I sat down and watched the first two episodes of this and made it halfway through the third before I turned it off in disgust. For whoever recommended this a while ago - were you kidding around? Or does it get better sometime after the third episode? Because so far it’s the worst anime I’ve seen in a while.
The heroine does nothing but whine in the most irritating manner for the first two episodes. The art looks like it was pulled from the reader’s letters in the back of Newtype Magazine and the animation is mostly non-existent. Ugh. I guess it’s a reimagining of Japanese folklore? If not, it’s got some pretty bad storytelling going on as well…
On the positive side, finding myself with nothing to watch, I finally got around to seeing all six episodes of FLCL after it. Talk about awesome! It’s pretty weird in general, but the action is amazing. And there was very, very little whining about!
Once you get past the first 6 episodes of Twelve Kingdoms it becomes infinitely better. I didn’t make it past the first two the first time I attempted to watch the series, and only months later did I realise I still had some eps sitting around and watched them again. It’s now one of my favorite series of all time.
It gets a lot better, the first episodes are just a necessary set-up. Though in my opinion, you can do it in a better way than they do in this. Like they do in Gunbuster.
Now I’m very excited about seeing the second season.
She does that later too, but not as much, IIRC. Anyway, it gets better later on, though there are several rather uninteresting episodes later on, as well as a couple pretty annoying recap episodes.
I wouldn’t agree that she whines after the first 5 or so episodes, where she acts a bit much like a mindless sop. After that she actually starts using her mind, and I don’t think that deserves the “whining” label.
Ah. Thanks for the info - I checked the amazon.com reviews and they said pretty much the same thing as you guys. It’s a shame I’ll have to get the second DVD before it gets better (also: 96 episodes? Holy crap!)
I don’t suppose the animation/drawing gets better though? That’d be an immediate draw
Oh my lord yes. When I first started watching it I thought it was just a Fushigi Yuugi knockoff, and well, that series definately doesn’t deserve one (a knockoff that is). It just gets better and better as it goes, it’s now easily the best anime I have ever seen. Note I wouldn’t describe myself as some huge connoisseur of anime, I find most of it to be complete crap. Stick with it, it’s pretty incredible stuff. Will shut up now before I start gushing even more.
Well, whining and intelligence aren’t mutually exclusive; besides, a bit of whining is OK in my book. I was merely pointing out that she doesn’t completely transform from scared, helpless girl to self-confident hero.
Fair enough. It just sounded a bit negative, which might have influenced Gunmetal not to watch it, which would have been a shame.
Now watch Gunbuster, which I think I like more than most people would think it deserves :)
This show is fantastic. A unique vision and a unique world. I’m finding myself craving the next episodes… Thanks to those here who recommended it.
As for the “whining”, it is a necessary evil. They’ve taken the annoying Japanese girl stereotype and actually given her a character arc. In some ways the show becomes indightment of that character, basically pointing out that she’s selfish, helpless, and needs to grow up.
