“The anime does preach a lot about ecology but its an anime that is made to make viewers think and whether or not its message gets through to you or piss you off depends on the viewer.  I, for one, enjoyed the series and because anime such as ‘ARJUNA’ is unique in many way, I can understand why it has received 50/50 reviews.  Some will love it, some will hate it.  But it’s all about the message and if one can make a change in their life because of this anime, then its mission accomplished.”

DVD INFORMATION:

DVD TITLE: ARJUNA - ANIME LEGENDS COMPLETE COLLECTION (aka Chikyu Shojo Arjuna)

DURATION: 325 minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC

COMPANY: Bandai Entertainment

RATING: Unrated

STAFF INFORMATION:

DIRECTOR AND ORIGINAL CREATOR: Kawamori Shoji

SERIES COMPOSITION: Kawamori Shoji, Ohnogi Hiroshi

CHARACTER DESIGN: Kishida Takahiro

MUSIC COMPOSER: Kanno Yoko

THEME SONG BY: Sakamoto Maaya

High school, archery club, and boys were the things that filled Juna’s daily life. But when an accident leaves her clinging tenuously between life and death, fate intervenes as she becomes the sole witness to scenes of Earth’s destruction along with humanity’s reckless pollution of the sky, the Earth, and water. It is here in which Juna is given a new chance at life and bestowed the powers of the Earth, a power she must wield in order to stop an evil bent on Earth’s destruction.

Contains all 13 Episodes of Arjuna!

When it comes to ecology and the environment, it’s usually a topic that some people welcome and a topic that many people know about but really don’t want to get involved in.

And I suspect that when you have a top tier anime director/creator Kawamori Shoji (”Visions of Escaflowne”, “Super Dimension Century Macross”, “Macross Plus”, “Macross 7″, “Macross Zero” and “Macross Frontiere” to name a few) and composer Kanno Yoko, theme song by Sakamoto Maaya and character designs by Kishida Takahiro (”Tenchi Muyou”, “El Hazard”, “Heat Guy J” to name a few), you expect to have a quality anime series.

The 13-episode TV series that aired on TV Tokyo back in 2001 received a DVD release in the US back in 2002 and for so long I have wanted to watch this series.

The anime series is primarily about a teenager named Ariyoshi Juna.  Your typical high school girl learning archery and spending time with boyfriend Oshima Tokio.

With her skills at archery training not going as well, she tells her boyfriend that she wants to see the sea.  Tokio, being so in love with Juna, decides to take her to the sea via motorcycle and everything seems well until an entity flashes in front of them and in the process, both are thrown of the motorcycle.

Juna is rushed to the hospital and she pretty much is dead.  That is until she hears a voice of Chris Hawken (a powerful entity)  who tells her that he will give her life back if she saves the world.  Juna is given a glimpse of the Planet Earth, especially Japan in terrible shape with drought, famine and more.  Not wanting to leave her mother and Tokio behind, Juna agrees and is given her life back.

All of a sudden, while Tokio and her mother are pretty much saying goodbye to Juna, Juna awakes and runs up to the hospital roof and there she is met by some secret organization known as S.E.E.D.

It appears that Juna has a special power to turn into Earth Maiden Arjuna and able to see these monstrous worm-like entities known as Raaja (which are literally Earth’s bacteria).  Arjuna thinks her job is to use her powers to fight the Raaja but Chris keeps giving her messages of “why do you want to kill?”, “What are you trying to do?” and Juna really doesn’ t know what her job truly is.

Throughout the whole series, we start learning a lot about ecology, organic food and how there is a cycle of everything that we use and eat but because of pesticides and pollution, our Earth is being hurt by it.

In one episode, Juna and Tokio stay at a farm and learn from a farmer about organic vegetables.  Juna and Tokio not knowing why people would want to eat vegetables that have been eaten by bugs.  Also, being taught that pesticides hurt the system.  Because there is a cycle to food.  The bugs, the worms undergorund, the soil, everything has its purpose.

And from that point, we see Juna becoming more of a vegetarian and just can’t eat regular food without having images.  For example, Tokio tries to get her to eat at a fast food restaurant Merikan Burger and images of the cows just make her sick.

She now lives a lifestyle of wanting to protect the environment, eating the right food but yet everyone around her doesn’t understand why.  They don’t like being preached about the environment, especially from her.

So, literally her relationship with her family and with her boyfriend Tokio is being tested.  And her best friend Shirakawa Sayuri seems to be getting closer to Tokio because her involvement with S.E.E.D. and her enviromental perspective is dampening her relationship with everyone she’s close with.

