By becoming the Jyu-Oh, Thor transcends the planet of Chimera in search of the bloody truth hidden beneath the bodies of his murdered parents; after years of waiting, he gets his answers, though it’s not the happy ending he had wished for, and with the thin veil of reality now utterly torn from his shattered grasp, he faces a hopeful future without heritage, without family.
I’m not sure what I expected from the finale of Jyu-Oh-Sei, but given the way this show has slowly fallen from grace, I suppose I was expecting to be under whelmed. That didn’t happen. Unlike other anime, Jyu-Oh-Sei is evidently unafraid of killing off its beloved cast of pretty men and sexy women; indeed, even I was shocked to see Third put a gun to his head and splatter suicide over a bunch of toothy plants.
The last episode was especially exciting and even shocking; as if Tiz romantically dying (for Zagi of all people!) wasn’t enough to throw me out of my comfort zone; I was just as shocked to see that Earth had been destroyed years previous by a giant asteroid. There are some nice concepts hidden within the bevy of bishounen fan-service, not least of all the idea of a planet defending itself against disaster.
As is the case with the rest of Jyu-Oh-Sei, the final curtain suffers from a pure and simple lack of characterization. Although I enjoyed this series, I couldn’t care less about Tiz or Third, and when they inevitably meet the grim reaper, my ambivalence was merely dulled by the fantastic animation; only now do I realize that honestly, I doubt I’ll watch Jyu-Oh-Sei again.
This was a series with such great potential, but its fractured time jumps and quick-fire melodramatic adventures appear to have robbed Jyu-Oh-Sei of any true compassion and impact. Rabid fan-girls should lap this up, but given the complexity of Chimera and the superlative animation from BONES, I can only mark down Jyu-Oh-Sei as superficial eye candy and ultimately, a missed opportunity.
Jyu-Oh-Sei – 10 to 11 – Die, Die My Darling
4 responses to “Jyu-Oh-Sei – 10 to 11 – Die, Die My Darling”
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I just saw the ending as well, and I have to say that I liked it. Especially Thor’s decision to remain on Chimera (after all, he was sixteen at the end of the anime, which means that he’ll only have about three more years to live), especially when you consider the other ones who survived the drama.
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I’m not a rabid fangirl, but I lapped this up… I’m not quite so sure why. Of course, it’s an audio-visual orgasm, but otherwise I’ve grown to really like this anime, despite all its faults. As for lacking characterization, dunno, I quite liked it as it is – of course it would’ve much better if it was at least 13 eps long (damn producers), but I guess I just filled in the holes from the manga.
My problem was only with the last episode. I understand that the writers did the best they could with squeezing the whole story into 11 eps, but that necessarily meant eliminating like, 90% of the background info that would’ve been extremely important. As I said in the LJ comm, the anime had the story but it managed to completely miss the <i>point</i>, and that’s just too sad. -
I’m not sure if he as 3 years to live. After all he was revealed as a superman and not just a regular Juno guy. So he may not suffer the reduced life span.
And I’m more concerned with why he gets a change of hair colour, face and skin. He survived so many years on Chimera without changing but after Third dies, he metamorphs. -
@psgels, kuromitsu
I quite enjoyed it in the end, just I can’t shake the feeling Jyu-Oh-Sei should have been better than it actually was. It had all the makings of a classic anime.
Series like Now and Then, Here and There managed to present compelling, amazing drama in 13 episodes, so the short length isn’t really an excuse. Put simply, it’s the writers and directors fault for Jyu-Oh-Sei appearing to be a jack-of-all-trades.
@tj han
"And I’m more concerned with why he gets a change of hair colour, face and skin. He survived so many years on Chimera without changing but after Third dies, he metamorphs."
Thor’s cells are tuned to adapt and aid in his survival. I suppose his cells change his skin and hair colour because it’s more suited to the climate of Chimera; why wait so long to do this? To become the Jyu-Oh I suppose you have to look different and exude charisma (a bit like Griffith from Berserk, actually). It could also be seen as being symbolic of Thor accepting life on Chimera.
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