JK LOL
It's cold.
I hate to turn this site into my "anime blog," but this seems to be the only topic for which my pen bleeds at the moment. I'm sure that more wounds will appear when school starts... but that's a lifetime away. In the meantime, ignore or read about an anime that no "otaku" should miss.
Juuni Kokki, The Twelve Kingdoms, is a fairly recent anime that tells of Nakajima Youko, a redheaded Japanese girl, who becomes the empress of a fantasy world far removed from ours. A different set of rules and Gods governs the land of twelve kingdoms.
The art and setting of Juuni Kokki are very unique among anime I've seen. Everything is highly stylized, resembling auld Chinese paintings. The characters' faces and skin-tones are the main features that still keep this recognizable as an anime, but the combination of Japanese facial characteristics and Chinese dress and landscape is a visual treat.
The music is rather complementary to this atmosphere. Chinese music is traditionally bad, but Juuni Kokki makes the best of the materials it has to use. There are a few notable tracks, among them the OP and ED, which were both worth the time to hear each time I watched.
Juuni Kokki has three different arcs - an adventure, a flashback, and a political drama, the last of these composing the longest and most popular portion of the show. The first and third arcs are wonderfully tailored to Youko's development. In the first, Youko battles ferocious Pokemon-like monsters, known as youma; ascends the throne; and gradually accepts that she will not return to Japan. In the third, we discover that Youko, as the empress, holds all status and no authority, and the story focuses in part on Youko's attempt to gain an understanding of her people. Her growth as an empress is one of the show's strongest suits.
Unfortunately, there is also a fairly likeable second arc, but due to cut production, Juuni Kokki leaves bountiful loose ends and unresolved plots. As a result, Taiki and his semi-developed characters linger as a vague question mark in the viewers' mind after the anime finishes, a totally detached detour in Youko's tale.
Rules are everywhere, and those who like clearly defined rules will find them in abundance. As a novel-adaptation, Juuni Kokki shamelessly spends episode upon episode with Youko merely sitting and listening to storytellers as they explain the shaping of her land. They teach her and the audience of their God, Tentei, and how He manifests Heaven's will through the system of kirin and emperors. Emperors hold both political and mystical powers, including command of kirin, immortality, and the normal responsibilities of a monarch. It satisfies those looking for "how" things work; as for the logical-minded, Juuni Kokki leaves rather much to the imagination or to the suspension of disbelief in its very system. For all of its cleanly fashioned politics, it is definitely a fantasy series.
The cast of Juuni Kokki is weak and at times quantifiably terrible; none of the characters besides Youko - who is admittedly awesome - really impresses. There is a good deal of characters that start out absolutely grating and gradually become likeable, but they hardly are memorable or noteworthy. Their change evokes not admiration but rather relief that they will no longer be such pests in the viewing experience.
Action and adventure fans need not look far to find marginal entertainment. The first arc of Juuni Kokki is replete with giant Pokemon creatures that Youko has to fight. The show clearly does not focus on fighting, however; rarely is a battle more than a slash, a stab, and a youma-beast falling, slain. Later, there is similarly undetailed fighting between armies. The action certainly will not satisfy a fight-scene afficionados, but if you're just looking for goreless action, Juuni Kokki does produce.
Juuni Kokki becomes very political in the third arc, after Youko has assumed power. Without spoiling, it appears that Youko misplaces her faith in her government and unwittingly is in the midst of a massive corrupt conspiracy within her palace. Meanwhile, on a much more local level, corruption eats at a neglected province in the kingdom of Kei. The empress discovers limitations on the power of Her Majesty's Word and takes up arms.
Personally, I found this succinctly realistic, but its presentation somewhat bored me. Drama, schrama; she's the empress, and while some corruption reigns, Youko has to have followers to save the day. Among the rather unappreciated messages is a painfully repeated one: The peasants are more trustworthy than the government. Blind faith is never punished.
It was hard for me to get excited about Juuni Kokki as a whole. Its protagonist and fantastic art were great, but its abrasive supporting cast, unpleasant Chinese nature - yeah, I'm prejudiced against the Chinese, contemptuous politics, unresolved plotlines, blind faith without reason, unconvincing "fantasy" world, and lackluster fighting keep it from ascending on my list.
I would tier Juuni Kokki with the likes of... Crest of the Stars, Ronin Warriors, Card Captor Sakura, Azumanga Daioh. I did like it, but it's not in my best of the best list. However, just because political fantasy isn't my style doesn't mean that anyone should avoid this show. Give it a chance and see what you think; many tasteless people seem to like a lot.
Granted, many tasteless people like Last Exile, but that's another story entirely. Watch Juuni Kokki!
SD
Aug. 30, '06
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