So, for the first eleven episodes, we see as Arjuna comes into contact with the Raaja and Kawamori finds ways to get his message out to viewers on ecology, protecting the environment and how industrial pollution and pesticides and a variety of other things happening in today’s world is really hurting the environment and if people don’t change their ways, it will be too late.

Throughout the series, we meet other characters.  The major player outside of Juna and Tokio is the other person with spirital power, Chris Hawken who is literally dying since he gave part of his life to revive Arjuna.  He can’t talk and communicates through a young telepath named Cindy.  Cindy despises Juna maily because Chris tries to get close to her and Cindy really cares for him.   When Juna screws up, Chris is there to try to help in his weakened state but there is only so much he can do.  But he tries to help Juna become aware of why she was chosen and why things are happening to the planet.

And in the final episodes, that is what happens.  The city of Tokyo has now been invaded by the Raaja, water and food and anything that is absorbed by the Raaja is affected and people now are dying.

The series is a mix of sci-fi mecha, sci-fi bishojou magical girl and your typical high school love triangle all together in one series.   The “mecha” in this series is mainly a protector of Arjuna who shows up to make sure she is not killed.  The “magic girl” part in this series is what Juna can transform into. She can fly and as a weapon, use a specialized bow and arrow to fend off attacks.  And of course, the high school drama is between her, Tokio and Sayuri.  And of course, there is other drama such as Juna’s relationship to her mother and sister, her teacher and of course with Chris and Cindy and other members of S.E.E.D.

VIDEO:

As for the video, I enjoy anime series that show a large variety of scenery.  This is anime features the city, a farming area and various locations that I really enjoy that and it really pushes the staff to create so much scenery and beautifu backgrounds and animation and all in all, I really enjoyed the animation.  Granted it was created in 2001 but nevertheless, in 2008, I enjoyed it very much.

AUDIO:

I watched this series both in Japanese and English.  I enjoyed the Japanese version and found Higashiyama Mami’s acting as Arjuna and Seki Tomokazu’s voice acting as Tokio to be really well done.  But I soon discovered that I really do enjoy the English dub voice acting which I felt was done very well.  Maggie Blue O’Hara and Andrew Francis did a great job with their voice acting as the couple and everyone else as well.  So, both languages are just exceptional.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Special features include interviews with Kawamori Shoji, the cast and an Arjuna dictionary.  Also, music videos.

Just an interesting note that “ARJUNA” features different ending themes and so after each episode, you more than often get a different ending theme which I found interesting.  Also, a live ending that was reminiscent of the bubbly “Kare Kano” but actually featuring a school girl running into the sunset.

For me, it was a plus to get a series from Kawamori Shoji that was not “Macross” related but even moreso, an anime series that would tackle on ecology and various topics within the scope of environment but also a few other things which I don’t want to spoil for the viewer.

The series does get preachy and remember those after-school specials that were shown on TV trying to let people know about a wide range of topics from racism, ecology or something to catch your interest and make you think.

This is an anime series that does just that.  There is a message that Kawamori wanted to get through and even in the anime series, a message of, if one can make a change, possibly that one can make others change.

Reading the various reviews on the Internet, I can see why this anime series is loved and hated.  No one likes things being driven down their throat but on the other hand, for those who are open to hearing out another perspective, then it’s fine.

For me, I try to do my part for the environment but I’m not as hardcore as Juna.  I have no qualms eating my Boca or Veggie burgers, recycling, purchasing organic vegetables and being considerate of the environment but at the same time, I have no qualms of going to Burger King and ordering a double cheeseburger as well.

But Kawamori’s message did reach out to me and this series did give me a good understanding about pesticides and for me, I enjoy learning new things and open to hearing other perspectives.

So, I enjoyed the series for that.  I also enjoyed that twist of, “OK, we warned you that there will be problems if you don’t change your lifestyle” and where people think it won’t be in their lifetime, in this series, problems happen immediately and destruction and chaos comes.

Granted, when we see news about the melting glaciers, drilling for oil in the ocean because of escalating gas prices and the hole in the ozone layer, how does one feel about those topics?  Passionate, bored, interested or don’t care?

So, that is where “ARJUNA” as a series is being interpreted by anime viewers.  You either love it or hate it.  And you either care about the message or look at it as a pathetic attempt to a person’s beliefs being driven down your throat.

For me, I enjoyed the series.  It was a great blend of sci-fi, love triangles and bishojo heroines.  But of course, the main thing about this series is indeed the message of making a change in your life and accepting of what is happening in this world.  You either get it or you don’t.  You either welcome that message or you don’t.

