Note: This review contains a non-spoiler part and an in-depth spoiler discussion. The part below is non-spoiler. Please enjoy my review! Skip to the bottom for my rating!
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| Anime produced by Production I.G. |
fan. Just watch this anime. It's become one of my new favorites. I just CAN'T stop gushing over it. Where do I even start with this review?
First of all, this appears to be a children's anime, as the main character is a 10-year-old at the start of the series, but rest-assured, she doesn't stay the same age throughout the series. There are two major time-skips; each with a four-year gap in between (there's also a short time-skip near the end but I don't want to be too spoiler-y.)
I'm not even sure if I can review this well enough because I honestly wasn't paying too much attention to the political conflict going on. xD
So. Onto the summary!
The anime of The Beast Player Erin is based on a light novel series by Uehashi Nahoko(comprised of 4 books; Touda, Oujuu, The Quest, and Conclusion), and if you recognize that name, it may be because she was the author of the Moribito series, which was adapted into a 26-episode anime named Moribito--Guardian of the Spirit (commonly known by it's romaji title Seirei no Moribito). I actually recommend that anime too, it's pretty good. Uehashi Nahoko is just so damn good at storytelling and creating these fascinating universes. Just a little awesome fact; she won the Hans Christian Andersen Award this year!
The series of The Beast Player Erin starts off with a 10-year-old Erin, living in a village called Ake with her mother. Her father died when she was young due to unknown reasons, but you can pretty much assume what happened later on. There are two distinct, fantasy creatures that exist in this series, the Touda (looks like a red Alligator to me) and the Oujuu (upper torso is of a bird, lower is of a wolf or some animal of the Canidae family), though the latter doesn't get introduced until later on in the series. Erin's village is a Touda breeding village, because their quarter is famously known for using Touda on the battlefront; the Grand Duke's Quarter, obviously ruled by a Grand Duke.
Erin's mother, named Soyon, is a Touda breeder in this village, and is highly regarded because of her skills. Not only that, but she was formerly apart of the Mist People, commonly called Arryo (which literally means "mist people"), and they are not liked by a majority of people because they are known to hide secrets and use "magic". Well, the villagers all respect her except for one prejudiced idiot. The first couple of episodes are basically episodic adventures, kind of similar to Natsume Yuujinchou, and gives off a light-hearted feel. It soon takes a shocking, but not unexpected turn. After that, the story follows Erin, as she aims to become a Beastinarian. Of course, there is also a war that is brewing between the two quarters that are introduced in this story, the one that is ruled by the Grand Duke, and the other by the Queen.
If you think this is just a sweet, fun children's anime, you're in for a real surprise. I would say this is more of a family-oriented anime; despite some of the dark themes that they have; although, maybe some children wouldn't catch onto some things. I've heard that the light novels are waayy darker so I'm going to eventually read them (I'll be slowly translating them....if only I could read Japanese...). I'm surprised that the novels were written for children though...because damn, they're pretty deep and depressing from the summaries I've read online.
One last thing; the anime has a lot of reused scenes and flashbacks. For some parts, it really adds to the scene to make it more impact-ful but other times, it's plain annoying. And it's annoying most of the time. But please DON'T drop the series because of that! It's so much better than some reoccurring flashbacks! I cannot stress this enough. And some people still see this as a children's anime which confuses me...unless children are developing at a faster pace than I expected (it's quite scary!)
Anyway, that seems like a lot but that's it for the non-spoiler section! I'm going to be doing a deeper, full series analysis below so don't spoil this great series for yourself, please. I strongly suggest you watch it. I strongly suggest EVERYONE watch this.
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Plot Discussion
When I first started this anime, holy crap, I did not know what I was getting into. The first couple of episodes were pretty light-hearted and had a calming slice-of-life feel to it (although not modern). Then came the episode where they had to cut Lulu's ears off and I felt so bad for both Lulu and Erin. It was from then on that I realized The Beast Player Erin was going to a different anime. This was no children's anime.
Soyon's death, although expected came as a huge shock to me. I didn't think that she was going to die in such a brutal fashion, however, I think it's one of the best character deaths I've seen in anime. The impact it had on me, oh my god.
