Juuni Taisen caught my attention after watching this AMV. My first thoughts were: holy crap, this is so cool! And so, I decided to write a review about Juuni Taisen even though I always complain about how hard it is for me to write anime and manga reviews.
Are you also a person who decides to watch some anime based on an AMV? Because I found so many awesome anime and favorite characters just by watching AMVs. Heck, it was even how I got motivated to watch Hunter x Hunter, my all-time favorite anime.
The one who caught my attention in the AMV was Boar (her Zodiac Sign). My first impression of her was that this is going to be the main character and a really OP fighter, along with an alluring (and maybe sadistic) personality.
A lot to uncover! Her looks are also amazing: she has everything that it takes to be my favorite character. She is an elegant and attractive young woman with long hair and red lipstick who has a crazy smile.
My first impression after episode one was that this anime is similar to anime like Killing Bites, Akame Ga Kill, Darwin’s Game, and also Btooom!
Juuni Taisen is about 12 mercenaries who represent Zodiac signs and attend a Zodiac Tournament. They fight to the death for one wish they are going to be granted if they win.
Spoilers below!
What I liked
First of all, I’m used to anime that are only 12 episodes short. It’s ideal if you don’t want to “waste” too much time on something, which comes in handy if it doesn’t turn out great in the end.
The art was pretty, but sometimes inconsistent. The action scenes were very well-animated and smooth.
The whole idea of a battle royale between unique Zodiacs is fun even though it’s not very unique. But who cares anyways. This is a great premise for someone who loves action paired with characters who have unique and powerful abilities. I’m a sucker for those, so I knew I would be into it.
I liked the recurrent flashbacks of each character, but they were not enough to explain the complexity of each character. As a result, I failed to understand the characters completely as they were not as fleshed out as I wished they would be. But maybe that’s expected if an anime is only 12 episodes long and it has 12 characters.
I also loved that there is no protagonist and each character got the same screen time.
What I hated
I am usually not as harsh as in this Juuni Taisen review, but this anime really disappointed me. It was all show and no go. I feel like I was betrayed or lied to because it looked promising at first, so my disappointment is even bigger.
The whole show went downhill really fast, just after they had gotten me hooked on the anime by introducing Boar as a first character and taking us back to her past. I hate when they introduce a captivating character, explain their backstory, and then proceed to kill them off in the same episode. Like… what?
I had some expectations based on the AMV I guess. I expected Boar to be the main character (my bad). This is the first and most prevalent problem with this show. The anime introduces some characters, along with their backstory through flashbacks and then they just make them die in a pathetic way. Just like that. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. This pattern gets very tiresome and repeatable, each episode you just wait for whose flashback we are about to see because that one is about to die.
Some of their deaths are truly lame, which makes it even more unbearable.
As I said, they always show us the past of each character. It’s interesting to see but it’s not enough to bond with them since they just die afterward. I assume this was never a point anyway because they just die at the end of every episode…? But then why even show us their backstories in the first place?
Juuni Taisen clearly opted for an action-based plot, a survival game with little to no meaning. It gives constant clues about who will die later, so you can’t even pretend that you don’t know what’s coming next because you do.
My honest rating of Juuni Taisen
I know this Juuni Taisen review is short and this rating is probably what you need to know when deciding whether it’s worth watching it. I would rate it 6/10. And that 6 is there only because I love Boar.
I liked the series, but the final episode was anticlimactic.
I can’t forgive them for killing off Boar so easily.
Dang, haven’t seen this anime and it’s above average or could have been below due to boar?.
I think it’s slightly above average.