The Twelve Kingdoms

Demon Child Japanese Cover

Nick — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:19:20 -0500

The Japanese cover of Fuyumi Ono's Demon Child. This book was not licensed by Tokyopop to be translated and released in the U.S., but a fan translation of the book is available.

A Kirin's Life

Nick — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:06:38 -0500

Demon ChildI had finished The Twelve Kingdoms Volume Two: Sea of Wind novel a while back, and I have to say that I've enjoyed it1. Like most books, it goes further into Taiki's thoughts and experiences than the anime does. Too bad it doesn't have Takasato's experiences in modern Japan, which is told in Demon Child, the actual first book by Fuyumi Ono in the Twelve Kingdoms world before Ono was encouraged to build a fantasy world. Unfortunately, it looks like Demon Child was released by a different publisher than her other Twelve Kingdom novels, so it's likely Tokyopop was unable to license it. Fortunately, there are always fan translations 2.

In other news, I did stumble on what would be a very good t-shirt...

1. As expected
2. Hey! That Prologue is very familiar after reading Sea of Wind.

Recent Twelve Kingdoms Interest?

Nick — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:18:22 -0500

Looks like there's been some recent resurge of interest in The Twelve Kingdoms recently. Maybe it's the new volume of the novel series coming out or the 90 page story released in a Japanese magazine that sparking it, but the attention still being put on this series isn't too bad for a now 6-years-old TV series.

~~I don't blame Author for dropping the series after 5 episodes the last time he tried watching The Twelve Kingdoms.~~ [See UPDATE, Below] The series didn't seem to promise much at that point other than handful of irritating main characters. Yes, there are loads of information and foreshadowing in those first five episodes, but those are extremely hard to catch without at least watching the entire series once to see how it all ties together. Fortunately, the end of episode 5 is the absolute low point1; the series really didn't pick up until a bit later, and I didn't proclaim it to be my most favorite anime of all time until I finished the third arc. Still, I'd like to see Author's "vent" after 3 episodes; most likely, I'd be nodding my head and saying "yup" to whatever grievances he had of the series.

Don's thought that the book might be better than the anime 2 is correct, in my view. The novel covers Youko's3 descent and rise so much better than the anime, but the novel also is able to get into Youko's thoughts. The script for the anime is pretty heavily changed as animating the novel directly would have been even worse than the re-write; either we don't get to follow Youko's thought process as we witness her suffering, or we get a constant narration of her thoughts through-out the first 14 episodes, which most people would find annoying. So the anime essentially adds two more characters to travel into the Twelve Kingdoms with Youko4 who she can bounce thoughts off of and act as foils to her character.

Yes, I'll say it: The Twelve Kingdoms is my most favorite TV series anime of all time5. It was the series that got me looking into more serious animes, and was the first time I saw a truly serious approach to fantasy6 in a TV series7. The real main downside is definitely the ending. It didn't actually end badly, especially if you consider episode 39 to be the real ending, but it was more of a feeling of "there could be so much more!"8. It's unfortunate that Fuyumi Ono didn't complete the final novel yet (which is the real reason why the series stopped where it did), but when9 she finishes the series, and the anime is finally completed its entire 68 episode run, I'll be in line to be one of the first ones to watch and buy it.

UPDATE: Oops, I did misread. It was Toei's Kanon that Author dropped at five episodes. Still, my comment about the first five episodes of Twelve Kingdoms stands, as that seems to be the point several viewers decide to drop the series.

1. To me, at least
2. The first volume of the Twelve Kingdoms novel is covered by the first 14 episodes of the anime, with the exception of one episode (episode 10, I think) that covers a short story from a different volume.
3. I've seen it spelt "Yoko" and "Youko". I'm going to use the second spelling as that how I've been doing it since the official DVDs came out
4. Yes, Asano wasn't even in the novels and Yuka had a very small role in the first few chapters
5. Actually, it's tied with Haibane Renmei for that title.
6. in the medieval sense
7. And one of the very few series that did so. Others I've seen since include Berserk and Record of Lodoss War; the former was amazing, the latter was, well, less impressive
8. I'd treat episodes 40 to 45 as extras at this time. They are apparently important for later events which are not animated yet.
9. Yes, I said "when", not "if". Don't deny me the hope that it will be finished.