So after I completed the anime, I was curious about the novels, since I've heard that they've toned down a lot of stuff in the anime and read this post comparing the first volume with it's anime counterpart. It turns out that the volume actually starts in the anime at episode 6, and that they probably did the first 5 episodes to show the bond between Erin and Soyon, and feel attached to them (in order to break our hearts in episode 7).
Also, Nukku and Mokku weren't in the novels and were only made for comedy relief purposes in the anime. And honestly, that was a HUGE mistake. They were so inappropriate during serious situations, and if there are children that watch this, then it shows them that it's okay to be dumb and oblivious like these two fools. There were a few parts where I thought they were okay, but overall, I couldn't care less if they were in the anime or not.
Then, there's that debate concerning whether this is a children's anime or not. I think it should be your own choice to whether or not you watch an anime. If a child sees Erin and wants to watch the anime then I think they should be able to, however, I think that they would lose their interest in this anime as Erin grows older in the series. The anime also grows darker. There's also lots of crying. So unless your child is really depressing, I don't think they would like it very much. And by the way, I'm speaking for kids under 10 years old.
One thing I want to criticize, is the lack of the Mist People in the anime. Not sure if it's the same in the novels but I honestly thought they would've played a bigger role. We don't get to know much about them except their past, and how they got their name "Aowrow". I would've like to see more of their Renditioner skills, especially the whistling technique that Soyon did to save Erin from the Toudas.
And if they didn't want Erin to draw attention to herself, why didn't they just take her in after Soyon died? Why did Nassan stalk her for almost 8 years without doing anything? Like, come on, that's a major loophole, man.
Something I really admired about TBPE was the themes that it contained. Love, betrayal, beast-human relationship, chasing your dreams, war, politics, etc. What hit me the hardest was Erin and Lilan's fighting relationship. Erin was desperately trying to close the gap between humans and beasts. To see her get hurt over and over again and lose the fire in her eyes was so terribly agonizing. I like how she gained the respect and trust of the beasts because it was a very real approach, rather than using magic or just having that "natural" ability to do so.
This might be something small, but I thought the moment when Erin finally wore her mother's bracelet around her wrist was a nice touch, esp. since there was no bracelet in the novels. I was wondering when she would stop wearing the bracelet around her neck and wear it on her wrist but I never expected her to start wearing it that way. Kind of sad, actually. This shows that Erin is on the path of any other beastinarian. (**spoilers of the novel that I read online; highlight to read** Erin actually creates a battalion of Beast-Lords for some reason and commits the same mistake that Queen Je made.)
Not going to lie, I cried at the end when Lilan went back to save Erin. That was probably my favorite moment in the whole entire series. Finally. FINALLY. Lilan and Erin definitely formed a strong bond with each other, and I think even a mute whistle couldn't break it.
Okay, onto the character discussion (sorry for this long post)!
Characters
Okay, not going to lie, but I wasn't sure where's Soyon's intentions lied. The anime ended with many questions unanswered so we don't really know why she deliberately poisoned the Touda (which was considered following the code.) I actually read on a forum that when Erin's father, a Touda breeder, was killed, it was for the same reason as Soyon's, so they think that maybe she was the reason for that incident too. That just sent chills up my spine. In the anime, she seemed like such a nice mother who only wanted to protect her daughter but now I think otherwise.
Erin was a character I loved and wanted to comfort throughout the story. She went through so much and became a strong, independent character that I admired. My heart broke when I saw her innocent, bright eyes in the beginning turn cold and dull after her mother's death. Her behavior and manner striked me as odd through the whole anime, and when I read the comparisons for the novel and anime, I found out why. Again, from the novel and anime comparison post. I quote (my notes are in [ ] ),
"Erin had already prepared herself for their[Jone and Erin's] separation. Since the day her mother Soyon died, it was her belief that happiness won’t last forever and that there would always be change. That was why she always spoke in a polite manner towards John."That. ^ That's all I'm going to say. Just let it sink in.
Jone and Esal were like Erin's foster parents, in my opinion. I really liked their characters too, because they were pretty dope and didn't restrict Erin that much.
