Long after humanity has migrated to colonies in distant systems, Thor and his twin brother Rai return home from school to discover that their parent have been brutally murdered. Without apparent reason, and with no explanation given, the boys are subdued by guards and exiled from their home planet of Juno to the harsh climate of Chimera, an undocumented penal planet. With no safe haven and no way home, the boys must find a way to survive on this planet, where only the savage survive. When Thor learns that the Beast King, ruler-by-conquest of Chimera, can freely travel off-world, he knows that position must be his ultimate goal if he is ever to learn the reason for his fate, and his parents' murder.
This series closely follows Thor as he leans the ins-and-outs of survival on Chimera, where almost every plant is either too big and strong to pay you any mind, or strangely intent on killing you in creative ways. Seriously, this entire series is a (slightly) dramatized version of how I view camping in the woods.
The humans on Chimera aren't too sympathetic either, and they've taken the initiative to form some truly strange societies, called "Rings". Each ring is named for the skin color of those who dwell within, and their leaders are chosen through combat. Men and women live separately, and luckily for progressive thought, the women are scarce and therefore highly prized and their opinions valued by all. Thor is chosen (irreversibly by Chimera law) by a young warrior maiden of the Sun Ring, and taken in by the Ochre ring at her request. Tiz is a sweet girl, who finds Thor's naive view (and strange mastery) of his surroundings immediately appealing. However, she's oddly emotional for someone born on a planet where being choked to death by killer moss spit is an everyday occurrence. (An excellent candidate for middle school coaching, her method of encouragement is often to repeatedly yell a phrase at you in a situation where a cool head might be more helpful.) Assisting the newbie in the everyday tasks of not-dying and not-angering-the-wrong-human is the enigmatic "Third" who admits that he wasn't born on Chimera, but claims to have long forgotten his former name. He is currently content to be referred to by his title in the Ochre Ring hierarchy, but his nonchalant demeanor and casual attitude towards his 'superiors' belies a deep-seated life goal only attainable through contact with the Beast King.
Aside from the main story is the underlying mystery of Chimera's apparent lack of terraforming (unlike all the other planets in Juno's Balkan system) and the everyday genetic manipulation performed on the colonies. It's obvious that humanity is weakening, as even an operation is necessary to allow the average person to survive beyond 35, but why are the people on Chimera so vibrant, and able to breed without scientific assistance?
An interesting setting and truly memorable characters make watching this series easy enough, but the ending didn't hit my personal favorites list. If you prefer logical societal origins and believable sciences performed by morally upstanding and wide-thinking bureaucracies, well...perhaps anime in general will not be kind to you. This series is no different. However, I do wish they would have paced the story and background mystery a little better, so I wouldn't feel like the ending was rushed at me when I was unprepared. I am not a happy (non-)camper when my familiar characters and settings are abruptly changed without any apparent forethought for my feelings.
