Anime Hajime Review: Jyu-Oh-Sei

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Jyu-Oh-Sei. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

Thor and his brother Rai (both voiced by Minami Takayama) live a happy life. Residents of the space colony Juno, they grew up on fantastical tales. One of them being of the glory of humanity’s home world, Earth.

For them, things like adversity and strife do not exist. Then one day, the unthinkable happens. They come home to discover their parents murdered. Without warning, they are then taken away and their peaceful life ends.

The twins find themselves stranded on a strange planet named Chimaera. Here, taking even one breath is a struggle for survival. Despite the conditions, humans have managed to endure.

Split into factions, the society of Chimaera respects only the strong. Anything else should go ahead and die. In this environment, the line between human and animal almost doesn’t exist. Yet Thor's driven to learn the truth.

Why was he dropped on this forsaken rock? Why were his parents killed? How have people managed to live in a place where death is daily? And it seems there’s only one way to find these answers. Thor must rise to become Chimaera’s legendary Beast King.

Series Positives

What did I watch?

Thor

If you were to ask me my thoughts on Jyu-Oh-Sei, I would say it didn’t make any sense. If you were to ask me again in a week, I wouldn’t know what you were talking about. This isn’t one of the weakest anime I’ve seen. But it is one of the more forgettable ones.

There was little I liked. I can’t say I hated everything. Too bad the things I didn’t hate couldn’t keep my interest. I wasn’t watching a show. I was trying my best not to fall asleep. In that sense, I wish this series infuriated me. For you see, every story produces a reaction. The worst among them being boredom.

Why was Jyu-Oh-Sei so disinteresting? It was a bad mix of complexity, weak characters, and a hollow story. But I want to say something positive. And the only thing that comes to mind is the fact the first half was better than the second. Although that’s not much of a compliment when the first half still wasn’t that great.

The first six episodes were confusing. Unlike the second half, though, I did want to know what was happening. The boringness hadn't hit yet and I can think of two reasons why that was

For starters, Thor wasn’t awful. He wasn’t that good of a lead, but he was fine as a character. Me even saying that begs the questions. How can you be one and not the other? A massive shift in tone, that's how. Then followed up with an out of nowhere “development”. I guess that would be the word.

To get right down to it, Thor, by the end, was a terrible character. If this wasn’t always, it became as such. The Thor we met in episode one was not the Thor we saw in episode eleven. That wasn’t the result of growth. That was the result of there being two Thor’s.

I’m not talking about clones. I’m not talking about imposters. I’m not talking about any sort of trickery. The series meant to present one and only one Thor. However, don’t hand me an orange and say it came from an apple seed. That, in essence, was what Jyu-Oh-Sei tried to do.

The Thor from the beginning was much more tolerable. He was rational, to an extent. He understood he came from a different world. Many of the ideals he held dear were foreign concepts to the people of Chimaera. This led to difficulties, granted. Yet he never held anyone in contempt. Thor recognized there was an established society. Though he wouldn’t give up what he believed to be right, like it or not he was part of that society. He could adapt and he did so well.

And if you’ve seen the show, you know why the word “adapt” is a poor choice for me to go with. The series did explain why this was so. Nevertheless, it was a redeeming feature to Thor. Something only highlighted when compared to his brother who was the exact opposite. Whiny and annoying.

The second reason the first half wasn’t too bad was thanks to Third (voiced by Shun Oguri). Here was a guy who had a plan. No matter what, nothing phased him. He carried the perfect amount of arrogance. While not the best character trait, Third made it work. He was only a massive jerk to those who were even more big-headed.

To make a long story short, Third was the most interesting character. By huge margin too. Or at least he would’ve stayed that way. Just as it was with Thor, there were two Third’s. Once this series took its already mentioned turn, nothing was redeemable. 

Anything that could’ve come from the first half of Jyu-Oh-Sei died at the start of episode seven. Then every issue plaguing this series went into overdrive. This show was at one point hard to follow. Albeit watchable. Then without reason, it became nonsensical.

