Juuni Taisen Zodiac War Episode 11 Review: To Treat a Man to Beef From His Own Cow

Can I just say WOW?! I was so impressed with the latest episode of Juuni Taisen that everything judgmental I have said about it so far, I take it back. I can’t believe that NIsio did it again. Everything in the show makes sense now, I really didn’t expect this to be so good.

Japanese Original Episode Title: 人の牛蒡で法事する

Plot

Ox monologues at the beginning of the episode saying that he actually remembered Tiger from before. He is also thinking about how Rabbit is planning to kill him, what his next move will be, and which other warriors are left alive. Rabbit finds him soon after and to Ox’s surprise, he is in the form of a monster with his body parts badly placed together. They start fighting and Ox is knocked down by Monkey who jumps out of Rabbit’s body. Rat then comes into play with Sheep’s explosives and blows everyone up, making himself the winner of Juuni Taisen. We then get to see what Rat’s special power is and a small interview he is having with the ‘Everybody clap your hands’ guy.

Episode Highlights

Tiger & Ox: Thank you Nisio for making us feel even worse by making Ox actually remember who Tiger was and bringing more feels to the show. Thanks.

Ox and Rabbit fight: That was so well made. The sequence of everything made so much sense and the special effects were awesome. The censorship ruined it for me but oh well.

Hundred Paths of Nezumi: We finally get to know what his special power is and I have to say I didn’t expect it at all. He foresaw all the unfortunate probabilities that would come his way, that’s why he won. Out of math and luck.

Themes & Trivia

Schrödinger’s cat: It’s a thought experiment, sometimes described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The scenario presents a cat that may be simultaneously both alive and dead, a state known as a quantum superposition, as a result of being linked to a random subatomic event that may or may not occur. The thought experiment is also often featured in theoretical discussions of the interpretations of quantum mechanics.

Why there is no cat in the zodiac circle? In this episode, it was mentioned that the rat tricked that cat so she won’t be able to have a place in the zodiac circle. Basically, the story or the myth behind this was that the Jade Emperor (the Emperor in Heaven in Chinese folklore) ordered that animals would be designated as calendar signs and the twelve that arrived first would be selected. Rat promised to the cat that he would wake her up so she won’t be late but he was overly excited and forgot about it. Then he tricked ox into carrying him and he managed to become the first animal of the Chinese zodiac. That’s why the cat hates the rat so much and wants to kill it every time they meet.

Comments

So… power of intervention, ‘Hundred Paths of Nezumi’ was the reason behind everything. If you really sit down and think about it makes so much sense. Rat was always tired since the beginning of Juuni Taisen because he was running 100 reality scenarios to find the one he could survive in. The Juuni Taisen that he chose to ‘lock-in’ and the one that we watch had so many anticlimactic and weird deaths because it was one of the many scenarios that Rat chose in order to stay alive. That’s why most of the warriors’ special powers are not demonstrated and everything feels kind of ‘meh’. Also, the reason why everyone thought that he looked familiar is that they have seen him or interacted with him in one of the 100 alternate realities. It’s just déjà vu because probably his power left something in their subconscious. And last thing, he wouldn’t even have been able to win without Monkey’s advice for Sheep’s explosives, so basically he just won by luck not even because of his special power! Genius.

What kind of wish will he wish for?

This episode was brilliant! I am really curious to see if in the next one we will be able to see some the alternate scenarios from Rat’s power apart from the wish that he is going to wish for. It would be really interesting to see what kind of wishes the other warriors had as well! And please, PLEASE just give some information about Rabbit’s backstory. I don’t want him to be just the crazy one for no reason, come on, just please the fandom!

NEXT TIME: The One Wish that must be Granted and the Ninety-Nine that can be Done Without