Innocent Venus

Innocent Venus is a very underrated, largely forgotten about series. Such a shame, as it's an exceptionally written, immensely satisfying production.

We're introduced - in the beginning - to a shady duo accompanied by a young girl and a troublesome boy, who are on the run from a roster much larger and much more powerful than themselves. Innocent Venus starts off a little cliche, and occasionally fails to avoid banality, but as the plot progresses it becomes more complex, exciting and unconventional. It presents audiences with gleefully absorbing questions and defining plot twists, with a satisfying climax and ample pace.

Despite fairly commonplace archetypes, the characters breath ... a lot of life into the series. They invigorate the plot; their interactions and motivations keep you interested and guessing. Jin and Jo's relationship is especially thrilling to watch unravel. Change any of the characters and dare I say, the series would loose a little steam. The characters are written, animated, developed and voiced very effectively and above all else, they're memorable.

The animation and art is - for the most part - extremely absorbing and well presented. Certain elements (such as the antagonists mecha-like machines) have had CG treatment, however. As a result, they don't blend particularly well with their surroundings. Nevertheless, the animation is very fluid and the more traditionally drawn characters, backgrounds and objects are crisp and detailed. Furthermore, the action sequences are compelling and well choreographed.

The music isn't incredibly memorable, but does contain a couple of stand-out tracks. There's a beautifully composed recurring piano piece, which becomes somewhat of a focus in the series. However, the sound department don't particularly push themselves; they do a sufficient job.

In conclusion, Innocent Venus is a thoroughly compelling series, with a captivating story and characters you actually care about. It's a particularly well written production, with multiple strong episodes and stand-out segments. It has become somewhat of a forgotten about series, which is a mighty shame. It isn't an anime that goes above and beyond, but it is nevertheless entirely worth watching and very deserving of praise.

Innocent venus is in my list of favourite animes forever. I thoroughly enjoyed it, mainly because I was hooked to the storyline right the way through. Full of twists and turns, I liked the way it wasn't exactly "predictable" . The series is short, doesn't drag on, but gives you plenty of time to "care" about the characters.
I watched this series in Japanese, and I thought the voice acting was fairly well done, and graphically it was good, however I felt that the intergration of the computer effects on the mecha used could have been more seamless, because when there was great use of ... computers, it was painfully obvious.
The things I like most about Innocent venus is the music and the originality. The opening them "Noble Roar" I think is extremely addictive, and Sana's piano piece is absolutely gorgeous. Chraracter's could've been more original, but otherwise I thought it was a very original series, and thoroughly enjoyable.

Innocent Venus is a series I heard about a while back and I was pretty excited by the first episode. I was not expecting anything groundbreaking, but I was impressed by the visual panache and overall feel of the show. As it turns out, it is one of those series that starts off strong, and then loses its drive, only to pick it back up again in the final stretch. The problem is, by the time it starts to pick up the broken pieces of itself, it is a little too late to salvage the overall product. As rare as it is for me to ... say this, I think this series would have been very well served to be even one episode longer, as the end feels like a mad dash to right the wrongs of the middle of the series.

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Story: 3

Let us face it: there is nothing groundbreaking about the story in Innocent Venus at all, nor is the writing particularly strong. In falling to so many cliches and failing to really get beyond them, the story of Innocent Venus really drags the rest of the series down. The plot twist of the series, which could have been a very high point--and still, to some extent, manages to be--is so forcefully pushed onto the audience it loses a lot of its weight. Also, though perhaps it seems odd to mention the opening and ending animations here, they actually hint heavily at the plot twist, and raise suspicion artificially in the early stages of the show. Had it not been for the opener and closer, I would not have been waiting for the plot twist from the earliest moments of the series, and, man, would it have been a lot more impressive. I normally ignore those animations for the purposes of a review, but in such a case when they actually negatively affect the series I felt it should be mentioned. Also, the sub-plots, particularly the ones that are the focus of much of the middle portion of the series, are simply abominable, and at times make the series nigh unwatchable. I can appreciate their attempt to diversify the story, but in the execution it fell off horribly.


