Amuri in Star Ocean

"In the year 019 of the New Age, I was in a sea of stars."

—Amuri Kakyoin

Amuri in Star Ocean (星の海のアムリ, Hoshi no Umi no Amuri) is a three-part CGI animated OVA released in 2008 by Studio Hibari, written and directed by Yoshitomo Yonetani (Betterman, Brigadoon Marin and Melan, Gao Gai Gar) with music by Mina Kubota (Kannazuki no Miko, Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora, Kaleido Star).

The story is set in Year 019 of the New Age, a future era in which mankind has evolved into a new species called Adapters. Three Adapter girls — 13-year-old Amuri from Japan, 12-year-old Suzu from China, and 14-year-old Perrier from France — set out on a space adventure that will affect the rest of their species. Despite the Science Fiction premise and setting, the show is filled with Magical Girl Warrior elements, Moe and Les Yay fanservice, and Tastes Like Diabetes levels of cuteness. Darker and Edgier than you might expect.

Besides the title, this series has nothing to do with any of the Star Ocean video games or anime.

This show provides examples of:

Accidental Kiss: Happens at least Once Per Episode. In Episode 1 this is how Amuri first meets both Perrier and Suzu. In Episode 2 it happens between Amuri and a faceless robot doll (with no lips). In Episode 3 it happens with Suzu and Perrier.
All CGI Cartoon: One of the better anime examples. Just check out the trailer to see for yourself.
All There in the Manual: The show's official website provides more detailed explanations on just about everything.
Ambiguous Gender: Ukatan has both a male and female voice and faces to go with them.
Amusement Park of Doom: Galapagos has its own amusement park, complete with robot dolls that try to kill the heroines. Why a satellite made of garbage would have an amusement park in the first place is not explained though it's possible the whole thing was one of Deus's elaborate traps.
Animal Motifs: Both Suzu's real name and nickname mearn 'sparrow,' her 'Escape' allergy strongly resembles flight, she flaps her arms like wings, and wears a Stora named Red Peacock.
- Region Free has a jellyfish for their logo, and they even have live jellyfish in the space stations.
Anime Chinese Girl: Suzu.
Anime Theme Song: "Ya-chaouyo!" by Dance*Man is the ED song for Episode 1 and the OP for Episode 2. And it's REALLY catchy.
Anti Gravity Clothing: All three of the girls' Storas have pieces that are like this. It probably helps that they're in space.
Apologetic Attacker: Amuri acts this way toward the robot dolls in Episode 2.
Art Shift: Childrens drawings are used for some of Amuri's flashbacks, and Suzu's look like shadow puppets. Then there's Suzu's entire fantasy world, which is still in CG but looks like it was painted with watercolors.
Atmosphere Abuse: Deus plans to kill the human race by destroying the Earth's atmosphere.
Author Appeal: Yonetani seems to be giving in to his previously restrained Lolicon and Girls Love tendencies, which probably explains why this is an OVA in the first place.
Babies Make Everything Better: Pulmo.
Badass Adorable: Amuri, Suzu, and Perrier all qualify for this when using their Storas.
Bare Your Midriff: Femina's outfit.
Barrier Warrior: Amuri's Repulsion Allergy is essentially an involuntary form of this power, though she doesn't live up to the 'warrior' part of the title until she's wearing her Stora and there's robots shooting missiles at her.
Batman Can Breathe in Space: Adapters can surive in a vacuum for a good while longer than normal humans can, though if they go too long without air they can die.
Big Damn Heroes: The Grand Finale of Episode 3. It must be seen to be believed.
Blessed With Suck: Amuri, Suzu and Perrier. Being an Adapter means you're part of a genetically superior human race, but if you have a special Allergy your life will probably suck. Unless you're wearing a Stora, that is.
Blonde Brunette Redhead: Perrier, Amuri and Suzu, respectively.
Blue Eyes: Perrier, Pulmo, Q9 Captain and Deus have these.
Brainy Baby: Pulmo Allen, the commanding officer of the space station Pearl Shell, is just 3 years old. Maria even calls her 'Professor'!
Break the Cutie: All the girls go through increasingly intense forms of this in each episode. Pulmo is no exception.
Brown Eyes: Suzu and Maria both have these.
Captain Space Defender of Earth: Suzu has delusions like this, referring to herself as a Private First-Class in the non-existent Galactic Three Nation Army and giving everyone military themed nicknames.