New Twelve Kingdoms News: Book 2 and a Surprise!

Nick — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:29:27 -0600

Well, I've been holding on to some good news when it came to this franchise, but I'll get to that later...

For now, look at this:

The second volume of the Twelve Kingdoms novel, titled "Sea of Wind", is due on March 11, 2008, only a few weeks away!

Here's some links on where to get it:

This is going to be about Taiki's journey in the land of Tai. Should be interesting to read, as his story didn't get a big chunk of the anime series to get told.

Now for the big news, it's this blurb on that I found on livejournal:

New 12K story on the way
Big news via the Juuni Kokki Database:

A new Juuni Kokki story by Ono Fuyumi is scheduled to appear in the upcoming (2/27) issue of yom yom, a Japanese fiction magazine.

Title:「丕緒の鳥」 (Hisho no Tori)
Length: 90 pages

~~No further info as yet.~~ Edit: Mainichi News reports that the story will be set in Kei. (Thanks, nachte.)

Very good news! It's sounding like Fuyumi Ono might be starting to write again in the Twelve Kingdoms universe! Hopefully, she is able to complete the main story and the anime can be finally completed (with a real budget would be nice...). Granted, the story that came out in yom yom sounded like a one-off story that doesn't continue the current cannon, but it is still good news for fans of the Twelve Kingdoms novels and anime!

The Twelve Kingdoms, Volume Two, Sea of Wind

Nick — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:18:59 -0600

Cover for the second volume of the Twelve Kingdoms novel.

AMV Concept

Nick — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 09:05:44 -0500

For some reason, I found this concept a bit strange. It's an AMV featuring Rakka's story in Haibane Renmei, but the song is "Fuushun" (Thanks w for the correction!) from The Twelve Kingdoms soundtrack.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Nick's Anime Update - July 1, 2007

Nick — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 23:08:53 -0500

Time for an update of what I've been watching.

Finished Watching

Catblue: Dynamite

I had finished a review of this 40-minute movie this morning. In truth, I've probably rewatched this around 5 times in the past week or so, most of that showing the movie off to different people. I don't have much to add here on top of my review of it.

Keisatsu Sensha Tai TANK S.W.A.T. 01

After watching Catblue: Dynamite, I was curious about Romanov Higa's previous work. TANK S.W.A.T. 01 is a second attempt of adapting Masamune Shirow's Dominion Tank Police manga as an anime. Romanov Higa was billed as the director, and the 29-minute OVA does feature a CG style. Unfortunately, I just find that it doesn't work as well as it did in Catblue. Most people don't seem to realize that the characters in TANK S.W.A.T. 01 are also CG with a cell-shaded style. It looks like they were modeled with a much more traditional "anime-style" look, and I just don't like how it looks in CG. Plus the "police-thriller" story presented just isn't too interesting.

Pale Cocoon

Coming in fairly new to the animation scenes is Yasuhiro Yoshiura, and his film, Pale Cocoon, can actually be compared to Makoto Shinkai's Voices of a Distant Star in many ways. Like Shinkai, Yoshiura did all of the writing, storyboarding, directing, CG, and animating for Pale Cocoon by himself. Both OVAs run under 30 minutes long. Both feature a beautifully composed song that provide an emotional climax towards to end of the anime.

But it's the differences that will set Yoshiura's work apart, and Pale Cocoon includes some very important features. Pale Cocoon seems to strictly uses CG for backgrounds, while Shinkai focused on hand-drawn stills for his backgrounds in Voices of a Distant Star. Though probably as a result of this, Yoshiura's hand-drawn characters simply look better than Shinkai's hand-drawn characters. Also, while Voices of a Distant Star feels like it's treating its characters and subject matter with gentleness, Pale Cocoon's atmosphere is much more colder and distant. And most importantly, while it doesn't quite have Voices of a Distant Star's emotional punch, Pale Cocoon is much more complicated; it's a thinker.

