High Fantasy at its Best
Just when the world is all excited about one thing, I'm excited about another. How typical of me.
There's an anime I've been watching over the last few months as Netflix rentals, and ArkNorth bought me the entire DVD collection for my birthday. I've yet to see the last few episodes, and this anime is a title that Dead Legato turned me onto:
The Twelve Kingdoms.
I tell friends who know me well that if they get a chance to see this anime, they'll know instantly why I love it. The first book in the series of novels the anime was based on has been translated, and I recently acquired that. AN bought it for me at a mall we were walking around after seeing "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."
The book's a bit different from the first episodes... there's one character in the anime in the beginning that hasn't shown up in the same place as he did in the anime (I'm only a couple of chapters in reading) and another character does show up, but isn't important in the book and lots of little differences. This is typical of any film adapation of a book. And, as far as the anime and the book go, I am enjoying both immensely.
The Twelve Kingdoms is fantasy about a world in another dimension/universe. In the beginning, the audience follows a Japanese high school student named Yoko who is taken to this world against her will. (In the anime version, she is accompanied by a couple of classmates, in the book, she is not). The premise might seem, to some, like "a Mary Sue" but it's not. Really, it's not. Between how much Yoko cries and is freaking out and her (in the anime) fantasy-obsessed classmate who *wants* to become the queen/hero but instead is decieved by a crooked king and is in the end, given a raw deal, it can be described as an "anti-Mary Sue." Yoko is actually quite a complex character and her angst is handled in some unique and wonderful ways (such as conversations with the wicked spirit living in her sword that make her appear like she's completely lost her mind to others. And this sword spirit seems to be actively trying to drive her to insanity).
There's a basis in Chinese mythology and there are many interesting fantasy creatures, including Kirins, which are very important.
If I'm still interested in doing fandom things by the time I finish reading the book (and wait for the rest of the series of 7 to get translated) and finish re-watching the anime series, I could see this being a shiny new fandom for me. Maybe it can even replace Trigun as a main fandom (it's that good!), maybe... I'm still pretty attatched, but I do know that certain people probably wouldn't ever share the fandom, given the complicated high-fantasy nature of The Twelve Kingdoms.
Also, right now, canon is satisfying me. I'm a little *afraid* to even take a peek into online fandom. I mean, for example, if I were to go to the Pit and look up Twelve Kingdoms fic and find a summary that had "M-Preg" in it, I would SCREAM because the dimension that The Twelve Kindgoms are located in doesn't even have WOMAN-PREG. (I kid thee not: One of the cool things about this world is babies grow on trees in little cocoons. Even animal offspring grow on trees. Occasionally, something of a cosmic mistake where a human baby tree is located happens and a couple will have a furry-type). *Grin*
There's an anime I've been watching over the last few months as Netflix rentals, and ArkNorth bought me the entire DVD collection for my birthday. I've yet to see the last few episodes, and this anime is a title that Dead Legato turned me onto:
The Twelve Kingdoms.
I tell friends who know me well that if they get a chance to see this anime, they'll know instantly why I love it. The first book in the series of novels the anime was based on has been translated, and I recently acquired that. AN bought it for me at a mall we were walking around after seeing "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."
The book's a bit different from the first episodes... there's one character in the anime in the beginning that hasn't shown up in the same place as he did in the anime (I'm only a couple of chapters in reading) and another character does show up, but isn't important in the book and lots of little differences. This is typical of any film adapation of a book. And, as far as the anime and the book go, I am enjoying both immensely.
The Twelve Kingdoms is fantasy about a world in another dimension/universe. In the beginning, the audience follows a Japanese high school student named Yoko who is taken to this world against her will. (In the anime version, she is accompanied by a couple of classmates, in the book, she is not). The premise might seem, to some, like "a Mary Sue" but it's not. Really, it's not. Between how much Yoko cries and is freaking out and her (in the anime) fantasy-obsessed classmate who *wants* to become the queen/hero but instead is decieved by a crooked king and is in the end, given a raw deal, it can be described as an "anti-Mary Sue." Yoko is actually quite a complex character and her angst is handled in some unique and wonderful ways (such as conversations with the wicked spirit living in her sword that make her appear like she's completely lost her mind to others. And this sword spirit seems to be actively trying to drive her to insanity).
There's a basis in Chinese mythology and there are many interesting fantasy creatures, including Kirins, which are very important.
If I'm still interested in doing fandom things by the time I finish reading the book (and wait for the rest of the series of 7 to get translated) and finish re-watching the anime series, I could see this being a shiny new fandom for me. Maybe it can even replace Trigun as a main fandom (it's that good!), maybe... I'm still pretty attatched, but I do know that certain people probably wouldn't ever share the fandom, given the complicated high-fantasy nature of The Twelve Kingdoms.
Also, right now, canon is satisfying me. I'm a little *afraid* to even take a peek into online fandom. I mean, for example, if I were to go to the Pit and look up Twelve Kingdoms fic and find a summary that had "M-Preg" in it, I would SCREAM because the dimension that The Twelve Kindgoms are located in doesn't even have WOMAN-PREG. (I kid thee not: One of the cool things about this world is babies grow on trees in little cocoons. Even animal offspring grow on trees. Occasionally, something of a cosmic mistake where a human baby tree is located happens and a couple will have a furry-type). *Grin*