I was looking for something obscure to watch while perusing through myanimelist.net. I wanted something with an interesting and original plot that I had never seen before. I stumbled upon Jyu-Oh-Sei or in English Planet of the Beast King. It was classified as science fiction and aired in 2006. It intrigued me: the story of two twin 11 year old boys named Thor and Rin who live on the space colony Juno found in the Balkan star system. They live a comfortable life until they face a brutal turn of events- they come home and find their parents murdered. Before they could realize what was going on, Thor and Rin find themselves on planet called Chimaera, where criminals are sent to survive or rather... to die.

To survive on Chimaera, one must be ready to deal with the harsh ecosystem: 181 days of day and 181 days of night, of which the temperature plummets greatly beyond the freezing point. Not to mention, various types of plants are abundant. You may think, oh vines and jungles, just give me a machete and I can beat them all! Think again. On Chimaera, plants are the predators and humans are its prey.

By merely judging from Chimaera's ecosystem and biology, you can easily say that the odds are stacked highly against the twin 11 year old boys. But that was just the climate and ecosystem. There's politics too. And a way out.

On Chimaera there are four factions called "Rings" which are based on one's skin color. There is the Sun Ring, the Ochre Ring, the Blanc Ring, and the Noire Ring. In each Ring the branch of leadership is as follows:Top, Second, and Third, in that respective order, with Top as the leader. To become Top, one must challenge the current Top in a physical duel and become victorious. Thor and Rin soon learn that if one defeats all four Tops, one will become the Jyu-Oh or Beast King. Once one attains that title, he can leave the planet and be free.

Jyu-Oh-Sei is the story of the survival of two boys on the planet Chimaera, and the fight to become Jyu-Oh for freedom. I enjoyed this anime, it has acceptable animation and a very original story line that had good attention to detail and plot twists that catches the viewer off guard. The characters are interesting and have flaws which become apparent and progress throughout the episodes. I was surprised that such an obscure show proved to be very intriguing and well executed that I wished it had a bit more stature and was better known among other shows in the anime world. But maybe, it's best for it to be hidden in the catacombs of an anime library, waiting for someone to excavate it , like a lost treasure. If you want something different and if you enjoy Survivor, try your luck in Chimaera by battling nature and human nature to attain the power of the Beast King.



