Twelve Kingdoms – 4/5/6 – Throwback Thursday

Welcome to week 2 of Twelve Kingdoms, where we hit episodes 4, 5 and 6! The OG Isekai does it again, with this trio being just as engaging and interesting as the last. We have friendship, betrayal, politics and rebellion, all with a dash of character conflict. So without further ado, lets dive in!

Production wise Twelve Kingdoms managed to impress me once again. While not as consistently sakuga as the first episode, every scene that needs animation gets animation. I am talking fights, emotional character scenes such as Nakajima’s arguments with the sword etc. It isn’t an above average amount of animation like we see in modern works like Mob Psycho 100, but it uses what it has in the best ways possible. Additionally the color design and background work is all really appealing. Twelve Kingdoms is doing a great job of establishing the world, of making it all feel like the same setting while still keeping it visually interesting. The best way I can put it is that Twelve Kingdoms feels… consistent. Consistent in its artistic vision, in how it wants to portray the world and its characters. And that’s one of the best things you can be in my book.

With that out of the way, lets talk details. Twelve Kingdoms picks up right where it left off, with the masked man slowly breaking Nakajima’s psyche down. Last week I called him a Lake Spirit of some kind because well… water. But over these three episodes it becomes clearer that he is actually the sword Keiki gave Nakajima early on. It’s a sort of… Frostmourne or Khazid’hea, a sword with a mind corrupting its wielder. And I have to say that he is quickly becoming my favorite character in Twelve Kingdoms. I love his “Devil on the shoulder” routine with Nakajima. How he is slowly dragging her down this hole, doing everything he can to isolate her and get her to depend on him. We have absolutely no idea why yet, or why Keiki would give it to her. That isn’t even the best part though/

In fact, the best part of the Sword Spirit for me were they very arguments he made. Nothing he said was strictly false, we have no evidence that he has yet to lie to Nakajima. In fact, everything he said about Takki taking them to a brothel, or Sugimoto’s attitude towards Nakajima, came true. So even if the visions he shows us of our world are fake, even if he is lying to Nakajima, we are inclined to believe him. Because we have no way of verifying these visions, and he has yet to been proven a liar. I think this is what makes him such a compelling companion for Nakajima. Because out of all the characters, he is the only one who speaks plainly to her. Of course its with an agenda, trying to separate them and drag Nakajima down a terrible path. But its a well made one.

Beyond that, Twelve Kingdoms did a pretty good job of continuing its world building this week. I’ve already mentioned the work put into making all of the backgrounds and locations feel consistent. But this episode also continues to expand on interesting facets such as the Kaikyaku. If you’ll remember, in last weeks post I asked what happened to the other visitors from Japan. Where did they go, what happened, etc. This week we get answers in the form of an Old Man, taken from Japan at the end of World War 2. This great for soooo many reasons. Not only does it give us a look into what life in this world is like for a non-native, but we get confirmation that there really is no way back. That even after decades here he is still stuck as a lowly floor scrubber, barely able to speak the language.

On top of everything it does for the lore and world building for Twelve Kingdoms though, I love its story implications as well. The subversion of someone catching Asano speaking Japanese, of the Old Man’s joy at just hearing it again. His slow decent into despair and jealousy at our leads. Not only for their youth, his cry of unfairness at Nakajima’s ability to speak the language so reminiscent of the Elderly in our own society, but at his own situation. Of how close he was to being free of World War 2 before the bombs dropped, of being able to live a new and nicer post-war life. Little does he know of the hardships Japan faced after it, but in his head it surely had to be better than life in this new world. It was incredibly sympathetic, all the while reinforcing Nakajima’s decent into distrust.

As if this wasn’t enough however, Twelve Kingdoms also uses this to lead into its politics. Expanding our understanding of the Kingdoms while giving our characters hope of peace as well. It does all of this by introducing us to a third kingdom, En. One that is more accepting, not just of Kaikyaku but of beastial races as well, fellow outcasts in this world. It gives Twelve Kingdoms a sense of… depth, of complexity, by showing us that Kou/Kei and their constant conflict might just be the outliers of this world. We have no idea if thats the case, and i’ll be damned if I am going to memorize all the names Rakushun gave us. But as a whole I think its a good job slowly introducing us to the wider world at large. Giving it to us as the characters learn it as well rather than dumping it.

