Amazon.com: As this hokey adventure continues, Arjuna needs to be "cleansed" to develop her untapped powers. She travels to the mountains with Tokio and meets an old man who preaches a clichéd philosophy of ecologically wholesome living--while smoking. Under his tutelage, Arjuna sees visions of agribusiness and how food has become tainted with pesticides, preservatives, etc. Back in the city, Tokio eats a fast-food hamburger and is stricken with a mysterious illness linked to the Raaja demons. In a singularly tasteless sequence, Arjuna battles the monsters inside Tokio's intestines. After he recovers, she gets more lessons in fortune-cookie philosophy from their sullen math teacher. When Arjuna has to save Chris from yet another Raaja, Tokio, who has been more than patient, grows angry and confused--and so may the viewer. The visuals are marred by numerous electronic artifacts and glitches. (Rated 13 and older: violence, nudity, grotesque imagery, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon
not perfect, but still enjoyable i first encountered Arjuna on adultswim on demand. its the story of juna, who dies in a motorcycle crash, she is ressurected (how?) by a creepy glowing kid named Chris who tells her that she is the avatar of time who has to save the earth. I was entrigued as to how the avatar of time originated, but you never learn and this was dissapointing.this is a hate it or love it show and i will list the pros and cons followed by my overall review. pros - it makes you think -nice if not different animation (think Fooly Cooly) -good dubbing -you feel for the characters, in fact most of the show doesnt focus on action cons -the other characters treat Juna like crap -dissapointing ending -there were a few plot holes review this is a completely different type of magical girl anime. its very thoughtfull, there are no cute bishoujo characters, in fact this is one of the anime out there that seems to realize that the fate of the world should not depend on the shoulders of an insecure li'l girl but that they should rest on that of someone who can handle it.the action is rather bland. the storys substance comes from the battle of emotions arjuna faces and the environmentalist thing goin on. i dont mind Arjunas internal emotional struggles but its the environmentalism that i didnt like.Its as if the show is trying to make you feel bad for eating meat or polluting or not caring for the Earth.C'mon, a highly developed culture cant/wont give up their lifestyle, it seemed that the show was even against laziness and tv (so Im lazy , is it a crime?). another thing i didnt like was that you never learned about the origins of the avatar of time, also the supporting cast seemed to hate and be dissapointed in juna when she screwd up and they never gave her instruction in the 1st place. on the positive, there is nice dubbing and animation and its just grippingly addictive for some reason. Arjuna is just so hard to stop seeing that it it outweighs thoe cons^^
Uneven animation, mean-spirited ecological preaching I thought the animation was rather poor. They relied too much on whiz-bang computer graphics, and so the cel-style animation of the characters is rather sub-par: it doesn't seem shaded properly. Many of the computer graphics are indeed excellent, but sometimes even they are lacking: one particular shot of "natural" forest featured trees that were spaced so regularly as to appear to be a Christmas tree farm.
The characters of Takeo and Juna are pretty well done. Juna is a bit whiny, but she's going through a lot, and that's to be expected. As a matter of fact, this highlights one of my biggest complaints: her mentor, Chris, and his helper (whose name I don't recall) are hateful to her. They constantly berate her for her ignorance (though they don't actually explain much to her), are astonished when she does anything right, and are generally unhelpful and mean.
The plot is pretty standard save-the-world fare, but in this case saving the world is literal: Juna is to save the _Earth_. S.E.E.D. doesn't seem concerned about the fate of the planet's inhabitants, as long as the natural ecosystem is intact. Juna is the new "Avatar of Time", which would literally imply that Time is a god, but the only god worshipped here is the Earth. Chris is willing to let her die in order to prepare her for saving the Earth. I got the impression he almost hoped she _would_ die so maybe the "Avatar of Time" would be reincarnated into someone less stupid.
Oh, and nuclear power is always bad: better stick with nice, clean coal. Or better yet, stop using electricity altogether. Humans have a lot of nerve using air conditioning.
A GOOD START FOR NATURE GIRL After reading less than stellar reviews about this dvd, the only reason I really picked it up was for the composer of the music, Yoko Kanno, the same genius behind the music of Cowboy Bebop. I figured she wouldn't lend her name to a project that was totally awful. I was pleasantly surprised, with some reservations, by Arjuna Volume 1.
