Jubei-Chan The Ninja Girl - Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch

6 reviews - 24.0 total score (Explanation of the rating system)
avg. score: (4.0)

6. Yogi

This is an interesting series. You have the reluctant magical girl, the comic sidekicks, the villains of the week, and the kick-ass sword fights. If you haven’t noticed, one of those doesn’t belong. Yes, this is a Magical Girl anime. However, the girl in question turns into a bad ass swords woman who then proceeds to pound the enemy into paste. It’s filled with interesting characters, comic villains, side splitting jokes, and general parodies of the magical girl genre in general. Also, it has kick ass sword fights. In other words, a little something for everyone.

5. Iodine

Jubei-Chan is a well-meaning attempt at fusing the samurai-action genre with the sillier, more random comedy of the creator's earlier work, Kodomo no Omocha. Sadly, the resulting creation falls flat on its face. In posession of a bipolar atmosphere that swings wildly between serious and silly, and characters that never really seem to click, the show has all the right elements in all the wrong portions. Instead of a straight comedy or straight drama, Jubei tries to do both and winds up not succeeding at either. The story is simple: schoolgirl Jiyu is given a legendary ninja's magical heart-shaped eyepatch that imbues her with incredible fighting powers. Villains want the eyepatch, and the usual mad hijinks and angst-ridden combat ensue. Though the long-suffering lackey, Koinosuke, is a priceless creation, the rest of the players are lackluster, particularly our uninterested heroine. The story makes a strong effort to be engaging, and every character has his own fairly amusing shtick, but none of it ever manages to come together properly.

Nice production values, particularly some stirring music, help to keep the series watchable. The characters are designed for comedy, and the animation follows suit for the most part. Thus, the fight sequences never really get their due, and the few moments of completely serious combat feel out of place with the lighter atmosphere. The story problems pretty much nix any decent character development, and the dialogue is best forgotten. Still, one must give credit to the creators for trying, as there are a few good moments here and there that manage to survive intact.

4. The Boss

Jubei Yagyu who was a legendary samurai dies of old age but before he died, he asked his disciple to find him his successor. 300 years later we meet Jiyu Nanohana, a normal eighth-grade girl in modern Japan who suddenly finds herself chosen to be successor to Jubei Yagyu and gets handed over the Lovely Eye-Patch. This enables her to freely transform into the new incarnation of Jubei Yagyu. Jiyu Nanohana however has other ideas and doesn't want the Lovely Eye-Patch. Jubei-Chan The Ninja Girl is packed up with funny visual humour that reminds me of Animation Runner Kuromi-Chan. Together with a nice soundtrack you got yourself a pleasant time watching this.

3. moskun

Jubei-chan: The Ninja Girl: Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch *whew* is pretty much unlike anything made before. The show starts out with Yagyu Jubei, a real-life(TM) swordsman from Japan's history, telling his disciple Koinosuke to find a girl with "bouncy bon-bons." The insanity is only just beginning. Fast forward 300 years, and Koinosuke (who's still alive, but can get crusty pretty easily) finally finds Jiyu, an 8th grader with very nice bon bons. She puts on the Lovely Eyepatch and voila, Yagyu Jubei II. Jubei-chan is filled with very far out visual humor. Some of the expressions on Koinosuke's face are worth rewinding (or the DVD equivalent) to see over and over. Jubei-chan also has some of the best characters I've ever seen in an anime, from the steadfast Shiro (who's the captain of the kendo club and has won the regional championships for three years running, not that he's one to brag or anything) to the captain of the Ruffians, who's shirt changes to match his thoughts. Add a great soundtrack and some nice action sequences and you've got one of the best anime shows in years!

2. weasl

I really had no idea what I was getting into when I picked up this series. Jubei-chan combines drama, zany comedy and samurai action into a nice little package that switches gears so fast that's its hard to judge what will come next. A great cast of a characters, quality animation from Madhouse, and some truly inspired storytelling make Jubei-chan: The Ninja Girl one of the most unique and enjoyable anime series that I've had the pleasure of seeing recently.

1. Tempy

Jubei-Chan is a fun series with some action sequences and sentiment, but most of the time it's just plain funny. The best thing about it is its charming cast of characters, most notably Jubei who just wants to be an ordinary girl, but is forced to transform into a kickass female ninja warrior.