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Another review from the mind of s2m
I must admit, I'm surprised that almost everyone who took my survey wanted to see me write more manga reviews. O= No one ever commented here on my Kaze Hikaru or Loveless reviews, so I figured there was no real interest. But okay, glad to know you guys want to hear more of my opinion! So here's my third review! It isn't manga, but it's definitely close. Next up we have....
Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow, by Ono Fuyumi. This is the first installment in a series of six novels and one short story collection (yes, it's all prose) written by Fuyumi-sensei. If the title sounds familiar, it's likely b/c this was made into an anime in 2002. The series was released as 11 total books in Japan, with four two-volume-long books, one stand-alone, and a collection of short stories. (Credit to Wiki for the technical info.)
To sum up, the first 12K novel is a good read, and tells an excellent story rather well. I highly recommend it!
Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow, by Ono Fuyumi. This is the first installment in a series of six novels and one short story collection (yes, it's all prose) written by Fuyumi-sensei. If the title sounds familiar, it's likely b/c this was made into an anime in 2002. The series was released as 11 total books in Japan, with four two-volume-long books, one stand-alone, and a collection of short stories. (Credit to Wiki for the technical info.)
Now, I had actually read an online fan-translation of this book about 6 months ago. I am surprised to say that I definitely prefer the professional version! That doesn't happen very often. At all! D= The pro version was better written, handled the kanji much more efficiently, and I guess I prefer holding an actual book in my hands rather than clicking through pages of a pdf file. :P Anyway...on to the review!
As I've mentioned in an earlier post, Tokyopop combined the first two Japanese volumes in this series for the English version. They also chose a different cover image. I was irked about the change in covers at first, but I do like the design of the English version, and it is official 12K artwork, so I suppose I can't really complain. I am very glad they retained the original illustrations within the novel. It's easy to recognize how these pictures influenced the anime's character designs. Which I don't mind at all, since 12K is lovely to gaze upon in both anime and book form. ^^
I am pleased how Tokyopop chose to include the actual kanji for important names. The kind-of-odd spellings are significant in this series (according to one of the interviews on my 12K DVDs) and TP doesn't try to exclude or over-Americanize the import of said spellings. When a name is introduced, we learn it as Youko learns it. The name's kanji are written for her by someone in the story, and TP prints them as-is and provides extra explanation for English speakers, such as "she saw the character for older sister..." and whatnot. My only real quibble with TP's version is their choice of romanization. I prefer the slightly modified Hepburn system, which is standard among anime and manga fans. TP writes the main character's name as "Yoko", when I know from the anime and the fan translation that "Youko" would be a true reflection of the original. In the same vein, we have TP's "sirei" versus the more accurate "shirei". And "Takkee" instead of "Takki". They also like to truncate some names at consonants, which we know never happens in Japanese unless the word ends in N. Of course, I can't find nor remember an exact example, so I'll make one up: "Nakak" instead of "Nakaku". But, oh well. I can forgive removing the long "O" from Youko's name, since that's standard romanization among commercial anime and manga licensors, but the missing "H" from "shirei" really grates on my mind. And maybe the truncated final vowels are an attempt to make the names seem more Chinese or something. :P
Thankfully the translation's word choice almost never dumbs itself down for a modern American teenage audience, which is of course my one big gripe about the translated manga industry. Not everyone in the novel speaks with perfect English, but then I imagine that not everyone in the original speaks with perfect Japanese, either. Thankfully they don't run around constantly spouting "totally", "just", "like", and other teenager-isms that make my lip curl from severe overuse. (I need to study my Japanese more so I can be free from over-Americanized translations...)
The book itself is unusual in size. Viz's prose novels are printed the same size as their manga books, but TP chose to print the 12K book the same height as its Japanese original. Granted, since this book is 2 Japanese volumes in
one, it's rather fat--but I think it's cute. ^^
I've watched the beginning of the anime over and over again, so I'm very familiar with the story. The novel is different in several aspects, but the one major difference that makes me prefer the novel over the anime is the lack of jumping around. In the anime, we constantly jump from scene to scene and character to character--and novel storyline to novel storyline. Youko to Keiki to the King of Kou to You to a pair of guys we find out several episodes later are the King and Saiho of En back to Youko and then her classmates and Youko and the En Saiho to Youko yet again, etc etc. Ghaaaa! But the novel is straight-out Youko. We follow her journey from beginning to end with no sudden skips in place or location. Much easier to follow.
Story-wise, I am definitely a fan of both anime and novel. It's fascinating to watch Youko mature through the pages, how she changes from whiny I-don't-want-this to someone completely in control of herself and her life. Very
admirable. Would that more teenagers (and adults...) followed her example. Another facet I enjoy about the novel is that Youko's journey of self-discovery and her life in the fantasy world are not easy. No instant Tamahome-like bodyguard to protect her from the monsters, no kind strangers to constantly help her out, etc. Yes, she does have help surviving attacks and assistance from the odd stranger-turned-friend, but it's rare. And she has to earn it.
