Juu Ou Sei

After the murder of their parents, 11-year-old twin brothers Thor and Rai Klein are sent away from their home planet. They find themselves awakening on the terraformed planet of Chimaera, where carnivorous plants dominate and the few humans who live there are divided into four groups known as "Rings." Soon after, they meet a young man by the name of Zagi, and the twins learn that only the "Jyu Oh Sei"—the one who conquers these four Rings—is allowed to leave the planet.

Driven by the desire to return home and discover the truth behind the death of his parents, Thor resolves to survive in the harsh, merciless environment of Chimaera. However, he quickly learns there is more than meets the eye in this strange ecosystem. As Thor is swept up in the politics that entangle the Rings, he uncovers more about his parents' murder, and ultimately, humanity's fate as a whole.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Third Main

Oguri, Shun Japanese

Klein, Thor Main

Takayama, Minami Japanese

Fenrir, Zagi Main

Nakai, Kazuya Japanese

Tiz Main

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Karim Supporting

Park, Romi Japanese

Klein, Rai Supporting

Takayama, Minami Japanese

Cheng Supporting

Fukami, Rica Japanese

Rada Supporting

Takase, Akimitsu Japanese

Yuuki Supporting

Shimura, Tomoyuki Japanese

Mao Supporting

Hirata, Eriko Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Minami, Masahiko Producer

Yamamoto, Kouji Producer

Sano, Hiroaki Producer

Reviews

Nov 1, 2008

Stormy_77

Recommended

Not very well known or popular, Jyu Oh Sei is a hidden gem. A relatively short anime, this series went way beyond my expectations in nearly all respects.

Story

Jyu Oh Sei dispels the myth that a series has to be long in order to be good. It's only 11 episodes but the plot moves very fast and a lot of stuff happens at a good pace.

The story starts off with two twin brothers barely into their teens abandoned on a prison planet after their parents are killed. It begins as a "survival tale" with Thor, the elder brother, being the protagonist, and swiftly transitions into ... a nature documentary, action movie, drama and finally space opera. Secondary themes like genetics, social order, politics, relationships and existentialism are explored. You won't be bored.

Characters

Real. Fascinating. Relateable. Even Machiavellian. Everyone has an agenda. Nobody is stupid. A few wear their hearts on their sleeves but they're all well fleshed out. Even those with relatively little screen time are important to the story. There aren't really any unnecessary characters. Even the plants in this show are their own characters.

Art/Animation and sound

The animation is not as crisp in some places but overall quite good. When they say the main charater looks good, it's because he really does look good. The characters age and again this is very well done. Backgrounds are very detailed and realistic. Both the Opening and Ending themes fit the anime and were good songs in their own right. Sound effects were pretty good too. Overall very good.

Enjoyment

Extremely enjoyable. When it ended I wanted more. This could easily have been 24 or even 52 episodes.

Overall

Completely underrated but very good, very watchable anime. It's hard to find though. Please PM me if you want it, I will figure out how to make a torrent for this if only to share this with other users.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Aug 18, 2012

HybridMedia

Mixed Feelings

So…this is somewhat a fascinating sci-fi anime title from Studio BONES, the guys that brought you Wolf’s Rain, Eureka Seven & Xam’d, based on the manga series written and illustrated by Natsumi Itsuki.

On that, the plot of the series is that three hundred and fifty years have passed since humans first settled the Balkan star system, located approximately 150 light years from Earth, where a number of planets have been "terraformed" to resemble Earth. Two 11-year-old twins, Thor and Rai, live on the space colony Juno until they come home to find their parents have been murdered. The unknown assassins drop Thor and Rai ... on Chimaera, a secret planet used as a penal colony where day and night last 181 days each and the planet are marked by extreme weather patterns.



In other words, the plants dominate the ecosystem of the planet and have many defensive techniques as well as carnivorous varieties as a hazard to the people. In the society, there are 4 groups of humans called “Rings” that plays as governs via the Ochre Ring, Sun Ring, Blanc Ring and Noire Ring, which are based on skin color. Each ring is led by three people: the Top, Second, and Third, with the Top as the leader.

