Project #36.5: Jing: The King of Bandits Seventh Heaven

*Around the time Isis was reviewing Jing: The King of Bandits*

Hey guys Nitsuj here *looks around*. . . and welcome to another side blog the blogs between the blogs. Look, no matter what Isis says I did not take a break this week I was tortured and forced against my will to hand over the review this week to her. While I am upset the last laugh will go to me. I may not be able to review the anime but she said nothing about the 3 OVAs of the series. That’s why for this side blog I’m going to review The Seventh Heaven OVAs. Often seen as the best arc of the series The Seventh Heaven OVAs are 3 OVAs that send Jing and Kir to a prison that is said to be inescapable to uncover a great treasure. They came out in 2004 about 2 years after the anime ended. While the story is split into 3 OVAs many people view them as one movie seeing as how they’re all a continuation of the story. Are they good? Well let’s find out and take a look at the Seventh Heaven OVAs.

We start the first OVA on an. . .alligator bus (and people have the balls to say Adventure Time is trippy. Compared to this Adventure Time looks like a 2nd graders interpretation of Legend of Zelda) taking a bus with Jing and Kir along with other criminals to the prison island known as Seventh Heaven (looks like what would happen if Tim Burton was directing a movie called Alcatraz). In the prison it doesn’t take long to establish how surreal the place is. The warden looks like a demon and the guards are humans with angel wings and wear hockey masks. In fact, one of the elite guards is a cupid angel wearing sunglasses and holding a shotgun while smoking a cigarette (what the hell was Kumakura-sensei drinking when he drew this place). It doesn’t take long for Jing and Kir to sneak out of their cell and begin their quest to find the magician named Campari a man who created these things called Dream Orbs, an orb that carries inside of it the dream of someone. Campari sole these orbs to others and became rich but The Man found his dealings shady and locked him up in Seventh Heaven. Jing wants to find Campari and get what’s known as the King’s Dream Orb said to contain the ultimate dream. As they explore the prison unbeknownst to them they have fallen into Campari’s dream world where he is the law (https://youtu.be/q6cyDsuNx_U?t=2s). They find Campari but get attacked by these giant mice and are saved by Jing girl #269 Benedictine (just like there are Bond girls Jing has Jing girls) a dream girl of Campari’s dream maze (it’s always a pleasure to meet a dream girl). After they realize that they fell into Campari’s trap Benedictine tries to help them escape saying that if they stay in the dream for too long their bodies will die (https://youtu.be/7N4vhRiJwFg). For the rest of the episode they try to escape the dream. They get chased by these weird Wii Fitness reject dolls and residents of the dream maze until they board a train which is powered by a large dodo bird who runs by having a three-headed dog bark at him (okay screw alcohol. Who needs that when you can get drunk watching this OVA). The group takes over the train and gets the dodo to fly them out of the dream and back into the real world where we see that Jing has used a hammer to destroy a statue of the warden in his sleep (https://youtu.be/DjVIuAzcqc4). We end the first part with Jing and Kir getting thrown in solitary confinement for their actions (https://youtu.be/TM_6tgVJb_o).

