Twelve Kingdoms (Juuni Kokki)

[EmpressStephanie]

Series: Twelve Kingdoms, Junni Kokki
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Release Date: 2002
Creator: Fuyumi Ono
Number of Episodes: 45
Summary: From ANN: Yoko Nakajima, an unhappy high school student, is one day suddenly faced with a strange man who swears allegiance to her. After a battle with demon-like beasts, he then takes her to another world along with two of her classmates. There, her appearance has changed and she can understand the language even though her classmates cannot. But their status as "Kaikyaku" (people who come from Earth) makes them hunted fugitives, so they wander the land of the 12 countries, simply trying to survive and to figure out the reason why they were brought to this world.

Personal Opinion:
That summary only describes the tip of the iceberg so to speak. There's a lot to this story and you have to learn an entire new vocabulary to understand most of it. You also have to be patient. The first 4 disks or so might put you to sleep. I almost dropped this show but friends urged me on. Yoko's constant whining can be extremely irritating. Most of the characters were not likable. However, as the story progresses, Yoko gets better and you meet a slew of really interesting characters and personalities. As far as plot, the whole second portion of the series is dedicated to different stories in the different kingdoms. You meet a princess who was dethroned, the black kirin, people trying to start a revolution. All and all if you can get through the Yoko arc this series is really rewarding. I'd say it's really unique... the reason I started watching this was because someone said it was like Fushigi Yuugi... it is and it isn't. They aren't in the same genre so I don't think you can compare them but if you don't like Fushigi Yuugi, you may still like this anime.

My complaint is that the story is incomplete. Apparently this anime isn't from an original manga but rather a novel and the author for some reason discontinued writing them. The last episode is a recap of the previous story arc and I thought that was a huge cop out. Because the story jumps around so much a lot of the story arcs never get any resolution. Even if the author did some day continue to write the novel it's highly unlikely that we'd ever get an anime representation of it or even a translation in book form. So we’re likely to never get any closure on the story. Still though I believe it’s worth watching.



If you liked this: Fushigi Yuugi, Record of Lodoss War, Escaflowne, El Hazard, you might also like Juuni Kokki or vice versa.

Overall Rating: 7
Bishie Rating: 10 (The King of En, Keiki, mmm bishies everywhere)
Romance Rating: 0 (Yea I really wanted something to happen between Yoko and the King od En but nothing ever does.)

[Blewin]

Peronsal opinion:

Just love this show, reminds me of the chinese novel - the three kingdoms.

This show is sooo chinese. The costume, custom, governing system and setting.. (the only thing that looks Japanese to me is the costume of the King of En). The storyline is awesome (it'd be familiar to people who've seen chinese series on the olden day era - i.e corrupted government officials followed inevitably by the rise of a revolution).

But what's more interesting is the setting itself. People fight on flying beasts, the office of Kingship chosen by a Kirin rather than that from a father to a son.

This anime searches on issues of a human's heart. Struggles within oneself. What does it take to be a King? What reason to cry? What does a Kingdom need? The anime (novels) is thought provoking, yet at the same time, it is packed with enough action to keep you on the edge of the seat.

I particularly like how it is divided into sections, giving each character a stage rather than focusing on only one character. Although the beginning starts a bit slow, I say that is necessary to establish the change in the main characters.

If you're looking for something deep, something with memorable characters, something that would touch your heart, something magical... then this anime is it.

[BlueAssassin]

Twelve Kingdoms started out as a series of famous novels by Ono...With deep explainations about fictional characters, Kingdoms, and their history centered around a girl named Yoko. WoW...is the only word that discribs this series, and it is one you have to pay close attention to cause their is alot going on...even though it seems to jump from story to another it all ties together. It makes you feel like you can take a history test on a fictional world. The sad thing is that after Chapter 10 they will no longer produce the rest of the series. Not even in Japan. So it is an anime series with no end...unless you read the books.

[kunti]

this story is awesome

animation - the animation is alright but one thing is the action scenes are all animated, you wont see any saiyuki bullshit going on here

story - best i've seen the 1st and 3rd arc are awesome but the 2nd arc is tad boring same with the 4th, and it is incomplete

well my review is a little short, but if you like adventure type animes, with a smart and epic story line this is for you, although incomplete it was awesome, didn't really depict much emotion from me, but it still was very entertaining

rating - 9 out of 10

[grechzoo]

i tried watching this and could not stand it,

the dialogue was too simple, there was no subtely and no charm to it. felt very cliche,

the animation and monters/creatures were great though.

but i need good, subtle, clever and adult dialogue to get into an anime otherwise i scrap it early. this just didn;t have that.

i wont rate it as i have only watch about 6 episodes. wouldn;t take much mroe of it, the story could have been good without this fault though

[Grey]

The anime is excellent with some of the best character development I've seen in a series. In the beginning, Yoko is weak and her constant crying is obnoxious. Even when she finally becomes queen she still doubts her ability to rule but by the end of the series she is strong willed and has become more than capable to lead her kingdom.

What stood out the most to me was the soundtrack done by Kunihiko Ryo. He does a masterful job of conveying emotion through his music. The majority of the tracks are all done in style Chinese classical and also a westernized folk style. He shows a great familiarity with Chinese instruments like the Erhu and Dizi. Better yet he arranges them with acoustic guitars and piano solo's which helps bring the world to life. I still listen to the soundtrack after all these years.

I would still consider the novels to be superior to the anime which Tokyopop has been translating since 2007 and still has 4 more to publish. The differences between the anime and the novels are most great between the first novel, Sea of Shadow, and the first 12 episodes of the anime which it is based on. For instance, Sugimoto plays only a small role and doesn't accompany Yoko to Kou which the anime had built an entire story arc on. Asano doesn't even appear in the novels which I find is better since he played such a weak part throughout the anime. The Shirei also play a much bigger role in the novels, such as Joyu is always a comforting presence to Yoko since he is always with her. Also, Yoko matures far faster in the novel than in the anime and she is far less "whiny" shortly after being stranded in Kou.

A little long-winded but I hold the series, especially the novels in high regard. Fuyumi Ono is a talented author and I would love to read her other novels if they were to be translated and published. It's a shame she hasn't written anything in several years and equally shameful that The Twelve Kingdoms novel series hasn't made any top 10 lists despite rave reviews.

Anime - 8/10
Novel - 9/10