Customer Reviews

The Twelve Kingdoms - Premium Box 2

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Judging from what was happening in the first few episodes, I was somewhat expecting The Twelve Kingdoms to be an anime along the lines of the classic girl-taken-to-another-world series "Fushigi Yuugi". Turns out I was half-right. The Twelve Kingdoms is somewhat like "Fushigi Yuugi" -- minus the romance, plus a whole lot of politics.

Youko Nakajima is the quintessential unwilling heroine with zero self-confidence. After being whisked away to the world of the twelve kingdoms, Youko is forced to pick up a sword and defend herself from those who want her dead. But why would anyone want a regular schoolgirl dead? As it turns out, Youko is not as ordinary as she always believed herself to be. She is a taika, originally born in the world of the twelve kingdoms, but was somehow swept away to Japan. What's more, Youko is the chosen one, the next queen of Kei, one of the twelve kingdoms. The man she met is actually a kirin, sort of like the guardian of Kei. Each kingdom has its own kirin and ruler. The kirin chooses the ruler and pledges his/her total loyalty and submission to the ruler. Keiki is Kei's kirin, and he has chosen Youko as the queen of Kei.

If you think terminologies like taika and kirin are confusing, prepare yourself for more of these when watching The Twelve Kingdoms. A very detailed government system exists within the kingdoms, and as Youko comes to accept her destiny as ruler, she is further plunged into the world of political intrigue, betrayal, and deception. Everything is clearly explained however, you just have to make sure you're in the right state of mind when watching -- meaning this is not an anime wherein you can let your mind float off elsewhere and still get it.

One of the things I liked best about The Twelve Kingdoms was the diverse cast of extremely well-developed characters. I was amazed at how the series managed to effectively tackle and expound multiple character-oriented subplots, tying them up neatly in the end. What kept me from giving The Twelve Kingdoms a perfect rating was the non-resolution of the Taiki arc. It was as if the subplot and characters just vanished into thin air after being painstakingly shown, and until now I can't help but feel that there's a vital chunk missing in the series.

The art and animation are pretty impressive. The picturesque settings are like a cross between ancient China and Japan. Character designs are beautiful and distinct, and every scene is packed in such a way that there is virtually nothing irrelevant -- the sheer amount and detail of the events that unfold make it seem as if an episode is longer than it actually is, but you don't get the feeling that it's dragging... except maybe for the first part when Youko is still in denial with regards to her destiny. In terms of the audio aspects, the English dubbing is done nicely and the musical scoring fits perfectly.

The Twelve Kingdoms is overall an excellent and engaging series, one that will keep you popping in disc after disc just to see what's going to happen next. Now if only they would give us some closure regarding the Taiki arc...

(May have Spoilers from 1st boxset) The second box-set seamlessly continues the story of our heroine and her role as the queen of Kei. The story also concentrates on two new characters, the first being the girl from Hourai who asked Taiki for help in the first boxset, and the second being the daughter of the executed king of Hou who had disappeared. The stories of all three girls are interwined and all have impact on one another.
The story is as brillant as ever and even more addictive. We are also treated to a sub-story about the King of En in his early days as a ruler. The only downside of the second boxset is that it does not finish the story of King of Tai and Taiki. There were originally meant to be 68 episodes of the series but only 45 were made and it is not certain if the remaining episodes will ever be made. If you, like me, loved Taiki's story and were desperate to find out the mystery behind the King of Tai's disapperence, then you may be disappointed.
However, the story that is continued here is fantastic and if you have watched the first series you really should see this one too.

The Twelve Kingdoms has been my favorite anime since the first DVD releases. The second half of the the series truly showcases Ono-sensei's ability to create a believable fantasy world; along with the production crew which took great care to bring her stories to life on the screen. I'll say this up front: The Twelve Kingdoms is not flashy and is not the typical anime. With that said, I'll head into the specifics.