Cheerful Child: Suzu is 12 years old and the youngest of the three leads.
Chekhov's Gunman: Femina Novum, the First Adapter. She is mentioned and shown very briefly in Episode 2, and plays a crucial role in the climax of Episode 3.
The Chessmaster: Deus.
Circus of Fear: A critical part of Perrier's past involves being forced by her parents to perform in one of these.
Cleavage Window: Pulmo's nanny, Maria Sklodowska, and the Bridge Bunnies of Pearl Shell all have this in their uniforms.
Cloudcuckoolander: Suzu.
Colour Coded for Your Convenience: Each of the three girls have colors that they always wear and that are associated with their abilities. Amuri has yellow and orange, Suzu has pink and red, and Perrier has light blue.
Cool Chair: Perrier spends most of her time sitting in a throne-like wheelchair that can operate in zero-gravity. It's also the container of her Stora.
Costume Porn: The Storas. Dear Lord, the STORAS...
Crap Saccharine World: Subverted with Galapagos. At first it looks like a straight up Death World, but then you see garbage that's inexplicably formed itself into the shape of giant lollipops and pieces of cake. And then there's the Amusement Park of Doom.
Creator Cameo: Yoshitomo Yonetani voices the leader of Q9 and sings their theme song!
Cute Machines: Ukatan.
Dark Magical Girl: Amuri and Suzu both have shades of this, but Perrier is the most prominent example.
Dark Messiah: Deus is this.
Deus Ex Machina: The fact that three of the most powerful living Adapters end up together and with access to power-enhancing suits seems like this until it's revealed that Deus set all of it up. The same applies to the girls all knowing the song "Umidorika", which none of them thought anyone else knew. In this case Femina is the cause.
Dizzy Cam: This effect gets used all the time, to the point that you really might get dizzy from it.
Downer Beginning: Episode 1 starts with space station Pink Coral getting blown up just as Amuri arrives there. The following scenes have "Umidorika" playing while a gloomy Amuri drifts in space and thinks about her tragic life.
Easily Detachable Robot Parts: Ukatan's tail/battery is always falling off.
Elegant Gothic Lolita: Perrier.
Ending Theme: A different one for all three episodes! They each double as an Image Song, too.
Even the Girls Want Her: Both Perrier and Suzu appear to be attracted to Amuri, who seems to be attracted to both of them.
Hair Decorations: All of them!
Everythings Better With Sparkles: They're all over the place!
Evil Sounds Deep: Perrier's voice gets like this when Vernier is in control.
Expressive Hair: Suzu's Girlish Pigtails do this. They even function as hands, since her normal ones are tied up inside her sleeves.
Expy: Amuri has many traits in common with Marin Asagi, the heroine of Yonetani's previous anime Brigadoon Marin and Melan. Both girls are 13-year-old orphans who were raised by kindly old women and have few (if any) friends. They also both have green eyes and glasses, are chased by killer robots for reasons they don't understand, and get caught up in a huge conspiracy that threatens the fate of the Earth.
- Suzu shares Marin's hair color, energetic personality and wacky imagination, while Perrier is very much like Marin's shy and sickly best friend Moe Kisaragi, and Maria is a lot like the motherly and buxom nurse Jun.
Eyecatch: Each episode has two of these that serve as brief character profiles, with such pertinent details as their ages, ethnicities, heights, and weights.
Eyepatch of Power: Perrier always has one covering her right eye. Vernier wears it on the left.
Fantastic Racism: It's very strongly implied that most normal humans do not get along well with the Adapter community.
Flower Motifs: Amuri's allergy produces a burst of yellow light resembling a sunflower, sunflowers feature prominently in her flashbacks, and even her Stora is named "Sunflower No. 13" and has a floral pattern on it.
Food Pills: Air Candy, a food that provides 300 seconds of oxygen to people travelling in space.
Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: Deus's plot to kill off humanity involves crashing Galapagos into the Earth, with the four most powerful Adapters bound to it and transferring their self-defense abilities into amplification devices created from their own cells.
Giant Waist Ribbon: This is pretty much the defining feature of Amuri's Stora.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: When she gets really scared, Perrier's right eye glows blue under her eyepatch.
Good Colors Evil Colors: In Episode 3, after Perrier goes through her Split Personality Merge, the color scheme of her hair and Stora change from black and purple to white and light blue.
Green Eyes: Amuri has these.
High Class Glass: Deus wears one of these.