So, by saying that…if you are open to Kawamori’s message on the environment through a series like “ARJUNA”, check it out.  If you are the last person who cares about hearing details on the environment, this anime series is definitely not for you.

+ A cool collaboration from top tier people in the industry, Kawamori Shoji, Kanno Yoko, Kishida Takahiro, Sakamoto Maaya and more.

+ I dig the message on the environment

+ Very good voice acting on both Japanese and English dubs

- Some may find this series to preachy about the environment, thus this anime is not for everyone.

BUY THIS ANIME DVD TODAY:

“A series that I simply fell in love with and could not stop watching. Watched every episode in one sitting because I simply enjoyed it so much! ‘Crest of the Stars’ features a story with a lot of action, intrigue, interesting characters and a well-written storyline.”

DVD INFORMATION:

DVD TITLE: Crest of the Stars (aka Seikai no Monshou)

DURATION: 325 minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Animated, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC

CATALOG #: B000CQQI9Y

COMPANY: Bandai Entertainment

STAFF INFORMATION:

ORIGINAL NOVEL: Morioka Hiroyuki

DIRECTOR: Nagaoka Yasuchika

STORY: Yoshinaga Aya

CHARACTER DESIGN: Watabe Keisuke

ART DIRECTOR: Okada Tomoaki

MUSIC: Hattori Katsuhisa

MECHANICAL DESIGN: Shino Masanori, Tsuneki Shinobu, Moriki Yasuhiro

CAST

Lafiel - Kawasumi Ayako

Jinto Lin - Imai Yuka

Grieda - Uchikawa Ai

Saryush - Suyama Akio

Nantryua - Kurosaki Ayako

Plaxia Lexshue - Takashima Gara

Narrator - Jo Haruhiko

Jinto Lin’s life changes forever when the Humankind Empire Abh takes over his home planet of Martine without firing a single shot. Sent off to study the bah language and culture, Jinto must prepare himself for his future as an Abh nobleman. Entering the next phase of his training, he’ll meet his first Abh, the lovely Lafiel. However, Jinto will soon learn that Lafiel is more than she appears and together they will have to fight for their very lives. Based on the best selling science fiction novels by Hiroyuki Morioka.

For years, I’ve read and heard of how awesome the “Crest of the Stars” and “Banner of the Stars” series are and while I take a break from my “watch every Gundam series” marathon, I decided to purchase “Crest of the Stars” and “Banner of the Stars” and find out for myself why people enjoy this series.

This series could have been the sci-fi cliche of aliens go to planet, aliens threaten inhabitants of planet, inhabitants fight back and war ensues.

But fortunately, “Crest of the Stars” doesn’t go there.

“Crest of the Stars” is the first part of a trilogy based on the manga written back in 1996 by Morioka Hiroyuki. The manga was adapted to 13-episodes and featured on WOWOW back in 1999.

The anime was released in the US by Bandai Entertainment in 2001 and later aired on television on TechTV in 2002.

The story primarily focuses on two characters, terrran Jinto Lin and an Abh named Lafiel.

The first episode starts off when Jinto was a young child. His home planet, Martine, has been invaded by the Abh Empire. The inhabitants wants Martine to defend its planet over any takeover and fight but unknown to them, Jinto’s father, Rock Lyn, the governor of Martine secretly strikes a deal with the Abh.

The deal, he will surrender the Planet Martine to the Abh if he and his family are given a noble position within the Abh. Suffice to say, the Martine’s can not believe that their governor is a traitor and surrendered them to the Abh so easily.

Not knowing what is truly going on, since he was young child, the story flash forwards seven years later as Jinto is now a teenager and prepares for the military academy. He is treated as royalty by the Abh and is a Count and while waiting for his space escort, he meets an Abh girl named Lafiel (who turns out to be an Abh princess) and the two who are similar in age, start to get to know about each other and the differences and similarties between their two cultures.

The main storyline focuses on these two characters as the Abh transport ship they are traveling in, is attacked by the United Mankind (a collaboration between four anti-Abh nations).

Because Jinto is not in the military and Lafiel has not yet completed her full military training, Lafiel is ordered to escape with Jinto to another planet and to contact the empire that they are being attacked by United Mankind.

And the adventure of Lafiel and Jinto begins as they meet many obstacles on their way to another planet/outpost and the storyline focuses on how the two work together to survive, how the learn from each other and grow with each other.

The obstacles include the two needing to refuel and encountering a baron who seems to have plans of what he wants to do with Lafiel and Jinto and another obstacle that includes the two landing in planet that has been captured by the United Mankind and are literally wanted fugitives.

