(CR) Kemono no Souja Erin ~ Beast Player ~

[Hamu]

Erin is definitely starting to see the consequences of her actions.
I wonder how Erin being able to control just one beast-lord will affect the coming war.
will others try to imitate her and tame the beast-lord, like they do the toudas, or will Erin somehow be able to use Lilan to control other beast-lord?
although, I doubt that Erin would intentionally enter the war or hurt the beast-lords.

and is Erin ever going to encounter the Toudas again? I had a feeling that she and Rururu (the baby touda she was looking after) were going to bond... but who knows..
I have so many questions!! hopefully, the anime will be able to answer all of them.. and not leave us with any plotholes.

off topic.. I'm so glad that this forum is finally getting busy.. it seemed pretty dead at the beginning.

[FlareKnight]

26 was pretty interesting with Erin getting hit by the results of her actions. The impressive discovery of Lilan understanding her words hits against the reality of Lilian reaching a strange middle ground between the wild beast lords and the captive ones. Lilan may have trouble interacting with anyone besides Erin really. It's not like Lilan is listening to anyone besides Erin.

Almost thought Lilan was going to take off a little or something at the end of the episode. Erin may try to help her gain that ability so Lilan will have the ability to just take off and return to the wild. Ironic that such a thing would make the seriousness of Erin's situation politically even more so since a flying beat lord that listens to a human would really shake things up. Not to mention Erin can't really pull away form Lilan now that she is so attached. It would be like losing a parent all over again for Lilan.

Anyways just curious about when this whole keeping things a secret will end up blowing up in the school's face.

[Wargumm1i]

I wonder what Erin is doing now when she is 18 years old.

[TCman]

Episode 31 of Kemono no Souja Erin is just beautiful:

Spoiler for Episode 31:

Firstly, the new opening video is quite well done, the song is similar as the first opening song, if not the same, but by a female singer who gives the song a totally different feel. Very nice. Secondly, the second ED2 video is in my opinion very well done; the ED2 song already appears in episode 30; the ED2 video is simply beautiful, the "pointillism" that's used for the background is amazing, just fabulous; I wish the anime creators used this technique in the anime itself for the background instead of the crayon style that's currently used.

As for this episode, in my opinion, it may be the best and most beautiful episode out of the 31 episodes so far, because Lilan can finally fly; his (her?) flying ability is unlocked by accident and may also be contributed by watching to the birds in the area; this "I can fly" scene is really a must-see. Also, a new character appears, he may be a threat to Erin, since he's doing some shady business and investigation on her; he has his own history; I considers him to be an "avenger" type.

[Miles Teg]

Originally Posted by Wargumm1i

I wonder what Erin is doing now when she is 18 years old.

Spoiler for episode 30+:

For now the same thing she was doing when she was 14 ie taking care of Lilan and studying at Kazalm.

[BBOvenGuy]

They've really made the 18-year-old Erin look a lot like her mother.

So...

Spoiler for Episode 31:

Who is this poisoner guy? I don't speak Japanese, so I couldn't follow it completely. In the beginning, he poisons those guys he was meeting with. Who were they? Since he has one of those masks, I'm guessing he's opposed to the existing monarchy. And I thought he also poisoned that couple in the flashback, but then they showed him with his dying little sister, so now I'm not sure.

At the end of the episode, when he sees Lilan flying, it looks like he's associating Erin with his little sister - which means that even if he was out to get her when he first arrived, he might change his mind down the road.

[Saleh]

Spoiler for A Question and Speculation (ep 24):

Just curious, Can Damiya(Queen's Nephew) marry Seimiya if the current queen dies? Even if he can't marry Princess Seimiya, he can easily control both quarters with heartbroken Seimiya and Nugan as his puppets. Its only matter of time before he frames both Shunan and Grand Duke as rebels if his intricate plot goes smoothly.

[Isohunter]

Damn, I'm stuck at episode 26 till SS move their asses and release the rest. Yes, I know I know I'm getting this for free so I should be grateful, but what I'm worried about is this show getting licensed before it ends, when that happens SS will definitely drop it and then no body would be subbing it at all.

I wish I knew Japanese.

[SeijiSensei]

I see the chances of this show being licensed as close to zero. It's too "childish" to market to the R1 anime audience. Most of us who've seen Dennou Coil think it's one of the better anime in the past couple of years, but I don't see any licensors rushing to pick. Erin is, I believe, being shown in the same time slot as Coil, one oriented to family viewing. Even being produced by I.G isn't a lock these days. Having Shirow as the creative force behind Real Drive hasn't gotten it licensed, and his other recent show, Ghost Hound, is being released in R1 with subtitles-only, a guarantee that it will have a small audience.

