English Dub Review: Juni Taisen “Even Pigs May Become Boars After Seven Generations”

Well, that’s a mighty creepy “Hello” you’ve got there.

Overview (Spoilers)

Toshiko Ino is a mercenary, raised in a mercenary family. Initially, she’s reluctant to kill. Because of that, she is overlooked by her father to enter a prestigious tournament. Her sister is chosen to represent the family instead. Toshiko then manipulates her sister into becoming a mass murdering psychopath, who ultimately takes her own life. Because of that, Toshiko’s father finally sees her worth, and sends her to the Juni Taisen tournament. Translated to “War of Twelve”, the rules are quite simple. Every twelve years, twelve warriors meet to do battle, hoping to retrieve the crystal from each other’s stomachs. Failure to do so in twelve hours will result in death from the poison in the crystal. Success means that you survive, and are granted a wish of your choosing. Upon arriving, Toshiko takes stock of the competitors, including the psychotic looking “Rabbit”. You see, each of these warriors represent a member of the eastern zodiac. Toshiko represents the Boar, if those tusk earrings didn’t give it away. There is also the Rat, Monkey, Ox, Tiger, Snake, Horse, Ram, Dog, and Chicken. Monkey offers a proposal: If they all submit to her, she would use her wish to bring them all back from the dead. Initially, many of the contestants are okay with this. As soon as Rabbit, whose blades are still slick with the blood of Dragon’s brother Snake, joins in on the concept, everyone else backs down. Monkey only has Rat on her team. Suddenly, an explosion rips the floor apart, separating the contestants. In the dust cloud that follows, Toshiko engages with the Rabbit. Her special power of “No-Reload” gives her unlimited ammunition for her twin machine guns. Rabbit is agile and quick, making it hard to track him. She tries a gambit, pretending to be out of ammo to force him in close. That’s when a pair of arms grapple her. Snake’s body, moving about without a head, is pinning her while Rabbit runs her through. Rabbit, you see, is a necromantist. He can control the bodies of the people he kills. He calls them friends. And the Boar is his new best friend.

Our Take

Well, this show got off to a riotous start. The entire thing is dripping with action, and it is goooooooood. First off, there are no looped animations here. Everything is raw, acrobatic action. In her flashback scenes, Toshiko is jumping, dashing and flipping all over the place, fighting unarmed and killing with whatever she can. The animators use some great techniques to make the fighting feel faster. Moving body parts blur at just the right times, the entire screen shakes in response to an impact, stuff like that. It really feels like you’re in the middle of a fight, and it’s made even better because they don’t take the normal anime shortcuts. There are plenty of times where Rabbit could have dissipated, then reappeared while moving him slightly in the frame. This would have given him the illusion of movement. Instead, they opted to actually animate him bouncing around. I respect that, and the show is better for that level of work.

Of course, the action isn’t the only thing in this show. There is a story, and they reveal it in bits as she walks to the meeting room for the tournament. I thought it would come off too much like a bathtub monologue, but it didn’t. By breaking it up with scenes from the present, it keeps the interest alive in both portions. Since her past was also full of action, I never got bored. It kept my attention all the way through, and I started the episode barely awake! I liked Boar’s story, though I felt like her change in fighting style wasn’t fully explained. Sure, she kinda went psycho, but changing from an acrobatic, unarmed style to a human turret? It’s day and night!

The cast of voice actors is loaded with familiar voices, and they were working hard. Boar is played by Stephanie Young, who I remember as Olivier Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The younger version of the character and the older version sound different, with the older one becoming more sultry. Rabbit is played by Jerry Jewell, who is currently playing as Victo in Chrono Ruler. What I loved about his performance is that there is always a manic chuckle that doesn’t quite come out as he talks. This gives Rabbit an even more psychotic edge. We are also going to see Caitlin Glass, Monica Rial, and Ian Sinclair in this series. The writing uses an interesting method, having characters talk over each other. Most of the time, this just makes it so we aren’t wasting air time repeating stuff, but it gives the show’s dialogue a bit more realism.

This show got my attention, and now it has my interest. From its amazing animation to its action and writing. Even its voice acting was super spot on. If the rest of this show is like this, I am in for a treat.PS. My prediction, Rat is gonna win. It was stated that Toshiko’s father won the last tournament, and the Rat should be the next one in the lineup.