Twelve Kingdoms Vol. #04: Reunion

By Chris Beveridge     February 05, 2004
Release Date: January 27, 2004



What They Say
The fates of those who reside within The Twelve Kingdoms are intertwined in such a way that only the Heavens fully understand their true meaning. Kaname, the first son of the Takasato family, soon discovers that a quiet, lonely life is not his destiny and the will of the Heavens can never be denied.

The Review!
The Shore of the Maze arc begins here and through tales told to the new Queen, we see a mixture of both worlds interacting again.

Audio:
For our primary viewing session, we listened to this show in its original language of Japanese. The series has a very good stereo mix that lets the varying amounts of directionality flow nicely across the forward soundstage. Dialogue is clear and distortion free and we had no issues with dropouts. We listened briefly to the English track and had no issues during the areas we checked there.

Video:
Originally starting its broadcast run in early 2002, Twelve Kingdoms has a very good-looking transfer here with very fresh materials. The main areas where things don’t look as good as one would hope is the opening sequence where there’s a bit of cross coloration pixilation going on. Once in the show proper, colors are excellent, with the vibrant areas such as the green eyes or the color of skin coming across in great layers. A lot of the backgrounds and look of the worlds is done in somewhat drab colors, going for the realism look (especially when you have everyone without colored hair). Aliasing is very minimal with only a few areas showing some during panning sequences.

Packaging:
Using the same style as previous volumes, the cover art here is simply gorgeous and very eye-catching. Going for a nice relaxed look, we get the great imagery of Taiki leaning against Sanshi with the backdrop of parts of Mt. Hou behind them. The series logo is nicely done along the bottom with the subtitle of the opening arc storyline. The top of the border gets the volume/chapter listing. The character art inside is just fantastic. The back cover provides two stripes of shots from the show blended together really well, giving a nice feel to the flow of things. The summary is pretty brief and gives the basic premise of things. The discs special features are clearly listed but can be confusing. Most of what’s listed on the back is actually in the insert. The insert takes the front cover and essentially switches the wording from the top to bottom. The insert opens up to provide a translated map of the world ad a focus on the areas we visit on this volume. There’s a brief encyclopedia section that covers various terminology and their meanings. It’s all rounded out by the Youma list that provides a small shot of the critter and what it resembles and a brief bit on the translation. The back of the insert provides the chapter listings for the episodes.

Menu:
The menu layout is nicely done here with the front cover background used here as the background but swaying like water, since the static image over it is the non-text version of the world map while some of the nice instrumental music plays along. Movement is decent across the menu as each of the sections provides a selection, all of them invisible until you move over it. Access times are nice and fast and submenus load quickly.

Extras:
The only extra included on this release is an eight minute video interview with the series director as he talks about various aspects of the show, such as changes that needed to be made to bring it to anime form.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Now that the opening arc of the story is done, the series shifts to a new one entitled, “Sea of the Wind, the Shore of the Maze.” While Youko does make several appearances throughout this arc, it’s done as her being told the tale by one of the Nyosen on Mt. Hou while she’s there with Keiki before they move on to where Youko will be formally acknowledged as the new Queen Kei. Youko’s a bit surprised by this turn of events since it’s a request made by Keiki, who often does not ask for much of anything.

This new arc is a very interesting piece, and much like parts of the first arc, very much story driven with only a few moments of what you could really consider action. These episodes are filled with exposition and explanations, given to the viewer as a way to understand more of the complex world that’s being built here but done in the easy way of having it being explained to Youko since it’s all unknown to her. But enough of it is simply said without much explanation, sort of just laid there for the viewer to take in. I do wonder if shows like this sink in much easier for those in Japan though, as with so many similar sounding proper names and words being used, it’s very easy to get lost and confused until you can put aspects of it together.

