly depends on the 2DCG computerized mish-mesh to dish out animation, especially on the aesthetic of what supposed to look like well-animated fight choreography, with all the flare and none of that hand-draw tradition work, which saves production costs but at the sacrficial cost of quality. I'd say that this is one of the most unique shows by animation levels alone, and how Bakken Record managed to channel that choreography like it went all-out with it is kinda nice, to not put a damper on delivering through animation (if all else falls apart). Just don't expect Ufotable's Demon Slayer levels of quality, even if there are similarities in its action-packed thematics.
Music is just so-so, but it's RAISE A SUILEN for the OST, so BanG Dream! fans have enough to rejoice over new songs from the band. Otherwise, it's non-existent for the most part.
I've often hear this heresay everywhere that "Why Aren't More Original Anime Made?", and it's a very good foundation and morale story behind people and studios who want to go on this extraordinary route, which is totally unlike the manga/LN adaptation landscape. Playing "safe" show concepts that uses existing tropes and clichés is almost a given, because at the end of the day, it's a business model that will evenutally have people sold on the idea. With that said, translating that to the audience is a totally different matter by itself, and like what I've said at the beginning, while heaps of money and resources has been spent on this mediocre show, there's no turning back even if the final product's good or not. Jouran falls in the latter space, and while it is not the worst anime of the season, it definitely comes off as either you love it or hate it. Good try to set expectations low, but please pan out a better story next time.
