The Twelve Kingdoms

title: the twelve kingdoms (as known as: juuni kokuki)

total episode: 45

release date: 2002 april 09

summary: one day in japan, a strange man named keiki swear an allegiance to an unhappy female high school student named yoko nakajima because he recognized her as his master. from that moment on, her life began to change dramatically. yoko and a couple of her classmates were taken to a fantasy world made up of 12 kingdoms. lost and separated, yoko will be traveling a harsh journey of being hunted and mistreated. an ordeal she must face in order to survive in the world of the 12 kingdoms and uncover the destiny that lay in store for her.

review: this anime takes a few episode for it to get really interesting. i would like to mention that the first few episode will get somewhat annoying because of a particular character, but that is just part of the story so bare with it. i would also like to mention that this anime is one of mine all time favorite, especially episode 15 arc. i find the story to be very creative for a fantasy anime, and each character is very unique too. the anime focus mostly on character's personality development. as a result, it gives the audience a better understanding and a reason to care about each character. there is only two minor problem i have with this anime: 1) some episode contains filler of review (as in flashback), its like watching a re-run showing the same scene over and over again. it gets somewhat repetitive and i don't need to be reminded what happen or occur. its time consuming and as a result, i view the artist as being lazy. 2) the anime feel so incomplete after watching the entire episode. even though the anime end at episode 45, it leave you with a huge "cliff-hanger". i mean, "what happen to the rest of the kingdom"? they shouldn't have named this the 12 kingdom if its gonna end like this. for some unknown reason the artist/the creator decided to cut-short or dis-continue . i do wish they resume the anime, it has so much potential to become great.

rating: 8 out of 10

to stream this anime (english sub: click here)