The Twelve Kingdoms Volume 1: Shoku review *SPOILERS AHEAD*
When you go to watch/read a manga with the some original author as one that you consistently fangirl over, you never know what you are going to get. Take, for example, Tite Kubo's ZombiPowder. On par with Bleach? Not at all. The storyline is derivative, the characters lack fleshing out, and all around...it kind of sucks, which is probably why Kubo never continued it in the first place. Yep. Tite should stick to Bleach, which is what he's good at.
Then there are people like Fuyumi Ono, who might have just risen to Goddess status in my opinion.
If you've never checked her out, Ono is the original writer of the novels behind Ghost Hunt and The Twelve Kingdoms. Both are adapted pretty faithfully into anime, and are directed by Rei Mano and Sho Aikawa respectively. I LOVE Ghost Hunt--it was the second anime series I ever watched, and I await impatiently for Ono to fill in a second season--something which unfortunately, she has only hinted at doing so far. However, when I found out that most of her writer's energy is taken up by Twelve Kingdoms, I thought, maybe I should have a look?
And I'm glad I did, because for a sword-and-sorcery anime series, Twelve Kingdoms totally rocks.
The story is pretty much centered around Youko Nakamura, an all-around good girl student whose biggest disobedience has been being born with red hair. Youko, however, is not actually from this human world; she is, we can assume, the ruler of another one. The series starts with a bang, bringing in flying monsters and such in the first episode. Youko herself is a little irritating, but I see that changing pretty soon. The English dub is meh, but then again, most are.
The crowning glory of this series is probably the great animation. It's hard to explain; the colors are so vibrant and its so very pretty...the soundtrack is good too, and Aikawa directs with the same easy touch that characterized Fullmetal Alchemist. The series is very heavy on Japanese terms--and none of them are translated in the English dub, with only a few of them translated in the subtitles. So keep your glossary ready :)
Konnichawa!
Then there are people like Fuyumi Ono, who might have just risen to Goddess status in my opinion.
If you've never checked her out, Ono is the original writer of the novels behind Ghost Hunt and The Twelve Kingdoms. Both are adapted pretty faithfully into anime, and are directed by Rei Mano and Sho Aikawa respectively. I LOVE Ghost Hunt--it was the second anime series I ever watched, and I await impatiently for Ono to fill in a second season--something which unfortunately, she has only hinted at doing so far. However, when I found out that most of her writer's energy is taken up by Twelve Kingdoms, I thought, maybe I should have a look?
And I'm glad I did, because for a sword-and-sorcery anime series, Twelve Kingdoms totally rocks.
The story is pretty much centered around Youko Nakamura, an all-around good girl student whose biggest disobedience has been being born with red hair. Youko, however, is not actually from this human world; she is, we can assume, the ruler of another one. The series starts with a bang, bringing in flying monsters and such in the first episode. Youko herself is a little irritating, but I see that changing pretty soon. The English dub is meh, but then again, most are.
The crowning glory of this series is probably the great animation. It's hard to explain; the colors are so vibrant and its so very pretty...the soundtrack is good too, and Aikawa directs with the same easy touch that characterized Fullmetal Alchemist. The series is very heavy on Japanese terms--and none of them are translated in the English dub, with only a few of them translated in the subtitles. So keep your glossary ready :)
Konnichawa!