■ I’ve fallen (back into 12K hell) and I can’t get up!

[lukadian]

Every. Single. Time. This series comes and grabs me by the ankles and drags me into its depths.

Catching up with the current translations and I am. So full of emotions. I’ve been hesitant about jumping into the current books without having properly caught back up in my Re-read (last left off on Masho no Ko/Demon Child the sort of prequel and Poseidon of the East so like, absolutely no progress haha) but I visited Eugene’s blog and started back reading and-

I was struck by an illustration from the last book included with an update on the chapter translations and it was gorgeous and full of movement and wait a second is Taiki actually brandishing that sword? Hol’up. And then I read three chapters and I’m.

Still so full of emotions.

It was everything I’d hoped for and more and it clocked me full in the ID.

More on this later because yeehaw I’m back on my bullshit.

Comments

[linky]

Ah Tweleve Kingdoms! I've been curious about it, I know retrocrush has the anime available to stream. I'd like to check it out some day because it sounds like something I'd like from what I've heard about it. :D

[lukadian]

ITS VERY GOOD. The anime I’ve always felt is a wonderful entry way to the books, especially since they can be quite long and dense, but if you enjoy the anime (or want closure since it’s certainly not a complete adaptation andwiill leave you with loose ends unfortunately!)

If you’re tired of modern Isekai or not even a fan, Twelve Kingdoms is absolutely refreshing in that it’s a classic example of the genre that was in many ways ahead of it’s time, while also still firmly being a thing of the 90’s (the books have grown considerably I think over the years!) in tone and feel! It’s crunchy, it makes it’s characters work for their place in a new and unfamiliar world and can be brutal in that regard of forcing characters to grow up (which it is very good at, it’s incredibly easy to write off many protagonists in this series as unlikable , weak/spineless or even floundering, but often that’s the point, particularly with Yoko one of the two primary protagonists and the one you’ll follow most closely in the anime!)

Retrocrush has the whole series as you’ve definitely noticed, and I can hook you up with the current fanslations of the books, most of which have been undertaken by Eugene Woodsbury a writer/translator himself and he’s done such excellent work including creating glossaries for the extensive world building and including historical notes on a lot of the Chinese historical and mythological background that creates the backbone of 12K’s fantasy setting, which itself is also incredibly cool and immersive for a fantasy series like this, it’s one I always reccomend if folk are looking for a fantasy series that isn’t “yet another European inspired medieval setting”!

[linky]

I would love to see those current fan translations! I have a fondness for older isekai. I've seen aura battler dunbine and really enjoyed it, as well as a bit of fushigi yuugi, and want to see others like escaflowne and rayearth. So I know tweleve kingdoms will be something right up my alley! :D It's good to hear the anime is a good entry point. I do look forward to checking it out whenever I get the chance.

[lukadian]

Aaaaa Escaflowne is another good one, such a beautiful mishmash of general anime genre, that show’s got everything! Cat girls! Big robots! Romance! Action! Is it shoujo? Is it shonen? Who cares, it’s everything under the sun! What more could you want from an anime in the 90’s/00’s than everything Escaflowne brought to the table and more. It is a thanksgiving feast of what made anime so “cool” to me as a kiddo!

Yes yes do check out the 12K anime! In spite of its few big differences (named Sugimoto and Asano, respectively hahaha!) those too are just as welcome additional story to experience as well!