Character: 6

In general, the characters in Innocent Venus can be described in one word: bland. At least, pretty much every character aside from Sana, Jin, and Jo fit this description. Mostly the cast is made up of flat characters whose entire character is established within a few moments of them being on screen, and typically stick close to basic archetypes, deviating ever so slightly from time to time. However, the relationship between Sana, Jin, and Jo, offers an interesting dynamic which is really one of the major strong points of the show. However, Jo is a weak link in this chain, his reticence a great impediment to any development they might have given him, and even Jin suffers from some drastic changes that really make him a completely different character. Sana is certainly a strong point, her girlish nature amusingly and dramatically at odds with the events occurring all around her. When the three's relationship is at center stage, the show generally flourishes, but when it takes a side seat to the secondary characters and various sub-plots, it is not a pretty sight to behold. And, while the characters design is not completely without merit, the secondary characters really get shafted in this department.


Animation: 6

Right in the first episode Innocent Venus impresses with its animation. The art itself looks great, and is very expressive. The character designs are interesting without being absurd, and everything moves about smoothly and naturally. Though it begins on a very high note, it begins to taper off noticeably rather quickly, and only rises to its former greatness in short spikes until the very end. Early on the action sequences will take you by storm, but in the middle of the series they serve merely as vehicles from one weak plot point to another, and all sense of drama and impact are lost to extensive use of shortcuts and a great deal of action taking place off screen. The 3d models used for the mechs look simple and out of place amidst the sharp characters and the deep landscapes, looking more like plastic models than dangerous weapons. In short, when the series shines, it's an intense, piercing experience, but more often than not it loses that and comes off weakly. During the majority of the middle portion of the series, in particular, production values fall to great depths, and at times it seems as if there is no salvaging it--and, indeed, this section does drag the entire series down a great deal, making what could have been a very good series into one that is merely okay. Especially bad are the naval battles, which run the gamut from unwatchable to simply bad, and are full of the sort of pseudo-military jargon I think everyone has come to expect from action series. Unfortunately, these battles have none of the other battles' flair or style, and are stale even compared the most perfunctory ground battle.


Sound: 6

Now, I will be the first to admit that soundtracks can be too overbearing, and dominate a scene to the extent that you sometimes wonder why they bothered with the animation. Innocent Venus generally takes it to the other extreme. Most of the music in this series is so subdued as to be completely unnoticeable, occasionally flaring up into existence to nudge a scene in the right direction. Thus, the soundtrack is not bad, per se, and certainly has its place in the series, but a little more weight would have been a good thing. At times this is not the case, primarily in one of two instances: piano pieces, which hold a fairly important place in the story, and during action sequences, during both of which the soundtrack really shines. One thing that can be said for the soundtrack throughout most of the series--certain sections in the middle the most notable exception--is that it is timed very well to what is happening on screen, and never leaves a sour taste in your mouth. However, even this trait suffers in the middle portion, unfortunately, the only thing not noticeably taking a hit being the voice-acting. On that note, the voice-acting is almost universally decent, but--aside from a few instances and Sana's seiyuu Nazuka Kaori--never impressive in any sense. However, because the seiyuu for Sana does such a good job in expressing her character and providing most of the fun in the series, and because she is present throughout much of the show, the voice-acting as a whole remains a modest strong point of the show.

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Overall, Innocent Venus was an enjoyable ride, but it drags so much in the middle portion, and loses everything that made it exciting in the beginning. Though efforts are made to pick up the pieces in the ending stretch, ultimately they fail to make up for the miserable pacing and drop in production values that haunt the majority of the central third of the show. With a supremely forgettable soundtrack and uninspired voice-acting from all but one of the cast, nothing in Innocent Venus manages to stand strong throughout the series. The series loses it focus a great deal, and cannot manage to regain its lost concentration until it is too late. When events are focused around Sana, Jin, and Jo, and the relationship among them which is quite well developed, the series thrives, and is a genuine pleasure to watch. However, take this away and a cold, unpleasant taste is left in the audience's mouths.