On characters, there isn’t a strong point on that faction. For example, take the main character Thor (yes, his name is Thor; I’ll spare the Marvel jokes and there is also the usage of names from Norse Mythology i.e. Odin, Loki, Heimdall) who at first seem like a weakling and eventually grow to be a stronger character than he was. Rai, on the other hand, isn’t much of a highlight considering he was annoying, whiny, and did slowed Thor down at some times and also was the first to die by the plants. That wasn’t really much of a spoiler; he gets killed off in the first episode. Tiz is an interesting character but there isn’t much motivation from her besides that she wants to marry Thor and have his children since on the planet since women make up 20% of the population and the chosen mate is not allowed to refuse. Third is a bit of a shifty character and it seems like he really can’t be trusted and without revealing anything, we can’t really be sure upon that. The other characters aren’t worth mentioning considering some get killed off quickly and/or we either don’t know much about them, making us not really care for their lives.



The series is only about 11 episodes and for me, the pace is a little too quick. I get that there isn’t filler and that is a plus but most of the time, they would leave out some important details that could’ve help the series progressed but it’s very flawed on that detail, much like Eden of the East and their follow-up movies.



The animation by BONES is actually good. The jungle scenery and sets has a realistic feel to it and the character designs are a bit jarring, especially with the designs of Thor and Rai, which I first assume was effeminate males although that design isn’t exactly new and then again, their child versions are voiced by a female voice actor so there’s no harm done. The background music was okay at the time but I really didn’t like the opening theme that has a taste of ‘90s boy band music and I really detest that kind of music but the ending was much better suited for where it’s at.


FINAL VERDICT: This was an okay series that really should’ve extended its episode count by at least about 3-4 episodes or even some extra OVAs. The pacing goes rapid and leaves out some details that could’ve been used for later. Some characters you can’t really care about when most of them might die after an episode or two or we just forget about them until the next time they appear. I would say to watch this, just to past the time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 30, 2009

Ian_K

Not Recommended

Jyo Oh Sei is a good (maybe even great) 29 episode show squeezed into 11 episodes. The result isn't pretty.

The foundation of the plot is a big 'ole mess of second rate science fiction concepts, including The Plant Planet, The Prison Planet, The War Between the Sexes, and others that it would be spoilerish of me to reveal. Seriously, this story kept reminding me of the Golden Age SciFi I've read. The difference is, those stories (well, the good ones anyways) fully explored their concepts and were able make interesting situations out of them. And perhaps the Jyu-Oh-Sei manga manages to ... do this, but here none of the concepts are really given enough time to become interesting.

The setting and ideas have it easy, though. The characters are the ones who really suffer, as the creators push them through rushed plot twist after rushed plot twist. Perhaps the worst example comes in the first episode, when Thor whiplashes from protecting his brother, to trying to kill him, to protecting him again, in just a few minutes. What was supposed to be a brutal moral conundrum just comes off as silly (It doesn't help that his brother dies anyways in the same episode, essentially invalidating the whole moral struggle).

And this show is talky. Very talky. There just isn't time for the characters to exhibit their traits through their actions, so everything has to be explained. This leads to some pretty significant disparities between how character talk, and their actions on the screen.

No, this is not a character-driven anime. Rather, the plot is in control, cracking its whip and forcing the characters through one unnatural contortion after another.

Still, despite all this, it manages to maintain a modicum of interest - up until Ninja Chick is introduced, in a forced attempt at a love triangle. Their is no chemistry to the relationship, however, and it only serves to dry up whatever enthusiasm the viewer has for the finale. The bizarre death of a major character at the end didn't even provoke more than a puzzled 'huh?' from me.

Visually, the show is a mixed bag. The character designs and animation are pretty good, but they take place in incredibly uninspired locales. Big empty spaceships, big empty castles, big empty tundras, big empty valleys - there's just not much stuff on the planet of the Beast King, apparently.

Another complaint is the misogyny present. Despite the fact that the original work was written by a woman, the story is far from feminist. Oh sure, on the surface stuff like "Women have the absolute right to choose their mates!" sounds all pro-Grrl, but the truth is that all our supposedly strong female characters are completely dependent on men by the end of the show (or dead).

For all the vitriol, Jyu-Oh-Sei has redeeming qualities (it looks alright, the plot starts out somewhat intersting, etc), and people do like it. Nonetheless, this is simply not a very good show, and I recommend skipping it. Certainly don't blind buy it unless it's very cheap and you have a high tolerance for schlock.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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