Jubei-chan 2 - Finished
May 17th, 2004Brief plot synopsis - the show takes place a year after the first season (Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch) ended, with Jiyu Nanohana no longer needing to don the Lovely Eyepatch to transform into the reincarnation of the famous ninja Yagyu Jubei, her guardian Koinosuke finally in heaven and her enemies defeated (no spoilers really). A new transfer student comes to school, named Freasha, who it soon turns out is the daughter of the original Yagyu Jubei who has been kept cryogenically frozen for 300 years in the wastelands of Siberia - and she wants the Lovely Eyepatch. Hence the subtitle “Counterattack of the Siberian Yagyu”.
I hadn’t originally seen the first season when I started watching season 2 , so I wasn’t really sure what to expect aside from what I’d seen in the trailer on the Escaflowne DVDs. After a couple of episodes I picked up the season 1 boxset el cheapo, watched it a couple of months ago, and now I’ve just finished season 2.
So where does all that waffling leave us? Well, both series share a lot of things - they are incredibly schizoid, shifting from manic fourth-wall-breaking comedy to deadly action and relationship drama almost without pause, and the action animation is stunning - but I think season 2 pulls them together a lot more cohesively. Season 1 has a fairly weak first half and an awesome second half, whereas season 2 is slightly more consistent. However, the father-angst that took up a lot of the second half of season 2 is pretty much a retread of the first season, which is the biggest criticism I could level at this new season - it’s pretty much the same as the first, except with much prettier looking animation. While it’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s a little disappointing - what is worse is the general superfluousness (superfluosity?) of important characters from the first season, like the Ryujoji family - obviously there’s no point in focusing on them, but the radical alteration of Shiro’s character isn’t really explained all that well.
Freasha, however, rocks. Although she has a voice that could cut glass she is brilliantly evil when she has to be. And the action sequences between her and Jubei are stunningly well done (also the ones with Mikage, who is another great character).
I’m assuming Bandai are sitting on the license announcement for this season. I’m not sure if I’ll pick it up, I was a little disappointed by the almost deus ex machina ending (much as with the first season) and the comedy generally didn’t amuse me, but I’ll wait to see what sort of extras they plan on providing with the discs.