Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
jadyjads
Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood is a subtle interpretation of healing from trauma - possibly PTSD or C-PTSD specifically - that I don't blame those privileged enough not to have that experience for not getting.
It also flew under the radar, which I think is best exemplified by the fact that I know quite a few people who would be obsessed with Tsukishiro if they knew he existed.
I was introduced to Jouran while playing an anime school-girl gacha game, as the opening theme, performed by has-no-business-being-part-of-a-gacha-multimedia-franchise awesome band RAISE A SUILEN, has its own map in BanG Dream!. I fell in love with all of it - the voice, the music, the visuals, the designs. Much of it spoke to what I thought was super cool when I was a teenager, which I still cherish, and t…
Read at the sourceDaddy_Alchy
Jouran was a great watch, but I feel it had some short comings. It's story varied from episode to episode, with some being phenomenal, and others feeling very diluted and almost cheap compared to the overall story at work.
The art for this show, the acting, the score, are all absolute pieces of art. I don't think they could've made them better if they tried. The story however, was above average in an overall sense, feeling interesting and unique, but moment to moment felt weak. at times it felt like the driving force was something akin to stereotype shonen 'The Power Of Friendship: TM' and at other points it felt very real and raw.
The main character was at times lovable and relatable and at others felt weak and whiny.
It almost feels as if half the anime was made by one set of peop…
Read at the sourceKyleRiley
It took me far longer to finish this anime than I had intended so I'm not entirely in the mood to write a lengthy review on it. I will however give a few reasons why I believe it is mediocre at best and downright awful at worst.
SPOILERS
1. Characters are not great. Besides Elena I found most characters boring or annoying. Sawa was generally okay but she was no where near good enough to carry this anime.
2. SO MANY FAKE OUT DEATHS. Holy shit. Fool me once, shame on me, fool me 5 times shame on you. Like wtf. Asahi alone had 2 fake out deaths, and the second onw was a huge slap in the face. I actually thought Asahi dying would be good for Sawa's story but nope, she's alive! Glad Elena survived her fake out death but Jesus.
3. Sawa's death was stupid. How she died to simply being stabbed…
Read at the sourceDykeViews
Update: The further I get out from this show the more I'm bothered by the treatment of Makoto. It just sucks. If you're reading my reviews for queer perspectives, skip this one. (And thanks, you're my target audience! <3) The art work really is beautiful though.
This show has some messed up treatment of a transmasc character, both in portrayal and missed opportunities. It takes the show from an 8.5 to a 6 for me. It has a strong female lead but falls into standard heteronormative tropes.
The animation is beautiful with some good fight scenes without it being a bloodbath. Good universe building, I would watch other shows from the universe. Solid episodic structure, almost visual story-telling. They tried to do a lot in just 12 episodes with more more successes than failures. Worth watchi…
Read at the sourceJet_Suzuyaki
Well, I don't think many people will read this (especially since the anime is not very well known) but that's ok.
Don, Joran Princess of snow and Blood started very badly for me, I found the visual style original but rather rigid, the story and the characters were very soft and the OST forgettable, so much so that I was going to give it a 5 after the first 4 episodes.
But you read correctly I gave it a 7, so why that?
The answer is simple, from episode 5 Joran takes off. The sluggish pace and the uninteresting plot makes sense as a prologue to what comes next and this sequel hooked me much more. Indeed this last one comes much more touched the emotions of the spectator and especially to put the characters in front of their responsibility, allowing really touching moments and especially…
Read at the sourceApple_Twinkle
(This is a spoiler-free review)
Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood is something I went into hopeful and came out of upset. While it's presentation is excellent, Jouran's plot is convoluted and contrived. I would not recommend this anime to anyone. And it's a shame how much seemingly genuine effort went in service of a lacking story.
Story - 2
The story is easily Jouran's worst aspect. Like a lot of bad mystery stories, it starts off intriguing, and quickly devolves into confusing motives and bad pacing. A lot of storytelling decisions feel like they were made just to have a cliff hanger at the end of the episode. I got to the end and wasn't sure why all that rigmarole had to happen. Very disappointing.
Art - 8
The art is actually very nice! Jouran is animated very well all the way th…
Read at the sourceMai_Neko-chan
In my opinion, this anime has very few fans than it should have. It is not like that cliche animes that are normaly an isekai and the protagonist it's geting stronger with every episode. It's very original, I have never seen anything like this and I would recommend to anyone.
