Jyu-Oh-Sei: Planet of the Beast King

Jyu Oh Sei has stupid names for characters like Thor, Odin, and Zagi of Iliad, but if you can get past that ridiculous attempt at symbolism, and other miscellaneous missteps, you'll hopefully find yourself entertained by this fast paced epic adventure. On a colony planet far from Earth, two brothers stumble upon their murdered parents and are knocked out by gas. They wake up on a planet loaned from whoever built the sets for King Kong and Little Shop Of Horrors. That's right; the jungle tries to kill you every five minutes! Who killed their parents? Why were they sent to a cruel planetpopulated by miscreants in tribes who battle each other for supremacy? How can you get off a planet that's controlled in a dastardly manner that the agents of the Matrix would approve? More importantly, is this damn genre-juggling show worth a watch? Yes it is, and the reveal which propels the story into a completely different direction is excellent. What we get up to that is decent animation, pretty engaging world design and plotlines that sci-fi fans will dig, and that sense of epicness which comes along with a tale that follows a character over a period of years. With Jyu Oh Sei there's this feeling that you're watching something different from the norm, even though nothing about this production is pioneering in any way at all. I think this refreshing feeling has to do with the fact that the source of the story is from a short manga rather than one that went on endlessly, and that the production crew did a good job delivering it to the small screen. Maybe that in itself is rare these days? The bad guys in this show don’t even have tiny irises! Kudos. There are miscellaneous flaws as mentioned above, like a love triangle that feels tacked on (aren't they all?), generic narrative clichés that you've seen a million times before and wish you'd never see again, but they're just little bumps in the road, nothing to dampen the parade. The core concept driving this show, that of the consequences of living in a dog-eat-dog world, fighting to survive for a tangible reason, and the relationship between you and your less-than-spectacular twin brother, are however compelling enough to make you forgive any clichéd moments that pop up. Jyu Oh Sei breezes along thanks to its 11 episode length; because it’s a successful adaptation and not the insipid tailor-made trash of a TV writer. The soundtrack from the superb-as-always Hajime Mizoguchi is the final dressing on this dessert and stays with you long after you witness the last episode.

Jyo Oh Sei is a good (maybe even great) 29 episode show squeezed into 11 episodes. The result isn't pretty. The foundation of the plot is a big 'ole mess of second rate science fiction concepts, including The Plant Planet, The Prison Planet, The War Between the Sexes, and others that it would be spoilerish of me to reveal. Seriously, this story kept reminding me of the Golden Age SciFi I've read. The difference is, those stories (well, the good ones anyways) fully explored their concepts and were able make interesting situations out of them. And perhaps the Jyu-Oh-Sei manga manages todo this, but here none of the concepts are really given enough time to become interesting. The setting and ideas have it easy, though. The characters are the ones who really suffer, as the creators push them through rushed plot twist after rushed plot twist. Perhaps the worst example comes in the first episode, when Thor whiplashes from protecting his brother, to trying to kill him, to protecting him again, in just a few minutes. What was supposed to be a brutal moral conundrum just comes off as silly (It doesn't help that his brother dies anyways in the same episode, essentially invalidating the whole moral struggle). And this show is talky. Very talky. There just isn't time for the characters to exhibit their traits through their actions, so everything has to be explained. This leads to some pretty significant disparities between how character talk, and their actions on the screen. No, this is not a character-driven anime. Rather, the plot is in control, cracking its whip and forcing the characters through one unnatural contortion after another. Still, despite all this, it manages to maintain a modicum of interest - up until Ninja Chick is introduced, in a forced attempt at a love triangle. Their is no chemistry to the relationship, however, and it only serves to dry up whatever enthusiasm the viewer has for the finale. The bizarre death of a major character at the end didn't even provoke more than a puzzled 'huh?' from me. Visually, the show is a mixed bag. The character designs and animation are pretty good, but they take place in incredibly uninspired locales. Big empty spaceships, big empty castles, big empty tundras, big empty valleys - there's just not much stuff on the planet of the Beast King, apparently. Another complaint is the misogyny present. Despite the fact that the original work was written by a woman, the story is far from feminist. Oh sure, on the surface stuff like "Women have the absolute right to choose their mates!" sounds all pro-Grrl, but the truth is that all our supposedly strong female characters are completely dependent on men by the end of the show (or dead). For all the vitriol, Jyu-Oh-Sei has redeeming qualities (it looks alright, the plot starts out somewhat intersting, etc), and people do like it. Nonetheless, this is simply not a very good show, and I recommend skipping it. Certainly don't blind buy it unless it's very cheap and you have a high tolerance for schlock.