The story is once again broken into "books." The first arc named "A Thousand Miles of Wind; The Sky at Dawn" (ep 25-39) started in the first set and tells of Yoko's efforts to save her kingdom from corrupt officals. She is joined by two other young women; Suzu a kaikyaku (Japanese people who get sucked into the 12 kingdoms) former servant of a Lady of the Kingdom of Sai, and Shoukei, the exiled princess of the Kingdom of Hou. Suzu and Shoukei are drawn to Yoko for two very different reasons, but each character is explored thoroughly. The second arc "The Sea God of the East; Azure Sky of the West," (eps 41-45) is a flashback to the early years of the King of En's reign. Enki and the King of En must suppress a rebellion that threaten's one of En's provinces. Episode 40 is really a recap of some of the past events in Hou and neatly wraps up Shoukei's storyline.

Character building and plotlines are very, very well done. The main story arc has essentially three main characters and yet the storytelling blends all three plotlines seemlessly, without really trying too hard. Each young woman has a set of weaknesses and strengths with the most glaring weaknesses slowly fading over time. And that's the greatest thing about the Twelve Kingdoms: while each character is flawed, most of the time they know it and they work incredibly hard to fix themselves. For example: Yoko knows that she is ignorant of her new world and it frustrates her to no end. Yet her solution is to actually live in a village and learn from a teacher; not to sulk on her throne. This is just one of the unique ways that characters try to fix themselves. Even if they end up making the wrong choice they take responsibility for the consquences no matter how painful they may be.

Again the music, animation, and voice cast all work wonderfully well together. The animation is beautiful and in some cases, stunning. Character designs are refreshingly normal (with the exception of some character's coloring) with Shoukei and Yoko being my favorite designs. You will see some of evidence of lack of funding though as some scenes show some lack of polish, however its not distracting.

You can tell that MediaWorks cared about making a quality release and it shows in the box again. Its solid and shows off the original artwork from the light novels. I love showing it off next to the best DVD titles on my shelf. This is an under the radar gem and should be on any anime fans shelf.

The twelve Kingdoms is based on a novel with the same title written by Ono Fuyumi and released by Kodansha. High school student Yoko Nakajima is one day suddenly greeted with a strange man named Keiki who calls her "lord". He takes her to another world along with her classmates but then they lost sight of Keiki. They wander the land of the 12 kingdoms as hunted fugitives, trying to survive the hash treatment and attacks from the local people and to find out why they were brought to this world.

The second premium box set (of 2) released by Media Blaster is as gorgeous as the first set. The packaging is designed in such a way that both sets are very well matched. The front and back of the box carries the coverart of volumes 6 and 10 of the separate DVD releases respectively. The disc holders are transparent and showing the coverart of the corresponding volume when a disc is removed.

This is an excellent anime series that you don't want to miss. The fact that the premium box sets are meticiously put together makes the purchase decision a no-brainer.

Arc Three of TWELVE KINGDOMS picks up from the ending of Arc One in the first collection. We find the newly crowned Queen of Kei attempting to understand her kingdom and learn the ways of rule, but hampered by her own lack of understanding. Meanwhile, a young kaikyaku (displaced Japanese person) named Suzu endures the bad treatment of a cruel mistress in the Kingdom of Sei. And in the Kingdom of Hou, the daughter of the despotic King is cast out of the royal palace after rebels kill her father and mother. We follow these three stories, switching from one to the other. A fourth protagonist, Asano, is soon (re)introduced. These stories gradually converge in drawn-out but epic fashion.

TKv2 looks great, the Japanese voice performances are good, and there is some decent intrigue, suspense and villainy. It does all of the groundwork needed for a high fantasy, but fails to breathe life into it. It is less interested in human relationships and stirring plot twists than in tour-guide lectures and the endless preaching of a cold-blooded moral philosophy. If folks in this world cry beside the grave of a friend, they get rebuked by total strangers for self-pity. Our main protagonists whine their way through the first half of the story arc, and spend the second half giving themselves self-righteous little pep-talks. This demonstrates "moral growth".

