Rating: 
Summary: "I will save your life, just this once"
Review: Juna Ariyoshi and her boyfriend Tokio take off on a motorcycle to watch the sun set. A typical, romantic act that suddenly takes a wrong turn. An accident brings Juna (Jun) to a hospital where she dies. Or rather, she almost dies. But instead, a voice offers her another chance at life if she will accept the mantle of avatar of time. Suddenly, she can be Earth Maiden Arjuna - named after an Indian god with a famous bow - Gandiva. Her task - to save the earth from it's destruction due to human thoughtlessness.Jun gets no time to slip into the part. Rising from what was to be her deathbed she meets Chris, her savior, a paralyzed boy. She is given the Drop of Time (an ancient Japanese artifact that also put in an appearance in 'Blue Seed'), and is thrust into battle with a raja - a spirit created by the poisoning of the earth. A nuclear reactor is under attack, and if it falls, Tokyo will become a wasteland. Jun must struggle with her own fear, Chris's cryptic explanations, and his irritating telepathic assistant. In many ways, the raja is the least of her problems. When Chris decides that the problem is her own impurities, she is thrust into the forest on a survival exercise that will most likely kill her. Previously only Buffy had days like this. The series combines a very strong ecological message with the growing pains of a teen-age girl who has yet to figure out what she wants from life and love. And then throws in a good-sized dollop of mysticism. I found it enjoyable, except for the perpetual complaining about Juna's performance. Nobody seems very sympathetic about her own feelings and fears. Chris sometimes reminds me of a punishing parent and someone who is trying to save the earth. Thanks to good illustration and animation, as well as an interesting story line, this first DVD is a success. Not to mention the score by Yoko Kanno. But I do think there is room for improvement, both in Jun's characterization and Chris's habit of lecturing. I agree with the intended message, but I am not entirely comfortable with the relationships being established. Hopefully, this will get better as Jun gains in strength.
Rating:
Summary: "I will save your life, just this once"
Review: Juna Ariyoshi and her boyfriend Tokio take off on a motorcycle to watch the sun set. A typical, romantic act that suddenly takes a wrong turn. An accident brings Juna (Jun) to a hospital where she dies. Or rather, she almost dies. But instead, a voice offers her another chance at life if she will accept the mantle of avatar of time. Suddenly, she can be Earth Maiden Arjuna - named after an Indian god with a famous bow - Gandiva. Her task - to save the earth from it's destruction due to human thoughtlessness. Jun gets no time to slip into the part. Rising from what was to be her deathbed she meets Chris, her savior, a paralyzed boy. She is given the Drop of Time (an ancient Japanese artifact that also put in an appearance in 'Blue Seed'), and is thrust into battle with a raja - a spirit created by the poisoning of the earth. A nuclear reactor is under attack, and if it falls, Tokyo will become a wasteland. Jun must struggle with her own fear, Chris's cryptic explanations, and his irritating telepathic assistant. In many ways, the raja is the least of her problems. When Chris decides that the problem is her own impurities, she is thrust into the forest on a survival exercise that will most likely kill her. Previously only Buffy had days like this. The series combines a very strong ecological message with the growing pains of a teen-age girl who has yet to figure out what she wants from life and love. And then throws in a good-sized dollop of mysticism. I found it enjoyable, except for the perpetual complaining about Juna's performance. Nobody seems very sympathetic about her own feelings and fears. Chris sometimes reminds me of a punishing parent and someone who is trying to save the earth. Thanks to good illustration and animation, as well as an interesting story line, this first DVD is a success. Not to mention the score by Yoko Kanno. But I do think there is room for improvement, both in Jun's characterization and Chris's habit of lecturing. I agree with the intended message, but I am not entirely comfortable with the relationships being established. Hopefully, this will get better as Jun gains in strength.
Rating: 
Summary: A much needed animation...
Review: This animation was like a breath of fresh air. It is a serious feature, little comedy to be found here but it handles the subject without being overly sickeningly melodramatic. The score by the always fabulous Kanno Yoko is just amazing, perfectly fitting the action in the show. The CG is brilliantly blended with traditional animation, making this series very visually attractive. I have heard criticism that it is overly pushy of the envionmental message, but I think it handles it just perfectly. Its an animation that most of the family can watch together. I also liked, just as a side note, main character Juna's voice alot. Not too girly or fake, just natural.
Rating:
Summary: A much needed animation...
Review: This animation was like a breath of fresh air. It is a serious feature, little comedy to be found here but it handles the subject without being overly sickeningly melodramatic. The score by the always fabulous Kanno Yoko is just amazing, perfectly fitting the action in the show. The CG is brilliantly blended with traditional animation, making this series very visually attractive. I have heard criticism that it is overly pushy of the envionmental message, but I think it handles it just perfectly. Its an animation that most of the family can watch together. I also liked, just as a side note, main character Juna's voice alot. Not too girly or fake, just natural.
Rating:
Summary: I'm speechless.
Review: This anime is one of the best "serious" movies I've ever seen. I'm usually in into action/comedy type of anime but this takes the cake. I'll give a short synopsis since everybody else whose written a review gave one already. So, I'll just give you my opinions and what I liked about the anime.
If you seen Macross or Escaflowne, this movie is similiar in terms of how the audience would react to it because it is a great emotional tugger. However, unlike the other two anime MOVIES (series), this one is a lot longer in terms that it is an anime series and it develops the characters a little more than Macross and Macross Plus.
