Gzerble

Jyu Oh Sei is surprisingly decent. It is a solid mix of soft and hard science fiction, taking influences from Lord of the Flies and Starship Troopers (the book, and not the action bits) more than from other anime. What makes it pard hard scifi is the reliance on the world to create the plot. What makes it soft scifi is the way the characters stand on their own and are not just guides to the story but rather the story is about them specifically. Usually, this hybrid approach backfires spectacularly as they are rather contradictory in style.

Perhaps it would have been a more daring choice to go the hard scifi route like Shinsekai Yori or Humanity Has Declined, or more coherent if fully soft like Code Geass or Steins;Gate. It's easy to rip it to shreds by looking at the many half-measures forced due to this choice, but those choices would have left Jyu Oh Sei lacking in a unique feel. That unique feel, taking a lot of Lord of the Flies as source material is an incredible strength. Due to the harsh conditions of the world, men are forced into constant fights for dominance, women take the traditional child-rearing approach, and it is shown through the characters' attitudes.

Unfortunately, at only eleven episodes, Jyu Oh Sei doesn't manage to fullfil its lofty ambitions. The world isn't completely formed and the characters don't get much in the way of development. Still, it has some interesting characters and they follow a strict "show, don't tell" guideline to understanding them (which gives you ample material to think about their motivations). The world is definitely deeper than that of the strict soft-scifi works, but the plot moves forward at a brisk pace, not giving the viewer time to digest the full impact of what happened.

My biggest qualm with the series is that it chooses to resolve everything in a clean cut manner. Not only that, it gets melodramatic and over the top. This undermines a lot of the hard scifi approach, but for eleven episodes of length it is kind of unavoidable. That is the true tragedy of this series, as it could have been that much better with at least a couple of more episodes.

Writing (Story and Characters):

As mentioned in the overview, the hybrid approach to writing this series is all but impossible to pull off in such a short series. You can point out the technical flaws in both writing and characterization within Jyu Oh Sei with ease. This of course misses the inherent strength and unique feel that this type of writing creates. The biggest flaw of the writing is that the way the pacing is at times forced due to the short length. Even the time-skip doesn't manage to salvage this.

Like the classic hard scifi approach, the plot is a slave to the wrold of Jyu Oh Sei. Unfortunately, the story remains underdeveloped for the grand ambition of both creating a world and giving the character arcs to the depth they need. The world is definitely not your cookie-cutter stuff, and the plot, while it goes through the motions necessary, is not quite the standard stuff (until the final couple of episodes).

Discecting the characters is tough. There is a clear characterization for most of them, though some of the side characters are definitely a bit on the flat side. Perhaps the biggest flaw is that character growth is very limited. What does shine is how characters are a part of Jyu Oh Sei's world, and have a distinct set of priorities which does not stay in line with the norm. There could have been more space for development, but the cast is well rounded.

Really though, the story and characters both create and are a part of the world. Jyu Oh Sei bites off more than it can chew, and the writing suffers for it by having to cut corners. And yet, criticizing the ambition when it creates a special feeling that is outside of the norm is hypocritical when it is sucg a good thing.

Art (Animation and Sound):

Critically, the artwork does a good job at what it sets out to do. Jyu Oh Sei has a very old-school feel to the art, and while this is usually hit or miss, for the large part this is a hit. There are technical issues, but overall it helps give an out-of-the-norm feel which manages to match up with the writing very well. That being said, the flaws are noticeable.

Visually, the world of Jyu Oh Sei is brought to life through great use of backgrounds and clever palette use. The character designs are workable but not excellent, and there are occasional issues with movement. And yet, for the most part the movement is just great, if a bit mediocre in some of the action-heavy scenes. Luckily, this isn't an action-heavy piece, so this does not detract much.

A great soundtrack could have made Jyu Oh Sei a lot better, but instead we get an efficiently used if mediocre one. The opening theme is a particularly repugnant Backstreet Boys ripoff which would make all but the least discerning listener cringe. The voice acting is rather decent in tone, but doesn't always synchronize flawlessly with the animation. The special effects do their job, and are virtually unnoticeable which is exactly how you'd like them for something lacking in artistic license with the video.

Jyu Oh Sei has a world that is brought to life by the artwork, and by that the artwork completes the most important task it has. There are technical flaws all over the place, but the animation and sound together help give a unique feel to the series. But while the art manages to execute an ambitious piece of writing, it does not quite elevate it to the point where the writing issues matter less.

Overall:

Honestly, Jyu Oh Sei is a good series. It is recommended to science fiction fans who are bored of cookie-cutter approaches. Still the issues with the series can't bring me to say that it is great; just solid yet unique.