Chikyuu Shoujo Arjuna

Juna Ariyoshi is an ordinary Japanese schoolgirl, who possesses a childlike curiosity and a strong admiration toward nature. One day, while on a trip with her boyfriend, Tokio Oshima, Juna dies from a motorcycle accident. However, she is given a chance to live by an individual named Chris Hawken. He offers her powers that make her the avatar of time; in exchange, she must fight to protect the Earth from evil forces called raaja, which are born out of the toxic pollution human beings have caused.

She soon discovers that this is no easy task. While trying to master her newfound powers, she must also seek answers to deep questions about the ways science and technology have taken away humans' primal and instinctive connections with nature. With the help of Chris, his assistant Cindy Klein, and a powerful international organization named SEED, it is up to Juna to overcome her fears and find a way to stop the raaja from destroying everyone and everything she cares for.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ariyoshi, Juna Main

Higashiyama, Mami Japanese

Hawken, Chris Main

Ueda, Yuuji Japanese

Oshima, Tokio Main

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Klein, Cindy Main

Shintani, Mayumi Japanese

Shirakawa, Hiroshi Supporting

Hirose, Masashi Japanese

Ooshima, Akio Supporting

Ishizuka, Unshou Japanese

Shirakawa, Kimitoshi Supporting

Uwagawa, Emi Japanese

Shirakawa, Yukari Supporting

Araki, Kae Japanese

Inshi Supporting

Otsuka, Chikao Japanese

Doujima Supporting

Akimoto, Yousuke Japanese

Takanashi, Minoru Producer

Yukawa, Jun Producer

Azuma, Fukashi Producer

Itabashi, Hidenori Producer

Reviews

Jun 28, 2024

DaxtotheMax

Recommended

I think this might be a special series.

It plays out similar to a mecha series which is understandable considering the creator worked on Macross and Transformers and is pretty much known for making mechas but if I pitched this series as that, you wouldn't be interested, would you?

If I pitched this as a magical girl series, you wouldn't either. So if I said it had an environmental message, you'd just cross it off the watchlist and move to the next one, right? Three strikes and you're out, just not your cup of tea. No, don't do that.

It was actually the start of the premise ... that got me to start it though, "Juna Ariyoshi is an ordinary Japanese schoolgirl, who possesses a childlike curiosity and a strong admiration toward nature. One day, while on a trip with her boyfriend, Tokio Oshima, Juna dies from a motorcycle accident." I thought it would be a little road trip journey type deal where the characters have to find themselves. And in a way, it is that but not at all how I expected.

The artistic values and animation are top notch, it's hard to believe this released in 2001 and I can't even imagine the budget it was given. That's actually what made me stay with that first episode because yeah, the plot was getting really weird but it was showing it in such a cool and unique way. The camera direction is on point, the music plays out right when it needs to. At times I could've mistaken it for a theatric release which is why it's so frustrating that it'sisn't an easy anime to find with a good quality. Even official stuff like Tubi only has it at 480p, so maybe the physical release is better but I wasn't shelling out as much as they were asking for it when it's just a plain dvd and not blu-ray or anything special. It definitely deserves a rerelease.

It shows where that budget went and where it bides its time to save it. The environmental messaging is extreme but it gives a raw point of view without shying away from it and tries to come up with a solution for coexistance. It's kind of like learning where your food comes from. Now I will warn you, it will get weird...like really weird. To the point where I'm not sure how they thought of this, put it into a series and everyone hopped on board and understood to make it happen. Makes me feel 5-brain by the time I'm finished with an episode and need a good while to ponder it and swallow its ideals.

Just to give an example, they show a birth, no, really, not even exaggerating that one. I learned afterwards that it was based on an Indian tale. It accomplishes a wholesome point of view that can really round out your perspective on life in a way. It's so close to being even better but I feel the Raaja are set as a mystery throughout the entire bit which makes a few of the characters come off as douchebags because they just whine and complain 'Why aren't you listening to me dunderhead, of course you develop the Raaja, the Raaja also develops you.' but to an average human being, they're not going to have any of this knowledge in the forefront of their minds.

When you expect fight sequences, it delivers but it winds itself down, trying to tell her not to fight, that isn't the solution and is somewhat the point of the anime, she has all these powers but what she chooses to use them on is violence when there are other solutions to the Raaja (monster) problem. So it's kind of annoying to have to wait until the last episode for that payoff which I think could've been done a little cleaner, maybe more of a struggle, like she wants to get along with them but they act so hostile. Or even make them represent the dark side of the world and how you can't just eradicate them, you have to take the good and the bad to have a whole world.

