Forum - View topicREVIEW: The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon, Shadow of the Sea Novel Review
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2319 |
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This is great, I didn't think this would be released again. I always wanted to get the earlier publication, but read somewhere that it was plagued with errors. I wasn't always happy with the anime (which I own), but felt that the good mostly outweighed the bad and it made me want to give the novels a try. I'll definitely pick it up.
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FireChick
 Subscriber Posts: 2764 Location: United States |
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I'm only halfway finished with this book and I only watched episode one of the anime, but I'm really enjoying this series and definitely plan on getting more. It makes me sad that these days isekai anime don't allow their characters to be flawed human beings that actually grow and become more well-rounded, or flesh out their settings and actually make their worlds feel truly unique and alive.
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Fluwm
Moderator
 Posts: 1625 |
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I really don’t have the words to express how happy I am to see these new editions of Twelve Kingdoms. I certainly don’t have any definitive lists, but when it comes to my favorite fantasy stories… it’s always going to be very near the top.
New translation is excellent. Love the size of these new books, too, even if it is a bit disappointing they’re paperbacks. The old Tokyopops were nice, sure, but always looked a bit weird on the shelf due to being hardcover, with those proportions. Speaking of, since the old Tokyopop translation combined the first and second books in one edition, I was a bit unsure of where, exactly, the dividing line between the two would be. Which is to say I spent most of my time with volume 1 here hoping Rakushun would appear…… Ah well. Can’t wait for the next book, and all those to follow.
I don’t know what exactly your plan is here… if you’re planning on reading all of the books before continuing on with the anime, or at least the relevant books, that might be a very interesting way to go about it. Twelve Kingdom’s anime adaptation is one of those “gold standards” I like to point at for the capacity of an adaptation to improve on the original story with substantial changes. You’d be able to experience that fully, rather than just noticing it after the fact. But on the other hand that’d also mean waiting a very long time before moving on to episode 2 and, yeesh, that’d be a helluva long time to wait. |
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Top Gun
 Posts: 5294 |
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Oooh. I completely adored the anime, and while I rarely pick up source material for the series I watch, I'm happy to make an exception for this.
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FireChick
Subscriber Posts: 2764 Location: United States |
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I only meant it in the sense that the anime is in my backlog and I haven't gotten around to watching it yet despite owning the Discotek blu-ray. I definitely plan on getting to it at some point! |
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<('_')^
Posts: 186 |
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We are short on high-stakes epic fantasy anime in general. Feels like most of the creative talent in that department moved to the game industry or are just writing novels. The problem with modern isekai is that the authors are not bothering to do research or gain real experiences to fuel their creativity. They just regurgitate the anime tropes and mainstream slop in a get rich quick scheme. The characters are stale and worlds are bland by design, as any attempt to challenge the audience to think or learn a foreign concept, can be viewed as a barrier that scares casuals audiences away. There's a lot of niche cultures and interesting historical periods that have not been tapped into for inspiration soley because of this stigma against taking creative risks. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 19140 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I do still have the original Tokyopop novels, so I'm very curious to see how the translation compares. Will probably check this out, especially if the local library picks it up.
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Gina Szanboti
 Posts: 12747 |
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If this release proves successful, dare I hope it might inspire someone to finish the anime series? Especially now that there seems to be a greater willingness to dig up older series for reboots. I'd honestly rather they just pick it up where it so disappointingly left off, rather than start over, but I suppose that's even more unlikely.
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2466 |
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Oh man, I only saw the (very good) anime, but never got around to reading the novels because I heard they were incomplete and hoped they would one day finish. Now I HAVE to buy this set!
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Fluwm
Moderator
Posts: 1625 |
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One interesting / weird / annoying thing to note, this Seven Seas release uses a new order/sequence for the novels, which differs from not only the Tokyopop sequence, but also the original Kodansha sequence, and the later (revised) Shinchosha sequence.
So now we’ve got four entirely different orders for these novels. We can more or less view the Shinchosha sequence as the most “correct” order, as it (like the Tokyopop release) only differs on account of combining multiple novels into single books. Seven Seas, on the other hand, makes a number of changes:
I’ve got several passages highlighted to compare the three English translations, I’ll try to dig ‘em up soon. I’d wanted to also compare them to the Japanese text, but I’ve not yet been able to find a copy — not even, like, a digital sample from Amazon. I don’t suppose anyone here has a Japanese copy of the first book and might want to help me out with this? |
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vanfanel
 Posts: 1303 |
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I hope this does well, and the series can finally move beyond the end of what was covered in the anime. The first of the untranslated books is IMO one of the series' very best.
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Juno016
 Posts: 2582 |
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I have the Japanese edition of the first story (both volumes), the old TokyoPop editions, and the new Seven Seasvedition, and I'm a translator, so I actually already took a peak at the differences in the first two chapters. Some key things to note:
1) Neither translation is entirely literal to the Japanese. 2) The TokyoPop translation adds a ton of embellishments to the writing to "adapt" it to English. A single sentence can become several, filled with poetic language and describing sensations expressed with one word in Japanese. It feels more like an original English language novel, but it essentially captures the original Japanese meaning very thoroughly, albeit with a ton of overkill. It may spend a whole paragraph describing an atmosphere accomplished with one or two words in Japanese, but it's pretty likely you will come away with the sensation described in Japanese. 3) The Seven Seas translation is the complete opposite of all that. It condenses sentences more often, leaves out some subtle nuance in the Japanese (for instance, the first line of the entire book states "She stood in velvety blackness", whereas the Japanese 立ち竦む implies standing paralyzed from fear, which the TokyoPop version details better), but is a far easier read with a lot less original "flavor". It captures the pacing of the Japanese a bit better, too. I'll be curious to see if this pattern continues as the novels go on. The new translation does feel like it was translated on a strict deadline, whereas TokyoPop's translator/editor/writer was probably given more time to just... write, but I often find translations, both old and new, tend to feel more and more rushed as the project continues and deadlines get tighter. Ultimately, each translation has its ups and downs, but you're getting the same story regardless. In the end, if you have access to both versions, you can choose which version you wish to follow. I love this series, but I probably won't read all three versions in parallel. I might do my usual thing of checking the Japanese (and now the old English edition, too) whenever I stumble upon something curious or confusing in the new translation, but I bought the new version, so I'm going to read it when both volumes are released. I also really hope the unreleased novels will finally be translated, as well as the newer ones published in Japanese. I never got to read past TokyoPop's 4th and final volume release. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 19140 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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^
Thanks for the insight, Juno016! I, too, am hoping this will be successful enough to reach into the novels beyond what Tokyopop covered in English. Since it sounds like the differences come down more to personal preference, I'll probably stick with the original Tokyopop novels until they reach new territory. (Well, except for the one - novel 4, IIRC - which infamously skipped an entire chapter in the first printing.) |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 10364 Location: Virginia |
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TokyoPop did include the missing chapter in the second edition of the fourth volume. Unfortunately that was a paperback only edition. As I collected the hardback version that remains an irritation.
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Kaoru G
Posts: 93 |
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Wow, finally!! I've been waiting years for this!! The collection will happen.
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