Hospital Hottie: Maria always wears a nurse's outfit and serves Pulmo as her nanny.
Hoist By His Own Petard: Amuri does the hoisting to Deus in Episode 3. She beats him up, but doesn't kill him.
Holding Hands: In Episode 3 the girls are able to do this with each other, which was impossible for them previously due to their Allergies.
Hot Blooded: The leader of the Q9 Special Squadron.
How Do I Shot Web: It takes Amuri only a few minutes to figure out how her Stora works and put it to use. Suzu seems to have more trouble adjusting, while Perrier acts like she's been using one all her life.
Human Hummingbird: Suzu flaps her arms almost constantly.
Ill Girl: Implied with Perrier, since she's always wearing an eyepatch and sitting in a floating wheelchair.
In Series Nickname: Suzu's real name is Ling Yunque, but she starts calling herself Suzu when Amuri gives her the nickname.
Informed Ability: Amuri's eyecatch has her saying "I love sweets!", but this interest never comes up in the show itself. Likewise, Femina is shown posing with an electric guitar in her eyecatch. Said guitar is never seen or mentioned again. However, it suggests that she has some musical talent and makes her inventing the song "Umidorika" seem more plausible.
Image Song: Amuri has "Ya-chaouyo!", Suzu has "Suzume no Heitaisan", and Perrier has "Keruto No Umi De Kuyurarula..." Amuri's song serves as the series OP theme, and Suzu's and Perrier's are the ED themes for Episode 2 and 3, respectively.
- Q9 Special Squadron and Ukatan also have their own image songs; "Q9 Tokusentai March" and "UKATAN 09203." Clips from both songs make cameo appearances in the episodes.
Improbably Female Cast: All the main characters are cute females, with the ill-fated Q9 guys and Deus as the only consistent males. Ukatan could go either way.
Inferred Holocaust: The explosion that takes out space station Pink Coral in Episode 1 leaves only three survivors.
Instant Awesome Just Add Mecha: This is especially true in Episode 1.
Intangible Girl: Perrier's Infiltration Allergy is essentially this. She has enough control over it to make other people and things intangible, too.
Jekyll and Hyde: Perrier and Vernier
Karma Houdini: Deus gets a Hoist By His Own Petard by a Phlebotinum Rebel, but that's about it.
Kill All Humans: This is the goal of Deus's master plan so that the genetically superior Adapters can rule the Earth. Perrier/Vernier also has shades of this due to her Dark and Troubled Past.
Laughing Mad: Episode 3, Perrier as Vernier.
Letterbox: The whole series is presented in this format.
Little Miss Snarker: Pulmo and too a much darker extent, Vernier.
Living Toys / Robot Buddy: Perrier's talking bunny doll Ukatan.
Love Makes You Evil: Pulmo implies that Maria's Face Heel Turn is because she has feelings for Deus.
Made of Explodium: Something blows up in every episode.
Magical Girl Warrior: The Adapters become sci-fi versions of this.
Manipulative Bastard: Deus.
Mass Super Empowering Event: 19 years ago, increased solar radiation killed off most of humanity, but the survivors spawned a new generation of mutants (the Adapters) that were stronger.
Meaningful Name: Everyone except for Ukatan qualifies.
- The meaning of Amuri's name is confusing. According to Google Translate, the kanji of her family name "Kakyoin" means "Flower Institute of Misfortune", and her given name "Amuri" is a Sicilian word meaning "love".
- Perrier is named after a brand of bottled water from France, and her last name "La Mer" literally means "the ocean" in French. Vernier's name was probably chosen just because it rhymed with Perrier.
- The characters in Ling Yunque mean "Bell Skylark" in Chinese and "Cloud Sparrow Bell" in Japanese. Her nickname "Suzu" could be short for both "bell" and "sparrow" in Japanese.
- Pulmo's name comes from a Latin word that means both "lung" and "jellyfish". The latter meaning seems more appropriate.
- Maria Sklodowska shares her name with the famous Polish scientist Marie Sklodowska Curie.
- Femina is Latin for "woman" and Novum is Latin for "new".
- Deus is Latin for "god"...obviously.
Mega Manning: In Episode 2, the first Doll Agent Amuri encounters is engineered from her DNA. Thus, it is able to steal her powers and Stora, and use them to beat the crap out of her.
Meganekko: Amuri. She even wears her glasses while in Super Mode.
Miss Imagination: Suzu has an elaborate escapist fantasy world in her mind, complete with a talking panda creature whom she calls General Panda.