So. I am definitely looking forward to the continuation of this series. Alas, I can find no listing for the second English volume, which makes me suspect it won't be out for a year or so. Ttaku. >< I do admit it will be very nice to finally learn what happened to Taiki and the King of Tai, which I am particularly interested in finally knowing thanks to the anime never resolving that particular storyline. And if Ono-sensei has yet to write that part of the story...s2m will not be a very happy fan. No, not at all. X|
As I've mentioned in an earlier post, Tokyopop combined the first two Japanese volumes in this series for the English version. They also chose a different cover image. I was irked about the change in covers at first, but I do like the design of the English version, and it is official 12K artwork, so I suppose I can't really complain. I am very glad they retained the original illustrations within the novel. It's easy to recognize how these pictures influenced the anime's character designs. Which I don't mind at all, since 12K is lovely to gaze upon in both anime and book form. ^^
I am pleased how Tokyopop chose to include the actual kanji for important names. The kind-of-odd spellings are significant in this series (according to one of the interviews on my 12K DVDs) and TP doesn't try to exclude or over-Americanize the import of said spellings. When a name is introduced, we learn it as Youko learns it. The name's kanji are written for her by someone in the story, and TP prints them as-is and provides extra explanation for English speakers, such as "she saw the character for older sister..." and whatnot. My only real quibble with TP's version is their choice of romanization. I prefer the slightly modified Hepburn system, which is standard among anime and manga fans. TP writes the main character's name as "Yoko", when I know from the anime and the fan translation that "Youko" would be a true reflection of the original. In the same vein, we have TP's "sirei" versus the more accurate "shirei". And "Takkee" instead of "Takki". They also like to truncate some names at consonants, which we know never happens in Japanese unless the word ends in N. Of course, I can't find nor remember an exact example, so I'll make one up: "Nakak" instead of "Nakaku". But, oh well. I can forgive removing the long "O" from Youko's name, since that's standard romanization among commercial anime and manga licensors, but the missing "H" from "shirei" really grates on my mind. And maybe the truncated final vowels are an attempt to make the names seem more Chinese or something. :P
Thankfully the translation's word choice almost never dumbs itself down for a modern American teenage audience, which is of course my one big gripe about the translated manga industry. Not everyone in the novel speaks with perfect English, but then I imagine that not everyone in the original speaks with perfect Japanese, either. Thankfully they don't run around constantly spouting "totally", "just", "like", and other teenager-isms that make my lip curl from severe overuse. (I need to study my Japanese more so I can be free from over-Americanized translations...)
The book itself is unusual in size. Viz's prose novels are printed the same size as their manga books, but TP chose to print the 12K book the same height as its Japanese original. Granted, since this book is 2 Japanese volumes in
one, it's rather fat--but I think it's cute. ^^
I've watched the beginning of the anime over and over again, so I'm very familiar with the story. The novel is different in several aspects, but the one major difference that makes me prefer the novel over the anime is the lack of jumping around. In the anime, we constantly jump from scene to scene and character to character--and novel storyline to novel storyline. Youko to Keiki to the King of Kou to You to a pair of guys we find out several episodes later are the King and Saiho of En back to Youko and then her classmates and Youko and the En Saiho to Youko yet again, etc etc. Ghaaaa! But the novel is straight-out Youko. We follow her journey from beginning to end with no sudden skips in place or location. Much easier to follow.
Story-wise, I am definitely a fan of both anime and novel. It's fascinating to watch Youko mature through the pages, how she changes from whiny I-don't-want-this to someone completely in control of herself and her life. Very
admirable. Would that more teenagers (and adults...) followed her example. Another facet I enjoy about the novel is that Youko's journey of self-discovery and her life in the fantasy world are not easy. No instant Tamahome-like bodyguard to protect her from the monsters, no kind strangers to constantly help her out, etc. Yes, she does have help surviving attacks and assistance from the odd stranger-turned-friend, but it's rare. And she has to earn it.
So. I am definitely looking forward to the continuation of this series. Alas, I can find no listing for the second English volume, which makes me suspect it won't be out for a year or so. Ttaku. >< I do admit it will be very nice to finally learn what happened to Taiki and the King of Tai, which I am particularly interested in finally knowing thanks to the anime never resolving that particular storyline. And if Ono-sensei has yet to write that part of the story...s2m will not be a very happy fan. No, not at all. X|
To sum up, the first 12K novel is a good read, and tells an excellent story rather well. I highly recommend it!