Kemono no Souja Erin (The Beast Player Erin)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Kemono no Soujya Erin, Kemono no Sou-ja Erin

Japanese: 獣の奏者エリン

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 50

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jan 10, 2009 to Dec 26, 2009

Premiered: Winter 2009

Broadcast: Unknown

Producers: NHK

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Production I.G, Trans Arts

Source: Novel

Genres: Drama, Fantasy

Duration: 25 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.32¹ (scored by 21,361 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #246²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #2274

Members: 86,680

Favorites: 1,502

Available At

Official Site

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AniDB

ANN

Synopsis

In the land of Ryoza, the neighboring provinces of Shin-Ou and Tai-Kou have been at peace. Queen Shinou is the ruler of Ryoza and her greatest general, Grand Duke Taikou, defends the kingdom with his army of powerful war-lizards known as the "Touda." Although the two regions have enjoyed a long-standing alliance, mounting tensions threaten to spark a fierce civil war.

Within Ake, a village in Tai-Kou tasked with raising the Grand Duke's army, lives Erin, a bright girl who spends her days watching the work of her mother Soyon, the village's head Touda doctor. But while under Soyon's care, a disastrous incident befalls the Grand Duke's strongest Touda, and the peace that Erin and her mother had been enjoying vanishes as Soyon is punished severely. In a desperate attempt to save her mother, Erin ends up falling in a river and is swept towards Shin-Ou.

Unable to return home, Erin must learn to lead a new life with completely different people, all while hunting for the truth of both beasts and humanity itself, with tensions between the two regions constantly escalating.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Kemono no Souja
Summary:	Kemono no Souja Erin Recap

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Erin

Main

Hoshii, Nanase
Japanese

Lilan

Main

Ial

Supporting

Suzumura, Kenichi
Japanese

Tousana, John

Supporting

Uchida, Naoya
Japanese

Soyon

Supporting

Hirata, Eriko
Japanese

Shunan

Supporting

Hanawa, Eiji
Japanese

Nukku

Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji
Japanese

Mokku

Supporting

Yanagihara, Tetsuya
Japanese

Kirik

Supporting

Kusuda, Toshiyuki
Japanese

Kashugan

Supporting

Kanada, Aki
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Wada, Jouji

Producer

Hamana, Takayuki

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Hiramitsu, Takuya

Sound Director

Takashima, Daisuke

Episode Director

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Opening Theme

	1: "Shizuku (雫)" by Sukima Switch (eps 1-30)
	2: "Shizuku (雫)" by Chitose Hajime (eps 31-50)

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Ending Theme

	1: "After the rain" by cossami (eps 1-29)
	2: "Kitto Tsutaete (きっと伝えて)" by Takako Matsu (eps 30-49)

Reviews

Jan 5, 2010

Archaeon

Recommended

Kemono no Souja Erin (The Beast Player Erin), is a surprising anime. Not in the way it looks or sounds, or in any aspect of it's production. Not even because of it's story or characters (which are wonderfuly by the way). No, it's surprising for being the most recent example of a genre that is slowly disappearing in anime.

Many people will be confused by that statement, especially as the show is very clearly labelled and marketed as a children's series, and as everyone knows, kids shows are rife in anime. The problem, however, doesn't lie in the fact that this series was initially aimed at ...

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Jun 5, 2010

zuziako

Mixed Feelings

"Kemono no Souja Erin" is an anime with great plot potential, well build characters and pleasant design, but unfortunately - horrid storytelling and structure. It takes 50 episodes to tell the story (which is supposed to be understandable, since it's long one), but dragged scenes with badly animated conversations, and lots of flashbacks make you feel as if it should be done in 26 episodes instead - and maybe it should have.

As I mentioned, the story has great potential - we have our main heroine that we meet when she is still a little kid, we watch her grow, mature, and struggle, through all ... the hardships she has to overcome. In the same time the story gives us insight about what is going on in the country where the heroine lives, introduces us to the royal family, and some political intrigues. The characters presented have different backgrounds and aims but all of their stories intersect at some point. This is what you normally call "great storytelling", but the thing is - the anime is horribly slow and not well planned. It could have been so much better.

Many people claim that slow plot development of "Kemono no Souja Erin" simply builds up the atmosphere, and in some episodes - maybe they are right. But in most of them - no sir. Many episodes in this anime show action that could be presented in 10 minutes but goes on for 20. And yes, some very good series do this and are still great, but this anime it's not the case, because the means through which the creators prolong the episodes are mainly flashbacks, still shots of scenery and conversations presented to you in few still shots of people sitting next to each other. In other words - this is a prime example of poor directing and lack of money for animation. In some episodes you will see the same scenery scene even 6 times (I counted), and the flashbacks that remind you what happened few minutes ago. And why would somebody do that? Of course, not to animate anything else. This does not count anymore as "building up the atmosphere". It really, really doesn't.