The Ten Second Version

Story: 3 - Full of cliches expressed through lackluster writing, the story is propelled forcefully by the series' stronger traits.

Character: 6 - The relationship between Sana, Jin, and Jo is a remarkably strong point in the show, but the majority of the other characters are flat and dull

Animation: 6 - Early on and later on the animation is extremely well-handled, but during the middle portions it all suffers greatly. Static art is attractive, although many of the designs, both for characters and machines, could have used a lot more work. The 3d animation in the series is also poorly integrated.

Sound: 6 - The music is mostly subdued, barely managing to push scenes in the right direction, although the piano pieces are very good. Some of the tracks are put to good use, however, and the dramatic timing is often quite good. As for voice actors, Nazuka Kaori shines as young Shana, and there are no glaringly bad ones, but overall the performances are lackluster.

Overall: 5.5

Seems a little out of tune...

Inncent Venus is placed in a very hard section of anime that it is forced to content with. Since the anime has a mecha theme it is commonly compared up to the standards of other mecha anime. But this story offers a little heart, for a minii-series.

Story- The story is based around on of those commonly used ideas. It is almost like the creators took a bunch of commonly used ideas and pinned them to the wall, turn around a threw some darts at them. The darts that stuck became the plot. But for having traditional development with a typical plot, it was quite an ... interesting angle to follow the story form.

For you were not simply gifted with the ideas of those that were central to the story but you go to see into the lives of the other side as well. That adds a fuller picture to what is going on in the plot.

So yes it does have a military, on the run, mecha feel to it, but it brings to the table a story seen from all angles, that offers you to see into hte minds of not only the leads but those who oppose them.

The overarching plot is really good and something I have have never seen before in an anime.

When You finish the anime and then go back though it you can find those little details that you missed the first time. Especially in the opening sequences.

Art- The art of this anime is beautiful. Everything look really well polished, when I was first looking at this anime I read a review in a magazine, there they said that they hired people who have never made mecha before to make the ones for Innocent Venus. I think that really came out. THe Mecha were believable and they moved well. They also didn't have the problem that mecha usually have where they look like they were obviously made somewhere else then that frame. What I mean is they interacted with the environment well.

Sound: With the exception of the opening, I can't recall there being any really amazing sounds. The opening was not moved in the direction of the song but the song seemed to couple the images well. Almost as though it were written for the images.

Characters- The characters were all stock characters with a little growth added for good measure. But that doesn't make them bad characters, just a little predictable. Although a few of the characters are well developed and deserve to be awarded for that.

Enjoyment: The scenes are fast paced and the battle sequences are well timed, not spending too much time fighting but making each fight enjoyable. The dialog was amazing and very witty at times. IT is a plot that you can keep watching over and over because it just has that simple pleasure to it.

I would urge you to try it and see if you like it.

Story takes place in our world when a desaster happened and left the Earth drastically altered.

So we see more of how humans can be selfish/EVIL bastards

World gets divided into the rich and the poor.

And we've got 3 main characters:

the white-haired nice guy who's the brains of the group and who has a mysterious air around him, Jin

... the black-haired fighter who's stoic and rarely talks. Jo. Yet its not like he's a cold person, he's actually really nice and cares about those around him, he shows his love through actions--not words.

the pink-haired damsel in distress. Sana. Wait--what 'damsel' she's a friggin little girl. Very naive and trusting. Attached to Jin and misjudges Jo as someone scary cuz he doesnt talk...

oh and let us not forget the 4th member. Gora, an annoying, ANNOYING street rat who causes trouble up and down. Eh, he gets better.

anyway I started this series cuz it got a lot of praise, and it was the type people claim to just speed through, as its only 12 episodes. It was okay, but i've seen better

the mecha fights were lame, maybe because i've been spoiled on GS but the machinery looked too fake and sometimes it appeared as tho my screen freezed when really it hadn't, the machines were just abnormally still...

