(L) Spring 2006 BONES series: Ju Oh Sei

[musouka]

Why does it seem that our discussions tend to end with you assuming what I "want"?

I don't "want" Juuousei to be shoujo, that's just the label it falls under, even if it is a marketing construct. You are saying that labels are not the final say in who a series might appeal to. That is absolutely true. You say that you don't fall under the demographic, but this show appeals to you. I understand, and I think that's great.

Labels on series are just a guide, that's all. But labels do exist, and the general audience doesn't get to decide which ones apply to a certain series. I've read series aimed at guys that give me a shoujo feel, but they are still shounen. I've read shoujo series that remind me of seinen titles, but they are still shoujo. I can accept that, and I just read what I like.

EDIT: BTW, perhaps if you just say this series has a strong appeal to guys, instead of trying to use the "seinen" label, I would have agreed with your point...

[wao]

Not bad first episode... I must admit it wasn't TERRIBLY exciting - perhaps it's the slightly pedestrian directing, but I think the most exciting part was the OP. It hints at how things can change so much from now that I'm really eager to see the next few episodes. Seems like grown-up Tooru will appear from ep 6 onwards, which is okay because they can't have him suddenly grow up and have his struggle as a youngster shortened to "Stuff happened! A few years later..."

I've never read the manga but that OP says a lot of stuff anyway.... I guess in a way it's bad because it's uber-spoilerific? Although admittedly some things are a little easy to guess without it anyway (like how Tooru will probably have some kind of relationship with the girl who saves him at the end of ep 1, and that's kind of expected - come on, she saved him!) And looking at Tooru's marked character I would be totally not surprised if his ultimate goal was to become the Juuousei and kill whatever else comes in his way (but be nice to the girl, of course.) I thought Rai wouldn't make it, but look at the dude in the captain's uniform in the OP... I'd guess that would be Rai? And because Rai was (probably) abandoned by Tooru he develops hatred for him and manages to get his way out and instead of helping Tooru he decides to torture him? I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case either.... Though I'd like to be surprised....

Oh well, it's just 11 episodes, I guess I can sit back and watch and go whee. I wouldn't say it's the best show of the season so far though, although it's something I"m typically much more inclined to watch than most of the other stuff this season. Maybe I'm just reading too much into it for my own good!

EDIT: And I think the OP isn't taht bad really - it's quite okay if you don't mind the somewhat boybandish style even though it's not the whole of Kinki Kids doing it... I've heard muuuuch worse...

[a-chan]

I have a question about the story ^^

I saw the first episode (excellent by the way and I saw in the opening and on this picture http://i2.tinypic.com/vhrbwg.png
that Tooru will grown up?! (like the other characters apparently ...)
So is it true that in the futures episode will see a grown up Tooru?? (I ask for those who red the manga...)

Thx

[wao]

I don't read the manga but I can tell you they all grow up later. On the main site there is a separate voice credit for Adult Tooru who will appear at ep 6. I mean, look at the picture on the main site http://www.jyu-oh-sei However you look at it that certainly can't be young Tooru. As you can see, the girl at the end of last ep will grow up too, as well as Other Dude. I mean Zagi.

[miaka]

Toru will grow up and his CV is Koichi Domoto, the one who sang the opening theme "Deep in your Heart". BTW, Koichi is a member of popular japanese idol duo- Kinki Kids.

[DaFool]

Normally I would be interested in the general plot, but already Ju Oh Sei shows its incompetence in producing a coherent sci-fi world-view.

Annoying item no. 1: Speedos. In Space. Someone kill me....

Annoying item no. 2: Tentacled greenery. Hypothesis remains that any show that features lots of tentacles tend not to be outstanding.

Annoying item no. 3: The OP.

Annoying item no. 4: Generic bad guys / cannon-fodder. Generally I'd gravitate towards stories that don't have to use incidental characters, relying on flushing out main characters instead.

Annoying item no. 5: annoyingly-sharp noses which makes them look ugly. (Well yes all anime has sharp noses but not all anime are Escaflowne / Heat Guy J either)

[EricMontreal22]

Anyone gonna fansub this? Hasn't been a decent shoujo fantasy/adventure tv series in a while

[gumbaloom]

Heh try reading back in the thread or try reading Andrew's wiki sometime xD

FYI L-E is attempting to sub it :|

-gumbaloom

[nixie]

Thank you for taking up this project. I can hardly wait since I love BONES.

[musouka]

Wow, I just started the manga, and I really have to say, to be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to the main girl show up. All these girl-heavy shows this season have kinda gotten me estrogen'd out, even though she's the only female lead.