And when you figure it out, it can hit you like a ton of bricks. At least, it did for me; Pale Cocoon has me sitting back and pondering on what it's saying every time I watch it. I'll be keeping an eye on Yasuhiro Yoshiura's future work, as if Pale Cocoon is any indication, he might become the "next Shinkai".

Scrapped Princess - Episodes 1-24

I had an urge to rewatch this series after I finished reading the third volume of the translated novel so I ended up marathoning all 24 episodes in a day (skipping the rather bad opening and ending pieces in every episode). Pacifica is still a spoiled brat, though it seems I've thought her more of a brat the first time I watched the series.

The thing to know, though, is that the novel is definitely better than the anime. Shouldn't be a surprise there. The entire third novel (which I had thought to be pretty good, much better than the first novel) was compressed into maybe 2 episodes in the anime. And how the novel volumes are laid out really explains why the anime felt like almost-separate 2-3 episode arcs.

Currently Watching

NANA - Episodes 1-44

NANA got my nearly undivided attention a couple weeks ago after I finished Rocket Girl. I had initially planned to ration the number of episodes I was watching so that I would get to the end of the 47-episode season when the fansubbers release the last episode, but that idea was doomed as I found myself watching the series in 10-episode marathons, sometimes forgoing sleep to do so. Not a very good thing for my working life, but NANA happened to be a romantic shoujo that hit nearly all the right buttons for me. Plus I am really digging Nana Osaki, the "punk rocker" girl in the series. I don't immediately rail against Nana "Hachi" Komatsu like I know many people might, but I simply found her roommate to be much more interesting.

I don't fully fathom why these shows draw me in; they're often filled with the characters doing stupid stuff that will hurt their partners. NANA is almost an extreme of that at times, as I witnessed the characters doing stupid stuff that I can foresee causing severe problems with their relationships way down the line. I also fully acknowledge the double-standard based on gender I held to the characters. Fairly early on in the series, I wanted to hit Shouji for what he was doing, yet when Nana Komatsu does the exact same thing late in the series, I just felt sad. Perhaps I was just too tired to work myself into anger against her at that point. I am glad there are characters like Kyosuke and Junko at times, as they are perhaps the only normal couple in the series. And Kyosuke's openness with Junko is something very refreshing to see.

Well, I'm starting to ramble about the characters, so I'll cut it off here. This series has some seriously complicated relationships, as the anime doesn't just center on the two Nanas, but puts focus on all of the people they deal with on a normal basis. The music in the series is nice, and I liked the presentation of how the series is like some reminiscence by one of the two Nanas. The ending theme starting sometime before the credits start, often with one of the Nanas saying a short monologue before it cuts to the credits is quite well done.

Only awaiting 3 more episodes, and according to the series, this is only Season one! No word of a second season, though.

Denno Coil - Episode 4-5

This show continues to please me. I can't put my finger on what about it I enjoy, but this series is the one where I anticipate each new episode.

Claymore - Episode 11-13

I know that Astro was put off at the pure brutality in Episode 8 (and not just for one character there, too). I wonder if he'll be able to handle Episode 13. Wow. Not quite as harsh as Episode 8, but you wouldn't expect that to happen to such an important character to the series. I'm halfway through the series, and though I can see a few ways it can end, I have no clue as to which path it will take. I'm going to be continuing on without hesitation.

Lucky Star - Episode 10-12

This one has been mildly amusing to me, though I have to admit that I laughed hard a few times in Episode 12, when the girls go to a comic convention.

Darker Than BLACK - Episode 8 (Stalled)

No new episodes have been released since the last update by the fansubbers I've been using. I'm contemplating switching groups.

Currently Rewatching

The Twelve Kingdoms - Episodes 15-26

I've been watching this one with other people that wanted to see this series again. Got through the Taiki arc, which I find myself liking more of each time I rewatch this series. Also got four episodes into the excellent third arc of the series.

On Hiatus/Future Plans

Saiunkoku Monogatari - Episode 29 (?)

Legend of Galactic Heroes - Episode 50 (?)