It's true that maybe it has many plot twists, but you can follow the story very well. I don't know why people say that this is not a great anime when it's very emotional, and the art style it's also great, something that it's not the most important thing, but all of us like to watch series that are well made.
Read at the sourceFoxie20
The anime was meh story is not much, just your average stuff. I did not feel like there was a main villain in the whole anime that caught my attention and even there are some characters that stood out but just not enough.
Action wise and animation its not the best but decent enough. Art style is very nice to look at and take in the scenery at some points but i find that there are alot of cuts in the anime and transitions between clips didn't feel smooth it felt like my editing lol.
also there is the soundtracks which are fitting for the era and the story.
The best part about this anime is characters, they are well written and drawn and i feel they deserved a better story. The ending is decent enough but i would not want a second part.
Overall 4 but for the cool characters i would say 6…
Read at the sourceWyattWordWeaver
I was drawn to Jouran at offset by its adult female protagonist and its alt history setting, both factors that are far too rare in modern anime. I was also impressed by the end of the show which is emotionally powerful and wrapped up the character arcs rather nicely for a satisfying conclusion.
Unfortunately the middle is where stumbles. Much of its writing is cluttered and rushed. A lot of plot is crammed into too small a space, leaving world building feeling thin and at least one character being utterly nonsensical. The production values also leave a bit to be desired. While i enjoyed the attempt at a painterly aesthetic much of the show is dull, brown and unappealing. It's action scenes range highly in quality but are never enough to save the show.
Still Jouran commits. It builds its…
Read at the sourcePixelB
Ah...revenge stories. I personally love a good revenge show. They always make me want to root for the main character when they can finally achieve their revenge. Or, if it's a redemption sort of story, the transformation that the character goes through towards freedom, inner peace, and the future also makes me feel good inside.
Jouran truly goes through the motions and touches the surface of what constitutes of a redemptive revenge story, but fails completely in execution and storytelling. It's one thing to rush a story, and another to just obliterate any character development or personality in favor for rushing through mediocre predictable rabble.
Jouran attempts to do what Vinland Saga did in 24 episodes in nurturing a boy flooded with rage and desire for revenge in four episodes. In tho…
Read at the sourceBroTaro_1
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
A rollercoaster of expectations, Jouran was a wild ride. Seeing the visuals of the trailers enchanted my mind, which sought unique and good animation styles. But Jouran made me realise one thing for sure, animation alone cannot carry a weak story.
Story
We start off with an introduction to Sawa Karasumori, Yuki Yukimura, an assassin working for Nue, with an ulterior motive of avenging her clan and killing their murderer. The cast consisted of lady sasuke, Hanakaze, Tsuki and Jin, all colleagues of Yukimura. There was also Asahi, whose parents were killed by Yukimura on one of her missions. Seeing the orphaned girl, she took her in, with the deal that Asahi could kill Yukimura after she had completed her revenge.
For the first 4-5 episodes of the anime, it was a huge dis…
Read at the source02_RK
Underrated, that's what it is for this season. The anime based in Japan in the period of Tokugawa shogunate has lot to offer towards the audience with it's charming princess storytelling with additional mystery and thriller. Story might has no connection to original history but the plot fits well with the Imperial Japan. Applaud to the studio for putting effort into it and it was actually better in terms of visuals and audio. Character of Kuzuhara Jin and Yukimura Sawa has great depth and convincing back story.
Yukimura Sawa a has been convinced that, Janome the man behind human experiment is reason behind the death of her family. Sawa must take her revenge that lead her to become an orphan. She gets help from a man named Jin, who is a part of big organization behind Imperial Japan. All…
Read at the sourceAnimeEnjoyer420
Recommendation: Skip it unless you really want to look at the pretty art and animation. That's about all it has going for it.
Joran is the dictionary definition of style over substance. It has a very unique and flashy visual look, the action is very eye-catching and well-animated, and the plot is irredeemable garbage. For a while it looked like it was going for "so bad it's good" territory, but it ended up not even giving us that, it was just regular bad in a not fun way. Characters get killed off regularly for cheap drama and then brought back to life without explanation for even cheaper drama. Characters and their motivations rarely make sense and they act in highly contradictory ways just to be unpredictable. The melodrama is so over the top that it has zero impact. The ending is laugh…
Read at the sourceaitanabe
Jouran is a phenomenal revenge story. If you enjoy works like Lady Snowblood, Kill Bill, or the films of Park Chan-Wook, then you will adore this anime. It has a fantastically realized roaring '20s/biopunk setting; its characters are all engrossing, each with their own complicated motivations and desires; and the artwork and direction are *clearly* a cut above their peers. The story itself is equally engaging, with enough twists and revelations that it will keep you engrossed until the very end without feeling trite. The only place that this anime fails is in a somewhat unsatisfying ending, but that's purely a matter of taste. This show is 12 episodes well spent, and it deserves way more praise than it gets.