Oh and, in general, bad-mouthing fansubbers is usually considered bad form here.

[karumofin]

it is a kids show, so it can always get licensed as kids show

[SeijiSensei]

I doubt it. It doesn't have obvious collectibles or other features that sell shows aimed at children. I suppose you might be able to sell a few stuffed Lilan dolls, but the prospects seem limited. Moreover how would it be promoted? It certainly wouldn't be seen by television advertisers as an appropriate vehicle for selling sugared cereal and toys. Suppose you were General Mills and had purchased advertising time in Erin. Would you want your advertisement for Cheerios to appear in the break after Soyon was executed?

That pretty much means selling DVDs. It's proving progressively more difficult to sell anime on DVDs to the prime 18-30 target market. I don't think I'd want to invest in a show aimed at kids that would require parents to spend some $250 across twelve or more DVDs. Would you?

Often when I read discussions of licensing here and elsewhere, many commentators seem to think that what drives licensing decisions is primarily the content of the show itself. While I'm sure content does matter, it's not the only factor influencing the licensing decision. When it comes to shows for kids, I'd wager the quality of the content is one of the least-important factors. In the kids market, having a show that's cheap to produce and offers the prospect of essentially limitless episodes are significant. Do you think Pokemon would have succeeded so well if there were no cards and toys, and the show was scheduled to end after a "mere" fifty episodes?

How well do you suppose Tweeny Witches is selling?

[BBOvenGuy]

You would have to pitch this show to the same crowd that likes Juuni Kokki, and throw translations of the novels into the mix. I'm not sure it could work in the current economic climate, and even if it could, it would probably take a long time to come together.

[BBOvenGuy]

I've been going back and rewatching the early episodes with the Static Subs translation, and I feel like there's a lot in them that's still hanging out there to be paid off. Like, for example... just about everything that happens in the village of Ake.

Will we ever find out how and why the Touda were killed? Will that pompous weasel of a Touda-vet Wadan get what's coming to him? Will we ever see that soldier, Tairan, who brought his Touda to the village for Soyon to cure? Inquiring minds want to know!

Then again, Michiko to Hatchin never went back and showed us what happened to Hatchin's foster family, and that show did okay. So maybe Ake is just a distant memory now. It has been eight years, after all.

[Saleh]

I am dying to know the mysterious relation between mist people and the founder of empire rather than those. The founder could have been from mist tribe since it was hinted that it isn't rare for mist people to be able to control both the mythical creatures.

@ SeijiSensei :- Did Emma, Shoukoujo Sara, Heidi, Mirai shônen Konan generate profit? While Kemono no Souja Erin has less chance of getting licenced by anime industries that rely on sales of merchandise, broadcasting industry will eventually be eying it. It will fetch a reasonable rating and profits from ads and it can be broadcasted for multiple age groups even if its intended targets are under 14, though broadcasting license generally doesn't equate to merchandising license. I believe that Tweeny Witches was a profitable enterprise for broadcasting companies. They only had to find a age groups and countries that would find it immensely captivating.

Suppose you were General Mills and had purchased advertising time in Erin. Would you want your advertisement for Cheerios to appear in the break after Soyon was executed?

Won't you like to advertise your product on a show with 8%+ rating if the broadcasting company is willing to do it at a reasonable price? Doesn't it gets a bit pricey if you are too specific about when and during which show your product airs?

[SeijiSensei]

I'm puzzled. Isohunter's question concerned the possibility that Erin would be licensed and drop off the torrents. Since we usually mean "licensed" here at AS to mean "licensed in R1," I was commenting on the possibility of it showing up here.

I don't doubt there might be some broadcasting agencies in some countries that might show Erin; I just don't think the US is going to be one of them. I don't recall any of the shows you listed appearing on an American broadcast channel. I also doubt that R1 licensors like ADV or Funi are going to be all that interested, either. The anime market here has changed a lot since 2005 when RightStuf/Nozomi licensed Emma. Their newest offerings look more like Maria-sama than Erin.

As for ratings, Erin garners some three percent of the audience in Japan. Not too shabby, but a far cry from eight. I don't believe it has any advertising in Japan since it's carried on NHK's educational channel. At one time the NHK had some collaborative relationships with America's PBS, but they don't seem to extend to childrens' shows. PBS is much too committed to programs like Sesame Street which focus on educating disadvantaged pre-schoolers.