But now, after reading the manga, I'm quite excited to see her show up in the anime!

Spoiler:

1) Great dynamic between her and Thor.
2) She uses "ore". Haha, I guess Shimizu really has left me with an incredible weakness towards female characters that use "ore"...
3) Her personality isn't at all what I expected from seeing the OP and the ED. In a good way.

Now I just need to actually get my hands on the second ep.

[MrProphet]

HOLY SH-

I think I've realized why people hate the opening song! It's pretty much a clone of every song that Backstreet Boys have been singing. I've just had this epiphany! But, honestly, even if you hate Backstreet Boys, the song's all right. Just regular americanized j-pop. When a girl sings something like that, everyone pretty much eats it up.

More episode 2 thoughts when I am a bit less drunk. 8)))

[MrProphet]

So, yeah, it was a pretty good episode. I wasn't really all there, so I honestly caught no more tha 60% of the stuff that went down, but what I did see was pretty good.

Spoiler:

Anyway, Thor wakes up in bed in some unknown place. He is visited by the girl who says that she is Tiz, a Second of the Sun Ring, but they are actually not in the Sun Ring, but rather in the Ochre Ring.

Going a bit forward, I think the male-female segregation is based on rings as well. So, Ochre Ring and the one where Zagi lives are the male rings, while Blanc and Sun are female rings. I think.

Anyhow, Tiz tells Thor that they are now in the Ochre city where Thor has been recuperating from a wound that he's had during the fall. No word on Rai's whereabouts. Que some of Thor's reminiscings about his and Rai' childhood. Seems like Rai was quite a wuss in his days, making Thor do everything for him, including going on a date instead of Rai, because Rai was afraid. Pathetic, if you ask me. I wonder what kind of a man Rai would make when he grows up.

Maybe separating from Thor will bring something good to Rai.

Tiz introduces Third (or maybe Saad, but I think he is Third, because she is Second... don't make me explain it, please! 8) ). Third is one of the leaders of the Ochre Ring. The leader of the men there is Top, a brutish-looking guy, who is seen fighting in a gladiatorial arena with some other dude. He beats the guy quite easily, proving once again that he is not to be messed with. Third introduces Thor to him and Top smacks Thor around for no good reason at all. Maybe it was to "teach the newbie his place", or something like that.

Thor decides to leave the city and go to the Donjon, the tower (which looks like a space elevator) where the Beast King lives. That is the only way off the Chimaera and Thor decides to head there. Tiz tries to stop him because it's dangerous and Thor is still wounded, but Thor wouldn't listen. He goes off on his own and gets in trouble with the nature once again, as the ground starts spewing forth tentacles of local vegetation. Third saves Tiz and Thor with his flying bike and brings them back to the Ochre city.

Sensing Thor's dedication and developing a liking for the guy, Tiz takes off her necklace that symbolizes that she is the Second of the Sun Ring and decides to help Thor. Or something like that. This last part is the least of the ones that I did get. 8)

A good episode. I had it's pluses and minuses but it mostly stayed in the positive territory. The improvement was that the second-rate characters didn't look generic at all (Top looked like he'll play a role later on), but this episode didn't have any of the lavish animation of the 1st ep. Basically, it was a normal anime episode, not really special, but not bad either. The story seems to be developing and the animation stayed consistent with the original character designs.

I like Third and Tiz. Third evokes a very soft-spoken version of Allen Shezar (while not being too bishounen-y), while Tiz is a cute tomboyish girl who looks like she has her wits fully with her. She seems to like Thor, but not because it's hot steaming RABURABU at first sight, but rather because she likes his dedication and character. She isn't a feminist man-hating amazon warrior either. Just a good girl who knows her way around and managed to survive in a harsh environment without becoming cruel or "hard-assed". Same thing can be said about the Third.

[wao]

Argh, haven't gotten the episode yet... have been awfully slow these days, I guess I'll have to start dropping series, schoolwork's starting to get on me. But this is only 11 eps, I won't drop it

But for the Third/Saad thing, if you looked at the character details on the site (which, btw, doesn't work properly for me except in Internet Explorer -_-;;; ), it's a bit obvious that the leaders go in the order Top, Second and Third. So he must be Third... and there are Thirds for every Ring, except perhaps he simply doesn't disclose his real name.

