The Twelve Kingdoms - Juuni Kokki

M

Miaka-chan

Stand User
Although I still have to wait for volume 10 to see the ending, I still feel I have to recommend this anime :D

Unlike the average anime, it's based on a novel by Ono Fuyumi. The story is set in another land and can be loosely alikened to Fushigi Yugi and Haruka 8 but there's no big romance (which is a bit of a shame :( ).

The story focuses on Yoko Nakajima, a girl who tries her best to be something she isn't for everyone but herself. Her world changes when she is abruptly taken to this other land (through what seems to be some kind of whirlpool into different worlds) by Keiki a very cool looking man with special powers and guardian beasts (won't say more than that or it would spoil it for anyone else!!). 2 of her fellow pupils are taken with her by accident and the story unfolds from there.
Basically this other world is made up of 12 kingdoms, each ruled by a King or Queen and within each kingdom are provinces ruled by Lords. The Rulers are chosen by heavenly beings and are given immortality.

The animation style is fantastic, the creatures encountered along the way very different and fascinating, the music is wonderful, indepth character depiction and although the story swaps between one of the 12 kingdoms and another throughout the entire show, it never gets confusing. It's full of everything you could wish from a Fantasy style anime but is also definitely worth watching even if you don't normally choose fantasy type anime.

To sum it up it's just brilliant :lol:
 
I became interested in this series when the most recent volume was rated with an A+ over at AnimeOnDVD. It sounds fantastic and I'm certainly considering checking it out. I love this kind of anime, philosophical fantasy with great action.

I heard the ending is rather abrupt due to the story author becoming ill and the anime creators deciding not to go ahead and finish the story for him. What a shame.
 
Paul said:
I heard the ending is rather abrupt due to the story author becoming ill and the anime creators deciding not to go ahead and finish the story for him. What a shame.
Click to expand...

I hope not too abrupt!! Although there is a certain storyline, yet to be followed up in the anime, where I have wondered how they will conclude it in the 5 episodes left, maybe this is what they were referring to, who knows!!
 
Paul said:
I became interested in this series when the most recent volume was rated with an A+ over at AnimeOnDVD. It sounds fantastic and I'm certainly considering checking it out. I love this kind of anime, philosophical fantasy with great action.
Click to expand...

If they were referring to volume 9, I can understand why, I couldn't switch off the DVD player, even though it meant staying up til nearly 3am :lol:
 
Paul said:
I heard the ending is rather abrupt due to the story author becoming ill and the anime creators deciding not to go ahead and finish the story for him. What a shame.
Click to expand...

Just thought I'd add my thoughts to this, after waiting 2 months for volume 10 to finally be released, I was a little apprehensive about watching said volume! There are 4 episodes covering the past history of the King of En, which were very interesting and thoroughly enjoyable. Episode 45 was basically some strange recap episode, I say strange because it recapped the 4 episodes I had just watched :? Although the final 3 or 4 minutes of said episode did have a little closure for Youko.

That was the end of Twelve Kingdoms and I had a bit of a think. It's not as though you can ever have closure on a series of this kind, because unless they made a bezillion episodes and followed the lives of everyone for the next 1,000 years, well you get the idea! so forgetting that side of the end of an anime, I had a think about preceeding story arcs and there are 2 that stick out as being no where near concluded. (Can't remember names!!) but there's the story of the girl from the real world and the story of the black Kirin (and no, mentioning those 2, can't be classed as a spoiler!!). It would be nice to think that maybe someday there would be a continuation but I doubt it! It would be nice to find out what happened to those 2 characters, esp. the black Kirin but even so I was able to enjoy Twelve Kingdoms in it's entirity and I do intend to watch it again, this time without the waiting months for each volume!
I wonder if my view of the missing story arcs would change if there wasn't the big gap in watching?!
I would also love for the original novel to get an English translation and maybe find out how it should end that way!!
 
For a second there i thought the title read the 10th Kingdom (a tv mini series i really enjoyed)

Sounds good, cirtainly as it sounds like one of the books i would read or maybe one i would think up in my head
 
Back
Top