Teenager Juna Ariyoshi and her boyfriend, Tokio, are riding his motorcycle to see a beautiful sunset when an accident kills Juna. While she is dead, a mysterious entity known as Chris offers her a deal. He promises to resurrect her in exchange for her becoming the Avatar of Time. You see, Earth has become infested with demons known as Raaja which in time will destroy our planet. It is Juna's task to purify the planet of these spirits in order to save mankind. She won't be alone. There is an organization named S.E.E.D dedicated to saving Earth who will back her up. She also has some weapons, such as a sacred bow, and a protecting spirit she can summon. She'll need him because the Raaja make Godzilla look like a midget. These first three episodes are mainly setup of the story with Arjuna's origin, her first battle, and her struggle to become the proctector of the earth. Struggle, because as is usual in these types of stories, Chris, supposedly her mentor, talks in riddles, and doesn't just come out and tell her everything. Add to this the fact that Tokio is at a loss as to what has happened to the person he loves.
I felt like the premise of exorcising spirits from the earth and the appearance of these wraithlike Raaja was very copycat-like of Final Fantasy:The Spirits Within. This wasn't helped by the fact that the Raaja are CG animated just like in FF. The CG of the monster looks very clumsy and out of place in the film.
There are some very beautiful scenes in these episodes. It had film quality animation except in the CG Raaja. The soundtrack, as expected, is great. Arjunas's costume takes a little to get used to, a little too Tinkerbell for me, but the series is very good about taking its time to develop her character. It does have a 5.1 Japanese along with English sound. You can also isolate the score. You can also pick up all the volumes in one Arjuna complete collection set. Would've given it 4 stars except for the CG.
I dont know, this show is getting annoying. I just watched the first 4 episodes and I am getting kind of turned off by the environmentalist type stuff in the series. Wanting to stop polution and stuff is good just keep it out of my Anime. The artwork and english dubbing is verry good, though the CG could have been better in the way of character designs. Hopefully the plot will start going somewhere soon, mabe the next couple of episode will redeem my interest. I still have hope that this series can get better, so hopefully it will.
Cross Purposes In this aptly titled CD, Juna Arioshi (Jun), a young woman who has awakened to an intense awareness of the natural world, finds that her new powers can solve nothing if she is not settled within herself. She is named after one of the great archers of Indian mythology, and like him is caught in the tension between the need to fight and the need to bring peace.
The ecological focus of the series continues, but at a somewhat lower pitch and the first DVDs. It is still one of the driving themes, but lectures are fewer. Instead, the plot and characters step into the foreground to get the message across. In this DVD Jun discovers that her sister is pregnant and seeking an abortion. This puts Jun in great conflict, and triggers the theme of the effect of ecological abuse on unborn children. She discovers one of her co-workers at S.E.E.D. has had to pay a terrible price for human indulgence.
Much of the story is concerned with the relationship between Jun and Tokio, her boyfriend. As in the DVD, Jun's new sensitivities and responsibilities interfere with their level of communication. In addition, Tokio is troubled by how little he has to offer the magically empowered Jun. Even though they try repeatedly to heal the rift that is growing between them, happiness eludes them. Nor is this helped by Jun's erstwhile friend Sayuri, who is trying to capture Tokio's attention for herself.
With all this going on, the core story line - fight against the wasting of the world seems to step into the background. But that is illusory. First we find that the plant where Tokio's estranged father works is about to release a deadly mutated virus into the environment, then Jun must fly to New York City to fight a Raaja. Finally, Tokyo finds itself on the brink of destruction.
This set of episodes is far better balanced than those of the first two DVDs. Characters develop and deepen as Jun comes to understand the motivations of those around her. The plot also moves along at a better clip as sub-themes begin to weave together into a strong story. And the ecological focus integrates better with everything else. It is unfortunate that it took 11 episodes to get here, but the viewer will find the overall effect is compelling rather than pedantic. I think the viewer who is looking for more than a mindless tale of monster slaughter will find Arjuna a satisfying series.
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