There is also a writeup on how marriage - or rather, the mechanisms of mating - work on that planet. If I read it correctly (I'm not going to bloody open up IE again), they have one particular month for doing these things... Women are kind of rare on the planet since it's a dumping ground for convicts and there aren't as many women convicts. IIRC they're seen as a valuable commodity... I think women have to point out the men they want to marry - it's liek with animals, they want to fuse two strong genes together and produce good, healthy offspring. Consider this blatant fact now: Tiz has been brought up in this system and will naturally follow it, while Thor finds it very weird.

It's from these structures that they fight their way to Juuou, I guess. I'm waiting to see how Thor battles it out and what decisions he's going to have to make. Yay.

[moofs]

Originally Posted by gumbaloom

Heh try reading back in the thread or try reading Andrew's wiki sometime xD

FYI L-E is attempting to sub it :|

-gumbaloom

Another group is doing it too. Good quality or not though, up to people to decide

Anyway, ep2 was interesting. I think Rai may finally be dead. (hip hip hooray! no its not a spoiler because this ep doesnt indicate anything) Though things are kinda progressing too fast but I guess that's inevitable since the manga is only 5 volumes long and each ep is half a volume.

Oh and I agree. OP animation and song sucks hard. But I like the ED song and animation. They really should not use so much engrish in their songs, it's annoying...

Originally Posted by MrProphet

Spoiler:

Anyway, Thor wakes up in bed in some unknown place. He is visited by the girl who says that she is Tiz, a Second of the Sun Ring, but they are actually not in the Sun Ring, but rather in the Ochre Ring.

Going a bit forward, I think the male-female segregation is based on rings as well. So, Ochre Ring and the one where Zagi lives are the male rings, while Blanc and Sun are female rings. I think.

Anyhow, Tiz tells Thor that they are now in the Ochre city where Thor has been recuperating from a wound that he's had during the fall. No word on Rai's whereabouts. Que some of Thor's reminiscings about his and Rai' childhood. Seems like Rai was quite a wuss in his days, making Thor do everything for him, including going on a date instead of Rai, because Rai was afraid. Pathetic, if you ask me. I wonder what kind of a man Rai would make when he grows up.

Maybe separating from Thor will bring something good to Rai.

Tiz introduces Third (or maybe Saad, but I think he is Third, because she is Second... don't make me explain it, please! 8) ). Third is one of the leaders of the Ochre Ring. The leader of the men there is Top, a brutish-looking guy, who is seen fighting in a gladiatorial arena with some other dude. He beats the guy quite easily, proving once again that he is not to be messed with. Third introduces Thor to him and Top smacks Thor around for no good reason at all. Maybe it was to "teach the newbie his place", or something like that.

Thor decides to leave the city and go to the Donjon, the tower (which looks like a space elevator) where the Beast King lives. That is the only way off the Chimaera and Thor decides to head there. Tiz tries to stop him because it's dangerous and Thor is still wounded, but Thor wouldn't listen. He goes off on his own and gets in trouble with the nature once again, as the ground starts spewing forth tentacles of local vegetation. Third saves Tiz and Thor with his flying bike and brings them back to the Ochre city.

Sensing Thor's dedication and developing a liking for the guy, Tiz takes off her necklace that symbolizes that she is the Second of the Sun Ring and decides to help Thor. Or something like that. This last part is the least of the ones that I did get. 8)

Spoiler:

Actually, Tiz is from the Sun Ring and she is Second in command, bu really she has the same authority as Sun Ring's Top because its mating season and she needs to find a hubby. As for the male-female segration, but you might be right (or I could just read the manga raws and find out but i dont want to spoil the anime for myself ). I'm guessing blanc and sun are female ones (just because it's a lighter color...) and night and ochre are male dominant. But I still have a hunch that other each ring has males as well. The females get a title Something Ring Female (something = whichever ring they are from.) Oh and Tiz chooses Tohl as her husband because she has the hots for him,

Tohl got slapped just because Top wanted to. After he smacks him he just says that Tohl gets to stay for a while because of Sun Ring Female (referring to Tiz) but he cannot guarantee his survival. The tower is called Dagger Pagoda

In the end when Rika comes to pick up Tiz, tiz decides to resign as Sun Ring Female by taking off her necklace (called Ring Tiara) and says that she'll stay with Tohl forever but no as her wife (tohl doesnt ahve to be a hubby no more) but as like a servant to him. something like that. Tohl becomes the boss of her in a way.. i guess.

[a-chan]

Originally Posted by moofs

I think Rai may finally be dead. (hip hip hooray! no its not a spoiler because this ep doesnt indicate anything)

I don't think so....If you watch carefully the opening, you can see Tohr with long hair fighting and so on...., and an other guy (Rai??) who looks like really like Tohr with short hair and a white suit...So to me, it's Rai but he looks as an ennemy and I wouldn't be surprised that he losts his memories....