The Mole: At the end of Episode 2, Maria and Ukatan are revealed to be on Deus's side and actively aid his plans, the former being a Well Intentioned Extremist and the latter being an Unwitting Pawn controlled by a Morality Chip. In Episode 3 Maria has a Heel Realization and returns to Pulmo's side, while Ukatan's Morality Chip is extracted by Perrier and destroyed by Amuri.
Mr. Exposition: Ukatan plays this role most of the time.
Multinational Team: Amuri is Japanese, Perrier is French, Suzu is Chinese, Femina is British, Pulmo is American, and Maria is Polish.
Murderous Mannequin: The Doll Agents from the Amusement Park of Doom in Episode 2.
Music for Courage: "Umidorika", the song Amuri sings to motivate herself to fight in Episode 1. Suzu sings it with her in Episode 2, and Perrier joins them both in Episode 3. Also in Episode 3, Femina sings along and reveals that she is the one who invented the song in the first place.
Mutants: The Adapters are essentially this.
Naive Everygirl: Perhaps the best way to describe Amuri's character.
The Nicknamer: Suzu calls pretty much everyone by some title other than their real name. Amuri is "Soldier-sama," Perrier is "Peri Peri", Maria is "Staff Officer Peach," Pulmo is "Private Kurage-san", the leader of Q9 is "General Panda", and Femina is "Admiral Black Cat."
No Flow in CGI: Very strongly averted.
The Nudifier: The Storas remove all clothing their users are wearing (including their undies!) before covering them up again.
Ominous Multiple Screens: Appear on Galapagos in Episodes 2 and 3.
Paint It Black: Episode 2, Perrier as Vernier.
Pandaing to The Audience: Suzu's Imaginary Friend, General Panda.
Parental Abandonment: Amuri's mom died after giving birth to her and her dad was never home because of work. She was raised by her grandma, but she died before the events of the show.
- It's not totally clear what the situation is with Suzu's and Perrier's parents, but there are some strong clues that they were both much worse off than Amuri.
Parental Betrayal: Deus has no problem using his own daughter as a tool in his master plan. Keep in mind that said daughter is 3 years old.
Parental Substitute: Maria for Pulmo.
Parody Commercial: All three episodes feature one of these promoting some service or product from Region Free. Actually, the third one is basically Deus announcing impending doom to the human race.
Peace and Love Incorporated: Region Free, the Adapter support organization.
People Jars: In Episode 3 we find Pulmo, the Q9 Squadron and Femina trapped in round, fluid-filled containers.
Personality Powers: In Episode 3, Femina reveals that the girls' Allergies are really an outward manifestation of their inner desires to be accepted by others.
Petal Power: Amuri's Stora can produce large, petal-shaped projectiles she can launch at her attackers.
Phlebotinum Rebel: In Episode 3. With help from Femina, the girls foil Deus's plot and turn against him.
Powers As Programs
Power Dyes Your Hair: This happens to the girls when they use the Storas.
Power Incontinence: Amuri, Perrier and Suzu all struggle to control their respective Allergies. This issue has made normal human interaction nearly impossible for all of them throughout their lives.
The Power of Friendship / The Power of Love: They're almost interchangeable in this show.
The Power of Rock: All the episodes have the characters use the song "Umidorika" as a source of power. This is most obvious in Episode 3 when singing it helps the girls to literally save the planet.
Powered By a Forsaken Child: Deus's Weapon of Mass Destruction is powered by FOUR forsaken children.
Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: In Episode 1, Amuri cries "I will repel!" before laying waste to all the robot enemies. The same line becomes Survival Mantra in Episode 3.
Psychic Nosebleed: In Episode 3, the three girls are placed under extreme emotional and mental stress until all bleed from some part of their faces. Amuri and Perrier get both Blood From the Mouth and Tears of Blood, while Suzu has mainly a Deadly Nosebleed.
The Quiet One: Perrier doesn't talk much and when she does it's in a very soft voice.
Red Eyes Take Warning: Averted with Femina.
Redshirt Army: The Q9 Special Squadron sent to rescue the girls from Galapagos. Given that they're an obvious parody of Sentai groups, it's not surprising. It turns out in Episode 3 that they were never really killed.
Robot Me: The Doll Agents in Episode 2 are all engineered from Amuri's cells, allowing them to attack her in especially painful ways.
Robot Names: Ukatan's full robot name is UKATAN 09203, an acronym that is never explained.