Soundtrack wasn't anything special, but i did like the off key piano playing :]

art was okay, tho some characters just had WEIRD eyes. Like the grandpa and the chinese Phantom guy.

Some crude concepts are included too. Doing horrible experiments and the whole genetically altered spiel.

Romance in it was lame. Should just be omitted.
And story was good but it could've been better.

overall it was a decent anime. Nothing overly horrible, but also nothing great enough to give it an 8,9 or 10.

Its nice tho to see different coloured characters in it.Personally i love Oryo (lol the pirate one) As that's rare in anime. Like Eygpt from Hetalia was supposed to be dark but they made him light in the anime, whats up with that?

This is quite honestly one of the best 12 episode shows ever created. It's informative, creative, and enjoyable throughout all 12 episodes, constantly keeping the viewer interested and intellectually engaged throughout its entirety. The show itself is very similar to a phantom: requiem of the phantom and Darker than Black, but still possesses its own unique qualities and issues regarding humanity and its ever-growing thirst for power. The main characters are very unique and dynamic, allowing for the viewer to become captivated by each and every one of their stories.
The art itself was brilliantly handled, with CG's being smoothly transitioned onto the screen. The ... music also complimented the art, as its occasional fast paced beats played very well with dynamic fight scenes.
Overall, this is a great show to just pick up and enjoy, as it doesn't take long to finish. You also don't need to be prepared with a background of it, as the show itself does wonders in explaining all which may be in question.

OVERALL: 10/10

A story set in the future about warfare between factions who want to seize control of what is left of the earth, its resources and it's population, using weapons-like-androids they try to seize power by any means necessary.

The beginning of the series don't tell us much story is just pure action and some knowledge of the main characters behavior.
The story sure has potential but the series show us very few background story of the main characters which makes it boring after some episodes, i was thinking it was going to be interesting but after getting to the 10th episode, all became easy to guess.

Then, if ... you wanna kill some time and you like mechs, action, drama and science fiction, this is the one you wanna watch. I gotta tell you, this series make me remember somehow to CODE GEASS.

Rating: 7/10

Thanks for reading.

While the premise of the series is a bread and butter of anime series, it happens to also be a plot that I've enjoyed many times over. At first I really enjoyed this series even when it started becoming laboriously convoluted to the point it seemed like they were randomly adding stuff to the plot to make it more "interesting." But, by that point I was caught up and interested in the characters and wondering what exactly was going on in their heads. Maybe I was projecting onto them too much from other anime I enjoyed, because looking back there wasn't that much character development. ... At anyrate, I hated the direction one of the characters ended up taking. It pretty much ended up destroying what I liked about the series. So, I give this a two because I was really enjoying it until I got to the end when it just destroyed it for me. I have no desire to ever watch this again as a result.

Enjoyment / Overall :: 7

The plot was good, had twists that kept me watching, and the characters were all interesting. The problem is that none of the characters have any background and there were some plot holes that bugged me. The thing is, all of this could have easily been fixed with more episodes. This series could have been great had it been longer, but ultimately, it wasn’t, so there was some wasted potential.

Story :: 7.5

The premise of Innocent Venus is pretty cliché: the main characters are protecting Sana from an evil organization and we don’t know why. The first half the anime is a ... cat and mouse game. The organization is chasing them, Jo and Jin are on the run while trying to keep Sana safe. This part of the story was pretty interesting because we get to see cool fights, meet the characters, meet the bad guys, etc. Right around the half-way point things start changing because we start learning characters motives. This leads to a lot of action, it explains why Phantom is chasing Sana, etc. There are also a few good plot twists that keep you on your seat. Overall, I thought the story was interesting and had the potential to be really good.