Yomigaeru Sora - RESCUE WINGS -

Nick's Anime Update - June 10, 2007

Nick — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 23:58:47 -0500

I had turned 28 on Friday and received volumes 1 and 4 of the Monster manga as gifts. I went ahead and bought volumes 2 and 3 of Monster to fill in the missing volumes and volumes 2-4 of Berserk to continue it (getting both series and a Haibane Renmei t-shirt from Robert's Anime Corner Store). Monster was one of my favorite anime at the beginning of last year, perhaps the best suspense-thriller anime I've seen yet and has very well developed characters (Heck, how many anime series feature a 30-something year old neurosurgeon as the main character?). With Berserk, I largely just wanted to continue on with the events in the manga after what is portrayed in the anime.

Now, onto the "what I've watched since the past update" part. This time, I'll just update if I have anything on my mind on each series.

Finished Watching

Rocket Girls - Episodes 6-12

The fansubs for this series were being released at a one-per-day rate for the past week for some reason. Let's see if I remember what happened... Oh yeah, Yukari gets stranded in space due to a collision with some kind of debris, but Matsuri comes up to rescue her. They go down together in the same craft, but they manage have a safe splashdown in the most unlikely of places. They splash down in a swimming pool. Not just that, but the swimming pool in Yukari's old school.

At least, this gave the space organization a chance to pick up another female teenager astronaut. This time, she's an honor student named Akane. She's not even to the physical level of Yukari, but she has the knowledge and intelligence to make up for that.

And to my complete surprise, it seems the series ended after episode 12! That really caught me by surprise, as that ending felt far too uncertain to leave the series on. I wonder if there will be more?

Update: Ok, so that ending was incredibly rushed! Now that I know what actually happened there (and I probably should rewatch the ending again), well, I'm still a bit disappointed, though I did enjoy the series. Yeah, it was so incredibly implausible, but heck, that was the fun. The series never took itself seriously (Sending teenage girls up into space as astronauts? Absurd? Yes! And the series knew it too!), but I do like how the writers took pains to not (completely) trivialize the dangers of space travel.

Currently Watching

Denno Coil - Episode 3

Darker Than BLACK - Episode 8

Claymore - Episode 10

Not another cliffhanger, at least. I've also hand a thought about why there's not male "Claymores" in the world, and this series actually showed that I nailed the reason.

It's also very nice to see why Clare's rank in the organization was dead last.

Lucky Star - Episode 9

The Wallflower - Episodes 8 (Stalled)

Rewatching

The Twelve Kingdoms - Episodes 13-14

On Hiatus/Future Plans

Saiunkoku Monogatari - Episode 29 (?)

Legend of Galactic Heroes - Episode 50 (?)

NANA

Yomigaeru Sora - RESCUE WINGS -

Nick's Anime Update - June 3, 2007

Nick — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 21:47:50 -0500

It's been a couple of weeks since I've had one of these, and instead of looking at code this late on a Sunday, I might as well get an update in on what I've been watching in the anime world.

Finished Watching

Windy Tales - Episodes 7-13Miki and Jun

This series has been a wholly enjoyable watch for me. It has the episodic vignettes that a slice-of-life series would, but it has a very relaxing atmosphere that draw me to these types of series. Also, the unusual animation style really gave the series a sense of charm for me. Getting to know Nao and her friends, family, and teachers through small glimpses of her junior high-school life was quite enjoyable for me.

Truthfully, I was expecting the wind manipulating ability to take more of a center-stage role than it did, but it really seemed to only play a rather tangential role in the character's lives, especially in the latter episodes.

In the end, the series is a thumbs up from me, though I'm not sure I'd actually recommend the series to many people.

Haibane Renmei - Episodes 7-13

This series has always been one of my top favorites since I watched it for the second time many years ago. The mother-daughter dynamic between Reki and Rakka has been one of the biggest reasons this series drew me in. And if the series had ended before Reki's acceptance of Rakka's help, it would have been one of the most tragic series I'd have ever seen and probably reduce me to tears babbling like a love-sick little girl.

Yeah, I'm glad that ABe ended the series the way he did... Haibane Renmei is definitely my favorite of his work.

Currently Watching

The Wallflower - Episodes 1-8What a sweet little gir.... err... what?!?

