It's 2010 AD. Nature has destroyed a good portion of civilization as we know it. To maintain order, society is segregated into the rich Logos and the miserably poor Levinas, and the law is enforced by the militaristic upper class. The Logos enjoy easy life in relatively nice areas, while the impoverished masses of the Levinas struggle to survive in the slums, aka everywhere else.
The Government has Phantom, a special forces division that uses mechas called Gladiators. They specialize in putting down rebellions and generally being jerkasses.
Two guys and a girl are on the run from the evil government, in the process participating in mecha battles and blowing stuff up. Jo and Jin are former Phantom members who appear to be polar opposites in personality. Sana, the mysterious pink-haired girl, is somehow linked to Phantom.
This anime provides examples of:
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: A post-apocalyptic future in which geography and humanity have been reduced by some cataclysmic event. Brutal futuristic police states that put down the poor with mecha. Violent forces in pursuit of a young girl of unknown but obviously immense importance. The mechas are powered by the souls of little children.
- Duel to the Death: Jin versus Jo, at the end - though like most fights in Innocent Venus, it's short, sharp, and very one sided.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Jin, whose death is apparently caused by pushing his mecha's power too far, which provokes the children's souls in his Gladiator. Similarly with Drake, whose own gladiators turn on him and kill him. This is something of a theme in the series, as a form of Laser-Guided Karma for those who have implanted children's brains to drive their war machines.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Jin managed to fool most people, including Jo, who seems to have been his friend for years. Though since he fools most the audience too (but for the obscure spoiler opening there would be no clue at all), Jo and Sana can probably be excused for thinking he was a nice guy.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Toraji takes out a bunch of mooks armed with assault rifles with a katana. In approximately 3 seconds.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Jin and Drake, both killed by the war-machine project they caused so much suffering for.
- Nice Guy: Subverted. Jin acts really sweet to Sana, before a complete Face–Heel Turn in which he appears to have been a bastard from the start.
- Spoiler Opening: Somewhat. Jin's segment strongly suggests illusion and deception. Hmm.
- Tarot Motifs: Qing Ling carries around a tarot deck, often used to foreshadow the episode's events Death, The Moon, and The World. He also uses the cards themselves to kill people.
- Villainous Breakdown: Jin, mostly as a result of getting his brain fried and realizing that all his efforts were for nothing.