Aw~~, Jyu Oh Sei...So special ... To start, the story. I've never imagined that kind of story could exist. Mixing Sci-fi with he...Hum...how to say it... with a "king of the "animals"", was very sought. So: Thor and Rai, 2 little twins with blue eyes, pale skin and grey hair, discovered their parents, dead. Dispatched in an unknown planete -by important people (but who?That's a really important question in this story)-, where the law is simple: the stronger, who rule on every people on this planete (called Chimera), and rule on the "special" flora of Chimera, will be able to quit it... After a little time to think,Thor is decided: He'll be the Jyu Oh, the king of the animals, king of Chimera... The beginning of the story was fast,so I realised very quick that all the anime will be like this. The only little problem is that the anime was just on 11 episodes, so some parties of the story couldn't be detailed. Like in the first ep', when Thor 's going to kill his twin, why don't we have some explanations about his feelings? And the part with Karim, it's a little bit disturbing when Thor fell in love so quick....It's just unbelievable. The animation and the art was very good, I really liked the battle scenes, even if the profile of the characters was special to me (the noses too, they were really ...special.and big.) . The sound , after that. So, the OP is special (lyrics, music and voice), but I enjoyed it, I just do not know why. the ED was absolutely beautiful for the voice, even if the lyrics weren't researched at all. The voices were all good, but in the last ep' I was disappointed: was it because it was the end that they were not looking passionate? The characters were good.But sometimes, I didn't understand why important characters ( the chiefs of the Cercles, for exemple.) didn't appear much longer, instead of some useless (Karim, Chen) chara' who were always in all the ep. By the way, the age of Thor was disturbing: His voice, and his physic didn't show us a vision of a nomal child of 11 for the first part, and a vision of an adolescent of 15. After all, I really enjoyed it, I wanted to kill some chara because of their stupidity or their arrogance, and that is why it's a very good anime: it carry you in a new vision of Sci-Fi. [ and the end, oh god...]

On the technical side of things, the animation is Studio BONES. Which means it is awesome. This is greatly aided by the fact that the show is only eleven episodes long and can squeeze the most out of its budget, which it does. The music is nothing particularly special, in fact it can be a little too melodramatic at times, but the opener and closer heavily remind me of 90s top 20 hits, so I can’t hate on it that much. The acting performances are also quite well-done in this show. For the dub, I was surprised at how mellow the acting was for ashow that begs to be very melodramatic, but in hindsight, it’s probably good that the actors chose to be less cartoony and more down-to-earth. It’s still VERY dramatic, but it’s not Code Geass or anything. I was also very happy to hear a new hero voice from Thor’s character, and Sean Teague has a perfect youthful gentleness in contrast to the rough, brutal supporting cast around him. Great work all around. The only thing I can compare this show to is a good old Ray Bradbury short story. It’s pure undiluted science fiction with lots of techno-babble, weird societies, epic fighting, and strong themes about humanity, nature, and the morality that gets sandwiched between them. So the question is: does the show do it well? Mm, for the most part, the answer is yes. Again, this show is only eleven episodes long, and it has to cover Thor’s life from runty kid to beast king in that time, so you’re not going to have any filler material, but at the same time, the story didn’t feel rushed, except in its very final episode that, while fitting overall, could have used some rewrites in some raw meaty places. On the contrary, I wonder if it could have held up with any validity if it was longer, as some of the plot twists are a little silly and it can be very predictable at times. I swear, there are a couple of characters that could walk onscreen with nametags that say “I’m going to die in ten minutes,” and it would be less obvious. Still, these are minor flaws considering how very well the story flows at the breakneck speed it must, and for its few contrivances, the story also has some wicked good twists that bring out the best in its shocked little posse of players. Character development is an important part of sci fi where motives are needed for bizarre behavior, and on that front, I don’t know that Jyu Oh Sei delivers too well. The writing is fine, so the real problem is just too many characters, not enough time. Our leads the three Ts, Thor, Tiz, and Third, (yes, his name is a number, you find out why later,) are quite interesting enough despite the fact they have to spend so much time updating you on the plot as we zip through the years at a speed that necessitates a gallon of Dramamine. It can feel very “after-school special” sometimes when the characters start spouting exposition, morals of the story, and their profound (yeah, right) emotional problems, just a necessary evil for the anime’s length. All in all, this is good, basic sci fi, with nary a stutter from beginning to end, a bite-sized epic. Still, the sophomoric character development and sometimes questionable plot twists are juuuuust enough to water it down to less than what it could have been. *THIS IS A PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT OF MY VIDEO REVIEW WHICH CAN BE SEEN HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvVPVVXXb7U Thanks for reading!