And that is the charm of this series is to watch these two progress and succeed when it seems all is lost. Also, where most of the sci-fi series that feature an occupying force and a clear antagonist and protagonist of the storyline is obviously clear, “Crest of the Stars” features Jinto as a person who really doesn’t have any allegiance to his home planet. All he knows is that he wants to protect Lafiel and be with her.

I just found this whole series to be enchanting, action-packed, beautiful and so original that I fell in love with the series.

AUDIO:

I listened to both the English and Japanese audio. I prefer the Japanese audio way much more over the English dub. Of course, this is an older anime series and I really didn’t expect too much in terms of overall audio but the series features mainly dialog and all in all, everything sounds clear from my sound system.

The background music was also well-done and managed to create an atmosphere for the scenes such as the various action scenes.

VIDEO:

Although an older series, from beginning to end, I really enjoyed the overall environments presented. Backgrounds look great and the character designs are unique to this series.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The DVD features an image gallery and clean opening and ending themes. Also, a segment on Abh culture and history.

There are not too many series that make me want to watch everything in one sitting. Personally, I planned to only watch the first two or three episodes but I was instantaneously hooked to this beautiful series and couldn’t stop.

I really enjoy series that are well-paced and build on character development. I know that reviews I have read from some viewers found the pacing a bit slow for their taste. For me, everything was just right. A good balance of action but most of all focusing and building upon the character development between Lafiel and Jinto and this enhanced the overall story for me, as these two characters just simply make you care.

Also, because this is an older series, I know a lot of newer anime fans have a disdain towards older anime compared to modern standards but it would be a shame for anime fans to bypass “Crest of the Stars” because of its age.  It’s a wonderful series that should be embraced for its well written-storyline especially its strong character development and the balance with its action scenes.

The final episode was touching, especially to see how Jinto has grown through the short time he has been with Lafiel (and possibly vice versa) especially after the credits which shows the characters three years later and leads to the next series “Banner of the Stars” (which I’m currently watching now).

I just found the whole series to be quite special and unique. I wholeheartedly give this anime series a huge “highly recommended” review!

+ One of the coolest, original anime TV series I have seen in a long time!

+ Well-written storyline, characters you care about and a good balance with action!

+ Well done voice acting on the Japanese dub by Kawasumi Ayako (Lafiel) and Imai Yuka (Jinto).

- For those expecting a sci-fi series with more action than character development, you may be disappointed.

“An anime OAV series that tries to combine the grooviness of classic 70s mecha and shojo anime series in a modern mecha storyline. A definite homage to those series and a very fun, family anime series with lots of mecha action and humor.”

DVD INFORMATION:

DVD TITLE: Z-MIND (aka Shishunki Bishojo Gattai Robo Z-MIND)

DURATION: 150 minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Dual Language, English Subtitles

CATALOG #: 1570, SSN 1-58354-645-6

COMPANY: Bandai Entertainment

RATING: 13 and up

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

STAFF INFORMATION:

CREATED BY: Yatate Hajime

DIRECTOR: Matsumura Yasuhiro

SERIES SUPERVISOR, SCREENPLAY: Gobu Fuyunori

CHARACTER DESIGNER: Hamaru Kamo

MECHANICAL DESIGNER: Aoki Kenta

ART DESIGN: Aoki Tomiyuki

ANIMATION DIRECTOR: Watanabe Kazuo

ART DIRECTOR: Suzuki Kazuhiko

EDITOR: Funami Yasue

SOUnD DIRECTOR: Shimizu Katsunori

MUSIC PRODUCER: Inoue Shunji (AYERS)

MUSIC: Nobuta Kazu

PLANNED BY SUNRISE

A PRODUCTION OF SUNRISE BANDAI VISUAL

It’s the 1970’s and Ayame, Renge, Sumire and Satsuki are doing their best to grow up amidst roller skating, disco dancing and life in Asakusa, Japan.

But as if that weren’t hard enough, the Earth comes under attack by an alien force. In the grand tradition of Giant Robot anime, the mysterious giant robot Z-Mind (and it’s component robots Z-1, Z-2 and Z-3) is all that stands between Earth and total devastation. And the pilots? Of course, they’re the three older sisters.

Untrained and uncertain, the three sisters will have to make it up as they go along, but they soon find themselves making battle plans and shouting attack slogans like the most seasoned anime pilots. But will it be enough? Z-formation!

When I first read about “Z-MIND”, I thought it was pretty cool to hear an anime OAV series that paid somewhat of a homeage to classic mecha and shojo series.

