Juni Taisen: Zodiac War

, Nisioisin

Oct 2017 · Sold by VIZ Media LLC

About this ebook

Rampage. Weep. Kill. Every 12 years, the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac take the form of warriors and engage in the ultimate battle royal. They face one another in battles to the death, using all the powers of their star signs, and the sole survivor is granted the ultimate prize—a wish. Any wish. -- VIZ Media

Ratings and reviews

The story was short but quite good. Based upon the folktale about the Chinese Zodiac animals and their great race, this story tell the tale of the race, but in a much more brutal and interesting fashion. Every twelve years a battle royale is held between twelve warriors chose from 12 different clans. Each warrior is named for an animal from the Chinese zodiac: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog, and Boar. They have twelve hours to win the battle and whoever wins gets single wish that is granted. Any wish they want. Western audiences have less knowledge of the Chinese zodiac than say the original Japanese audience for which this was written and so, it might take them more time to catch on the predictable pattern of the story unless they decide to do some research. However, even beyond that, there are mountains of clues that will give begin to point you in the right direction as to what twists there might be and how the entire story will end. I decided to start reading this once after I had decide to try out the anime version and became quite interested in the story. The story starts out with death and mayhem and carries that through to the end. There really isn't a huge amount of suspense to the tale, it doesn't take you long to figure out who's going to win the war. It's really more about the characters, the battles, and seeing what each person will do next. The anime does a better job at flushing out characters, but at the same time, The novel has some things that make it shine as well. My favorite characters had to be Rat, Ox, and Rabbit. Each character is distinctive and they make a colorful cast. While the story is predictable, I wouldn't let that scare you away. To me, it's as predictable as any fairy tale or fable that has been told, that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. If you are trying to decide if you should try the novel or the anime first, I would choose the anime and let the novel accent it after you are done.

Decent deathmatch, but the format made things somewhat predictable and hard to be invested in the characters.

Good fights, the chapter headings give stuff away but I liked it!

About the author

Born 1981. In 2002, NISIOISIN’s novel The Beheading Cycle won the 23rd Mephisto Prize and became his debut publication. Among his numerous novels are the Zaregoto series, the Monogatari series, the Densetsu series, and the Bōkyaku Tantei series. He also wrote the manga tie-in novel Death Note: Another Note. As a manga writer, he has appeared in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine with his series Medaka Box—also collected in a 22-volume set—and his Ōgiri series of one-shot manga stories have seen the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump, Jump Square, Weekly Young Jump, and Bessatsu Margaret.