I, too, think Erin is quite a fine show, one my daughter and I watch routinely when new episodes appear. I just don't see it appearing alongside Sponge Bob any time soon.

[silverwolf0]

Spoiler for Ep 27 and 28 rant, because I like to rant.:

SS just released 27 and 28 yesterday. Watched both and weren't too impressed. Maybe I'm rather heartless to the fat man because the subber said bring kleenex.

Ep 27 seemed like a filler trying to be canon and meaningful. Erin was in a psychedelic state the entire ep, like she had eaten some bad shrooms, with here eyes and demeanor stoned, and after much soul searching, she finally found her resolve which didn't amount to much because she was still mentally AWOL afterwards. This leads to episode 28, where she still acts stoned for the first half of the episode after hearing about Jone's death, but suddenly gets into a fit of demonic laughing and crying, as if the voice actor was trying too hard. She relapses into her "emo" state again.

The episode pacing was dreadfully paint-dryingly slow, and they spent too long trying to build up and show the emotional weight that Erin has inside her, even though she herself was very wish-washy throughout and conspicuously stoned, making me feel very little sympathy towards her. The lack of music didn't help. They tried that Evangelion or Samurai X/Kenshin OVA thoughtful contemplation mood maker so common in pretentious anime nowadays, with long stretches of silence broken up by annoying cicada chirps. I wholly disapprove as it seemed someone entirely different directed these episodes, destroying the charm and feel or the original series.

The only bright spots were Lilan's antics. I'm surprised that strawhat is still in one piece. Her chomping on the carved statue was priceless.

[TinyRedLeaf]

^ Hmm, that's a surprising view. My reaction is completely opposite to yours.

Originally Posted by Miles Teg

Spoiler for Episode 28:

A letter arrive for Erin announcing the death of Jon. Erin is depressed and Esal decide to take Erin on a trip to a place where Jon has lived.

Clearly not the best episode to start the day

Originally Posted by TCman

Spoiler for episode 27:

Actually, I had seen this coming, since Erin saw John in her dream, and when Erin called him Otosan with tears in her eyes if it was their last moment of seeing each other (before waking up), I am almost certain John has passed away; besides in the same dream Erin saw her deceased mother, Soyon.

My thoughts:

Spoiler for Episdes 27 and 28:

Like TCman, I immediately suspected that something untoward had happened to John when Erin saw him in her dream. It was clearly not a good omen to see him in the same purgatory, Hikara, as Soyon.

And the presence of the moth (which was beautifully animated in 3-D, I thought) throughout Ep27 was equally foreboding. I don't know how moths are viewed in the West, but in East Asia, they are sometimes associated with the souls of the deceased. There is a superstition, among some Chinese, at least, that when a particularly big moth flies into your room during important anniversaries, it's a loved one who has come to visit you.

Regarding Erin's "psychedelic" dreams, I didn't find them pointless, unlike silverwolf0. It's important to understand that Erin had suffered a shock in the previous episode, when she discovered that Lilan could never be returned to the wild. That was a painful revelation, especially because she had striven so hard not to raise him like a tamed beast-lord. It hurt her even more to wonder if, by avoiding the use of benetropic water and the mute whistle, she had harmed Lilan more than she at first realised.

Because, what's the point of raising Lilan like a wild animal if he's doomed never to become one? It'll be as hypocritical and cruel as giving a dying patient false hope of recovery.

So, all of a sudden, everything she had believed in up until that moment became invalidated, leaving her temporarily without direction. She wasn't sure what to believe in any more, or whether what she was doing was even worthwhile.

In a way, Erin had come to equate the caring of Lilan with her never-forgotten wish to have saved her mother. Erin's apparent "failure" to save Lilan thus brought back her crushing regret in not having been able to save Soyon.

Hence her nightmares of Hikara. Actually, I'm interested to know more about this "purgatory". Author Uehashi, to date, has surprisingly avoided touching on matters relating to the afterlife in her stories, whether in this show or in Seirei no Moribito. This omission is even more noticeable when you consider the richness of the spiritual realms that she creates to complement her fantasy worlds. Considering Uehashi's background as an anthropologist, she ought to be well aware that people, throughout history, have turned to creation myths and stories about the afterlife to come to terms with bereavement.

As humans, we have always felt the need to grieve the loss of our loved ones, and this is probably one of the key reasons why religion was born.