Although, was it just me or was Jone a bit too friendly during his first meeting with Erin? I felt that it was a bit unnatural. At least, in the novel, he was a little hostile at first but slowly warmed up to her, which should be any person's natural reaction.
Ngan is a character that I honestly did not see any point in. He appeared in, like what, 10 episodes or so? And it only took like 5 of those episodes to explain his character, and they were totally underdeveloped. I felt like he could have been a character with a larger role but sorry, man, he's only there to look like a fool. The underdog, the least-liked son, and always falls underneath his brother. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Damiya saw that in him, and took advantage of it.
Damiya was an uncomfortable character to watch, and your average creepy antagonist. Plain and simple. We didn't get to learn much about his background but his descent into madness was pretty entertaining, for how short it was. And he was probably one of the only characters to not change appearance after the time-skips. What is he doing, bathing in the blood of the youth or something?
Also, that part when he told Seimiya that she wouldn't be calling him Uncle anymore. Shiver.
Seimiya was a bit annoying in the aspect that she was ignorant to the life outside her palace. She thought her country was beautiful and should stay the way it is. But, honestly, you can't blame her for her naivety but how she was raised. At the end, however, I still wanted to smack her because she learned NOTHING AT ALL since she said, "ooooh~ I want to rule this country like my grandmother did ohlalala~" OH MY GOODNESS DID YOU NOT LISTEN TO ERIN YOU CRAZY GIRL. I also can't forgive her because **spoiler if you haven't read the novels** I read summaries and apparently Seimiya is the cause for Erin using Beast-Lords for war.)
Shunan was an okay character; I don't know, he seemed kind of bland to me. I did like his thinking, however. Revolutionary boy. His proposal made me laugh out loud because at how "smooth" he was. Getting all the ladies by telling them he wants to marry them for political reasons. I think Seimiya should have been a bit more mature and understanding about it (come on, you're in your 20s woman!) but I understand that her feelings were hurt.
And poor, poor Tomura. This time it's the reversal of "notice me, senpai!" Erin doesn't notice his feelings for her. LOL.
Yuuyan was so sweet. I loved her dearly. The scene where she left Kazalm just, ugh, felt like someone squashed my heart. She was so bubbly and quirky that it was HARD not to like her! She was very supportive of Erin, too. A+ for friendship. <333
Erin's other friends at the academy were nicer than I expected, although they seemed to look the same and did not grow at all after the 4-year time skip. It bothered me but eventually I just brushed it off and found it quite funny.
I thought it was pretty interesting that Erin's childhood friends back in Ake village thought she was dead. I guess that's to be expected since they didn't want Soyon's execution to spread to the public.
I hope that I can someday learn how to read Japanese so I read the novels and quench my curiosity. (If you want to buy the novels for yourself; it's only about $30 if you decide to buy all four volumes but each volume is approx. $7. Link They also have the novels translated in German and French so if you can read either of those languages...man, you are a lucky duck. Still waiting for someone to post summaries of these last 2 novels because apparently all hell is raised. In other words, we are missing some VITAL pieces to the plot.)
Last but not least, I want to talk about Kirik. At first, probably like everyone, I was wary of him, and knew that he was on the antagonist side. As I got nearer to the last few episodes, he really caught my heart. It was nice to see him at Ake village at the end, because he started his life back up again, and I think him being in that certain village is a sign that the villagers might find out the truth about Erin. Maybe, maybe not.
Now for some misc. stuff, I actually liked the animation a lot. I was expecting to see some horrid 3D animation for those Touda army scenes but surprisingly, it looked fluid and not awkward. If they used 3D animation or a different form of it, I couldn't tell.There were interesting artsy parts, like when Erin was dreaming about "Hikara" (or Hell). The distortion, and vivid colors were trippy but really stunning at the same time.
The music was phenomenal, and even now, I still find myself unconsciously humming the tune of "Dawn of the Bird" or other OSTs. Gotta say, wasn't a fan of the female voice for the second OP. Nothing wrong with the song; I'm just not used to singing voices like that and to me, they're not pleasant to listen to.