Thor (Older)

Series Negatives

The first unmistakable sign this series was in trouble came with Rai’s death. As in it had everything to do with him dying. Rai was a pointless character. And he was but the opener in a long line of pointless things Jyu-Oh-Sei decided to do.

I cannot think of a single reason why Rai needed to exist. The entire time he was part of this show, he was insufferable. He would not stop complaining. He would not stop crying. And it wasn’t as if he lasted long either. He was dead by the end of the first episode.

Sorry for the spoiler, but Rai had zero bearing on this story. If he needed to serve as Thor’s reason to get off the planet, a strong enough motivation was already around. The murder of the twin’s parents was more than enough.

Why am I even harping on this if Rai was such an insignificant character? It’s because the show would not shut up about it. It would not let this go. Had it just done that, then the story wouldn’t have needed to explain itself in one of the most convoluted endings I’ve ever seen. And the ending wasn't convoluted only because it didn’t add up. Sure, that played a part. No, it was convoluted because it could be.

And right there is Jyu-Oh-Sei’s fundamental problem. Mistaking a complex story to mean a compelling one.

The Second Half

Up until the end of episode six, everyone was talking about the coming long night. On Chimaera, the sun would not rise again for 181 days. During this time, the already hostile planet would turn even more so. At long last, the night came.

Begin episode seven and the night was still going on. Except it wasn’t. Rather than a few days or even a few weeks passing between episodes, this series thought of a better idea. Why not skip ahead four years?

This was the out of nowhere development. This was why I said there were two Thor’s. They were split between young and old.

In the years we did not see, Thor (voiced by Koichi Domoto) had made a name for himself. He proved to be a kind and compassionate leader. He ensured his people could live a more comfortable life. He also developed an intimate knowledge of the planet and its laws.

Again, since we saw none of this, we might as well have been looking at a new character. Adding to it, this new Thor had none of the likable qualities the old one barely had. From this moment, this series took a nose dive.

Jyu-Oh-Sei started character arcs that led nowhere. It began a romantic plot line which was bull s@#$. Events connected through weak reasonings and forced scenarios. And we need to pause real quick since I must get this out. Nothing about this show infuriated me. Except this.

Each point I listed made up one character, Karim (voiced by Romi Park). Of everything, her existence was the dumbest. For some reason, she was the one who turned Thor into a jackass. She was also the key to the show’s climax. Without her, nothing could’ve moved forward.

Or at least according to Jyu-Oh-Sei that was true. It wasn’t. No matter how you look at it, Karim was three episodes of padding. Nothing more. We need to get back on track since there were plenty of other things this series did.

Characters died for shock value rather than necessity. Nothing was ever a twist. Nothing was ever a surprise. The already preachy narrative lost itself in its pretentiousness. The ending wasn’t even close to stratifying. In fact, I don’t believe there was an ending.

Let's talk about wasted characters too? It applies to everyone, but the biggest victim was Tiz (voiced by Nana Mizuki). This series did not know what to do with her. She was at times a goofy sidekick. Then she was a competent warrior. Then she was a possible love interest for Thor. Regardless of who she was meant to be, how the show concluded her story was unnecessary.

Then the cherry on top came in the form of the final big reveal. It was played up to be this gut wrenching moment. It was meant to be a massive bomb that should’ve been unthinkable. Even though two seconds of thought would make it obvious.

Besides the whole Karim thing, there wasn't much to react over. There may have been a ton of problems, but there was no time to focus on them. You’re going to spend most of your effort trying to make sense of the basic plot. If I don’t know what victory or defeat is, how am I expected to care?

The answer is, I don't.

Final Thoughts

Of all the garbage shows I’ve reviewed, they have one thing in common. I will always remember them being garbage. With Jyu-Oh-Sei, it doesn’t even have that.

This isn’t even a question of recommendation. There’s nothing to recommend. This show is a waste of time. The only use I can see of it is if you need something to fall asleep to.

No story. No good characters. No rhyme. No reason. There’s a lot missing. It doesn’t even have the courtesy of being a train wreck. So, there’s nothing to watch even out of curiosity.

Needless to say, this is a series you can skip.

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