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Twelve Kingdoms - Chapter 2 - Empress Director: Tsuneo Kobayashi Number of Items: 1 Format: Animated, Color Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Running Time: 125 minutes Studio: Media Blasters, Inc Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-09-30 Buy from Amazon

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 "Sudden Changes" Youko finally makes a connection in the world of the Twelve Kingdoms when she befriends Rakushun, who is a hanjyuu. Hanjyuu have both a human and animal aspect (Rakushun is a combination squirrel and mouse creature), who are fairly commonplace, although frequently subject to discrimination. Rakushun has a surprisingly positive influence on Youko, who suddenly stops crying all the time and starts to get control of herself. Once Youko has rested, the two set out for the kingdom of En, where Kaikyaku (those blown into this world) and Hanjyuu are treated fairly. Youko's self control becomes increasingly important, for they have to avoid the agents of the King of Kei as well as the attention of Yuka Sugimoto whom the king has convinced to kill Youko. They fall in with a traveling acting troupe. There follow several close calls before the voyagers reach the city of Kou in En. There things come to a boil as Youko meets Shouryuu, the king of En, and comes face to face with the difficult challenges that have been set in front of her by fate. In a complicated, carefully crafted world, the young woman must choose between a great destiny or death. This set of episodes is far better than the chaos of the initial DVD. Youko has begun to develop a recognizable personality instead of simply whimpering all the time. Some of the other characters, in particular Rakushun and Shouryo, also develop in interesting fashion. So while overall production values are still mediocre, the story and acting are beginning to come alive. It appears that the intent of the director is to use the story as a teaching tool, as Youko, and probably Yuka as well, learn some important lessons in human behavior. Every once in a while the message gets a bit heavy handed, but it hasn't interfered with the telling so far, which bodes well for the future of the series. Again, I've experienced some technical difficulties playing this DVD using the DVD players on my Mac. This happens with both players, and I've never experienced it with another DVD, which makes me believe there is some incompatibility at work. I don't know if this will crop up on other players, but you may want to try it out before investing in the whole series, "A fantastic adventure continues..." I have not seen Twelve Kingdoms Vol. 2 yet but I have seen the first volume and would like to suggest to all those fantasy, anime, romance, drama people out there to check this series out! I was amazed with the wonderful images, their resolution and how the animation was done more to real human features than the common characteristic of BIG eyes and small mouths. The storyline seems well in depth and there are so many questions at the end of the first volume that I am hoping to discover in the second volume. The jap. actor who voiced Hotohori in Fushigi Yuugi is back as the white haired guy who protects the main girl and drags her to the "other" world (Sorry I haven't watched the first volume in awhile and so names of characters are a bit fuzzy hehe.) Check this out, now! "The Twelve Kingdoms Vol.2" This series just improves with every new episode!