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Gold Chocobo |
I've never seen Fushigi Yuugi, though I have heard about the similarities between it and Twelve Kingdoms. But you know what? WHO CARES. The Twelve Kingdoms is a spectacular anime! I'll go down the list of what this anime does right. Animation: Spectacular. It's not Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, but the animation is very sharp and very artisitic. From the pan-outs to the close-ups, everything is very well-drawn and up-to-date. The action squences are as fun to watch as gazing over the kingdom from atop a castle. Fabulous. Sound & Voices: The music has an ancient Chinese appeal to it which sets a nice, atmospheric tone. It's probably not memorable enough to say "Hey, I have that song on a CD!" but it's appropriate with a hint of ambience. The voice actors are all top-notch too, with a lot of easily recognizable voices; Kenshin and Kaoru's VAs are present, as are Spike, Jet, and Faye from Cowboy Bebop. Forgive my lack of knowing their names. :/ Anyway, they're all really, really well done. You Japanese audiophiles shouldn't have any problem listening to the English dub. Story: Oh, the story's the best part. Sure the animation's nice, the voices are well done and the music is good, but the story is everything. If I have to say one bad thing about the series, it's that it ends a little offbeat compared to the pace of the series, but what a ride you'll have getting there. All in all, there are close to, if not more than, 100 terms you'll learn for the series, such as sen-nin, Taiki, Taiho, Nyosen, Nyokai, Shitsudou, Shirei, etc. Not to mention that, when the anime refers to Japan, they call it two other names as well -- Hourai and Wa. And you get to Japan through a Shoku...see what I mean? Fear not, since you'll actually understand them through the course of the series. You don't have to study it. It's a very deep, enthralling anime that reels you in and takes you one of the best story-telling adventures you'll ever watch. As far as I'm concerned, no other anime has pulled me in so deeply for ALL of 45 episodes than Twelve Kingdoms has. Every episode leaves you wanting more and it's hard to refuse. You'll find yourself having watched 4 or 5 hours of it without even knowing. Twelve Kingdoms (Juuni Kokki): 12/10. Fucking fantastic. Edit: I just wanted to add that Twelve Kingdoms falls under a few different categories throughout its course -- you'll find action, drama, suspense, and bits of comedy mixed in. It's a 45-episode length anime series with no current plans to make a movie. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a manga associated with it though. Jam it back in, in the dark. Reading -- Bleach, Claymore, Chun Rhang Yhur Jhun, NOW, Zero: Beginning of the Coffin, Black God, Twelve Kingdoms (novels), History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi Watching -- Bleach Playing -- Fable II, Valkyria Chronicles, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Star Ocean: First Departure, LittleBigPlanet, MegaMan 9, Mirror's Edge
Last edited by SouthJag; Mar 12, 2006 at 05:02 PM.
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Gold Chocobo |
Ooooh I forgot about Gungrave. That is truly a great anime save for one thing -- the monsters. I mean sure, it's great and everything...but I dunno. It felt like a gangster anime and a well-done one at that, but then they throw in zombies? Still, it's a really good series.
There's nowhere I can't reach. Reading -- Bleach, Claymore, Chun Rhang Yhur Jhun, NOW, Zero: Beginning of the Coffin, Black God, Twelve Kingdoms (novels), History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi Watching -- Bleach Playing -- Fable II, Valkyria Chronicles, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Star Ocean: First Departure, LittleBigPlanet, MegaMan 9, Mirror's Edge |
Gold Chocobo |
Read this!:
This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it. Reading -- Bleach, Claymore, Chun Rhang Yhur Jhun, NOW, Zero: Beginning of the Coffin, Black God, Twelve Kingdoms (novels), History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi Watching -- Bleach Playing -- Fable II, Valkyria Chronicles, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Star Ocean: First Departure, LittleBigPlanet, MegaMan 9, Mirror's Edge |
Gold Chocobo |
That looks like a really good anime, Omni. Any idea when the first volume's set to be released in the US?
I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body? Reading -- Bleach, Claymore, Chun Rhang Yhur Jhun, NOW, Zero: Beginning of the Coffin, Black God, Twelve Kingdoms (novels), History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi Watching -- Bleach Playing -- Fable II, Valkyria Chronicles, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Star Ocean: First Departure, LittleBigPlanet, MegaMan 9, Mirror's Edge |
Gold Chocobo |
Reading -- Bleach, Claymore, Chun Rhang Yhur Jhun, NOW, Zero: Beginning of the Coffin, Black God, Twelve Kingdoms (novels), History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi Watching -- Bleach Playing -- Fable II, Valkyria Chronicles, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Star Ocean: First Departure, LittleBigPlanet, MegaMan 9, Mirror's Edge |
Gold Chocobo |
Gonna throw in a manga recommendation. I've got a ton to add, but I won't do them all today. Maybe one a day or so. First off...
