Lady Soubi: Jyu Oh Sei

Jyu-Oh-Sei is the sort of anime that can easily impress those that would usually overlook it's premise as not for them. With a constant stream of surprises it is never boring; the loveable cast and plot is very well produced. With a number of elements conspiring to make it a success, Jyu-Oh-Sei is unfortunately the sort of anime to often overlooked due to brevity.

Jyu-Oh-Sei is an eleven episode anime directed by Hiroshi Nishikiori and produced by studio Bones, first airing in Japan on April thirteenth 2006. Based off of a manga series created by Natsumi Itsuki, Jyu-Oh-Sei has since been licensed for North America release by Funimation.

The plot is fairly simple for such an anime possessing such a complicated backstory. Humans have created their own set of plants named the Balkan Star System which is located a hundred and fifty light years from Earth. In this solar system two twins, Thor and Rai, live quietly on a colony called Juno until they come home one day to find their parents murdered and are quickly whisked away to the planet Chimaera, a prison planet. Soon they discover that the humans dropped here have been forced to become like animals to survive on a planet overrun with man eating plants.

The story itself is good however some of the scenes tends towards the over-dramatic and prove almost cringe worthy to watch as the emotion of the scene is torn away by some frankly terrible voice acting. The emotion isn’t something we’re allowed to dwell upon alot either, the feel of a scene often broken by a character saying something which completely destroys the emotional impact an event may have had.

The art and animation in Jyu-Oh-Sei is surprisingly detailed, containing a lot of well thought out backdrops and effects. Among these, even the plants are always animated beautifully in a way that really brings to life the creators imagining of the visuals. While the characters aren’t particularly complicated, most end up looking similar or acting the same, though it all seems to fit in well when all is considered.

The voice acting of Jyu-Oh-Sei is fairly well done, but the voice actors don’t seem to be able to properly convey the emotion intended of a scene. Instead, well conceived sad scenes contain unneeded screaming and generally loud overtones that tend to offset the emotional impact. Otherwise fairly well established and grounded, many scenes do succeed to some degree however.

In conclusion, Jyu-Oh-Sei has a lovely if not simplistic plot and very detailed art and scenery to well depict it. The voice acting does seem to often act to the detriment of the series however, though if one finds this aspect bearable the series as a whole is easily enjoyed. Well worth the watch with only eleven episodes in total, Jyu-Oh-Sei manages to create an acceptable and fast-paced plot, even able to subvert the possible issues of a time-skip found part way in.