Line #63 Anime/EarthMaidenArjuna


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3	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arjuna_9929.jpg]]
4	[[caption-width-right:350:Why do you have to kill?]]
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6	''Earth Maiden Arjuna'' is an {{Anime}} written and directed by Shoji Kawamori and produced by Satelight and Bandai Visual. With a total of [[TwelveEpisodeAnime twelve episodes]] with an original run between January 9, 2001 - March 27, 2001 on TV Tokyo. One additional episode was included on the DVD but was included in subsequent reruns.
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8	The story follows Juna Ariyoshi, a Japanese high school girl chosen to be the ''Avatar of Time'' and entrusted with saving the dying Earth. Opening with her trip to the beach where an accident results in her death. As Juna's spirit leaves her body, Juna sees the dying Earth, [[GreenAesop the planet's suffering]] is visualized by [[BigCreepyCrawlies worm-like creatures]], the Raaja. A young boy named Chris appears before Juna and offers to save her life if she will help the planet, she agrees and is resurrected. The series chronicles Juna's attempts to save the planet with help from international organization SEED.
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10	Think ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' crossed with an existential discourse on human's role in nature [[note]] the combination of which makes for some ''very'' interesting viewing[[/note]], ''Film/AnInconvenientTruth'' and a ''lot'' of angst and {{UsefulNotes/Taoism}}. See also ''Anime/BlueGender'' for a similar series, but in the mecha genre.
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12	!!This anime provides examples of:
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14	* AnalogyBackfire: A very visual meta version of this trope. Throughout this series the immune system and internal environment of the human body is shown as analogous to the planet environment. This is something pointed out to Juna multiple times, but she never seems to put two and two together to realize what would happen if the environment got "[[ApocalypseHow sick]]."[[note]] No, of course we're not going to see the analogy of an aggressive inflammatory response where neutrophils and other leukocytes migrate to the site of infection, ingest and oxidize waste, incite rampant vascularization while destroying the architecture of the tissue site as the they get rid of infective material, and then the death and dispersal of the aforementioned cells...The fact that this ''isn't'' a case of {{metaphorgotten}} is rather disturbing.[[/note]]
15	* AuthorFilibuster: Chris has a checklist on {{UsefulNotes/Taoism}} and crosses subjects off the list everytime he opens his mouth.
16	* AuthorTract: WordOfGod is that this series expresses his ideas on several subjects, like, for example, natural farming and ecology.
17	* BewareTheNiceOnes: ''Don't'' mess with Chris- he may be polite, but he is still a powerful being.
18	* BigBad: The final episode reveals that [[spoiler:the {{mysterious\|Waif}} boy Chris [[TreacherousAdvisor who gave Juna her powers]]]] is the one summoning the [[BigCreepyCrawlies Raaja]] to [[WellIntentionedExtremist save the planet]] [[EcoTerrorist from human destruction]]. [[spoiler:Chris then proceeds to cause a mass blackout and nearly destroys Japan, forcing Juna to stop him and save her friends.]]
19	%%* BrattyHalfPint: Cindy.
20	%%* ClingyJealousGirl: Cindy towards Chris.
21	* ContemplateOurNavels: Most of the series is an existential discourse on nature and humanity.
22	* CrucifiedHeroShot: [[spoiler:Chris at the end of the series after being defeated, though he is [[WellIntentionedExtremist not exactly a hero]].]]
23	* CrypticConversation: Chris engages in this with Juna, which frustrates her to no end.
24	* EffortlessAmazonianLift: Arjuna can hold Tokio in her arms without even noticing the strain.
25	* FacialMarkings: Less a marking than an actual stone, Juna has a magatama on her forehead.
26	* GaiasLament[=/=]GaiasVengeance: The Raaja function as the embodiment of the suffering planet.
27	* GlobalWarming: Mentioned as a threat to the planet.
28	* GreenAesop: Human science and technology is fine as long as it doesn't get in the way of nature (e.g. cause excess pollution, non-biodegradable waste etc). If you try to alter the course of nature to fit human ends, nature will try to correct itself, [[GaiasVengeance which will not be fun]].
29	* HarmonyVersusDiscipline: Actively changing Nature to solve problems with Science only causes bigger and bigger problems.
30	* HumansAreTheRealMonsters:
31	** Befitting the GreenAesop, there are scenes where humanity at large is portrayed as either assholes or destructive ignoramuses. Mostly {{jerkass}}es. This even extends to SEED, the protectors of the environment, who are incredibly callous about how they treat Juna and Tokio. Moral of the story: Don't try to use [[MadScientist ridiculously unsafe and possibly malignant techniques]] to [[DontTouchItYouIdiot experiment with radioactive substances]].