On the topic of Kei and dumping though, lets talk about Sugimoto, because this happened a lot sooner than I expected. Admittedly we are 6 episodes so its not that early, but it feels early binging like this. That said from what we see here I think Sugimoto is going to become more of a Zuko than a Sasuke. I think she is going to get her own complete arc, finding herself and growing as a person, and quite possibly being the only member of the trio to actually return home. It would be a nice bit of climactic irony for Nakajima to find her place here after fighting to return home so much, while Sugimoto finds her place back in reality after fighting to be here. All that said, how did Twelve Kingdoms actually handle her?

I really like how Sugimoto deluded herself into believing she was the Chosen One. She connected all of the dots in the worst possibly way to justify her own biases. Even being willing to go so far as to kill her friend Nakajima had Kourin not stopped her. It make’s her eventual “reward” feel earned, in more ways than one. Betraying those she came here with, trying to kill them etc, only to be rewarded with exile in place of death. Its the perfect place for her to stew for a few episodes as she works out all that happened. That said, I do find the hand stabbing bit to be a bit weak. Twelve Kingdoms hasn’t really established why Kourin would do this, nor was her justification of “the beasts will get her” very strong. I suspect we will learn the why soon, but for now it felt lacking.

With all of that out of the way, we can finally get to the actual episodes! You already know the naming convention by now so lets just skip to the content. Episode 4 is all about Nakajima’s decent. First the Sword Spirit starts to chip away at her old life. Then Takki betrays them by trying to sell them at a brothel, only for them to escape and find an old countryman. Only for the same old man to betray them as well. One by one every person that Nakajima has trusted in this world betrays her, with even Asano and Sugimoto going off on their own at the end. Coming back and accusing her of attempting suicide, not listening to her at all. It’s a great decent and goes a long way to making Nakajima, originally a demure and quiet character by design, into an interesting protagonist.

After this we come to Episode 5, which is primarily about Sugimoto. It’s here that we get her betrayal, enlisting herself under the King of Kei and styling herself as a “Chosen One” all her own. I do have some questions here of course, such as how is the language barrier no longer an issue with her, etc. I assumed it was the magic stone in the sword giving Nakajima this power but perhaps its the water spirit placed inside both of them? It’s not made very clear, but in the moment with all of these events happening on screen you don’t really care that much either. Seeing Nakajima slowly fall into banditry while Sugimoto rises to prosperity is a great way to show how holding onto the values/restrictions of our world is hindering them in this new one. Culminating in all 3 of our leads being split up.

Finally we come to Episode 6. It is at this point that I think we have exited the prologue and begun the story proper. All of our characters are on their way, Nakajima just trying to survive, having taken the Sword Spirits lessons to heart. Meanwhile Sugimoto is learning that this world is just as prejudiced and liable to label people outcasts as our own. In this episode, I actually found the addition of Rakushun to be really nice. As a beastmen it makes total sense why he would be an outcast, similar to how Sugimoto was in our world. So seeing him connect with Nakajima, explaining how he has a lot in common with Kaikyaku, goes a long way towards Nakajima’s character. Letting her fall deeper into distrust of the world/kingdoms, but still allowing her to grow/be sympathetic of actual people.

The only real complaint I have about this episode is going to be some of the exposition. It’s not terrible, if anything I think a lot of it was done well. Take the Riboku that Rakushun mentions for instance. It explains the previous conversations about how children are born in this world vs our own. Meanwhile it also connects back to the white tree with the fruits Asano tried to pluck last episode that they tried to sleep under. Or at least, I presume it does. If so I think its a very nice callback to an interesting setting detail that otherwise wasn’t explained. Something there for viewers paying attention. It was only the explanation of the 12 kingdoms I found rather dull and unneeded at this point in the story. But its such a minor thing I don’t want anyone to think its a serious demerit.

So all in all, how were these three episodes of Twelve Kingdoms? Well in case you hadn’t guess, I really liked them again. I think Twelve Kingdoms is an incredibly consistent series so far. Every episode feels packed to the brim with content, such that I can hardly believe we are only 6 in. It somehow made Sugimoto’s betrayal, what wouldn’t even be halfway through a regular season, somehow work this early. It makes me really excited for the almost 40 episodes we have left and just how much content we can cover in that time. Admittedly I am a little apprehensive about the unfinished ending as well, but that’s a problem for future Lenlo. For now I am strapped in and ready to go. I might just watch the next 3 right after I finish this post, letting me write these in advance.

P.S. I forgot to write it here but noticed it again when going back for pictures: The cinematography such as using the swords reflection to show both the Spirit and Nakajima in the same scene, despite facing each other on opposite sides of a clearing is fantastic. Reminds me of Gollum/Sméagol cuts from Lord of the Rings. Thats all, see you next week!