The Beast Player Erin
2009 / TV-PGIn the war against neighboring countries, the Grand Duke’s warriors use dragon-like beasts called Touda as weapons. Touda are admired across the nation and villages take great pride in breeding them. Erin lives in one such village with her mother, Soyon, who is the best beastinarian in the country. However, life in the village is not so straightforward: Soyon is also an Ariyo, a woman of the Mist People - a race that is feared by humans for its mystical abilities. So that she and Erin can stay in the village, Soyon must flawlessly fulfill her duty capturing and disciplining the Touda; but while Erin wants nothing more than to become a beastinarian, she also feels sorry for the Touda and recognizes that there’s far more to them than meets the eye. Can Erin ever become an ordinary beastinarian when her deepest instincts tell her there is a better way to interact with the Touda?
Seasons & Episode
The first episode, introducing the heroine of the story; a 10-year-old girl named Erin and her mother Soh-yon, a beastinarian who cares for Tohda in the Tai-Koh Region in the Village of Ake.
A Touda rider from a neighboring village comes to the Village of Ake seeking medicinal help for his Touda. Soh-Yon is called to the Touda and, with Erin's help, manages to revive the Touda.
Erin sees the fearsome side of the Tohda during an exhibition for the Duke.
Erin hears that Shaju's older sister has been engaged. But while eating a rice cake, Soju, Shaju's sister, suddenly falls ill. Soh-yon diagnoses Soju's illness as "Mock milkweed poisoning" a poisonous plant that was mistaken as a plant used in the cakes. Soh-yon decides to ask her clan, the Mist People, for the medicine.
Erin encounters the comedic duo, Nuk and Mok as they attempt to steal a Tohda egg for money.
On a rainy night, Soh-yon is summoned to the underground Tohda ponds. There, Soh-yon finds all the Kiba, the Duke's most prized Tohda, dead. Knowing what would happen next, Soh-yon decides to spend the entire day with Erin. But later that night, soldiers come to the house. It was only then that Erin learned that her mother was going to be sentenced to death.
Soh-yon is executed by the way of the Tohda after the Duke's Kiba mysteriously die. Erin jumps into a lake full of Tohda in an attempt to save her bleeding mother, but her mother has her whisked away to safety while she is eaten alive to atone for her sins.
Joh-on, a beekeeper living in the Shin-Oh Region, finds the unconscious Erin floating in the river. He rescues her and nurses her to health, as she attempts to cope with the loss of her mother.
While staying with the beekeeper Joh-on, Erin decides to have Joh-on teach her to be an animal breeder and live with him.
Joh-on decides to have the entire family move to his summer cottage in the mountains. While cleaning his regular home, Erin finds out that Joh-on used to be a teacher. But when Erin finds Nuk and Mok sick from eating some rotten food, Joh-on comes and helps Erin read a book about poisonous plants. He decides to teach Erin, Nuk and Mok about animal breeding and plants.
Erin finds a large, silver feather in a tree close to Joh-on's summer cabin high in the mountain. Joh-on tells Erin about the king of beasts, the Ohju, and Erin's interest in the Ohju begins to grow.
While walking in the woods, Joh-on slips and falls onto a ledge of a steep cliff. Erin goes out and finds the hurt Joh-on, and decides to stay with him until morning came. While on the ledge, Erin and Joh-on witness a wild Tohda about to eat a baby Ohju. All of a sudden, they see the mother Ohju fly into action to save her baby and eat the Tohda.
The first recap episode; Nah-son, a scout sent by the Mist Elders to watch over Soh-yon, tells the Elders what happened to Soh-yon and her daughter Erin. He tells the Elders that Erin is alive, and is now 14. She is living with a beekeeper named Joh-on and 2 former thieves, Nuk and Mok. He vows to always watch over Erin to repent for not saving Soh-yon.
Joh-on's son comes and asks his father to become a teacher again. When his son learned that his dad had a young girl living with him, he offered to have her come live with them and have Erin marry-off. But Joh-on decides that he's happier with Erin and asks his son to deliver a letter to an old friend at an Ohju breeding school.
While in town, Erin accidentally breaks the harp Ia-lu the Seh-zan gave to her when she was 10. She goes to a harp shop to have it fixed, where the carpenter Yantoku was Ia-lu's friend. Ia-lu coincidentally happened to be in the shop when Erin came and immediately recognized the green-eyed girl he met 4 years ago. But after she left, Ia-lu was ordered by his troop to kill his teacher, Hagaru, due to treason.
At a festival celebrating the Shin-Oh's birthday, Ia-lu the Seh-zan, along with a baby Ohju, are injured by an assassin's arrow during an attempt on the Shin-Oh's life.
Erin passes the entrance exam with flying colors and becomes a Kazalm student. There, she meets the Reverend of Teachers at Kazalm, Esal, who is also an old friend of Joh-on. And from there, Joh-on and Erin say their tearful good-byes.
Erin begins to feel like she needs to be more like other students, losing sleep, and comedically falling asleep during her welcoming party. Her new friend Yuuyan told her that she can just be herself.
Professor Esal decides to let Erin take care of the baby Ohju Lilan after talking and observing her in action. She says that Tomura, the person who is currently talking care of Lilan, is not ready to take care of her yet.
Erin begins to take care of Lilan and finds out that Lilan won't eat anything, and has been eating her fur. When she hears Lilan's cries, she comes up with the idea to use her harp to try to communicate with Lilan. It didn't work, until she fell asleep and accidentally hit the harp under her blanket.
The Grand Duke's two sons' paths finally diverge, with Shunan and Nugen taking their own paths after a duel.
A recap episode on Erin's stay at Kazalm; a four year time-skip where Erin is now 18 and a college student.
Erin and the others take the Graduation test with all of them passing. Erin takes the top seat in the scores, meaning that Erin can stay at Kazalm as a Master. The Shin-Oh gives her blessing to Lilan's baby and provides more funds for Kazalm. Each one of them leaves Kazalm and reminisces about their memories.
In the war against neighboring countries, the Grand Duke’s warriors use dragon-like beasts called Touda as weapons. Touda are admired across the nation and villages take great pride in breeding them. Erin lives in one such village with her mother, Soyon, who is the best beastinarian in the country. However, life in the village is not so straightforward: Soyon is also an Ariyo, a woman of the Mist People - a race that is feared by humans for its mystical abilities. So that she and Erin can stay in the village, Soyon must flawlessly fulfill her duty capturing and disciplining the Touda; but while Erin wants nothing more than to become a beastinarian, she also feels sorry for the Touda and recognizes that there’s far more to them than meets the eye. Can Erin ever become an ordinary beastinarian when her deepest instincts tell her there is a better way to interact with the Touda?