Arjuna (anime)

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Anime television series
title Arjuna
Original title 地球 少女 ア ル ジ ュ ナ
transcription Chikyū Shōjo Arujuna
Country of production JapanJapan Japan
original language Japanese
year 2001
Studio Satelight
length 25 minutes
Episodes 13
genre Action series , drama , science fiction , magical girl
idea Shōji Kawamori
production Atsushi Yukawa, Fukashi Azuma, Hidetoku Itabashi, Minoru Takanashi
music Yoko Kanno
First broadcast January 9, 2001 - March 20, 2001 on TV Tokyo
German-language
first broadcast		 September 5, 2003 on VOX (Episode 1)
February 29 - April 4, 2004 on VIVA (complete)
synchronization

Arjuna ( jap. 地球少女アルジュナ , Chikyu shōjo Arujuna ., Dt "Earth Girls Arjuna") is a 13-part anime - television series in 2001.

The series is about a girl who is confronted with the ecological and social problems of modern society. The work can be classified into the genres action , drama , science fiction and magical girl .

action

The high school student Jūna ( 有 吉 樹 奈 , Ariyoshi Jūna ) dies in a motorcycle accident with her boyfriend Tokyo ( 大 島 時 夫 , Ōshima Tokyo ). On the way to the afterlife, she meets Chris Hawken ( ク リ ス ・ ホ ー ケ ン , Kurisu Hōken ), known as TI1 , who offers her the opportunity to go on living. For this she should work for the organization SEED, which fights against the Rāja. She is shown the future of the earth in which the environment has been completely destroyed and life has become impossible. The Rāja seem to be the cause of all of this and destroy civilization. Jūna receives a curved jewel from Chris , which attaches itself to her forehead. It synchronizes with the earth and thus gives it the power to fight against the Rāja. As Arjuna, Jūna becomes the incarnation of time .

Soon Jūna is supposed to use a bow and arrow against the Raaja for the first time, but she only succeeds with great effort and the help of Chris. Her skills enable her to see the world for what it is and she recognizes the destructive processes behind the consumer world. She is sent to the forest on her own to improve her skills, where she first desperately tries to survive. Soon Tokyo can find her and both find accommodation with an old man. This teaches them to understand and respect nature. Back in Kobe she got more and more into conflict with modern society and herself. Finally, Chris kept telling her that she shouldn't kill the Rāja.

Finally, due to an accident in a laboratory run by Tokyo's father, large amounts of hydrocarbon- decomposing microorganisms get into the water in Kobe and spread. The organisms were originally intended to be used to break down oil spills. Now they are threatening the energy supply of all of Japan and destroying plastics made from petroleum, so that public order soon collapses completely. Japan is then cut off from the outside world and the population suffers from famine and water scarcity. Finally, Jūna can recognize the true essence of the Rāja, they are the result of human pollution of the earth. Now they are threatening the people of Japan. However, in the last fight against the Rāja, Jūna realizes that they themselves are edible and can thus alleviate the misery of people.

Inspiration and themes

Many of the terms in the series are borrowed from Hinduism , such as the name Arjuna , a prince from Indian mythology, a disciple of the deity Krishna . Arjuna's protector Ashura, a demigod with demonic features, also comes from Hinduism. In the course of the series, various ecological and social problems are also addressed. It is also about the cycle of life and death .

production

The series was produced in 2001 by the Satelight studio, directed by Shōji Kawamori . The character design comes from Takahiro Kishida, the artistic directors were Dai Ohta, Masanobu Nomura and Masaru Ohta.

Computer animation is used extensively in the series, the rāja are animated with cel. Fast tracking shots often occur, for example in a motorcycle accident or encounter with the Rāja. Real film sequences are also used.

Publications

The series was broadcast from January 9 to March 27, 2001 on the Japanese television station TV Tokyo .

In Germany, the first episode of the series was broadcast on VOX on September 5, 2003 , with original Japanese sound and German subtitles. In 2004 the complete series followed on VIVA , which was completely dubbed in German. Further broadcasts on the channels VOX and Animax followed later . From December 2003 the anime was released on four DVDs by OVA Films in Germany. The DVDs were approved by the FSK for ages 16 and up.

Animax Asia aired the series in English and it was published by Bandai Entertainment in the US and Madman Entertainment in Australia . Dybex released the anime in French and Shin Vision in Italian. Animex also aired the series in Spanish and Portuguese in Latin America.

synchronization

The German dubbing was produced by brandt Film Berlin.

role Japanese speaker ( seiyū ) German speaker
Jūna Ariyoshi Mommy Higashiyama Julia Kaufmann
Tokyo Oshima Haruka Kudo Kim Hasper
Chris Hawken Kazuya Nakai Ozan Unal
Teresa Wong Akemi Okamura Martina Treger
Cindy Klein Atsuko Tanaka Andreschka Grossmann
Sayuri Shirakawa Aya Hisakawa Susanne Geier

music

The soundtrack was composed by Yōko Kanno . The lyrics of some pieces of music are Japanese, in other pieces their own "non-secular" language is used.

The main theme used was Mameshiba , sung by Maaya Sakamoto . Another theme is Early Bird sung by Chinatsu Yamamoto . Both titles underline the series in different variations and serve as both intro and end titles. With Sanctuary and Motor Bike by Sakamonto and Cloé by Yamamoto, both singers contributed further titles to the series.

reception

The specialist magazine Animania writes about one of the most ambitious series of its time for Arjuna. The anime is multi-layered and profound, the treatment of the destruction of the environment is a serious concern of the makers. The message of the series hardly leaves a viewer untouched, but it does not stay with the raised index finger, but solutions are also offered.

The animations are impressive and the interaction of the various techniques is smooth. The use of real scenes is revolutionary and underlines the relation to reality. The characters are lovingly created, even if Arjuna appears in bright colors as the reincarnation of time. The atmospheric, spherical background music reflects the series' closeness to earth.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Animania on the series, issue 12/2003, p. 28 ff.

Web links