Jyu-Oh-Sei: Planet of the Beast King (Review)
Jyu-Oh-Sei Asks us, “Suppose there Was a Beast King and Nobody Cared?”
It’s been a long time since I’ve experienced an anime that spreads itself so thin and subsequently comes off as bland as Jyu-Oh-Sei: Planet of the Beast King does. The overly simplistic character design causes all of them to blend together, which ruins any chance of the audience creating an actual emotional bond with any of them. Things are only made worse by the childish dialogue and simplistic minded storyline that bounces around at a pace that’s impossible for the audience to keep up with and never takes the time to make up for the lackluster character design by actually utilizing any character development at all.
Jyu-Oh-Sei takes place in the distant future during a time in which humans have begun to settle in distant galaxies. The story revolves around a boy named Thor (voiced by Alison Viktorin as a child and by Sean Michael Teague as an adult), who discovers that his parents have been murdered. He and his brother are then drugged and left to die on the planet Chimera, which is used as a penal colony. Thor quickly adapts to the hostel environment, which is filled with highly aggressive carnivorous plants. He eventually gains allies in the form of a young girl who takes a real shine to him, named Tiz (voiced by Trina Nishimura), and a mysterious supporter, named Third (voiced by Duncan Brannan). With his new comrades at his side, Thor sets his sights on becoming the planet’s Beast King in order to escape from Chimera and seek revenge on his parents’ killer.
The 11-episode Jyu-Oh-Sei is based on the manga by Natsumi Itsuki, which, at five volumes, had a much longer run than the adapted anime series. The manage version of Jyu-Oh-Sei seems to have some sort of obsession with Norse mythology, with characters like Thor, Odin, and Dr. Loki, as well as operation “Midgard” and a spaceship known as the Asgard. It gets to a point where a neon sign would have been a little less obvious than all of these references. The series also puts a lot of focus on the idea of having children, and eventually, it becomes suspiciously reminiscent of watching desperate middle-aged women worrying about her biological clock, especially when it comes to the character of Tiz, who never stops pestering Thor about wanting to bear his children. It’s all very one-dimensional.
I doubt more episodes would have helped the Jyu-Oh-Sei, since I found myself constantly hoping I was further along in the series. On the other hand, part of this was because the Jyu-Oh-Sei seemed like it was in such a rush to get to the end that it’s desire to be done with it rubbed off on me. Characters would meet for a few minutes and instantly decide that they were in love or best friends. I’m not sure who the intended audience for this series was, but it is reminiscent of late-80s-to-mid-90s cartoons, from a time when kids weren’t predisposed to asking questions about what was happening on screen. Maybe if this anime had caught me back when I was a mindless kid I would have liked it, but now I can’t really bring myself to offer any kind words on the series. Perhaps Jyu-Oh-Sei would have at least been interesting if it had taken more time to build character relationships and show all the hardships the characters had to go through, instead of suddenly jumping ahead five years. It just turns out to be it’s shamelessly sentimental and childish. Definitely not for someone looking to do anything meaningful with their weekend.