32	** Towards the latter parts of the show, where [[spoiler:Raaja-infested Japan is quarantined]], it's hinted that the outside world eventually abandoned both the victims and the remnant government as a means for a cover-up. Of course, Arjuna isn't pleased in the slightest.
33	* HumongousMecha: The Earth Guardian Ashura. Near the end of the series, it ends up moving somewhere faster than 16,000 miles an hour.
34	* InHarmonyWithNature: The point of the series is for Juna to become this.
35	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Cindy may be a BrattyHalfPint, but she does care for Chris.
36	* LetsGetDangerous: SEED thought Juna was an incompetent high school girl who could be easily managed. [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter And then they made her mad]].
37	* LonelyRichKid: [[spoiler:Tokio, who’s father just gave him material things and thought that was sufficient to form a bond, since that is how his father raised him.]]
38	* LuddWasRight: Downplayed; quite a bit of technology is used for human gain at the expense of the environment, but modern civilization as a whole is not shown as being evil, and the BigBad [[spoiler:Chris]] is an EvilLuddite who's EvilPlan to use the [[BigCreepyCrawlies Raaja]] to [[spoiler:destroy modern Japanese civilization]] is shown to be exactly as harmful and dangerous as would logically be expected.
39	* MagicalGirlWarrior: With a GreenAesop.
40	* MamaBear: ''Don't'' threaten Juna's friends, family, or country. If you are alive after having completed the actual threat, you will [[UnstoppableRage live to regret it.]]
41	* MessianicArchetype: Chris, a blonde boy bathed in light and wearing all white who serves as the messenger of the planet, [[spoiler:but he turns out to be a DarkMessiah]]. Then, [[spoiler:Juna herself becomes this in his place by saving Japan and the planet from his mad plan]].
42	%%* MysteriousWaif: Chris is a rare male example.
43	%%* NatureSpirit: Juna herself, and Chris.
44	* NoPreggerSex: Inverted with squicky results in [[spoiler:Cindy’s backstory]].
45	* OneWingedAngel: The BigBad [[spoiler:Chris]] fuses with several Raaja to become a {{Kaiju}}-sized, black, shadowy monstrosity that is MultiArmedAndDangerous.
46	%%* PsychicPowers: Juna, Chris, and Cindy have this.
47	* RageAgainstTheMentor: Juna does this a lot due to Chris's love of being cryptic. It doesn't help that, when she actually takes his statements at face value, he gets mad at her. [[spoiler:In the final episode, the relationship turns to outright antagonism as his true intentions are revealed.]]
48	* RuleOfSymbolism: The communion scene at the end after the [[spoiler: HeroicSacrifice]], just to stress the religious parable. Funnily enough, the symbology is Christian, while the rest of the anime is a Taoist tract (with a heroine named after a Hindu hero and lots of Hindu imagery scattered across the series, for good measure).
49	* ScienceIsBad: Downplayed. Technological civilization is not an intrinsically bad concept, but it will have dire consequences if humans keep using artifacts and processes that are harmful to Earth's ecology. Devastating storms, droughts, infectious disease and the poisoning of the human body are represented through a more immediate, pro-active threat in form of invisible worm {{Kaiju}}s. On the other hand, the series rejects a scientific solution to the GreenAesop, and argues that trying will just make things worse.
50	%%* SekaikeiGenre
51	* SinkOrSwimMentor: Chris is rather tight-lipped on the subject of exactly what Juna's supposed to be doing or how she should accomplish it. He usually just chucks her into the action and tells her to figure it out herself, because that's [[TheOnlyWayTheyWillLearn the only way she will learn]].
52	* SpaceWhaleAesop: If you screw up the environment, then giant worms will rise up from the ocean, rampage across the Earth, and... [[spoiler: provide the starving people with an alternate food source]].
53	** Alternatively, if you attempt to use science and technology to fix or improve the environment, [[spoiler: giant worms will rise up from the ocean, rampage across your country, and leave your modern technology-driven civilization in ruins]]. [[BrokenAesop Thus the moral of the story is]], [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons never try]].
54	* SquatsInAName: All the Hinduist name-dropping and symbolism is just that: this Arjuna and the Hindu hero of the ''Baghavad Gita'' share nothing but being archers.
55	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodSandwich: The Meriken burgers that Juna tries and fails to eat repeatedly.
56	* TransformationSequence: Complete with StockFootage, although it only gets used a few times.
57	* WrongGeneticSex: One of the female ecology activists has this, with the implication that it was the result of the polluted environment.

Context Anime / EarthMaidenArjuna