Cindi's character in particular has an interesting backstory but that's about it, if you subtract her from the story, I feel like it makes a little more sense as to why Juna would be so hesitant. I mean, nobody else would believe him so why should Juna? At the end, Juna realizes something that Cindi didn't know and if anything, I think her character should've at least followed that routine and made her a 'blind follower' that she has no idea why any of this is happening but she's doing what she's told anyway, would've made more sense as to the mystery element they try to incorporate too.

Other than that, an unforgettable anime that I've come to terms with and let swish around in my mind for a while before posting this. On that merit alone, I feel like I have to give it a 9. Would I watch it again? Probably not, I feel like that defeats the intent but I would be interested to introduce it to a friend and walk them through it...given that it's higher than 480p.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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May 3, 2022

Civilwarfare101

Mixed Feelings

I haven't been so conflicted watching an anime in a long while. The show is interesting at points and it can be thought provoking, but the whole story kind of just feels confused to me. It could be because it wasn't what I wanted it to be or that the first 2 episodes may have put my expectations out of whack but I was expecting this to be some kind of superhero globe trotting adventure show where Tokio, Juna and the SEED orangization go on adventures together defeating Raja and then some lesson and points about enviromentalism would be brought up while it was going ... on. I was expecting this to be some kind of monster of the week with an underlying over arching plot which would slowly reveal itself.

But it was ultimately a slice of life show with heavy enviromentalism themes with the show occasionally reminding you that Juna has superpowers. Juna would be struggling to live her day to day life and has that weird love triangle while problems around the world were happening and Seed was dealing with that. The latter was more interesting to me, and I care more about that because it felt bigger and more important then Juna's family problems or whether or not she still has the ability to eat "manufactured" food. I also got annoyed by the character of Chris and his endless philosophical ramblings and him constantly telling Juna that she "doesn't get it" throughout most of the show. The best way I can say it is, I wish the show had thought provoking themes and all that enviromentalism talk while also having a plot that was more engaging. Maybe I just wanted this show to be something like a cross between Blood Plus, Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex and Witch Hunter Robin but with heavy themes about how humanity treats the planet. I do feel being more like those shows could've quelled how lukewarm I am on the plot of this series overall.

I will admit, the OST and the dub did carry me through much of the show. I have a soft spot for the Ocean Group since back in the 00s, those guys were in a lot of animations and I get nostalgic listening to them. I always did like it when Shadowcat from X-Men Evolution pops up in anything.

Overall, this show was a weird experience, I can't decide I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would because it "subverted" my expectations or because the overall writing execution was sub par. It's alright, but I was very conflicted while watching and I probably only finished it at all was because I don't like leaving short anime series "unfinished".

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Mar 18, 2025

MrKuandohan

Not Recommended

I have been looking forward to this series for over 15 years. Shoji Kawamori directed, created, and wrote it. Yoko Kanno on the music? Just the key visual looks interesting. So I finally sat down to watch it… And I have a lot of things to say about this show. Not good things either. However, I don’t want to get into a scientific war over this series, so I will just write what you are to expect when you watch this series so you know if you are interested in it or not.

This series has really interesting, and well shot cinematography in most episodes. But ... especially the first few episodes. The music is obviously good, but I found that the sound effects often drowned out the evocative music, even during vocal songs. The main lead sounds like she’s never acted before, because her delivery is often over the top, or overly subdued. Her yelling comes off annoying like she doesn’t know why she’s yelling into the microphone (which happens a lot). The characters in this series are mostly selfish, have minimal growth, and cannot communicate correctly. A majority of the conflicts in this series could have been resolved with simple communication, even from Chris.

After I believe the first 2 episodes, the rest of the series is a collection of episodic tales about pseudo-scientific opinions. I truly me pseudo-scientific. Episodes about killing animals for food, using fertilizer on plants, having unprotected sex and abortion (the most juvenile episode by the way), living off of nature, using less medicine. I could go on. It kind of feels like a really opinionated snake oil salesman wrote this series who has no answers to his opinions. I wish I was kidding, but I am not. Each episode gets worse and worse as the show goes on and loses its focus by the end.

Arjuna had a lot of potential, but was wasted on the ramblings of preachy old men. Or, as I put it immediately after finishing the show, “Pseudoscience, propaganda written by a 13 year old who doesn't know how to communicate.” I feel bad for the entire team who produced this. It feels like a lot of talent went down the drain because of the awful writing of this series. Ironically, for how environmentally conscious this series tries to be, it doesn’t once bring up greenhouse gasses or carbon emissions. If you want to watch an entertaining film that talks about our environment, I recommend First Reformed. Please steer clear of this sad train wreck.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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