Jinki:Extend

Well, as an update, you were right Shinji103, the opening to J:E is a direct homage to Mobile Suit Gundam's OP. That's pretty cool :) Btw, do you know how many episodes J:E will be?

[Shinji103]

It's planned at 13, but I hope they make a sequel or extend it. (Honestly no pun intended )

And to all those Jinki slammers out there, there is absolutely no way that the animators intended the Jinki opening to pass as completely original. You can tell how by how extremely similar the openings are that they intended for people to see the obvious resemblance.

[Koei]

i've watched up to episode 6 and I'm pretty confused right now with all these "flashbacks." Actually I don't know if they're actually flashbacks or some other dimension or something. But some of the characters are in both the main story and the flashback. Can someone explain in a spoiler tag the purpose of these "flashbacks?"

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by Koei

i've watched up to episode 6 and I'm pretty confused right now with all these "flashbacks." Actually I don't know if they're actually flashbacks or some other dimension or something. But some of the characters are in both the main story and the flashback. Can someone explain in a spoiler tag the purpose of these "flashbacks?"

The "flashbacks" aren't really flashbacks...well they kind of are. In order for this to be truly understandable, I'm going to have to make this explanation a little detailed:

The Jinki: Extend anime is based off a manga series called Jinki and its manga sequel, Jinki: Extend. Jinki is about Aoba and her story in 1988, while Jinki: Extend is about Akao and her story in 1991. The anime basically combines both into one story (kind of), and the "flashbacks" are basically the series switching between the two.

Episode 7 shifts completely into Akao's story, with some flashbacks to Aoba's story. In Aoba's story, the organization Kyomu (from Akao's story) was just kicking up and developing, while in Akao's story they have gone into full deployment.

Hmm, yeah the series suffers from poor direction (such a disappointment in that department for me). However, the series can be better understood if you think about the "flashbacks" this way:

1. There are two timelines: Aoba's and Akao's
2. Episodes 1-6 focus on Aoba's timeline. This takes place in 1988 in when Aoba gets kidnapped to Venezula. You do see Akao briefly, but she doesn't speak.
3. (So far) Episodes 7-8 focus on Akao's timeline. This takes place in 1991. That's why you see many girl pilots in this time period.


That's all I can give without spoiling the storyline. I suggest skimming/rewatching the episodes again if you have the time because there is actually a nice storyline, but sadly, because of poor direction of the series, it is very confusing if you didn't know the facts mentioned above. It probably would make a lot more sense if you rewatch with these facts in mind (or at least it did to me because like you I was really confused after watching episode 7). And believe me you're not the only one that was confused, many others were too if you read the whole J:E animesuki thread. The problem is that the director so far has assumed that you know certain facts beforehand, thus the lack of better transitions. This was created for the Japanese and not for foreigners after all (but that's no excuse because you should be trying to attract fans that know nothing about the series unless you solely want to appeal to the current readings of the manga). The manga had a shaky start after all in Japan :sweating: If you really want to know more about how everything fits together (spoilers ahead, you have been warned), I suggest reading the following links:

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...e=11&pp=20
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...;postcount=108
The former explains the series up to episode 7 pretty well. The latter shows the series' timeline based on the manga (I think).

Disclaimer: I know nothing about the manga. I was just confused, thought the anime was good (but confusing), and did some research =p

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by Ultima

The manga had a shaky start after all in Japan :sweating:

Disclaimer: I know nothing about the manga. I was just confused, thought the anime was good (but confusing), and did some research =p

The reason the manga started out shaky was because of the absolutely HORRIBLE character designs. >.< I have volumes 1-4 of original the Jinki manga. The starting character designs were the most horrible I've ever seen. Nothing compares to how horrid they were, especially since they were somewhat trying to get the whole cute girl thing going across. Thankfully, the bad character designs only lasted for the first 1 1/2 volumes, then were extremely improved, which led to the manga becoming a hit and spawning its sequel Jinki: Extend, and now this anime.

Note: This is also most likely why ADV released the Jinki: Extend manga in the states without releasing the original Jinki manga. They were probably afraid that the horrible character designs in volume 1 and the first half of volume 2 would scare people off, and I would say that they were most likely correct.

EDIT: When/if I get the chance, I'll put up pics of the volume 1 Jinki manga designs just to show my point.

[Koei]

Thanks for the explanations. Everything seems to make a lot more sense now.

[aqwabawks]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

The reason the manga started out shaky was because of the absolutely HORRIBLE character designs. >.< I have volumes 1-4 of original the Jinki manga. The starting character designs were the most horrible I've ever seen. Nothing compares to how horrid they were, especially since they were somewhat trying to get the whole cute girl thing going across. Thankfully, the bad character designs only lasted for the first 1 1/2 volumes, then were extremely improved, which led to the manga becoming a hit and spawning its sequel Jinki: Extend, and now this anime.

Note: This is also most likely why ADV released the Jinki: Extend manga in the states without releasing the original Jinki manga. They were probably afraid that the horrible character designs in volume 1 and the first half of volume 2 would scare people off, and I would say that they were most likely correct.

EDIT: When/if I get the chance, I'll put up pics of the volume 1 Jinki manga designs just to show my point.

Heh... I think it's more of ADV can't get the rights to it from Square Enix... Cause two other series that made the jump from Square Enix to Mag Garden (Shinsengumi Imon Peacemaker and that Loki Detective manga) only had their "sequels" picked up by ADV...

[aqwabawks]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

Yeah, I know. But the character designs aren't helping ADV put any effort into getting the rights for original Jinki.

Yeah I just saw some of the original manga... my eyes... my eyes they burn...

But boy did Tunasima improve his art work from the original Jinki...

[Shinji103]

Thank god Tunashima improved them. Jinki has a great and evrything, it simply lacked the character designs.

EDIT: I just watched 12 and before anyone starts to wallow in despair

the series is supposed to go for 13 episodes and not 12, so the ending in 12 is probably a"just for now" ending and the series will get a better ending next week. I really doubt that they would cut the series short by only a single episode and stick with the ending they have. Although the current ending is by no means bad, they just need to tell us what happens to all of the characters.