Romantic Two Girl Friendship: Technically it's a threesome.
Rainbow Motif: The members of Q9 all have Colorful Theme Naming and are Colour Coded for Your Convenience, with brown and gray added to the seven main rainbow colors.
Rule of Symbolism: Ocean symbolism up the wazoo (especially jellyfish), and the three leads each have symbols specific to them.
The Runaway: Suzu apparently had such an unpleasant childhood that she left home, fleeing from country to country until Region Free picked her up.
Scenery Porn: Outer space never looked so good!
Screw the Rules I Make Them: Deus.
Seinen
Selective Magnetism: In Episode 2, Amuri and Suzu push their Allergies so far to their limits that they suddenly begin to work backwards. Not only do they get stuck to each other as a result, but they pull a whole army of killer Doll Agents after them wherever they go.
Sentai: Q9 Special Squadron is an obvious spoof of the genre, complete with their own Super Sentai Stance and Transforming Mecha that prove to be useless.
Slapstick Knows No Gender: Amuri and Suzu both qualify.
Sliding Scale of Anime Obscurity: Type 6. There are fansubs out there, but there's no word as to whether it will be officially distributed in the U.S.
Space Clothes: In keeping with the 'ocean' theme, the uniforms of the Bridge Bunnies and Redshirt Army are designed to look like wetsuits and SCUBA suits.
Space Does Not Work That Way: Pretty much every trope in this category gets used.
Space Is an Ocean: Invoked by the title and uses certain elements, but mostly the whole 'ocean' theme is symbolic. How else could you explain all the jellyfish floating around, a garbage satellite named Galapagos, the space stations named after and designed to look like marine life, the uniforms resembling swim-wear, and the scuba-like spacesuits equipped with snorkels?
Space Station: Pearl Shell, and the demolished Pink Coral.
Split Personality Takeover / Split Personality Merge: Both events happens to Perrier in Episode 3.
Super Powered Robot Meter Maids: The garbage-bots of Galapagos are far too dangerous to be mere trash collectors.
Super Speed: Suzu's Allergy seems to be this kind of power. Any time she gets too close to a solid object (or another person), she either propels it several feet away or goes rocketing away from it.
Sugar and Ice Personality: Perrier.
Technology Porn
Telepathy: This seems to be the only way Femina can communicate while inside one of the People Jars. It might also be the way she planted her song into Amuri, Suzu, and Perrier's minds.
Third Person Person: Suzu.
Too Many Belts: Femina's outfit is pretty much covered in these.
Transformation Sequence: Amuri has one of the Magical Girl variety when her Stora is activated. For Suzu and Perrier, it's implied but not shown.
Troubled Backstory Flashback: All three of the girls experience one of these.
TV Head Robot: Ukatan has a computer screen for a face.
Twenty Minutes Into the Future: Year 019 of the New Age would be 2030 AD in real time.
United Nations: Try to thwart Deus's scheme in Episode 3 by bombing Pearl Shell and then Galapagos. It doesn't work.
Unusual Eyebrows: Deus doesn't have any.
Unusual User Interface: In Episode 3, Deus takes control of Pearl Shell by trapping his Adapter daughter Pulmo in a tank and wiring her mind to the station's systems.
Upgrade Artifact: The Storas serve this purpose for the girls.
Utopia Justifies the Means: Deus claims that his desire to destroy the old humanity is to make the world better for Adapters.
Vapor Wear: The Storas are very revealing.
Verbal Tic: Amuri's "Hauuu!", Suzu's "Chuuwa!"
Voice of the Legion: Ukatan talks like this in Episodes 2 and 3.
Water Is Air: Uterus, Perrier's medical recovery capsule, is essentially a floating globe with jellyfish in it, yet the fluid is perfectly breathable.
Well Intentioned Extremist: Deus and Maria think that making the world a better place for Adapters means killing off everyone else ...and, by extension, themselves.
Wham Episode: Episode 2.
What Could Have Been: According to the show's official website, Femina was intended to receive her own Stora as well as a kiss with Amuri.
What Do You Mean Its Not for Little Girls: It's definitely not.
What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart Anyway: Femina's Allergy is Harmony, which seems to be this sort of power. And one of the GOOD examples, at that!
White Haired Pretty Girl: Perrier, especially when in Super Mode.
You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Pulmo's hair is pink and Femina's hair is blue.
Zettai Ryouiki: Amuri's regular outfit is like this.