Kemono no Souja Erin

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]

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

Harumiya, Shinou Supporting

Tani, Ikuko Japanese

Wada, George Producer

Hamana, Takayuki Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Hiramitsu, Takuya Sound Director

Takashima, Daisuke Episode Director

Reviews

Aug 15, 2025

ARITRA_68722

Recommended

Seirei no Moribito was a really fulfilling experience so i embarked on a journey to look for more fantasy shows similar to it and came across Kemono no souja Erin and both are by Uehashi Nahoko. My expectations wee high, and it delivered masterfully though i do not hold the view like this is the greatest thing ever i must say Erin provided for a really fruitful experience.

STORY
Going into this one i did have a hunch on what type of story it may be and mostly i was right. Detailed world, deeply emotional storyline, political tussle, supernatural element etc. But Erin also has a predominantly ... calm atmosphere to most of its episodes. It has a slice of inclination where we see the main character Erin do what she loves, that is curiosity to learn and know more, and later on a special fixation on a particular creature. We essentially follow Erin's story from childhood to teens to early adulthood and see her as a person. Just like Moribito special detail has been given to the world of Erin from its cultural aspects, history and political atmosphere all get detailed exploration. Themes of betrayal and morality arise at different points of the story.

CHARACTERS
The main character of Erin is probably the most standout character due to the deep emotional growth we see her go through, her beliefs are tested at every time and how she remains undaunted and stays true to her beliefs and dreams. In fact every complication she faces in the story helps her further augment her ideas. She is quite different from Balsa but she is a really solid female lead. The side character whether its John, Soyon, Ial and more all play a key role in different points of the story.

ANIMATION AND SOUND
The animation is really distinct though i wont necessarily call it the best in was pretty to the eye due to its tendency to get extremely experimental and aesthetic but i will be honest it did get a bit excess for me at certain points. The music is solid and the score is well done which suits different points of the story.

MY PERSONAL LIKINGS
I really liked the political aspect of the show which i also consider it to be the strongest point. Besides that i also liked the calm atmosphere of the show for the majority watching Erin go by her day was fun and not to mention the growth she goes through. I would also like to mention the duo of Nukko and Mokku despite the hit and miss nature of the shows humor i still liked the happy go lucky nature of the two. Emotional moments are a lot in the show and never really feel out of place in the show.

PACING
The pacing is essentially its most glaring flaw much like Seirei no Moribito pacing maybe even slower. Though i did find it to be worth it if i wasnt free which i am always it wouldnt exactly have been a really fun experience to sit through a show as slow as this.

Lastly, i found Kemono no souja Erin to be just as worth it if not more then Moribito, and if you have time to spare watch this especailly if you like fantasy shows its a must.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 17, 2023

liyeon

Mixed Feelings

I stumbled upon Beast Player Erin in search of anime with good world building like Slime Reincarnation and Ascendance of a Bookworm.

There are already many great reviews so the purpose of my review here is to provide expectations to potential viewers of this show:

Each episode will consist of:

10% mini music videos with overly played songs,
40% overly used flashbacks,
50% actual scenes that progress the story.

This series did not have to be 50 episodes long as a great much of it was just filler content. Frustratingly much of that wasted time used for flashback filler could have been used more meaningfully such as providing a more conclusive ... ending as it felt rushed despite all the time it had for its 50 episode run.


If you're going to give this show a chance keep in mind it does not do a good job in respecting the viewer's time with all the wasted flashback fillers, but I suggest you give it a chance anyways as the story is really beautiful if you have the time for it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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