[Anime's Carnot] The Twelve Kingdoms (十二国記 - Juuni Kokuki), Episode 1 review
I’m not some Classics anime connoisseur; I decided to check out The Twelve Kingdoms (Fuyumi Ono, and illustrated by Akihiro Yamada) based on a Reddit comment under a relatively peaceful thread considering it was anime Hot Takes. Someone said that this was a better anime than Mushoku Tensei. I’m not particularly for the either-or world we currently live in, where we’re too tired and doped up to enjoy things in their isolation, far less inclined to enjoy things without contrasting them with one another. This is coming from a person who is seriously Messi > Ronaldo. But I was interested. I remember googling “Great fantasy light novels with good magic systems” a couple of years back and people were raving about Mushoku Tensei. I read the first page of the book if I remember correctly. It might have been the second. Stopped reading. Maybe a year later, the anime gets announced, and I figure, “Hmm, a big mainstream anime surely cuts that out.” I was wrong! And it once again highlighted the elephant in the room with a ball and chain swinging around in its orange prison jumpsuit. How a subset of writers, animators and directors, top to bottom, seem intent on mastering and furthering perversion and deviance, and you ask who this is content even aimed at? Like strobe lights and the types of experiments that come to mind when you think of the CIA and Harvard, the anime was subtly and outright perverse. Perhaps our either-or society means that in order to get a good read or watch in before the call back to mundane life, we have to ignore seriously problematic things, focussing on just the alright parts to make the invested time worth it. Anyways, this all came about because I wanted to say I don’t tend to go around watching anime older than me, although I know I should. That was another hot take under the thread but phrased a lot more rudely — he called us cretins. But perhaps it was the one which pushed me to see this watch and review through.
A 4-day, 5-hour workweek is the starting point for any negotiations with the Revolutionary Alliance.
When our red-haired MC, Yoko Nakajima, and Asano are standing in the playground as classmate Sugimoto walks by, we get an answer to another question which didn’t need to be asked. Firstly, what is this Revolutionary Alliance, and secondly, does Nakajima have a love interest?
Of course it’s Asano. The guy who intervened on her behalf on the bus, the guy who she’s known for years. Probably the only guy she knows. Nakajima is a people-pleaser with no friends. Marked with a Politics tag, she has little hope of smooth sailing in this epic fantasy tale, with staples such as a sword which only she can wield, a supernatural Hinman inside of her and a retainer in Keiki who will act in her best interests irrespective of how she feels, ignoring her wishes to remain bonded to her present life alongside her classmates.
Yet for all the classmates, the named members of the cast are small. Slow scenes like Nakajima watching her read served to tell us that Sugimoto bears a deep curiosity about these creatures. I got heavy Azalie-from Sorcerous Stabber Orphen-vibes from her, in both appearance and her wild side.
Like Nakajima, she’s at the bottom of the social ladder. Unlike her, however, she knows it and doesn’t feel the need to indulge people’s whims in order to fit in. Nakajima’s problems seem to rush in like a throbbing headache in the wake of each of these strange dreams of these monsters. Mild problems such as her parents not believing her dreams, dealing with the pressure of them wanting her to dye her hair so as not to embarrass them, unable to stand up to unreasonable behaviour means she ends up falling on emotional crutches, which explains why she is the Student Council President despite not wanting to be; she opens the scene just after Asano ditching her to dutifully accept her role as President again this year.
She gives off nice vibes; unaware of how her actions might come across as insulting. Being the one who will bear the noble sacrifice of sitting next to Sugimoto this year indulges the idea that she’s somehow a diseased character. I sighed at Nakajima seeming hurt at the idea they weren’t friends as Sugimoto blows her off, taking her strange book with curious art contained in tow. Similarly foreshadowed designs were seen through the pleasant introduction, depicting foreboding battles and the very same sword now in the hands of Nakajima drawn in beautiful ukiyo-e style and otherwise very detailed, and the reading between the lines of it all might demand a big investment.
Diving into a new world should introduce us to new characters with a range of different mannerisms and dialects. Keiki’s rushed conversations with Nakajima did feel a little scripted and exposition-y at times, threatening to pull me out of the immersion when I felt like a more natural conversation would flow better, or would just make more sense plot-wise. But the scene with her teacher bleeding out, asking why Nakajima is unharmed and why Nakajima is with Keiki served to antagonise her in a way which created stakes that just didn’t resonate.
As with epic fantasy, there is going to be a lot of lore and world-building to get into. I’m going to need to relearn the names of Keiki’s summoned creatures. Tangled in plot, we’ve already seen the tapestry begin to unravel: War, a sacred sword, the early hint that Nakajima’s parents have no idea where she got her red hair from and Keiki confirming she has a throne all precede the curious reveal, that she isn’t even of this world, something which nearly slipped through the cracks.
Sugimoto’s charm, something I hadn’t expected given I’d assumed her a minor character and plot device for Nakajima, and in how it differs from Nakajima’s will also be something to pay attention to.
Final thoughts:
Sugimoto was my highlight. Everything we know about her was flipped on its head in about 5 minutes. She seems to have been waiting for this opportunity her whole life. Not quite Eve from Killing Eve but the unpredictable chaotic lead is one of my favourite archetypes.
She really reminds me of Azalie.
This is the second of the only two anime I’ve now reviewed with a red-haired lead. Should I make it my thing? Appare-Ranman next? Rurouni Kenshin, now that I’m watching older stuff?
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