Kemono no Souja Erin ~ Beast Player ~
 

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6934/06213700wa8.jpg

* Alternative title : The Beast Player Erin 獣の奏者エリン (Japanese)

* Genres : Fantasy

* Running Time : 25 minutes

* Number of Episodes : 50

* Air Date : 2009-01-10

* Opening Theme : "Shizuku (雫)" by Sukima Switch

* Ending Theme : "After the rain" by cossami

I am a big fan of Nahoko Uehashi thanks to Moribito . But I am a bit scared will it get subbed ? as it has not generated enough buzz . I must check up fansub-wiki when I get time : )

It certainly looks cute, but 4 cours series always intimidate me. I'll have a look though.

According to FanSub Wiki this show will get subbed by Static Subs ^___^

That is good fansub?

I am really looking forward to this, thanks to Uehashi Nahoko's amazing work on Moribito. If the anime has the same mystery and intrigue, I'm definitely hooked. And 50 episodes could also hit at a lot of chances for pretty good character/plot development.

Screenshots for Episode 1

I liked this anime and going to cover it regularly :)

I love the OP. Same guy that did Morbito's opening, right?

Good thing Erin doesn't have a high pitched voice. She sounds normal thank god. Is the pig-tailed girl/women supposed to her mother? She looks very young. When I saw the commercial for it, I thought the girl was a teenager.

It seems that this anime will be on my 'must watch' list...
I can't wait for the subs to come out =D

Nope, it's by Sukima Switch, who haven't done a lot of anime work before (one of their songs was used in Tokyo Marble Chocolate, I believe).

The plot is intruiging but more than that, I am looking forward to the art/animation . They did a mighty fine job with Seirei no Moribito.

I'm so looking forwards to this, Moribito has been totally fantastic (even the sword-smith episode which was almost all dialogue in one single room was surprisingly gripping) and that type of writing with the story outline written in the first post given a similar style of intrigue and the potential development of 50 episodes could be equally so.

I have to agree with DangerMouse, I've never looked forward to an anime more than to this one. Seirei was one of (if not the) best anime of the millennium, it had some amazing eps; the sword smith episode was one, and I enjoyed the one in the snowed-in mountain cave even more. Amazing stuff.
I've been flipping though the raw of ep 1, and the character design really reminds me of SnM. I was afraid this show might be more aimed at children than Seirei was but it looks like that was unfounded. I'm restraining myself from "watching" the raw completely, but if someone doesn't start subbing it soon, I might just have to learn Japanese :/

Good word: "intimidate." That's just how I feel about long series.

But I'm certainly starting with a happy heart. I enjoyed the first episode (Chinese sub), including the lead seiyuu who is really a TV/film actress. I thought they told a complete story in ep1, and the emotional connections around it worked.

I liked the strange green eyes, which for some reason didn't seem as blank as I would have thought.

I had reservations about Seirei, good as it was. The story seemed slow and meandering, to me, and for me lacked some of the emotional force the plot would have justified.

Yeah, I agree with that. SnM was undoubtedly a great anime, but I thought it could have been better, and was disappointed with the direction it ended up taking and the slightly underwhelming final climax. But it did have excellent characters and its fantasy world was just immense and epic. They really put effort into that setting.

That's what I'm hoping they do with this series. I'm still waiting for subs, but I'm anticipating this with bated breath. Production I.G. are generally a quality organization.

I'm not sure where I stand on Kemono no Souja. The first episode is fine, but it's not really grabbed me like I hoped it would.

There's some nice touches to the artwork (particularly in the OP and ED), and there's seeds of some interesting stuff in there - the warring countries, the whole "beast calling" thing, and what I know of the plot for the future are what would keep me interested. It's just not a very exciting first episode.

Erin's voice actress is fine, but then it's not a very interesting part so far - she likes animals, big whoop.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting balls-to-the-wall action or anything, but the first episode doesn't really set up anything particularly intriguing. I'll probably give the second episode a go but I'm not really very excited about it.

Episode 2 Screenshots :)

I'm still on episode one~~~, and am agreeing with BluWacky so far. Watching the next one soon, though. :)