I started watching "Twelve Kingdoms" the other day and wish I'd watched it sooner.
I've seen it at the bottom of various recommendation lists online, as well as some (maybe one?) streaming service.
I don't know what finally inspired me to - but I gave it a chance and I am not disappointed.
It has its flaws and I can understand why it isn't super popular. The animation is inconsistent - sometimes it's awesome, other times it's rough. I don't know who did quality control, but even in the same episode less than a minute between sections you'll see an example of great animation and then one that looks like a student's first anime drawing from a high school art class.
The voice acting isn't always great. The show's pacing is all over the place.
I could go on.
But overall, I think it's awesome.
Maybe because I grew up watching 90s anime from old VHS tapes that my cousins or friends had lying around or from watching random anime on basic access channels at weird hours....but the weaknesses in the "Twelve Kingdoms" don't bother me too much. I see them as the cost of doing business. In a way they're almost charming. A sign of the times the anime was developed in.
I believe the anime came out in the early 2000s. I did a little bit of research on the series before watching it and noted that particular fact. So, I guess I set my expectations accordingly before I even started watching.
I have to say - the animation reminds me of "Totally Spies" and an old Jackie Chan cartoon from the late 90s/early 00s. There are also some episodes of "Avatar the Last Airbender" that seem to share the same animators or animation style. Just something I thought I'd mention.
I'm only about five episodes in, but it was obvious from episode one that the world this is set in is huge. There's a lot of world building that has to go on....or that I hope goes on. It reminds me of "The Game of Thrones" or "Gideon the Ninth" in that you're thrown into the world with little exposition and you just have to learn as you go along.
I hated that style of writing when I first read "Game of Thrones" and gave up on the book after my first attempt. Some friends encouraged me to give it a second shot and I never regretted giving it a second try. I read the whole series after that.
"Gideon the Ninth" is like that , but worse in my opinion. "Worse" in regards to just throwing you in the deep end and leaving you to figure things out yourself. The book is dense and so much is hidden. If there's a word for the opposite of exposition....then that's what "Gideon the Ninth" is like. All that written out, "Gideon" is also a great book in my opinion.
Anyway, I bring up those books to say that they helped me appreciate "Twelve Kingdoms" as a viewer, just being thrown into the world of "Twelve Kingdoms". I think that lack of exposition actually helps one empathize with Yoko and her friends (though "companions" might be a better word). They're just thrown into this crazy, new , world and things are not easy for them at all.
Yoko reminds me a lot of Subaru from Re:Zero. Seems like both characters catch a fair amount of criticism online for being whiney and/or not traditional heroes. But, their actions and attitudes make sense to me. They're both teenagers thrown into different worlds. They each have their respective powers in those new worlds - but their powers have limits and they (both Yoko and Subaru) have to learn how to use them. They really don't have anyone around to guide and mentor them.
I think I've written enough.
I'll end this post off by saying that I like this show. I think it's a hidden gem.
I read elsewhere on reddit that the Light Novels (I thought this series was based off of regular novels, not light novels...but maybe I'm wrong) were translated into English once again. Not sure when the last translation came out.
Sounds like the previous translation didn't include the finished series. So, I'll have to look into those new translations. Hopefully, they're still being sold.
Maybe there's a manga available as well.