I don't know what happened during the production of "Kemono no Souja Erin", but something must have gone wrong. The way it is done really makes you feel as if it should take 26 episodes and nothing would be lost- it shouldn't be that way because the story is really good and complex. It is simply a shame that it went the way it did - it could have been a real anime gem, but it's not. You get bored, you see the same scenes you saw few minutes ago, you look at the endless still shots of scenery, and you don't get enough satisfaction. The poor directing and planning turned this story into and average show. I can only guess the novel is amazing. "Seirei no Moribito" by the same author, came out to be a MUCH better anime. Check it out instead.

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Mar 12, 2010

Rampant

Not Recommended

While it may strike as inconsistent to rate a series a 3 when I "finished" 50 episodes of it, there is one essential reason, that is pacing of this series. Not only is the pacing typically slice-of-life slow from the very start, but it has the most self-indulgent use of flashback I have ever seen. By the midpoint of the anime, flashback starts taking up easily perhaps 1/10th of the total time. We already saw these events, and they are already in our heads. Bringing the same events up as much as five or ten times is a horrible abuse of our viewership. Maybe it ... was for the kids, but it was a horrible mismanagement of structure.

Also, this anime seems to exist in some bizarre world where, despite there being super skilled assassin type figures and two types of invincible beasts, poison ends up being the most worrisome agent of life. I think the plot spends as much time on poisonings by the end as it does touda.

I did enjoy core elements of the plot, and that is the main reason I finished the anime. I liked the focus on Erin, and I could even forgive her being the typical "supergenius, super caring" character who can do absolutely no wrong because of the nice voice acting and the interesting progression of her life. I also liked the touda, though I liked them less once another super invincible creature was introduced. I felt that both touda and beast lords should have been introduced right away, or it should have only been one the whole way. I felt that after Erin&Jone, the anime struggled to ever keep itself at quite the same depth of interaction after moving to focus on beast lords. It especially struggles to make any action feel slightly convincing, and several conversations as it goes on become more and more incredibly tedious, e.g. Erin talking to either queen.

This is absolutely a children's anime, and I do not see why everyone is trying to vehemently deny it. The first OP and ED, the narration (utterly childish storytelling tone, constantly interferes with the quality of interaction with the story), and interaction between characters (Erin and her mom, the Queen and anybody, Erin and Yuuyan, any and all explanations about anything ever from one character to another) all make sure that this cannot progress above being childish. People can try to use the more violent moments to write it away, but the art contradicts that. Also childish are all depictions of Erin imagining anything horrible happening (the last example episode 44, 19:30 or so in, when she pictures what is happening at the academy).

The music is very nice sounding, especially when you have only heard each song once (with the exception of the song that inscrutably rips off one progression from Trigun). Unfortunately, they ram the same songs into your ears relentlessly, and eventually at very wrong moments.

Not much really needs to be said about the art, since the flaws are much more glaring than usual. Sometimes the mistakes are much more glaring (like when the touda are swimming underwater episode 7 and llook like barrel of monkey figures). Also, lots of shots that are the same shot being panned very slowly, or zoomed out from very slowly. Kid Erin is a bit annoying to look a thanks to her eyes (not that any character's wayward pupils are any fun to look at). The Beast-Lords, paraded as a paragon of beauty, are actually ugly beasts in motion, and simplistic when "shining" and flying to save the day.

Overall, I really have to rate this anime a waste of anyone's time. It loses what depth it has as it goes on, it struggles to balance the time and how the time is spent on any action, and everything is far too predictable. It is enjoyable enough, and there are plenty of cute moments, but it cannot be said to be worth anyone's time due to the length - it should have absolutely been a normal anime season, not 50 episodes.

Oh, like a lot anime and manga that lack substance, this series spends a lot of time making up for it pretending that characters going "oishiiiiiii" and talking about food should actually be entertaining. Like always, it definitely is not appropriate outside an anime or manga about food. I did not keep any official count, but surely somewhere around ten times.

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Recent News

Uehashi Nahoko To Publish Sequels of Kemono no Souja Novel

Kodansha announced the release of the volumes three and four of "Kemono no Souja" novel. The author Uehashi Nahoko had thought that she fully concluded the...read more

Jul 23, 2009 1:35 AM by dtshyk | Discuss (19 comments)

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Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Kemono no Souja Erin Episode 36 Discussion wakka9ca - Sep 20, 2009	26 replies	by Rob7 »» Nov 15, 2023 4:58 PM
Poll: Kemono no Souja Erin Episode 42 Discussion DeathfireD - Nov 1, 2009	31 replies	by CalmTeaTime »» Oct 23, 2023 2:05 PM
Poll: Kemono no Souja Erin Episode 41 Discussion wakka9ca - Oct 25, 2009	37 replies	by CalmTeaTime »» Oct 23, 2023 2:03 PM
Poll: Kemono no Souja Erin Episode 40 Discussion wakka9ca - Oct 17, 2009	39 replies	by CalmTeaTime »» Oct 21, 2023 3:27 PM
Poll: Kemono no Souja Erin Episode 39 Discussion Ahohime - Oct 11, 2009	40 replies	by CalmTeaTime »» Oct 21, 2023 3:24 PM

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Kemono no Souja Erin

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Lilan

Ial

Tousana, John

Soyon

Shunan

Nukku

Mokku

Kirik

Kashugan

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Kemono no Souja Erin

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