Stormy_77

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 intoa 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.

Beatnik

Jyu Oh Sei has stupid names for characters like Thor, Odin, and Zagi of Iliad, but if you can get past that ridiculous attempt at symbolism, and other miscellaneous missteps, you'll hopefully find yourself entertained by this fast paced epic adventure. On a colony planet far from Earth, two brothers stumble upon their murdered parents and are knocked out by gas. They wake up on a planet loaned from whoever built the sets for King Kong and Little Shop Of Horrors. That's right; the jungle tries to kill you every five minutes! Who killed their parents? Why were they sent to a cruel planetpopulated by miscreants in tribes who battle each other for supremacy? How can you get off a planet that's controlled in a dastardly manner that the agents of the Matrix would approve? More importantly, is this damn genre-juggling show worth a watch? Yes it is, and the reveal which propels the story into a completely different direction is excellent. What we get up to that is decent animation, pretty engaging world design and plotlines that sci-fi fans will dig, and that sense of epicness which comes along with a tale that follows a character over a period of years. With Jyu Oh Sei there's this feeling that you're watching something different from the norm, even though nothing about this production is pioneering in any way at all. I think this refreshing feeling has to do with the fact that the source of the story is from a short manga rather than one that went on endlessly, and that the production crew did a good job delivering it to the small screen. Maybe that in itself is rare these days? The bad guys in this show don’t even have tiny irises! Kudos. There are miscellaneous flaws as mentioned above, like a love triangle that feels tacked on (aren't they all?), generic narrative clichés that you've seen a million times before and wish you'd never see again, but they're just little bumps in the road, nothing to dampen the parade. The core concept driving this show, that of the consequences of living in a dog-eat-dog world, fighting to survive for a tangible reason, and the relationship between you and your less-than-spectacular twin brother, are however compelling enough to make you forgive any clichéd moments that pop up. Jyu Oh Sei breezes along thanks to its 11 episode length; because it’s a successful adaptation and not the insipid tailor-made trash of a TV writer. The soundtrack from the superb-as-always Hajime Mizoguchi is the final dressing on this dessert and stays with you long after you witness the last episode.