Genre: Action, Adventure, Mystery, Drama, Sci-Fi
I managed to come across Jyu Oh Sei by means of a simple you may also like: recommendation through Hulu.com. When first reading the premise of Jyu Oh Sei, I was pretty interested despite not having a large interest in science-fiction-like environments. Two kids cast off to some primitive planet with its peculiar traits and hierarchal system; it sounded like something similar to Golding's Lord of the Flies. Surprisingly when looking at duration of the series, I was curious to see how the plot would play out in only 11 episodes. Typical adventure and action anime (Dragonball Z, Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist, Trigun) span over 30, 40, and more than 100 episodes, so I decided to give Jyu Oh Sei a whirl. Whether it would be good or not, I wouldn't be committing too much time to it.
Story
After witnessing the deaths of their parents, Thor and his twin brother Rai are cast off to a distant unknown planet (Chimaera) drastically different from their own. Originating from a technology driven planet, they are stuck in an environment where plant life has a heavy influence on the daily routines of every person. With only a beam knife to defend themselves with, Thor and Rai seek to find a way off the planet and to unravel the mystery behind their parents' deaths.The planet is governed and separated by a set of various rings, each ruled by a respective leader called the "Top" (hehe there's some innuendo there) and his subordinates, a second and third. The planet's inhabitants are mostly men, thus women play an invaluable role of bearing children and are given special liberties including the freedom to choose their own mates. Civilization concentrates itself on strength and values those with the will to survive; is one able to abandon his humanity to inevitably be presented with an opportunity to leave the planet?
Characters
Thor: Not really exuding much manliness, Thor is the typical brat of this 'coming of age' story. Despite sharing the name with the awesome Norse God, he isn't very likable but his character grew with me as the series went on--it's probably the silver hair.
Tiz: A random girl who happens to stumble upon Thor at an opportune time to save him from a vicious plant beast. She takes a liking to Thor and declares him her mate. She's very energetic yet sound at the same time and the only bit of female eye candy you'll see for most of the series.
Third: Yup, that's his name. Not really unique like Thor or a tease like Tiz, he plays a vital role of informing Thor about the in and outs of planet Chimaera. As you would have guessed, he also the Third in ranking of the local ring. A fairly minor character early on, I didn't think too much about him until it was too late. Quite the opposite of Thor, he's the epitome of the cool, calm, and collected character.There are some other minor characters I could delve into, but in the interest of keeping this review brief and spoiler free as possible; might as well leave them out.
Voice Acting/Sound
Oh where to start. It may be my personal preference to experience the original Japanese dub with subtitles first, but you can't go wrong with it. Everyone's voices seems fairly on par; nothing out of tune or out of place. To be honest, voices sound recycled and generic, but it's not bad. The English dub by Funimation is another story on the other hand. I can't say it's horrid, but Thor at times (and by at times I mean quite frequently) sounds like a five year old girl. Understandably he's an adolescent who hasn't gone through puberty yet, but if one were to just stumble in a room while hearing Thor voiced by Alison Viktorin, one would mistakenly suspect it to be an adolescent girl's voice. Aside, this could simply be my bias towards English voice actors and my initial liking of the Japanese VAs.Although the soundtrack is fairly average, the ending track Te wo Tsunaide by Younha is gem and worth a listen through (below). No other track really stands out as much unless you count the opening, which is fairly cheesy, but has a distinct charm/campy feeling to it--it's polarizing to say the least.
Loved
Action Sequences: In each episode there will be at least a tidbit of action sequences with some fluid and detailed animation. The few scenes in which Thor takes action are well done and kept me interested going on to the next episode and so on. With respect to the rest of the animation, everything looks great though I found their noses a little too high-bridged for my taste.Hated
Storyboard work anyone?: This series could have easily been stretched into 24 episodes or more. The story simply went at a blisteringly fast pace; as a result I was surprised to see so many things happen over the course of few episodes. I do have to say I was impressed how they were able to squeeze so many significant plot twists and turns within the few episodes. Regardless, some characters could have been fleshed out better and some incidents which occurred made me ask myself, "What the hell just happened?".
The Lowdown: If you're looking for a highly engaging anime, but in short of free time, Jyu Oh Sei fits the bill. As long as you don't let the plot holes bother you too much, it's quite enjoyable and fairly thought provoking to an extent. C'mon, the main character's name is Thor...