I've been seeing several of these "reverse" harem shoujos (where it's the girl surrounded by many bishi guys) popping up, much in the same lines of Ouran High School Host Club. Compared to that series, it doesn't seem like The Wallflower will have much to go on, especially with the rather poor animation job (Much use of stills and chibis!). But in truth, The Wallflower (Also titled Yamato Nedeshiko Shichi Henge) has started off on the right foot by entertaining the heck out of me with quite an amusing female lead.

The idea behind the plot starts out with 4 (very good-looking and popular-with-the-ladies high school) guys are instructed by their extremely eccentric and very wealthy landlady to "make her niece a lady", else she will triple their rent. Of course, her niece, Sunako, shuns human contact and light, and her best friends are an anatomy model with all of his organs in display and a skeleton.

Of course, much of the time when she is cornered by Kyouhei, his shiny beauty causes Sunako to break out in a violent nosebleed. Heck, Sunako breaking out into gushing nosebleeds at the sight of her "harem" is one of the running gags.

Absurdity abound, I'm lightly enjoying this series. It may not be better than Ouran, but I'll continue watching this one.

Denno Coil - Episode 2

Others have said what I probably would say better than I would have right now. I'll just mention that I"m enjoying this one quite a lot.

Darker Than BLACK - Episode 6-7

Episode 6 ended on a fairly tragic note for me, as I was liking that former contractor. It also seems that Lin has motives that originate outside of the organization that has hired him, which seems very unusual for a contractor.

Episode 7, though, took a weird turn. Darker Than BLACK is now a partial comedy, with a struggling detective that hates cats.

Claymore - Episode 8-9

The ending of episode 8 truly shocked me. I mean, Claymore was already throwing out twists, but I really didn't expect that one. In the end, though, it was the only possible course of action that I thought the series could take, as harsh as it was.

Episode 9 finally returns to the "modern day" Clare. And with it comes another unexpected twist; Clare's rank in the organization. To me, this adds a bit to Clare's character.

And damn those cliffhangers!

Lucky Star - Episode 7-8

I'll let the screenshot speak for itself...

No Comment

Pretty amusing series, it is...

Rocket Girls - Episodes 4-5

We finally have liftoff! Am I the only one that thinks that the director isn't exactly doing a good job? I mean, even if much of the work in the organization is rocket science, should it take the mother of the main character on how to establish the lead pilot's confidence in the technology?

Ah well, off to the next episode! Let's see how Yukari gets out of this jam!

Rewatching

The Twelve Kingdoms - Episodes 1-12

I'm rewatching this one while showing it to a few new people. Of course, one person was constantly commenting on Youko's emo-ness in the first five episodes, while the other was showing extreme annoyance at the delusional Yuka. Both agreed that the blue-haired monkey that was tormenting Youko needed to die...

In truth, both of them have only seen up to episode 8, so far. I watched a bit further with another friend, who already watched the entire series once and wanted to rewatch it after reading the first volume of the novel.

Admittedly, the watching first arc (spanning from episode 1-13) for the first time wasn't what shot this series to my most favorite series. It was probably the third arc that really got my attention, but it took the second watch before I realized many of the real themes and lessons that Youko has to go through to become what she was in the third arc. What amazed me about this series is that the first arc was a coming-of-age for Youko, and it's here where many other anime would end. Instead, The Twelve Kingdoms keeps going, and as a friend said to me in PMs about the series:

But this story goes on. And, by the end, we experience the circle of rise and fall again and again, sort of the evitable repetition of chance, coincidence, and connection that makes our life recognizable and melancholy to us. Which is to say, that Juuni Kokki is less about one girl's growing up phase, but about what it means, really, to live. To know that we live without real endings and beginnings; to let go of self-pity and useless memories and to know the earth from which you came and make your place.

The most courageous thing you can do is to live. And 12 Kingdoms, rather like Zhang Yimou's earlier work, details just how hard that can really be.

On Hiatus/Future Plans

Saiunkoku Monogatari - Episode 29 (?)

Legend of Galactic Heroes - Episode 50 (?)

