ike the protagonists of Excel Saga and Yu Yu Hakusho, the lead character of Arjuna is killed in a vehicular accident within the first few minutes of her story. But where Excel's death was comic, and Yusuke's death in Yu Yu Hakusho was mostly a plot device, Juna's demise feels like a tiny tragedy, a burning indication of just how short and insignificant a human life can be. Floating invisibly above her own failing body, Juna fights to communicate with her friend Tokio, who is begging her not to die. Then her heart stops
beating, and her spirit is ripped from the earth.
Hanging in space, Juna has a vision of a writhing monster curling around the globe. She is suddenly in the midst of a raging fire, a flood, a field of crops being sprayed with poison. She sees death and decay and pollution. And a voice says, "I've finally found you. The one who will save all life on this
planet." The speaker is a glowing, floating boy named Chris, who offers to restore Juna's mortal life if she will commit to fighting the Raaja, the threatening tentacle monsters, which he says will destroy the Earth. Juna wavers and worries, but before she knows it she's alive again, and while Tokio, her horrified mother and some baffled hospital staffers look on, she runs from the emergency room to board a helicopter, so Chris and his paramilitary team can deliver her to a nuclear plant where a Raaja is running wild.
When she acts confidently and bravely, Juna manifests extraordinary powers, changing into a glowing girl of energy and flying rings around the snakelike Raaja. Her archery hobby begins to pay off as she manifests a mystical bow and attacks her enemy. But when she gives in to her fear and confusion, her
powers weaken and the gigantic helper she instinctively calls to her side begins to do as much damage as the Raaja. And Chris, for all his promising words, is significantly less than helpful at guiding and teaching her.
One big flaw, but many compensations
Plotwise, the opening episodes of Arjuna (aka Earth Girl Arjuna) are somewhat frustrating. Chris and his helpers (particularly the child telepath Cindy, who, as Chris' protective, unfriendly companion and Juna's main persecutor, is remarkably like Vision of Escaflowne's Merle, except without the pointy ears and tail) are abusive and cold to Juna, perpetually criticizing her for faults they will not explain. The jealous Cindy repeatedly says that an "ugly girl" like Juna couldn't possibly be the Avatar of Time they're looking for, while Chris simply calls Juna "a fool" over and over, while shrugging off her questions and ignoring her attempts to address her mistakes. Eventually, he tells her that her failures stem from the impurities in her "filthy" body, and says she needs to be cleansed. So his people callously dump her in a remote mountain forest without food, water,
shelter or explanations.
This cycle of abuse, unanswered questions and unaddressed issues gets annoying, but it's about the only problem with an otherwise standout series. Writer/director Shoji Kawamori and justly celebrated Cowboy Bebop composer Yoko Kanno have collaborated before, on Vision of Escaflowne and Macross Plus, with unforgettable results, and Arjuna lives up to their previous work together. In particular, Macross Plus's glowing, psychedelic, musically shaped visions of artificial intelligence Sharon Apple set the stage for much of Arjuna's dazzling style.
Kawamori fills these otherworldly but action-filled episodes with superbly animated high-concept images: Juna "swims" through the rippling air in the hospital, gets sucked violently away from the world upon her death and experiences eerie waking nightmares during her walkabout in the forest. Kawamori approaches events from strange angles and through distorted lenses, sprinkling even the simplest scenes with impressionistic shots of characters' surroundings. The result is fragile and unsettling but almost cosmically powerful, giving a holistic impression of those characters as a small,
fragile part of their environment, instead of its center. Kanno, meanwhile, brings her usual wide variety of sounds and styles to bear on maintaining the series' uncanny dreamlike quality. Annoyances aside, Arjuna is frequently breathtaking; it tends to be too rough on its protagonist, but still highly rewarding for its viewers.
In spite of the repetition, the script does have its high points. For instance, an early conversation between Juna and Tokio, in which they talk casually about archery and birds, neatly captures the strange combination of timeless promise and frustrated boredom that comes with being a teenager. And it's nice for once to see an anime couple that pulls together in a crisis instead of angsting uselessly over each other.
— Tasha
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