A repeated theme of these lectures is blaming the weak for the actions of the strong. The abused servant Suzu is told how her submissive behavior provoked and frustrated her poor mistress. The cloistered child-princess is blamed for not preventing her father's despotism. Best yet is the condemnation cast on the subjects of a provincial lord who crucifies anyone who sneezes without a hanky. The reason these folks don't rebel (according to a prissy lecture from a now-enlightened heroine) is that they enjoy feeling sorry for themselves, not because they fear dying a truly horrible death. Yikes!

This cold-bloodedness comes through in more subtle ways. There is a bizarre scene where Queen Kei asks a supposedly wise and good old man why a certain girl would rather marry without love than move to a certain province (the one where people get crucified for sneezing). Instead of just answering the damn question, the old guy LAUGHS and launches into a lecture on the nature of matrimony. At the end of this lecture I was still as wise as ever as to what was supposed to be funny about this young girl marrying without love. And of course the old man had completely ignored the slaughter and crucifixion issues which are the real point and certainly nothing to laugh about. There are lots of scenes like this -- where the direct concerns of plot and character are ignored so that we can have an irrelevant lecture about Twelve Kingdoms life and culture which ends up making no sense anyway.

As to the heroine, Youko, she is no longer human. Her indifference to the loss of her homeland, and to the fate of her schoolfellow Asano, makes it impossible for me to relate to her. She also seems way too eager to embrace feudal despotism. She isn't even TEMPTED to bring basic moral principles (such as the right of an accused man to a fair hearing) to her kingdom, and waves her sword in the face of her trusty Kirin when he suggests it. But then she "grows" into being a monarch who makes constant speeches about the need to be ruthless in order to rule. Some improvement. Well, at least she learns to wave her sword at her actual enemies. Her only emotional relationship through most of the story is with this Kirin, who is so effete, wooden, and badly-drawn you can almost forgive her for not listening to him.

Back in Arc One -- the best part of the series -- I was engaged by the vulnerable and terrified protagonists struggling against each other and a dangerous world. But Arc Three just holds you at arms length from the characters, and preaches that they bring their misfortunes on themselves through an addiction to self-pity, which makes me wonder why we are expected to care. Amusingly, Arc Four (on the last disc) is a short "historical flashback" story involving a sulky young man who feeds innocent people to his pet monster for no good reason. Strangely, he receives more understanding and less condemnation than the supposedly-culpable crucifixion victims, insane outcasts, and child-princesses of Arc Three. Mind you, I was so fed up with moral lectures at this point, I was willing to give him a pass myself.

The Twelve Kingdoms contains some of the finest character development you'll see in any anime, regardless of genre. The development of Yoko, Queen of Kei, from an an awkward and timid girl lacking in self-confidence to a proud and resolute ruler of a kingdom is the highlight of this show. Few will forget Episode 39, where she defeats those who would overthrow her rule and sets in motion changes that will forever change the face of her kingdom at the end of the episode.

The last 6 episodes comprise the final arc of this show, and while the weakest part of this show, do little to blunt the magnificence that is the Twelve Kingdoms.

As I noted in my previous review, the lack of human interaction here leaves one numb. On the one hand, the story in very interesting, but it lacks something at a fundamental level that leaves you with a feeling of frustration.
I think I should have cared more about these characters than I did. But like a carnival, it all whirls on by and all that's left is a memory of bright lights and pretty colors and . . . not much else.
I honestly can't even remember anyone's name except Rakushun, and he was the half man/ half rat character that had the most going for him.
This gets four stars for the sheer beauty and quality in each episode. Each is well thought out, the pacing of the plot keeps you watching. But when the end comes it's just not enough, really.
Watch it for the artistic craftsmanship, but If you're looking for a human drama, try any other anime but this one. I mean, even Princess Tutu had more soul, more humanity and half the characters in that were animals for pete's sake!