I guess many people can identify themselves with Juna. The director portrays her as an ordinary girl (in the beginning until you are shown her potential) who just does things like everyone does, what they feel or like to do. However, her life is a routine even though she has a boyfriend. An event, her death, changes her life and she is "recruited" by an organization called S.E.E.D. and becomes the Avatar (incarnation or embodiment) of Earth. What is interesting is that she is though she is the Avatar of Earth, she is filled with the "impurities" that distorts her connection to it. The theme seems to be how humanity is "a plague" (not trying to steal from The Matrix) that causes these "demons" to appear to run rampant, destroying the Earth. I'd have to admit that the storyline is really well done in terms of character development and how it flows. Unlike Escaflowne the Movie, it doesn't jump around as much though you still get the urgency for her to become the Avatar.
Overall, this anime is great. The graphics are the same as Now and Then, Here and There and the fight scenes are pretty cool. Though they don't have guns blazing and all, it is still pretty cool. What I really liked was the music. It fits the mood and theme of the movie. I'd recommend this anime to add to your collection. I can't wait until the next set in the series comes out.
Rating:
Summary: Great Ecology Story
Review: This does look like an average show. The Main character Juna dies in the first episode. From her death she sees a vision of the distant future when man becomes extinct and then sees the cries if the Earth from these creatures called the Raaja. The Raaja are difficult to descibe. They appear in places there the enviroment has been altered where the Earth would have difficulty to heal itself. In other words, these are areas that are heavily polluted. Juna must become the Avatar of time who must fight the Raaja, but not kill them. Why is she not allowed to kill them, I don't think we will get to that on this DVD. The extras on the DVD are short and do satisfy my curiousity. You will meet 2 of the voice actors. The voice actors are Brad Swaile and Maggie O'Hara. They don't have very much to say, but it is interesting to see the faces behind the voices. One comment I got from a friend is that this is going to be the Japanimation version of Captain Planet. I can see where he can see that. You do see areas with high pollution, the death insects suffer as we spray crops, drought in some parts of the world, amongst other natural disasters that we see which are common on the news today. Juna the main character is in a Neon color which is just as bright as Captain Planet. There is some excellent CG(computer graphics).whenever the Raaja come into being. This is a good show visually. I am thinking of getting this show anyway for the visually stunnung CG.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning (note, based on Japanese track)
Review: When I first originally heard of this anime I just saw a picture of Juna in a costume and the words "Score by Yoko Kanno" "Creators of Escaflowne and Macross Plus" Knowing that I absolutely loved those two series and I love Yoko Kanno's music, and she scores great series/movies 99% of the time, I asked for the first volume for Christmas. At first I wasn't sure what I thought about this show. But when I watched it a second time I started to fall in love with it. I wasn't quite sure what it was that made the series so great, but as I watch more and more episodes I begin to understand. This series takes things on a somewhat more philosophical way. It covers serious issues, most of them ecological or enivormental, but there are a few small ones that are brought up later, abortion being one of them. The animation is absoluetly gorgeous also, using full potential of computer animation that is being used in the newer animes. The character styles are somewhat symplistic, but eye appealing in their own way. Bandai offers meager portions of extras, but it's not so bad. With interviews and a glossary it holds it's own. The musical score is absolutely beautiful and gorgeous, as one were to expect from Yoko Kanno, and the voice acting is very well done with seasoned Japanese voice actors that the otaku will recognize(Van/Kyo (Escaflowne/Fruits Basket) anyone? >^^<) Overall the series is very well done, and I highly recommend it. It comes across with messages that make you ponder over them after viewing the episodes. Not only that, but they're real life issues, that you can relate to in your very own life. The characters are real... 3-d if you will, with emotions, feelings, and pain, and it is far, far, from the magical girl anime series I initially thought it to be.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning (note, based on Japanese track)
Review: When I first originally heard of this anime I just saw a picture of Juna in a costume and the words "Score by Yoko Kanno" "Creators of Escaflowne and Macross Plus" Knowing that I absolutely loved those two series and I love Yoko Kanno's music, and she scores great series/movies 99% of the time, I asked for the first volume for Christmas. At first I wasn't sure what I thought about this show. But when I watched it a second time I started to fall in love with it. I wasn't quite sure what it was that made the series so great, but as I watch more and more episodes I begin to understand. This series takes things on a somewhat more philosophical way. It covers serious issues, most of them ecological or enivormental, but there are a few small ones that are brought up later, abortion being one of them. The animation is absoluetly gorgeous also, using full potential of computer animation that is being used in the newer animes. The character styles are somewhat symplistic, but eye appealing in their own way. Bandai offers meager portions of extras, but it's not so bad. With interviews and a glossary it holds it's own. The musical score is absolutely beautiful and gorgeous, as one were to expect from Yoko Kanno, and the voice acting is very well done with seasoned Japanese voice actors that the otaku will recognize(Van/Kyo (Escaflowne/Fruits Basket) anyone? >^^<) Overall the series is very well done, and I highly recommend it. It comes across with messages that make you ponder over them after viewing the episodes. Not only that, but they're real life issues, that you can relate to in your very own life. The characters are real... 3-d if you will, with emotions, feelings, and pain, and it is far, far, from the magical girl anime series I initially thought it to be.
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