Read at the sourcedonhumberto
There are series that you like and you go “well, that was cool, what shall I watch next?” once you finish them. Others that you really like and make you go “That was Awesome, I’m gonna read some stuff about it on the internet”. And then, there are series that leave you speechless, unable to move from your seat and leave such a strong impression in you that you know right away that they’ll stay with you forever. Joran is one of those series.
Now, first things first: Why the hell am I giving such high praise and top score to a series series that seems to be so impopular and underwatched among anime fans? Well, you see, Joran is not a rom-com that repeats the same unfunny joke a million times, and it certainly doesn’t have the word isekai in its tittle so I guess it was never bound to be popu…
Read at the sourceEDOSHINRATENSEI
The most noticeable thing about the anime was the unique animation. The texture and contrast of the characters felt different. The action and transformation scenes felt like paintings with this animation style. I enjoyed the uniqueness of the style and how it different it made the atmosphere feel.
My major problem with the anime was the usage of premise and characters. Even though it took place in historical era, the premise took a fantastical direction with special fuels that could make special weapons and warriors. Because of this, the actions were pretty decent.
However, instead of doing more with the premise, the story became a small-scale and typical revenge quest that I have seen before. The scale of the story could potentially be good because there would be more time to focus on t…
Read at the sourceResident_Green
So, it’s not my intention to convince you that this is the underrated gem, ok? Because it isn’t. People did score it pretty well. Yet, I found it more enjoyable than the mean score would imply so I will share my perspective on it. While at it I should mention that love history, philosophy, and tragedy in my anime, so if you don't - stop, and move along. Spoilers present (but like not overly detailed).
Summary. It’s the 20th century and The Tokugawa shogunate is a thing of the past. Violent repression, censorship, and reserves of magical energy are all that keep this social structure from crumbling. Even the small disagreement with the regime spells instant death. As energy reserves dwindle and its control slips, the political stage is ready for a major change. In the midpoint of the soon…
Read at the sourceLuubie
"The Suffering Tale of a Sweet and Poisonous Young Girl" - Jouran can be defined simply by those words. As a new experimental work from 2021, Bakken Record Studio has the show as its second production and first broadcast weekly.
The show begins with a perspective that intersperses underworld, government corruption, and work lurking and in the dark. Nue is a very strong and influential group in Japan, especially when it comes to their most important function: to ensure the security and political integrity of the country at any cost. In the same act we meet Sawa, the main character of the show, taking care of Asahi, her "sister". In fact, the very coexistence of Asahi and Sawa is a matter to be considered as important for the construction of the show. It is interesting to realize that even…
Read at the source666
Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood is an anime original made by studio Bakken Record. Jouran is set in 1931, known for one of Japan's most infamous and fraught eras. We follow a cast of assassins who carry out tasks for a peculiar agency. However, there is more than meets the eye and it gives the impression that the cast is complex with their own motivation and goal that forced each individual on the path of assassination. Jouran is not afraid to shrink away from more mature themes such as rape, violence and kidnapping, so be mindful if you can't handle such themes.
But the main protagonist of Jouran is a seemingly emotionless and cold female called Yukimura. Yukimura is a mysterious girl, to say the least with many attributes of her identity not revealed until later episodes. She's f…
Read at the sourcekilolumi
this was one of the shows that i decided to watch this cour, and it was a wrong choice indeed. it had SO MUCH potential, but it was wasted just like that.
**spoilers ahead**
Story: 3/10. I couldn't understand what was going on after ep 7. i understand that there is a lot of death involved, but what ticked me off is that the characters came back to life. turns out they weren't really dead, and somehow were miraculously saved. imo it defeats the whole point of the mc's character development. the pacing was also really weird. the "main villain" was defeated early on, but in the next eps, the place where the conflict originates from wasn't really clear. yes we have backstory, but it doesn't really explain what was going on. i was really confused watching the eps, hoping the next ep would giv…
Read at the source
