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”!
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2023-05-18 05:08 pm (UTC)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”!