The story that gets told to Youko is very engaging. She talks of how the Ranka are born from a special tree on Mt. Hou. Before they’re born, another creature is born before them that takes care of the Ranka throughout its life. Sanshi is born early on here, and we see this curious creature that’s something of an albino skinned girl with a lion’s body and a lizards tale. Sanshi spends all her time and energy around the care of the Ranka, and she lives under the tree until it drops. While this is what normally happens, something has gone strange here and a chill wind has blown into the island, one that grows strong enough to rip the bulb from the tree and cause it to be transported through a shouko into the other world. While the child is supposed to be born to the tree and be cared by Sanshi and Nyosen of Mt. Hou, he’s instead born to a woman in Japan where he lives for the next ten years.

Named Kaname, he lives with the family he was born into but never feels quite right there. From nearly the start, his grandmother treats him more harshly for no visible reason but it is only exacerbated by his own quirks. One instance when he was ten years of age, he pushed away his grandmothers hand as she touched him on the forehead. For this offense, she makes him stand in his pajamas outside in the cold snowing night. While his mother argues in his defense with the grandmother, Kaname senses something off to the side and moves to investigate. And suddenly, he’s gone.

For a year nobody has seen him. But for us, it’s an instant later that we see him staggering through the streets of Japan, almost falling into this world. Blood streaked from his head and his hair much longer, he’s arrived at the place where his grandmothers funeral is being held. And now several years later, through an accidental meeting with Kaname’s brother, Sugimoto has found out about him and his past as being one of those spirited away. Sugimoto’s changes since coming back to Japan from the Kingdoms is interesting as she’s now more sure of herself but not conceited about it, and she’s determined to find those who cross back and forth to help them along their paths.

But most of this is simply the setup for what looks to come in later volumes, as much of this volume then segues backwards, showing what’s been going on at Mt. Hou where Sanshi and the Nyosen have spent so much time looking for their lost one. Through the help of those that visit Mt. Hou, Sanshi is able to reach into Japan and, as we saw earlier, is able to bring Kaname back to her world. Kaname’s return to Mt. Hou is quite celebrated, but there are many obstacles that come about now. Instead of the ten years in which he was supposed to be able to learn what it means to be a Taiki, he’s at a loss as to the most basic elements of living in this world. And on top of that, he’s considered different from most Kirin as well as he’s got long black hair while all other Kirin appear to be white haired.

It’s through these episodes that we start to understand the purpose of the Kirin as they’re raised to be the ones to choose the new rulers of the kingdoms. The kingdom of Tai has been in despair since their last king died, and with no Kirin for ten years to even pin any hopes on, they’re even more desperate. But now that he’s there, the Nyosen and Sanshi begin their training with him and their instruction works to bring some sense of peace to the boy, though there are parts of him that still leave in fear. Taiki finds himself uncertain on many parts of his life, but he loves being with the Nyosen and never wants to leave them, even though he’s continually told that he will have to once he chooses a ruler for Tai that he’ll serve. But with his situation so different, the Nyosen take care of him different.

There’s so much information given through these episodes that it’s almost overwhelming. Unlike prior volumes, we watched this an episode a night so that the heavy exposition pieces wouldn’t feel like it was too much too quickly, and it seemed to work better and allowed the episodes to stand out much more as single pieces than one full set of episodes. The life of Taiki and how he’s come to be still has much to be told, since we’ve seen so much of this in flashback and know where things stand in the present but not some of the bridging material nor where it needs to go in the future. This arc is in its own way much more fascinating than Youko’s story since it’s not filled with her level of confusion as the younger Kaname accepts things more easily. The element of danger in Youko’s story isn’t as strong here, but there’s a darker undercurrent at play as well.

In Summary:
This new storyline is doing a solid job of transitioning away from Youko and building up the world cast some more. A good number of secondary characters are introduced through this both in Japan and in the Twelve Kingdoms that as it grows, it’ll be easier and easier to move away from Youko being the central character. Fans of Youko may have some trouble with this volume, but once they get wrapped up in the story there won’t be any turning back. This is great stuff.

Features
Japanese Language,English Language,English Subtitles, Interview with Director Tsuneo Kobayashi

Review Equipment
Panasonic PT50LC13 50" LCD RP HDTV, Panasonic RP-82 Progressive Scan codefree DVD player, Sony STR-DE835 DD/DTS receiver, Monster component cable and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.