Juuni Taisen one of the series I enjoyed the most in 2017. Admittedly I love survival game/battle royale stories but even I have some I dislike. What made me like this one? Especially considering it doesnt seem to be a favorite for most people? Allow me to explain. First I see way too many people complaining that the story was predictable because in the ending theme the characters appear in the exact order that they die. But honestly if this is the reason why youre mad at this anime you totally missed its point. This was obvious from the beginning. Story 8/10 This is the original 12 Animals of the Chinese Zodiac story told as a battle royale. The story follows the order of the original myth: the last animal to arrive at Gods party or Heavenly Gate or Emperors party depending on which version youre familiar with is the first one to die the first one to arrive is the winner. You see characters representing each one of the 12 animals killing each other until theres only one left. Its a typical battle royale so if youre in the mood for some free violence with fun characters check this out. If youre thinking of picking this anime now and youre not familiar with the myth now you have the option of simply not watching the ending and everything will be a surprise to you. Obviously nobody would know this when the anime started airing but now its a possible option. Characters 8/10 All characters have their own personalities and all of them have a unique character design mostly with traits of their respective zodiac animals Usagi is my favorite designwise. Its almost impossible not to find one that youre gonna like. However since some of them do die very early they have little time to make themselves likeable or if youre someone who gets attached easily you might suffer. The character design is the first thing to call your attention and you will have at least a basic explanation of the characters personalities and backstories this way you can choose a favorite. Some of them were a lot of wasted potential so it could fit the order of the original myth and this is the only reason why I dont give them the highest score. The predictability of the show didnt bother me as much as the fact that a few characters have very stupid deaths that went against how badass/smart they seemed to be according to what was shown to us through flashbacks. Sound 7/10 To this day Im absolutely in love with the opening theme and I also love the ending theme a lot. The soundtrack itself was decent to be quite honest I dont remember much of it but I assume it suited the anime pretty well since it didnt leave me with any negative impression. I really only focus on OST is they are extremely good or extremely bad otherwise I just expect them to do their work of keeping the atmosphere of the show and this one did it well. Art Animation 8/10 The art is much better than the mangas and less cutesy than the novels it was well adaptated in the anime. Sorry Hikaru Nakamura I love you but your original style made the characters too cute for this show Chikashi Kadekarus style was better. The animation was good. Not exceptional but decent at least most of the time. Although I admit the quality dropped in a few later parts. The dark atmosphere suited the story well the use of CGI was well done. I dont really have complains here. Overall 8/10 In the end I loved this show. It was very entertaining for me. Everything about it was interesting the characters were attractive enough for me to want to learn more about them the battle itself made me curious to know how it would be developed how the deaths would happen and I was really curious to know everyones wishes especially the winners. This was a show that held my attention because it kept me interested in what was gonna happen next even if the ending was predictable the story was still good enough for me to want to now the means to the end. I think Juuni Taisen is a good anime for those who are into violent action shows I would definitely recommend it.