The problem Innocent Venus has is it was too short. With only 12 episodes, they could have done some better planning. The second half seemed rushed because they just said characters motivations instead of showing us and they didn’t elaborate on anything. A lot was just said without any prior hint, which felt almost “cheap”. They could have dedicated an episode to flashback to previous events to make motives more clear, then another episode or 2 giving us some background information. At one point, a character tells us the truth behind something in a minute. If there were more episodes, that could have been an episode flashback (yes, there was enough information for an interesting episode).

Because they didn’t have more episodes, there were also a lot of plot holes and wasted potential. I can’t mention all of them because of spoilers, but some things could have had more detail like: Why are Jo and Jin together? Why are some characters close to each other? Also, another thing that was disappointing with the plot was the separation between Logos and Revenus wasn’t significant at all really…they could have used that more effectively.

Characters :: 7

For the most part, I liked the characters. They all have unique designs and personalities. Jo is an awesome fighter and doesn’t speak much. Jin is a good fighter, but he’s kind and caring towards Sana (wants to protect her). Sana starts off very attached to Jin and he’s all she talks about. She’s very kind, but can be a little annoying at times, not enough not to like her though.
The problem with the characters is they don’t receive much background information because it’s only 12 episodes. For this problem, there were a few solutions: 1. Make the show longer. 2. Simplify the plot to allow characterization. I think they should have made the show longer because the plot was good and the only suffered was because there was a lack of background information.

We don’t know why characters like Shiba and Renee were close. What happened in the past with them? There are other things like why Jo is with Jin, why did they join Phantom, where did they come from, etc. I don’t expect detailed background on all the characters, but when the main cast is only 3 characters and the background for one of them (Sana) could easily have done wonders for the plot, I think they could have easily added background information.

Animation :: 8.5

The animation wasn’t spectacular, but it was definitely good. All the characters have unique designs and the backgrounds were all nicely done with color’s and detail. The fight scenes were also animated well, with everyone moving fluidly. As for the mecha, I actually liked the designs of them. They seemed pretty original and looked cool. Not the best, but they did their part and worked well with the story. The biggest thing people will notice is that the mecha are all CGI. At first, it didn’t look that great, but as the show progressed, the CGI got better and I got used to looking at them. Overall, I thought the CGI was integrated quite well and they all moved smoothly.

Sound :: 7

I’ll start with the voice acting. I watched it subbed, not dubbed, so I’ll comment on the Japanese voice actors. Everyone’s voiced matched pretty good, I especially liked Jin, Sana, and Shiba’s voices. They seemed perfect for the roles they were playing. The only voice I didn’t really like was Jo’s voice. It fit pretty good, but I felt it was off a little. I can’t really explain it too well. Honestly, I didn’t listen to any of the openings or endings so I can’t comment on them…I just don’t like Japanese music very much…sorry…

Innocent Venus is a mecha type anime about the military trying to incorporate the nervous system of certain humans into machines called Gladiators. Out to stop them is the resistance and they will do everything they can to protect the one called Venus from falling into the military's hands.

My thouhgts:
I truly enjoyed watching this anime. The animation is very good and fluid. The characters of Jin and Jo are great. Jin is the calm quiet type, he'll reason with you, while Jo is the strong and quiet type and will just plain scare you. Gora could be said to be the comic relief ... of the story, the one who jabbers on a lot. Overall I truly enjoyed this anime and recommend it for viewing.

I have conflicted feelings about this anime series. Overall, I enjoyed it, but there are issues I have with this anime that ultimately leave me unsatisfied.

