Jubei Chan 2 - Resurrection (Vol 1 of 4) Anime DVD Review

Anime DVD Review: Jubei Chan 2 - Resurrection (Vol 1 of 4)

Reviewed by: Krista

Stumble It!

Title: Jubei Chan 2 - Resurrection (Vol 1 of 4)
Publisher: Geneon Entertainment
Running Time: 100 min
MSRP: $29.98
Ratio: 1.78:1
Region: 1
Release Date: 06/28/2005

Overall Rating:

Content:

My Rating:

Jubei-Chan 2 picks up where the first series left off. Jiyu has decided she wants nothing to do with Yagyu Jubei or the Lovely Eye Patch and goes about her days as a normal third year junior high student. Or as normal as any girl can be with a fan club of weird boys trying to win her affections. Yes, the Lovelies Fan Club is still around, and Shiro is still waiting for the perfect moment to declare his love. Jiyu is also trying to convince her ghostwriting father that he should venture out of anonymity and write a love story as his first novel, something he fears very much.

Episode 1: It Melted Somewhere On Earth sets up the story for the sequel. 300 years ago, Yagyu Jubei fought his clansmen and in the process, both were swallowed by the icy conditions, along with Jubei's daughter, Freesia. Now, thanks to the effects of global warming which have melted her icy prison, Freesia has returned to Jiyu's school to reclaim her status as heir to her father's legendary techniques. Specifically, she wants the Lovely Eye Patch for herself.

She's not the only one after Jiyu - it seems word has gotten out to the Siberian clansmen that Yagyu Jubei has been revived after 300 years, and they are dead set on revenge. Kita Furo is the first samurai of the bunch to relentlessly pursue Jubei-chan, regardless of how much Jiyu insists she is not Yagyu Jubei the second.

In episode 2: Fate Has Arrived By Coincidence, we see just how much damage Freesia can do with her spade eye patch as the girls go toe to toe in a nice animation fight sequence. To prove she's the real heir to her father, Freesia goes to the Siberian hideout and kicks ass. Meanwhile, Jiyu tries to figure out why a snot-nosed kid is following her with the Lovely Eye Patch she so desperately wants nothing to do with.

In episode 3: An Unneeded Item Had Been Thrown Away, school girl Freesia moves into Jiyu's house. Meanwhile, Kito Furo returns and we see Jiyu defend herself effortlessly without wearing the eye patch, proving to him that she is the real Jubei. Another battle ensues, and like before, a transformed Freesia steps in to demand the Lovely Eye Patch, which Jubei-chan is more than happy to discard. Yet, before she can toss the wretched thing to Freesia, the snot-nosed kid grabs it in mid-air and takes off.

Finally, in episode 4: Father That Never Returned, Jiyu comes down with a fever after her transformation sequence, and her old enemy, Mikage, returns to care for her. In this episode, we find out more about the snot-nosed kid and Jiyu must make a decision - to reclaim the Lovely Eye Patch or walk away from it all as she did once before.

The series is an action packed comedy filled with all the silliness that made the first Jubei-chan a hit. The monkey-boys and Shiro are still zany. Add to them, a mysterious, snot-nosed kid who will stop at nothing to return the Lovely Eye Patch to its rightful owner. And finally, dad is as obsessive-compulsive as ever. If you liked the first series, you'll like this!

Audio/Visual:

My Rating:

I watched most of this series in Japanese, as I preferred the higher pitched Japanese voice of Jiyu to the English one, but both are well done. The dialog is clean and the music works well to complement the comic manga-ness of the anime or the wonderful, action packed fight scenes. The opening theme is a pop instrumental number with a catchy beat. Orchestral numbers are intermixed with some even sounding a lot like Pachelbel's Canon.

This anime contains mildly vivid colors that become softer as we follow the regular school girls and darker during as Jubei transforms. Characters and backgrounds are solid, and the action scenes are smooth.

Packaging:

My Rating:

The front cover is a no-nonsense portrait of Jubei-Chan clad with her Lovely Eye Patch ready to pierce her enemy with her sword. She stands to the left against a red background with a big J2 logo in silver at the bottom. The back contains a number of screen shots along with technical information set over a lighter image of Jiyu and Russian newcomer, Freesia, and silhouettes of the two girls transformed - one with the pink heart eye patch and the other with a blue spade eye patch. The insert also contains a number of screen shots along with a bigger, fold out version of the two Jubeis in combat, offset against their school girl selves.

The menu contains a bunch of scrolling video clips with a pink or blue tint set against a black background. Underneath are easy to use, clearly visible dvd options.

Extras:

My Rating:

The DVD includes some interesting extras with the US trailer, some alternative endings trailers, some ending eye-catchers, info about the Jubei-chan action figures, previews, and dvd credits.