In the second episode Campari invades Jing and Kir’s holding cell and uses one of his dream orbs to show them their past. Now out of all the anime episodes and manga chapters this is the closest thing we get to actually hearing about Jing and Kir’s past. We see that Jing was a kid who lived on his own in a forest near some town. There, he befriends the local kids who took it upon themselves to be Jing’s apprentice and a young girl named Cassis who is an upholder of justice and has a secret crush on Jing (even as a kid the guy was making girls fall for him like cats on catnip. He truly is the cat’s meow). She also dresses up as a boy to protect herself from the Spirit of the Forest who for some reason kidnaps females (than shouldn’t he be called the Pervert of the Forest?). Anyway, it’s Jing’s 10th birthday and he receives presents from all the people that care about him. His apprentices give him a giant egg which happens to be Kir and his mother sends him a gun (so she leaves her 10-year-old son who she hasn’t seen in 5 years alone in the forest and sends him a gun on his birthday. What great parenting. Let’s give this person an award). As they exchange banter the Kir egg starts to talk (getting it to shut up is the trick) telling them how annoying they are and that he’s still deciding on if he wants to be a girl or boy. Also, even though he hasn’t been born yet he seems to know a whole lot about the world. Later on that night the Spirit of the Forest captures Cassis and takes her back to his mansion (police! Call the police! This is a no pedo zone! Step away from the girl or we will shoot you. Not that it matters since we will shoot you anyway). He goes into the mansion with Kir and rescues Cassis but the Spirit attacks Jing and damages his mother’s gift to him (oh come on Spirit. Not cool man not cool). This pisses Jing off and he decides to go and fight the Spirit with his bare hands knowing that he’ll die if he does. But Kir doesn’t accept this, he hatches from his egg, combines with Jing and they finish off the Spirit with a Kir Royale (they also destroy the mansion and burn a huge chunk of the forest down. https://youtu.be/hLnecKDUweA?t=9s). The next day Jing gives Postino the gun back and tells him to give it back to him 20 years from now (I don’t get it either I’m sure this planned made sense in his brain when the author was still recovering from a Kir Royale or something). We end with Campari releasing Jing and Kir from their chains and bringing them back into the dream maze.

In the final episode Jing and Kir go to a festival of dreams where they reunite with Benedictine and follow her into her dreams while being chased by this swordsman who got split in half by Campari. After reuniting the swordsman Campari appears and tells Jing that the reason he chooses to stay in Seventh Heaven even though he could have escaped anytime is because a long time ago he lost his homeland and has come to see the world as a prison no matter where he goes (that might just be one of the most poetic metaphorical statements I’ve heard in a anime). But Jing shows Campari a magic trick where he brings a doll to life (equivalent exchange can suck Jing’s thieving cock). The doll turns into Benedictine who we find out was a girl from Campari’s village that he loved and wanted to marry. With Jing helping him open his eyes Campari and Benedictine have a dream wedding (good for him he got to marry his dream girl. This has been a weird, bizarre, and surreal series I swear). Campari wakes them up and they escape in a fun and interesting way by starting a prison riot using the dream orbs. Also, Jing steals the King’s dream orb right from under Campari’s nose and he’s okay with it and that’s the end.

Final Thoughts

The Seventh Heaven OVAs are very good. The animation seems to have gotten better as well as the music for the anime. Jing and Kir are still an awesome duo and it’s nice to finally get a little backstory on the two. They do a good job at giving Campari a decent backstory and drop subtle hints throughout the OVAs about his past so keep your eyes and ears open for them when you watch the OVAs. The dream maze that they go into is quite creative and imaginative that you’ll probably have to pause the video and just stare at the backgrounds and characters that you see to fully enjoy them. It can be a little trippy at some parts but hey that’s where the show gets its charm from. I would recommend watching the anime first before watching the OVAs and if you liked the anime you’ll like the Seventh Heaven OVAs.

Final Score

If I had to give them a score I give the OVAs a 7/10. They’re creative, imaginative and fun to watch just like the series. So when you finish the series and want to see more of Jing and Kir’s adventure take a look at Seventh Heaven and see probably the best story in the series. Thanks for ready and I’ll see you next on Project Nitsuj.

*Alarm goes off*

(Chibi-Isis): Nii-chan, I’ve detected viruses within the system.

(Nitsuj): Viruses huh? They must be remnants of the Shibai attack. Bring them on screen.

*Screen pops up showing Isis fighting viruses*

(Nitsuj): Hmm~, nothing too major, Isis should be able to handle them herself. But just in case I think she could use a shot of an Isis Royale.

(Chibi-Isis): What’s an Isis Royale? Is it eatable?

(Nitsuj): I think you mean edible and yes you could say that. Just wait and see.

Thanks for reading, as always feel free to leave a comment, feedback, or request in the comment section below or send them to iamprojectnitsuj@gmail.com