The story of Innocent Venus is somewhat dark, with a major plot twist happening in the middle of the anime. Plot twists happen all the time, but this one feels slightly forced, since one of the main characters change significantly, and this was the biggest issue I had with this anime. This also relates to the issue with characters. Because of the fact that the characters are mainly flat, with the exception of the three protagonist, I felt attached to ... the three main characters. Such significant change to one of the protagonist, even though it is foreshadowed a few times, felt somewhat ridiculous to me. Furthermore, the story of these three protagonists is embedded in a grand, intricate plot that was rushed through 12 episodes. Basically, the pacing was poor. At the beginning, it was basically all Jin, Jo and Sana running away from the military. All of a sudden, after the major plot twist, many different plot points are thrust into my brain. War between the rich and the poor, the Phantom's secret intention, Shiba's role in this war, too much information was cramped in the second half of the anime, while the first half was slow, slightly boring. I would even think about adding a few more episodes to slow the second part of the anime down. Other than these two major issues, the story is interesting enough for me to give it a 7/10.

Like I have stated in the paragraph above, the characters of Innocent Venus, with the exception of Jin, Jo and Sana, are flat. The main problem is that they are one-dimensional, that they are flat characters. We have the obnoxious brat, the pirate leader who is secretly strong and influential, the secretary of the enemy whose heart still yearns for the pirate leader, the evil mastermind that has secret intentions to gain more power. Everyone felt the same throughout the anime, barely any characteristics are changed. It does not help that the anime show us very few of their lines of thought, their motivations for change. The characters are definitely not a strong point for this anime, and the three protagonists mask the issues. Jin, Jo and Sana felt real. I fully understand their motivations, their desires. Even Jo, the one who is aloof in the first part of the anime, showed me that he truly cares about Jin and Sana. The protagonists are the shining star among the characters.

I have no clue how the animation would stack up against other mecha animes in 2006, but the movements of the Gladiators and the way they fight are acceptable in 2014 standards. The design of the Gladiators, however, were not anything memorable like Gundams. Characters are fairly generic. The music complements the anime good enough, but it is nothing special. These are also weak points of the anime that I did not like.

Innocent Venus, in the end, has some entertainment value. Even if there are problems that leaves me unsatisfied, I still enjoyed it nonetheless. The story will eventually drag you in if you can endure the slow start and the rushed ending, and you will grow to like Jin, Jo and Sana, even with the major plot twist.

This was a decent animation, and a worthwhile watch.

I liked the anime for the setting and being thrown into the mists of a post war like deppression state.

Personally i felt (as always) it was a story that could have bee happily elaborated to 24 episodes.
But this was still fairly well plotted, and it worked in a way that gave you just enough information to keep you happily binging through the episodes, but DEFinately much more story would have been welcomed.


All of the charecters, had that bit of unknown mystery about them, and to a degree you do find out more as ... you go on. But this is where 12 more episodes would have been GREAT.

Can't fault the artwork , and the sound gave nothing to complain about.

No spoilers. Well, maybe extremely mild ones.

This was a really bad anime. I managed to make it to the end primarily because I wanted to make sure nothing redeemed it, but nothing really did. It's a shame because there are so many aspects of the anime which are phenomenal. Off the top of my head, the fight choreography and strategic realism was dead on. And the animation was crisp and clean the whole way through. You never felt like a character was caught off guard by something obvious, and all the plots and plans of the various characters were ... legit deep and well thought out.

The issue is that the characters just suck. None of them are in any way likable, and many of the women are outright comedic in their inability to perform. The story was meh and there weren't any surprises. It was mainly over-dramatized but simplistic stuff. There was little development, only a bit of revelation. And even then the characters' motivations were entirely unbelievable. The only character with any development was Steve.

And because they do handle the combat aspects so well and so seriously, when they mess stuff up it seems all the more glaring. Like giving someone a scar in such a way which would have crippled them for life, or arrow-guns. And the music choices were atrocious, just nails on chalkboard. It could have been so good too, but it just feels like the people making it just needed to do more character work and humanization before they finished the script. And for pete's sake women in the military aren't wearing heels and skirts to the battlefield.

I recommend skipping this anime.