NANA

Yomigaeru Sora - RESCUE WINGS -

Nick's Recent Activity

Nick — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 11:16:40 -0500

Call it laziness or burn-out, but I just haven't had the energy or will to sit down and write about the recent anime I've been watching. Indeed, I've been meaning to write an analysis of the Twelve Kingdoms novel and Fuyumi Ono's interview and a review of Asatte no Houkou (Quite a nice little series that doesn't overextend itself) and Mushishi. As it is, I do have a list of some of the new anime I'm watching:

Currently Watching

Claymore - Episode 4

I've been anticipating this one for a bit, but I was initially approaching it with expectation if it containing the violence and action of say, Berserk, without any of the deeper themes and with a female as the main lead. As it is, Claymore does have violence and action, but it is much less shallow than I was expecting. As I've only seen four episodes of the 26 episode series, it still has room to disappoint (I.E., ignoring or contradicting the early themes it sets, like Elfen Lied did), but for now, I'm going to continue watching this one.

Lucky Star - Episode 3

This one, I basically decided to watch after seeing that high-energy opening. I'm finding it amusing (and occasionally gut-busting funny), though, as I said elsewhere, it has nothing on Azumanga Daioh, like its comedic timing or well established characters. It's definitely gotten quite a bit of talk around the anime blog-o-sphere, but I'll be continuing this one.

Rocket Girls - Episode 2

This was mentioned by bbovenguy as a series that "pays pretty good attention to reality". I decided to check it out, and he's right; this series about the fledgling Japanese manned space program, out side of the silly characters and premise of sending high-school girls into space (They're lighter and smaller than a grown man, you know...) it does seem to pay better-than-average attention to silly concepts like physics.

Ghost Hunt - Episode 13

I picked up Ghost Hunt early on when I realized that it was based on the novels of the same name written by Fuyumi Ono (actually, based on the manga that's based on the novel, but I digress). Though it's been on hiatus since January, I've picked it up again and will probably watch it to the end this time. Though it has few out-right scary scenes, there's been several points that are out-right goosebumps forming creepy! It started out a bit slow and a bit underwhelming in the first arc; those first three episodes largely served to introduce the main characters. And what great and ironic characters they are! The bass-playing monk? The adult and seductive miko? The young Australian priest who learned to speak Japanese from the Kansai region? Hah! I'm sold. And the main protagonist, Mai, makes a very good female lead opposite "Naru", the normally serious male lead who runs a paranormal-investigative company at the age of 17.

Rewatching

Haibane Renmei - Episode 6

I was in the mood to rewatch this one, as it is one of the three animes that are able to consistently get me out of any kind of funk when I watch them. The other two are The Twelve Kingdoms and The Place Promised in Our Early Days, and which one I watch when I feel the edges of depression kicking in really depends on whether I want to watch a long series, a short series, or a movie.

On Hiatus/Future Plans

Saiunkoku Monogatari - Episode 29 (?)

I had watched this until I caught up to the fansub releases in December, and just haven't picked up watching it again (Though I've still been getting the fansubs as they were released). I do plan on starting up on this again, as it was quite entertaining and a rather well told story.

Legend of Galactic Heroes - Episode 50 (?)

So this isn't exactly a new series, but I think it is, from what I've watched so far, the greatest space opera of all time. Though the characterizations and plot exposition is done much like many anime do it in the eighties, the story is very well balanced between two talented individual generals on different sides of an intergalactic war; one side is a democracy much like the modern day U.S., and the other side is more of a aristocratic monarchy much like most of 17th and 18th century Europe. And both generals seem to do more fighting within their respective systems than with each other, as the series takes no pains in hiding the inefficiencies in both political systems.

This is a series I do plan on picking up later.

Windy Tales - Episode 1

I watched the first episode of this series and immediately put it on the back burner to when I have more time to watch it, much like Mushishi. It looks to be a series that I should take my time with.

Dropped

Moonlight Mile - Episode 3

I had expected this to be closer to Planetes than what I actually saw. The series took reasonably close attention to physics, but watching the two Gary Stu like lead characters stumble (But these rebels planned it that way!) their way into becoming astronauts was just not entertaining to me. And the extremely poor CG and animation (I mean, two guys running on the beach was animated with only 4 frames!) was just extra.