Jyu Oh Sei

Jyu oh Sei or Planet of the Beast King (獣王星) is an 11 episode sci-fi series that ran in the spring of 2006 in Japan and is based the manga of the same name by Itsuki Natsumi.

    The story takes place far into the future of mankind, which has spread through out the cosmos. Twin brothers, Rai and Thor, find themselves shanghaied on a remote prison planet, Chimera, after they witness their parent’s murder. Shortly after arriving on this bizarre, mega-flora infested world, they are attacked by a group of armed men. During the attack the ground opens up and a large carnivorous plant consumes some of the attackers along with Rai. Thor ends up being taken to the palace of one of the planets tribes, or Rings. The leader of each Ring is called Top and is succeeded by Second and Third. The Top’s are the rulers of the planet and make all of the decisions that affect their Ring and its members.  Since the inhabitants of the planet are prisoners, the law of the land is that of strength and power. Each Top was appointed by killing the previous Top. 

    The Rings war with each other over resources and territory but also try to work together when needed. The two biggest threats the planet offers are plants that cover it, which are carnivorous and semi-intelligent, and Chimera’s weather.  The plants rotation matches its years orbit with the night time portion of the year being extremely cold and deadly.  For the prisoners, there is only one chance of escape, to claim the title of Jyu Oh (Beast King), by defeating the other Top’s, and ascending an orbital elevator that leads to a space station.  Determined to survive and discover the reason for his parent’s murder and his banishment, Thor has vowed to become the Jyu Oh.  Thor, who is naïve and young, must learn to quickly adapt to the harsh realities of Chimera, between the wanton blood lust and the dangerous environment. While he climbs to the rank of Jyu Oh he also tries to maintain his humanity and compassion, not wanting to become a beast in the process.

    The animation is distinct and a bit odd. It reminds of the artwork from Escaflowne with a little more bi-shonen flare. The series is pretty much split into two parts. The first part follows Thor as an adolescent as he learns how to survive on Chimera and how to obtain his goal of escaping the planet. Along the way he discovers clues to his banishment and his parent’s death. The second part, which takes place a number of years later, finds Thor on his way to becoming the Jyu Oh. He has attained the rank of Top and built many strong alliances. As he gets closer to his goal of escaping the planet his past begins to unfold and the reason for everything up to that point comes into focus. The general time line of the story moves incredibly fast, we really only see a very short amount of time in Thor's life, a couple of weeks worth, but much happens in-between. It would have been nice to have had it a bit more fleshed out. Yet on the converse the series does not drag and is easy to follow whats happening until the very end, when things start to get a bit fuzzy. In the last episode and a half some things are left a little unclear as to what’s going on and why something’s happened, but all in all, the conclusion is understandable and complete.

    The show is mature and brutal in nature; main characters have a tendency to die off, which is a nice change from most action shows. This is a nice, short, well done series that can be watched in a day if needed. The plot only focuses around 2 time lines in the characters life and ever so often, in retrospect, it can drag a bit. When you have an 11 episode series that covers a number of years it doesn't make too much sense to have 1 whole episode pretty much devoted to Thor visiting an oracle and girl who falls for him and her growing affection…yet it is excusable because it was also a vehicle to explain more about the world as well as to set up Thor's fate.

    The series is available in America, even in dub (although I have not watched the dub) and I recommend it pretty highly, due to its length, for any fan of sci-fi and adventure anime. It’s a fun show, I wish there was a bit more to it, but it does the job and does it efficiently.