Chun Rhang Yhur Jhun Holy shit, say that three times fast. No images since I can't find any decent ones, and they're all a fair bit large. Google Image search or visit the publisher's website for images, which I'd recommend because the art is nothing short of spectacular. Anyway ~ Publisher: Infinity Studios Infinity Studios Length: Currently up to Volume 5 out of 10, I believe. CRYJ, as I'll refer to it from now on, is an amazing manhwa drawn and written by Sung-Woo Park, who also has a sequel to this called NOW, which has actually been available longer, if I'm not mistaken. Might be more accurate to call CRYJ a prequel to NOW. Anywho, CRYJ is the story of a young man called O'Rhang Yhun sets out on a journey to find his sah-hyung (something of a "brother" who's been training alongside him) who left mysteriously. It's an incredible manhwa that adds a political, dramatic flare to a heavy-on-action story. This is a series about a powerful, highly sought after martial art, so if martial arts, action manga/manhwa aren't your thing, then you've read far enough. If you're still interested, CRYJ, as I said, combines the martial arts action with a bit of romance, politically motivated drama, and well-developed characters to give you a real sense of what's going on. It's a constant thrill to read each volume over and over again. It doesn't help that the volumes themselves are fantastic. Each comes with a colored cover sleeve and inside each volume is a really cool colored, folded print of one or two of the characters. It's a very nice touch that makes this set stand out from the usual manga collection, besides the fact that they also stand nearly an inch taller than typical volumes. To keep this short and sweet, CRYJ is an excellent manhwa. It's only downside is the lack of volumes out there right now, and since it's a short series the volumes aren't released too often. But they're great to read more than once, which helps to some degree. Volume 5 was released recently and mine should arrive this week. Gonna go ahead and move into another one that I touched on already... NOW That's not my declaration of action, but rather the title to the sequel of CRYJ. NOW, which as far as I know doesn't stand for anything, takes place after CRYJ, but not too far since the protagonists from CRYJ are present in NOW. The main character here is Bi Ryu, a disciple of the same martial art that O'Rhang uses in CRYJ; a fighting style known as Sa Shin Mu. It's infamously well-known due to its extreme killing power, and many fighters have come after the manual that Bi Ryu protects; a manual that will unlock the secrets of Sa Shin Mu. In the first volume, we're introduced to Bi Ryu, Ah Rin (one of two daughters of the protagonists from CRYJ, which for spoiler reasons I won't mention names), and Cho Ryung, a strange girl who sits and moves on all fours. As you might guess, the three of them decide to set out on a journey that they all just happen to be going the same direction, and thus the story begins. Again, it's also published by Infinity Studios, and this is where things for this particular manhwa start to turn sour. This series was published a while back, but the previous published dropped it for unknown reasons and since then, Infinity's picked it up and has re-released volumes 1 through 3 in paperback form, again with a nice colored dust sleeve much like CRYJ. It gets a little strange after that. Follow me here for a sec -- Volume 6 was Infinity's first volume of NOW they published but... ...they went back to re-release 1 through 5, because the original prints were mostly out of stock... ...however, they've decided, as of Volume 4, to release as (!)e-books of all damn things. There's no telling what will happen with Volume 7; whether they'll stick with physical paperback releases or e-books, but I only hope they choose paperback. So far, this e-book crap hasn't hit CRYJ, but it has hit NOW and another series published by them I like a lot, called Zero: Beginning of the Coffin. I still highly recommend NOW, and if you don't mind the e-book stuff, definitely give it a read. What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now? Reading -- Bleach, Claymore, Chun Rhang Yhur Jhun, NOW, Zero: Beginning of the Coffin, Black God, Twelve Kingdoms (novels), History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi Watching -- Bleach Playing -- Fable II, Valkyria Chronicles, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Star Ocean: First Departure, LittleBigPlanet, MegaMan 9, Mirror's Edge |
Gold Chocobo |
Utawarerumono has a strange ending, but everything leading up to it is really, really good. Fate/Stay Night's also really good for a fantasy kick with lots of action and a little humor, but only to break up the seriousness a bit.
If you want something along the lines of a martial arts anime, Shura no Toki's not awful. FELIPE NO Reading -- Bleach, Claymore, Chun Rhang Yhur Jhun, NOW, Zero: Beginning of the Coffin, Black God, Twelve Kingdoms (novels), History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi Watching -- Bleach Playing -- Fable II, Valkyria Chronicles, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Star Ocean: First Departure, LittleBigPlanet, MegaMan 9, Mirror's Edge |
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