Jan 22, 2018
The Twelve Kingdoms, an anime that has been cancelled before it could find conclusion, an anime with generic fantasy world premise and mediocre and plain art. But with all these flaws is it worth spending time to watch? Is it any good? The answer depends on you, continue reading to find out.
Animation- 4/10
Its plain and simple nothing to it. If you hated it from the start you are gonna hate it till the end. Characters are plain and simple but are sharp and full of details they seem to fit well with the blurry backgrounds as they stand out. They even managed to fit CGI
...
here and there and despite it being an anime from 2002 the don't look that bad.
Keeping it short: the anime and artstyle are the weakest part of this show.
Sound- 5/10
Voice actors did a really nice job and the characters fit with their voices and seem alive portraying their emotions and character thru their voices very well. From what I felt not a single character has a voice or line that did not fit with them. The music is nothing special, after 45 episodes I couldn't point out anything amazing that stood out. The music is there when it should and it fits well but at the same time its nothing to gasp at. It does not help that the only opening is just a plain instrumental with nothing to it.
Characters - 6/10
There is an multitude of characters but honestly I couldn't relate to them 90% of the time. The main character is goody two shoes class rep but at first all she can do is cry and whine(for like 7 eps) later on she changes and grows to be a better person but still, its kinda hard to relate. Even side characters are kinda hollow without clear goals and dreams, they have their well defined personalities and all but its kinda hard to relate when character is good by definition. Don't get me wrong they are not by any means bad and all, but plain just plain.
Story - 8/10
The best part of this show is by all means: the story. It starts out really cliché by our MC being spirited away to another world by some guy with silver hair that calls her queen. Believe me its starts silly and its hard to watch for first 10 first episodes, the show throws at you multitude of foreign words like taiho, or kouki and for a long time leaves them flying over your head not providing their meanings, for western viewer its annoying. But after some time the story grows on you and it gets good, really good. The story branches at some point and starts to reveal itself from perspective of different characters, and more importantly it leads to satisfying conclusion. The few things that I didn't like are many recaps that might have been in place when watching this on weekly basis but when watching this in a span of a few weeks, are annoying. The last thing that needed to be pointed out its that the anime is not finished, so don't expect to be fully satisfied the story is not concluded by any means an the viewer is left wanting answers and conclusion to many left out questions and story bits.
Enjoyment - 7/10
Overall with its mediocre art and plain music but exceptional story and well defined characters its good show. The first 10 or so episodes were not that enjoyable but finally when the story and characters grow on you will like it. The anime is kinda long with its 45 episodes but if you are not repelled by its slow start and mediocre artstyle you should give it a go. On contrary if you are repelled by the artstyle, premise and whatnot don't make yourself watch this there are many shows that are shorter and better than this and don't require you sitting for 7+ eps enduring annoying MC and foreign words being thrown over your head leaving you asking what is going on.
Overall- 6/10
With good story and characters but with lackluster artstyle and music, is a good show if you watched a lot of anime and you are looking for something good to watch that might have flown under your radar this is it, but if you are new to anime, don't bother, don't waste your time for 45 episodes of this mess go watch shorter and better shows that don't require you to remember all those foreign description and fantasy world lore to understand.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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