of emperors, kirin and talking mice

[xparrot]

So, yes, I am now the last anime fan on the planet to finally get around to seeing Juuni Kokki/Chronicle of the 12 Kingdoms. Have seen the first half and must reiterate what everyone has already said, to whit, if you have any love for epic fantasy, unicorns, or unbelievably adorable giant talking mice, you owe it to yourself to go watch this series with all due haste. Lovely stuff.

More specifically - go girl power! Yoko manages to morph through about four distinct anime hero types in the course of the first seven episodes, from shy schoolgirl to terrified bishoujo to crazy-ass battle bishounen to epic shounen hero. Most impressive.

Is it possible to watch the show and not want to pinch Rakushun's ears to see them twitch? And he and Yoko would be the cutest couple.

Love Enki as well, atarimae da. His seiyuu alone guaranteed that (speaking of which - naye, I missed a chance to see Yamaguchi Kappei-sama again? Nooo~! Say it ain't so!! Dammit, I need a job so I can afford seiyuu-stalking!)

And while staying spoiler-free, I must say, on a one to ten scale of cruelty to fans, when one is the Fushigi Yuugi anime's so-perfectly-sappy-it-makes-me-cry conclusion, eight is Forever Knight's "we don't know what to do so let's kill off most of the cast" finale, and ten is the infamous end of Twin Peaks--the utter non-resolution of the Taiki story rates about a thirteen. WTF? gnine filled me in on some of the happenings in the novels that the show didn't get to. It didn't help. Stopping a story in certain places should be illegal, dammit.

Comments

[stitcher2ficcer.livejournal.com]

LOL! I had the same reaction when Jeannine told me last week that Taiki's story is not returned to in series two. "Whhaaaatttt?!" I was looking forward to the next several eps rotating back and forth between that very resolution and Youko's reclaiming of her kingdom! Hearing that it won't, and instead goes into wholly new territory almost made me not want to continue watching. I knew your favorites would be Rakushun and Enki. I love Rakushun in both of his forms. Enki, too. And I really like the byplay between Enki and his king. And of course, even though he's not in the first series enough and he's not as complex a character as I wish he were, I can't resist Keiki because of his seiyuu. And King En's not too bad either. :-) I could stand seeing Youko with either Rakushun or En, but I agree with gnine that part of the strength of this show is the strong female characters and the friendships unmarred by interfering romance.

I like several of the women in this show, even some of the minor ones like Rakushun's mother. But the change in Youko from the first ep to the middle of the first series really is rather breathtaking, isn't it? I love how her battle bishounen phase begins as the Hinman acting through her then morphs into her own action.

I went to Best Buy the other night to buy series two, but it's too much for the budget right now, especially with the furniture we got for the family room this week. D/l the first five eps from Tokyo Toshokan over the weekend, until I can afford to get it, only to find out yesterday that even though it's not listed as "raw" and the titles are in English on the intro material, it is either not subbed or the subs aren't showing up on the playback. It's a different format than I've seen before--mkv--and VLC plays it fine; just no subtitles. A lot of good that does me. I've been meaning to drop you and gnine a line to find out where she got it, but I've been so busy the last two days that I haven't had time. Don't have time to watch it in the next week or two anyway. But when you have a chance, let me know where to get it. Thank you!

Have a good day and let me know when you get the diploma!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to figure out if romance is even possible in that world. Well, there's marriage, and whores, apparently, but still...when everyone's a pod person, how does that even work??

I think I like Rakushun's mouse form even better than his human. Those ears!! Tho' really I don't have any favorite chars, I like most of 'em. Females and males both. Hope you get the eps you d/l'ed working, we started the 2nd half tonight and it's shaping up to be interesting...

[stitcher2ficcer.livejournal.com]

Got the subtitles working last night... of course, watching just a few seconds of the next ep to see if I had the subs got me intrigued enough to keep going. So by the time I went to bed I had watched all five eps I had downloaded. Then had to get up at 5 this morning to get the work done that I let slide last night.

Yes, this series is looking promising, too--though I'd like to hear Keiki say/do something other than sigh, and I want to shake Shoukei until she's dizzy, then slap her upside the head. She learns from experience about as well as Dubya does. Thick woman.

I've got two more downloaded, and two more d/l now. Not sure when I'll get to them. 'Tis nice to be watching at the same time as you.

[zimarra.livejournal.com]

I love the series. I really do. We watched it in ASIC for the marathon and saw the first 45 episodes. I was a little disappointed though that Keiki's story was never talked about. I did like the 'three bitch arc' but still, I was extremely disappointed they did not go into more of Keiki.( Of course, maybe I just wanted to hear Takahiro Koyasu's voice more..)