[wao]

Aaaaaargh, why is it all the other raws finish so much faster than Juuousei? @_@ Sheesh, 8 kbps? You can do better than that.

But if Tiz said she'd give up her position at the end of ep 2 then things will be much more different than what I expect, which is really, really good! Yahoo!

And I think all the Rings have males and females, except some just have more males than females I suppose. It seems like the BLanc ring has the fewest people, and the Ochre ring has the most.

And as for Rai, I haven't read the manga but I'm dead sure he's not dead... What I predict is that:
-He somehow pulls himself out of the trap he got into.
-Realising he was abandoned by Thor he starts feeling resentment towards Thor.
-On the verge of dying he has to really put in a lot of effort to survive and hence becomes much tougher, but at the same time harbours a bitter anger towards Thor.
-He forms a strict determination to get himself out of the planet.
-Somehow or the other he does (while he's still young)
-???
-Profit! (just joking, he actually becomes captain of $ship, and being hateful of Thor and proud of the fact that he got out of the planet without having to fight like a beast, he makes plans to nuke the planet, making Thor's plans all in vain!!!11)

Uhuh.

[Yaoi_Pocky]

Originally Posted by MrProphet

HOLY SH-

I think I've realized why people hate the opening song! It's pretty much a clone of every song that Backstreet Boys have been singing. I've just had this epiphany! But, honestly, even if you hate Backstreet Boys, the song's all right. Just regular americanized j-pop. When a girl sings something like that, everyone pretty much eats it up.

More episode 2 thoughts when I am a bit less drunk. 8)))

[offtopic]
As previously mentioned by miaka, the OP is performed by Koichi Domoto, who's part of the group Kinki Kids. Kinki Kids is just one of the many boybands managed by Johnny's Associates - so there's another similarity to the Backstreet Boys.

Let me just say that Johnny Kitagawa's been around longer than his American counterpart, Lou Pearlman...
[/offtopic]

[MrProphet]

Rai is still alive because...

Spoiler:

they show him the next episode preview

I concur with wao regarding the manner in which the sibling rivalry starts, but I think Rai wouldn't survive on his own. I think that someone will save him and that someone will not be the good guy like Zagi or Third. Or something like that.

[wao]

That's also quite possible, for him to be saved by someone. But I think Zagi won't be a good guy, notice how Thor is fighting with him in the OP (I love that scene!).

I watched ep 2 (thank you to somebody!), and well, it's about the same quality as ep 1 I suppose. Actually Tiz annoyed me a bit with her constant going on about "YOU BE MY HUSBAND!!!" and well, she's pretty much a typical teen tomboy I suppose (given the circumstances), but it'll be interesting to see how she'll, uh, "work under Thor" I can't wait to when they all grow up, really... but at the same time I'm a little worried as to how Koichi Domoto is as a seiyuu. Minami Takayama is doing a FANTASTIC job, really - of course this is not a surprise considering how she's a veteran seiyuu, and of voices such as Conan [Edogawa] no less - I loved the part where Thor was thinking about Rai and he had a really pained voice. Really great.

EDIT: Pardon me asking, but where in the

Spoiler for ep 2:

ep preview for ep 3 did Rai appear? AFAIK the only "preview" they show is during the bit where they show the sponsors, which was included on this raw, but it all seemed very Thor-ish. There's no mention of him in the story preview for ep 3 as well...

And on a totally unrelated note which shouldn't be here but I'm doing it strategically: The blog of someone who watches this raw has been down for some time, I kind of miss it, hope it'll be up soon.

[MrProphet]

Originally Posted by wao

EDIT: Pardon me asking, but where in the

Spoiler for ep 2:

ep preview for ep 3 did Rai appear? AFAIK the only "preview" they show is during the bit where they show the sponsors, which was included on this raw, but it all seemed very Thor-ish. There's no mention of him in the story preview for ep 3 as well...

I deleted the file already, so I can't post a screenshot, but there was a VERY brief preview at the end where we see Rai running somewhere (or fighting someone). I think it was Rai, not Thor, because he had a very Rai-like expression that always reads "Waaa, save me! THOR! MOMMY!"

And on a totally unrelated note which shouldn't be here but I'm doing it strategically: The blog of someone who watches this raw has been down for some time, I kind of miss it, hope it'll be up soon.

Exactly! I hope his blog ressurects itself soon.