Nostalgic Anime Retrospective No. 25] "Composition of Confrontation" of "Jubei-Chan -The Secret of Lovely Eyeballs-" Scooping Up the Depths of the Story

Kabaneri of the Iron Castle" will be screened in theaters from December 31 this month. The director of "Kabaneri," Tetsuro Araki, started his career in the animation industry as a production engineer, and his first work was the TV animation "Jubei-chan -The Secret of Lovely Eyeballs-" (1999). The general director was Akitaro Daichi and the director was Hiroaki Sakurai.

It must be a transforming bishojo anime with a comedic touch. ......

Nanohana Jiyu, a junior high school student, meets a samurai named Odagou Koinosuke in a country town she has just moved to. Koinosuke is the last apprentice of Jubei Yagyu, and in accordance with his master's will, he has been searching for 300 years for someone qualified to become the second Jubei.
Jiyu transforms into a sexy female swordsman by wearing a heart-shaped "lovely eye patch" imposed on her by Koinosuke. The transformed Jiyu takes over the swordsmanship of Jubei Yagyu, and defeats assassins sent by her arch-enemy, the Ryujoji family, one after another.
However, this is not a serious action film. Akitaro Daichi and Hiroaki Sakurai also worked together on the previous year's "Sexy Commando Gaiden: Amazing! Masaru-san" the previous year, and they excel at surrealistic gags. The assassins of the Ryuunidera family and the classmates who cling to them freely are all comedy reliefs with strong personalities, and 80 to 90% of the work can be said to be gag scenes.

Despite this, the background of "Jubei-chan" is a strong conflict between Jubei Yagyu and the Tatsunidera family, who are envious of him. What kind of ingenuity was used to create an upbeat gag anime while at the same time not losing the elements of a serious swordsman's tale?　I would like to read about it from the composition.

The composition of the confrontation familiar from "Tsubaki Sanjuro

The first episode of "Jubei-chan" begins 300 years ago, when Jubei Yagyu defeats his last enemy, Daigo Ryujoji. Jubei and Daigo are facing each other in a forest at night. The screen is a full shot, with Jubei standing on the left and Daigo on the right. The composition is symmetrical.
Everyone would agree that the composition of the confrontation is very typical of a period drama. The last scene of "Tsubaki Sanjuro" in which Toshiro Mifune plays Sanjuro and Tatsuya Nakadai plays Hanbei was exactly like this composition.
The confrontation scene between Jubei and Daigo vividly impresses the viewer with the "confrontation between Jubei Yagyu and the Ryujoji family" by supporting the composition of a typical period drama. The scene of "Jubei on the left and Ryujoji on the right" will be repeated many times in "Jubei-chan".

In the first episode, the scene where Jiyu gets lost in a bamboo grove on his first morning at school and meets his senior Ryujoji Shiro is exactly "Jubei on the left, Ryujoji on the right.
Jiyu has not yet awakened as the second Jubei, and Shiro falls in love at first sight with her. The scene is supposed to be heartwarming, but the composition suggests where they are going. Jiyu is transformed into Jubei the Second by the power of the lovely eye patch, and Shiro is a Ryujoji who harbors a grudge against Jubei. Later in the series, Shiro's body is taken over by the ghost of Daigo, who attacks Jiyu.
The scene of their meeting in the first episode, if one only listens to their conversation, does not seem tense in any way. However, by sharing the same composition as the confrontation scene between Jubei and Daigo at the beginning of the episode, the "picture" suggests what is to come.

In the third episode, Jiyu and Shiro face each other in a bamboo grove. Jiyu consults Shiro about the fact that he is being challenged to a series of duels by assassins from the Ryujoji family, and Shiro suspects that Jiyu, whom he has feelings for, may be the second Yagyu Jubei. Although there is more tension than in the first episode, the two are not in conflict ......, but it is still "Jubei on the left of the screen and Ryujoji on the right of the screen". (The confrontation scene in the final episode is, of course, "Jubei on the left, Ryujoji on the right.)
) Most of the scenes in "Jubei-chan" use close-ups and deformation of the characters to create a comical and lively impression. However, the composition of "Jubei on the left and Ryujoji on the right" is inserted throughout the film to persistently and repeatedly present the underlying conflict of the story.

It is not always the dialogue that propels the story forward. Sometimes it is the unspeakable "composition" that reveals the depths of a story that cannot be expressed in words.

(Text by Keisuke Hirota)

Jubei-chan -The Secret of Lovely Eyeballs- Blu-ray BOX (Special Limited Edition)

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