The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon, The Sea of Shadow Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon, The Sea of Shadow Blu-ray Movie Review

The Chronicles of Nakajima.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 21, 2011

Mention the significance of the date November 22, 1963 to ten people and chances are nine of them will immediately know that that was the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The tenth will probably shrug and ask, “What? Was it the day after November 21, 1963?” But to lovers of British literature the date is iconic because it marked the passing of two of the greatest voices of twentieth century fiction, Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis. Huxley was a fascinating study in contrasts, a man who combined a voracious appetite for knowledge in all sorts of subjects from biology to psychology, and he became famous as much for his essays and sociopolitical thought (including his groundbreaking The Doors of Perception, a piece dedicated more or less to the joys of hallucinogenic drugs) as he did for his iconic works of fiction like Brave New World. Lewis on the other hand was a bit more staid and single-minded, working his love of the Middle Ages and Christian theology into what would become his best-known and best remembered work, The Chronicles of Narnia. The fact that Lewis expired in 1963 probably takes him out of consideration for having any hand in the creation of The Twelve Kingdoms, but there’s little doubt that the shadow of Lewis’ Narnia is all over the light novel series by Fuyumi Ono which was published in Japan between 1991 and 2001, and which was later adapted into this anime in 2002. Much like in Narnia, an unsuspecting child is whisked away to an alternate, fantasy-laden universe replete with talking animals, political and moral subterfuge, and a quasi-religious aspect where the child finds herself royalty in this strange new locale. The light novel series was broad ranging, as befits its title, while the anime is somewhat pared down and more centrally focused on one major character, schoolgirl Youko (also transliterated as Yoko) Nakajima. Yoko is a typical young girl struggling to fit in, something made especially hard by her naturally red hair which makes her stand out in a country of uniform brunettes. When a strange cloaked man named Keiki shows up at her school one day and informs her she’s in great danger, but that he’s there to protect her, swearing an immutable oath of loyalty at her feet, Yoko finds herself suddenly transported to a mystical new realm of twelve kingdoms where she is indeed the ruler of one of this unexpected dozen.

As is explicitly mentioned in the interesting note from the series’ translator, the anime took several liberties with the original source novels for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the fact that the books were able through their narrative structure to enter Youko’s interior world and help the reader understand what she was going through. In an “outsider” approach as is required by a television series the decision was made to help in explicatory storytelling by introducing two new characters not in the books who would accompany Youko on her journey to the Twelve Kingdoms. These two are her classmates Yuka Sugimoto and Ikuya Asano. While the reason for having these two along are well considered and decently woven into the overall storyline, one can’t help but feel that Narnia vibe creeping in again.

The Twelve Kingdoms is by its very nature an incredibly elaborate and convoluted tale, and it was no doubt by design that the decision was made to significantly pare down the source novels into something at least more relatively manageable. However, even with that focusing and condensation, there are still manifold characters (and kingdoms) to become familiar with, and the series can therefore feel kind of crowded some of the time. Youko also makes for a decidedly ambivalent heroine a lot of the time and some of her character traits may put off viewers who would like a less shaded, more traditional lead character to hang their heroic hopes upon. Another slightly hobbling aspect is the fact that virtually every time new character is introduced, we pause for flashbacks giving that individuals’ backstory, and frequently even those flashbacks have further narrative devices built into them to the point where it feels like the viewer is being imparted information from a third- or even fourth-hand source. It’s an odd gambit in terms of the basics of how to tell a story, and while it does help to flesh everything out, it gives the series a hesitant and lurching quality at times that those wanting more straight ahead plots might not be able to sit through.

Where the series really excels is in its magical creation of numerous fantasy worlds. This is an often extremely elegant looking series that seems to be almost like Arthur Rackham illustrations come to life. Beautifully filigreed backgrounds are lovingly rendered, and the character designs are often fanciful, especially with regard to the magical beasts with whom Youko interacts. The visuals of this series are in fact so dazzling that they help mitigate some of the storytelling problems. Also helping to elevate enjoyment quite substantially is an incredibly evocative score by Kunihiko Ryo, which utilizes quite a few ethnic Eastern instruments and really lends the series a very exotic sonic air. This first set of 3 Blu-ray discs gets us to Episode 14 of the series, which is far enough to establish Youko in her new guise as Empress of the magical kingdom of Kei, as well as to set up the quest scenario which will evidently be the major point of the rest of the series. It will be fascinating to see if the series can achieve stronger momentum as it enters into the “second act” of its overall arc.

The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon, The Sea of Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon, The Sea of Shadow is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Media Blasters, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Results are mixed with this high definition presentation, some of which can be traced to the original, kind of schizoid, animation styles, and some of which can be traced to what was evidently a SD native source. The overall image is soft a great deal of the time, but that is balanced by beautifully saturated color and some surprisingly strong line detail. A perhaps more troubling issue is the huge disparity between animation styles. Large sections of this series look absolutely fabulous, with intricately detailed characters and backgrounds, while other parts look like they were dashed off by a team who might have been working under a severe time or budgetary constraint. Taken as a whole, the series looks decidedly well above average simply from a transfer standpoint, if you can stand the softness of many shots.

The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon, The Sea of Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon, The Sea of Shadow is presented with two lossless Japanese audio options, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, as well as an English dub in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. I sampled both of the 2.0 mixes just for the review's sake, and they are both fine as far as they go, but oddly the Japanese track is mixed a bit higher than the English, directly at odds with what I've been experiencing lately with a number of FUNimation titles. The preferred choice here is no doubt the Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (weirdly, the third choice in the audio options, and one labeled incorrectly as "English" on the audio codecs menu of the PS3). This track boasts superior fidelity and some very good immersion, including lots of great panning and discrete channelization as Youko starts to interact with various creatures in her new homeland. Also sounding spectacular on the 5.1 track is the gorgeous underscore, which is really one of the best reasons to check out this anime.

The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon, The Sea of Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Textless Opening (SD; 1:40)
• Textless Closing (SD; 1:35)
• Encyclopedia. This is a helpful, but weirdly formatted, extra that provides terms and definitions/explanations. Unfortunately, it's in a miniscule font, so you'll want a minimum 40-50" screen to read it, plus it scrolls, so have your remote handy with your finger on the pause button.
• Translations. This is a really interesting little note from the translator of the original Japanese language version (evidently Michael Yamamoto-Davey, though the supplement doesn't credit him and the episode credits actually include a couple of other translators), detailing differences between the books and and the anime, as well as the care that was taken to produce an accurate translation.
• Pilot Film (1080i; 1:37) is actually a brief promo reel.

The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon, The Sea of Shadow Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Twelve Kingdoms gets off to a slam-bang start as Youko is whisked away to her new magical realm, but then the rest of the first set's episodes move ahead in fits and starts as we meet a lot (as in a lot) of characters (many of whom sport several rather confusing names), pausing virtually every time to get the lowdown on who they are and why presumably they'll play a part in the story to come. Patience is probably the watchword for these introductory episodes, and the fact is, the series is often so visually appealing that it's fun to watch even if it's often hard to completely understand. This series has a very devoted fan base and it's easy to see why, though personally I'm hoping the next set of episodes will move along a bit brisker pace rather than stopping so often to smell the "character roses." Though the image quality isn't super-sharp, the audio content here is definitely first rate, so taken as a whole, The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon, The Sea of Shadow comes Recommended.