Twelve Kingdoms takes its time in exploring its vast world as we get introduced to the many kingdoms and characters that make it up. Characterization is a strong element in this series as the two major arcs of it are focused on Yoko's developments as she comes to terms with her true identity and how it connects to the world of the Twelve Kingdoms, as well as dealing with political corruption as she comes to understand more about how the various governments within this world function. Other prominent characters in Twelve Kingdoms get their focus as they come from various backgrounds and we get to learn of their upbringings, as well as some of them playing a significant influence on driving Yoko's character developments throughout the series.
The show's world building is also effective in conveying the type of society there is within Twelve Kingdoms. The world of the series appears to adopt a mix of Japanese mythology and feudal era society/ politics considering the presence of supernatural creatures and demons, the strong belief in the divine and differences in status between classes and those of different origins. This leads to some interesting exploration of societal issues and themes with the system in which the world of Twelve Kingdoms selects its ruler, rulers concerned over whether they have made their country prosperous and peaceful compared to others and how influential political figures let the power and authority they have get to their heads driving them to either insanity or corruption to satisfy their personal desires.
In terms of presentation, Twelve Kingdoms is solid in its quality with vivid color and a good amount of detail put into its settings and character designs. The scenery in the series is diverse featuring areas such as the city landscapes of modern Tokyo, commoner towns, the exquisite palaces of country rulers and mountains. Character designs are drawn realistically as well. The show's music mostly consists of traditional Japanese instruments which while fitting well with the show's setting, there wasn't really anything memorable with it that stuck out for me.
If there is a major issue I have with Twelve Kingdoms, it would have to be the two plot arcs that come along after each of the two arcs with Yoko concludes. While they do help expand on elements to the world of the series, they don't really introduce anything new that the series already brought to my attention and it abruptly messes with the focus of the series as new viewers, counting myself, would be under the impression that this series was Yoko's story instead of having several self-contained arcs. One of those arcs even winds up lacking a proper ending as we never get to know what became of the central character of the story, Taiki. The series also gets in the annoying habit of running recap episodes at the end of each arc which I found to be a complete waste of episode space in this series.
While not as perfect as I've heard enough online reviews praise it as, Twelve Kingdoms still made for an engaging fantasy-adventure series focused on the exploits of Yoko as she comes to terms with her origins and eventually tends to responsibilities to deal with political corruption in the kingdom of Kei.