So, it's surprising to me, for example, to learn that John used to say, "when we die, we simply go back to the soil", as quoted by Esal in Ep28, at John's former "secret base". That's a surprisingly progressive sentiment, more in tune with our modern times, than with the feudal society of Erin's world.

Perhaps that's meant to highlight how different educators and scientists like John and Esal were, in comparison to the rest of the population. And we certainly gained further insight into John's teaching philosophy in Ep28. In many ways, he was a man ahead of his times, who found joy in bringing out a student's potential. Teachers like John and Esal see life from a different point of view, one that is not clouded by myths and superstition.

In Soyon's case, however, things might be different. She died believing that she had sinned, as do her tribesmen, the people of the Mist. So, perhaps her spirit is indeed lost in Hikara. It's interesting to note, for example, that John — who was already presumably dead at the time — could still pilot his own boat in the afterlife, while Soyon remained trussed up, doomed to drift forever in purgatory.

Regardless whether there's deeper symbolism behind Erin's nightmares in Ep27, personally, I think it's clear that Erin has, to date, never been able to forgive herself for failing to save her mother. The regret still hangs over her like a millstone around her neck (symbolised, in a way, by the bracelet that she constantly wears).

So, that's why I found Ep28 very touching. Erin had to learn how to cope with bereavement, and with Esal's help, she finally did. People die, and we grieve when they do. But what's important is to keep them alive in our hearts, to not forget them and to honour their memory.

While it's sad that Erin never got to call John "Father" while he was still alive, in a way, it didn't matter any more, because in her heart, she believed that he had heard her call. The visit to his secret study has helped her tremendously, as Esal knew it would.

In short, I found Ep28 to be yet another splendidly poignant episode, one that induced manly tears, yet again, from me.

[Wargumm1i]

Well I didint really enjoy episode 27-28 it was just mopping and whining etc etc about the past and current issues. But judging by the preview for episode 29 looks like something big is going too happen.

Spoiler:

From what I saw it looks like Lilan injures Erin pretty badly, but I am hoping for something less dramatic like Lilan wasent trying too or it was just a 1 in a 100 chances of happening.

[Miles Teg]

Originally Posted by Wargumm1i

Well I didint really enjoy episode 27-28 it was just mopping and whining etc etc about the past and current issues. But judging by the preview for episode 29 looks like something big is going too happen.

Spoiler:

From what I saw it looks like Lilan injures Erin pretty badly, but I am hoping for something less dramatic like Lilan wasent trying too or it was just a 1 in a 100 chances of happening.

It's just a flesh wound


I really shouldn't have rewatched Monty Python And The Holy Grail

[Hamu]

while episodes 27 was definitely different from all the previous ones, I have to agree with TinyRedLeaf that it was good in its own way

Spoiler for Episodes 27-28:

from the beginnning of ep. 27, the mood and creepy atmosphere was interesting me in a totally different way. it felt like the midpoint episode, where the directors tried to rekindle interest into the serie. and for me it worked.

In a way, it was almost like a break from the everyday erin episodes where the audience got to see/learn more about erin than the other episodes ever showed. Personally, I think ep.27 rounded Erin's character and revealed how really human she was by showing us that she does have fears and hesitations whereas, before she always seemed so determined and convinced in everything she was doing.
It was like she was always going forward doing surprising things and astounding everyone around her, but it made you (the audience) feel like she was too much of a superman (or superwoman). and you didn't really know how to respond to her character. As much as I love Erin, I was beginning to feel like, "Is that all there is to her? She does amazing things, so what?".
And just when I thought they had finished bringing in the angsty mother story, they did it again but it didn't feel like it was too much, I like that they tied it in together with Jone. It was definitely a well done rollercoster ride of emotions.

On the other hand, I thought that Jone's death (in ep. 28) was rather anti-climatic and as much as I was saddened by his death the episode didn't really pull at my heart strings unlike the other Soyon/Lilan themed episodes. But Lilan totally stole the show when she bit the statue's head off!!

The preview looks really good!! From the look of things, it seems like Erin's friend tries to get friendly with Lilan (since Lilan looks oh-so tamed to everyone now) just to find out that Lilan only likes one human-Erin. So, Erin gets hurt trying to save her friend, but what kind of repercussion does that bring to the school? Will they somehow forbid everyone now from being close to the Beast-Lords and will it maybe make Erin even more the centre of jealousy as she's the only human who can have close contact with them?

off topic, I'd pay good money for a Lilan plushie.. maybe a human sized one too!! As odd looking as it would be (or more so, as awkward as it would be to explain to others what it is) it would make a great sleep companion lol