The 1998 OAV series was the first OAV “moe” series by SUNRISE. Moe which is a Japanese slang for a fetish or love for characters in video games, anime or manga.

And the series is created by Yatate Hajime.  Basically involved with the majority of the Gundam anime and manga with “original concept” but known by many for creating major anime titles such as “Cowboy Bebop”, “The Big O”, “Witch Hunter Robin” and “The Vision of Escaflowne”.  Definitely a big name attached to this series.

The screenplay is by Fuyunori Gobu, known for his work wtih “Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory”, “Armored Trooper Votoms”, “Choudenji Machine Voltes V” and other mecha series.

And with Yatate’s vision of creating something different from his previous major mecha anime series, “Z-MIND” definitely shows its difference from current mecha anime series as the main characters are a family of young girls.

The main story of “Z-MIND” is about your average family in Tokyo. A hardworking husband and his wife who take care of their four daughters and a son.

Everything seems to be going fine until eldest daughter, Ayame is kidnapped and next thing you know, she is piloting a large mecha robot known as the Z-MIND and taking on these monsters.

With the Earth being threatened again by the monsters, employees led by the government and Jim Pekinpah tries to enlist Ayame and her sisters to pilot the Z-MIND and its robot parts because it only will respond to their family DNA.

What is the secret behind Ayame and her family? And why is that their DNA can only interact with the Z-MIND? And who is this guy in a red trenchcoat that happens to show up when Ayame is in trouble? And who is the pink fire lady that shows up when the Z-MIND is in trouble?

All in all, “Z-MIND” is a fun anime series and it pays homage (or parodies) classic anime series. The first half of the series plays out like a family anime series with parents trying to protect their kids and of course, not get along with their kids.

The character designs feels a bit retro and with the daughters spouting language like “groovy” and “far-out”, definitely a homage to series from the 70’s. And of course, when the girls get into their “Z-MIND” clothing, definitely a shojo homage to series like “Sailor Moon” with the semi-nude to clothing transformations.

But I really enjoyed the humor of the show and how the family interacted well with each other in the first four episodes but the final two episodes becomes somewhat more serious and focuses more on the mecha battles and the challenges of facing more difficult enemies.

VIDEO:

The OAV series was released in 1998 and released in the US on DVD in 2001.  But for those mainly exposed to digitally animated OAV’s, of course, this anime may seem a bit old school.  But I guess with the storyline taking place in the 70’s, the age kind of helps it.  All in all, nothing bad.  It’s a colorful anime and I didn’t really see anything that stood out video-wise.

AUDIO:

I watched both in Japanese and English.  Both are regular 2.0 Dolby Digital and both are acted very well.  I will have to say one thing that urks me about the English dub and that is the character of Koji.  Why they gave him a foreigner English accent for the English Dub, I have no idea.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Special features are primarily the textless opening, cover art gallery (which I’m guessing is the art for the VHS or LD release, total of six cover art) and the trailers.  The back of the cover says there is a textless ending but it seems that was dropped or forgotten in the final print of the DVD.  There is also a reversible cover.

All in all, this was an entertaining anime series.  For me, coming into it so late, I was very curious to see how the anime paid homage to 70’s mecha series and all in all, it was fun.

I really liked the dysfunctional family dynamic with the whole family always fighting and then helping each other out.  Definitely some comic relief there.

I didn’t get into the mecha battles all that much because the series focused so much on the characters in the first half, I guess I wanted to see more of that in the second half but there was a quick switch from character development to all out mecha battle.  And I can understand why, especially the pacing of the first episodes of learning about the characters and then having them battle the evil monsters to end the storyline.

If anything, I’m glad the creators added an epilogue right after the credits, to give the series some closure.  But in a way, I wished there was more of “Z-MIND” but all in all, it was a very fun series and with a total of all six-episodes, for its price these days, it’s a steal.

All in all, a groovy anime series that definitely is unique for paying homage to mecha/shojo classics and for it’s price, an entertaining series worth owning.

+ An anime OAV series paying homage to 70’s anime series

+ An anime with a lot of humor and fun characters.

+ A full complete DVD that can be purchased for a low price these days.

- What happened to the textless ending stated on the back cover?

What may be another sign of the current state of the anime industry in North America, we have received information that Bandai Visual USA is being dissolved by their parent company BUT will be merged with Bandai Entertainment.

There are two PDF’s that were released by Bandai Namco and Bandai Visual (both are in Japanese) but various anime news sites have done translations on the PDF’s.