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Heh...actually you've seen all of it then, there were only 45 eps! (There apparently was supposed to be more, a full 62, but they never got made...)
I think my mom will also be disappointed by having less Keiki, for the exact same reason. ^_^

[ysabet.livejournal.com]

**grin** You have the same viewing habits as I do... This makes me feel slightly better, I think. Now, if you went the OTHER direction and made a list of "Top Ten Utterly Satisfactorily Ending Series (If They Have To End, Dammit)", I'd put the final episode of Due South right at number one. Man, it's beautiful... **sniffle** ...and just THIS short of R/B canon, too. **swats Inner Yaoi fangirl-self** And I totally agree with you about Forever Knight; that completely sucked. Rrrgh. Please pardon the pun.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yeah, I never got over FK's finale. Even if my favorite did survive (...okay, so I loved LaCroix, I'm weird like that...) And dueSouth - I never quite got into that one myself, but my sister adores the finale and has gone on about it to me at great length! Of course she's a RayK/Callum Keith Rennie (sp?) fan, so... ^^

Satisfactory finales...gotta admit, while most of the last season of Highlander was pretty worthless, the last eps were marvelous. And I have much love for ST:TNG's finale...

[ysabet.livejournal.com]

If you truly want to be come hooked on Due South without knowing *one thing* about the series at all beforehand, just have your sister show you the "Mounty On the Bounty" episode; that'll do the trick. For pure bizarre crack-headedness, hysteria, humor and romantic action (no, not THAT kind of romantic action, although the moment when suddenly everybody on shipboard is gazing starstruck into each other's eyes is lovely), that one can't be beat. Watch iiiiiiit! I pimp the series at every possible opportunity; it'll make your head hurt, but it's worth it.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I've actually seen bits & pieces of DS (and have read various fic for it, now that I think of it) - found it amusing, and the guy playing Fraser (sp?) is Hot like a hot thing and I'm not immune to the ragged charm of CKR either, but for some reason the show didn't catch me. Not sure why, it's nothing to do with the series, just my bizarre and capricious fan-tastes... ^^; But I'm tempted to watch the finale anyway, just for the bits of h/c the sis has mentioned ^^

[ysabet.livejournal.com]

Yes, he is indeed Hot like a hot thing. It's the mounty britches, I think. Well, partially. And the hat. And the eyes. Right, back to work for ME. Mmmm, lovely autopsy reports, just like a cold shower. **trudges off**

[mei-yanohi.livejournal.com]

I've seen the first... two? Three? DVDS of Twelve Kingdoms and oh man, they are amazing. I really, really need to see the rest. Although what you say about the ending is frightening. o_o

[mei-yanohi.livejournal.com]

PS: TIGER HUNT RAWR!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Noo, the worst part is, that's not the end! That's the midpoint of the show! it's just, they leave that story arc hanging and move onto other things - which makes sense within the course of the show itself, but not in terms of the larger story. It's the kind of thing that you're sure they're going to get back to, and then they don't, but the only reason I know this is because my sister told me...
The trouble was that the novel series that the anime was based on hadn't yet resolved that arc...and still hasn't, because apparently the novels are on hiatus! Yargh! Oughta be illegal, dammit! (and doing such things to Taiki the cutest kirin in the world, no less! the utter cruelty! *sniff*)

I haven't forgotten! I haven't forgotten! I'll be posting more soon! Moshiwake gozaimase~~~n!

[vejiicakes.livejournal.com]

Oooooh, I've always been curious about that series after watching a trailer for it on one of my other DVDs, but was wary about the cheesy potential I could feel wafting off it. Now I'm interested though! Will look into it ^_^

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I swear, no cheese. Regardless of the giant talking mouse. High fantasy all the way, 'tis awesome!

[utopiantrunks.livejournal.com]

You're not the last... so I guess this means I should watch it, eh? ^_-

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah! It starts off a little slow, but it's totally worth it. So much cool stuff. So many cool chars. So friggin' annoying should-be-illegal unresolution (grrr...it's worth it anyways, which is saying something, but still, yargh!)

[ex-naye320.livejournal.com]

On episode 5 of Juuni Kokki now, so not commenting or reading the discussion. But. Yes. Yes, you did. Him and Hirata-sama, and on stage with KIDS. Cute enough to turn our big Fransuban into a fangirl, apparently. :D

So, next Jump Festa? We will be there, right? RIGHT?

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

With kids?! *whimper*

and YESSSSS!!! (you gonna come back for Japan for it? ^^)

[shayera.livejournal.com]

Oh! I was watching it before Christmas, but then I got sidetracked, so I'm only halfways through myself. Need to get back to that...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've only just started the second half of it myself. So good! Even with that huge lack of resolution...