The Twelve Kingdoms, Part 1: Shadow of the Moon, The Sea of Shadow [Blu-ray]

Full disclosure: I love The Twelve Kingdoms and already own the complete DVD set.This first set comes with the the beginning 15 episodes of the Twelve Kingdoms and perfectly end the first arc of the story, so if this is your first time watching the show it's a perfect introduction. Concerning the show, I personally love the Chinese themes from its beautiful scores to Chinese mythology on kingship that govern the fantasy world Youko enters. The blu-ray set has 5.1 audio and each disc (3 in the set) comes with a small bit of extra content. For instant comparison to the DVD release just watch the text-less opening (which is DVD quality) first, then begin to watch the show and wonder over the richness of the color and crispness of picture.For a fan like me this was an immediate buy just as every subsequent blu-ray volume to come. However if you have yet to see this show, as someone who has watched hundreds of anime, few rival the Twelve Kingdoms for the content, attention to detail, and sheer complexity of the world. This is a show you can watch multiple times and still learn something new. A word of caution though, there are many terms for characters or sections of the world that aren't immediately explained, just trust that all the answers will come and the viewers confusion or wonder is meant to mirror Youko's as she ventures into this very different, but very relatable world. I hope you will enjoy this show as much as I have.

If you like fast action, bright colors and cute love stories, don't watch this anime, but this anime has so much more to offer than all that. On the first set (there are two other box sets), the story begins rather slowly and the Protagonist is extremely whinny. The first time I saw this (it was a while ago, I just wanted to get the blu-ray), I almost didn't watch past the first episode; I couldn't stand the protagonist and the back story was just so much to take in while trying to figure out what exactly was going on. It's starts to pick up a storyline around episode 7 and the protagonist stops being so needy.Needless to say, just have patience and watch the full anime; it's a great story with beautiful music and animation. I can watch it in both English and Japanese and both offer really great voice actors that help to pull your emotions in with the storyline.

The 1st season of the Twelve Kingdoms is a great collection adder and is a must own (until a full complete blu-ray version comes). If you're a fan of this series, this blu-ray comes highly recommended considering how rare it is to find it and its price for the blu-ray. Video and audio quality are solid and there are some good bonus features that accompany the set. The series itself is fantastic as well and comes highly recommended to really anyone whether they be anime fans or not. It's really difficult to dislike this series since the characters and stories are so well told through its beautiful and exciting narrative.

While I love this anime so much that I bought this digital version, the quality of the encoding source almost looks like VHS.The intro titles in the first few seconds make it obvious. "The Twelve Kingdoms" and "© NHK" text flickers.(I tried uploading a screenshot but it wouldn't let me. So I uploaded it to imgur but it won't let me post the link.)Reading a review about the Blueray edition  The Twelve Kingdoms, Part 1: Shadow of the Moon, The Sea of Shadow [Blu-ray ] a reviewer wrote "The picture and sound quality of this blu-ray release is great", so I am regretting my digital purchase somewhat.I REALLY wish the bluray (or even DVD) quality was available for streaming.I just compared to 2 random non-legit streaming sites. Each had a different source and both had superior source quality. So disappointing.

This is an amazing anime that I would recommend to anyone. I already own this whole series on DVD (the original 10 individual DVD releases), but I love it so much I decided to buy it on blu-ray too. The picture and sound quality of this blu-ray release is great, so I do plan to buy the rest of the blu-ray releases for this series. I have only ever watched this series in Japanese with English subtitles (I watched this blu-ray release in Japanese DTS-HD 5.1 with English subtitles), so I cannot say what the English dub version is like. This release contains the first 14 episodes on 3 discs (there are 45 episodes total in this series), textless opening and closing, and pilot film. I know this product review is short, but I hope it helps anyone thinking of buying it!

It is an incredible product. The story is impressive and the quality of the Blu-ray is superb. One thing you must know before buying it. Because it is an old series, the aspect of the video is 4:3 no 16:9 or 16:10. If that does not bother you (like me) it is a superb addition to your collection. The image quality is incredible and the dub in English is quite good. As a fan of anime, if you haven’t bought this series, what are you waiting for… do it.

It's epid yes!!!!!it's intresting yes!!!!!it's made for TV's from the 80's yes!!!!so the screen is not wide screen and NO you cant change it !Also no english dub, so you have to read and a lot.this show is a million hours of epic fantasy, very good but very very heavy.

Not the best quality but great show one of my favorites

Blu-ray3枚リージョンA第一話〜第十四話収録DISC1第一話〜第五話月の影 影の海一章〜五章TEXTLESS OPENINGDISC2第六話〜第十話月の影 影の海六章〜十章TEXTLESS CLOSINGDISC3第十一話〜第十二話月の影 影の海十一章〜十二章第十三話月の影 影の海終章第十四話月の影 影の海転章EXTRAS・ENCYCLOPEDIA・TRANSLATION NOTES・PILOT FILM音声英語DTS-HD 2.0日本語DTS-HD 2.0DTS-HD 5.1字幕英語日本国内仕様のPS3で視聴しました。特に音声も映像も問題ないです。英語字幕のオフは可能です。音声、字幕ともにタイトルからでもメニューからでも設定変更できます。オープニング及びエンディングともにオリジナルです。ディスクの最後に英語版のスタッフロールが収録されています。特典やブックレットは添付されていません。北米版は価格が日本版よりも安いので視聴するのみなら問題ないです。

北米版と言う事ですが、自宅の37型TVに備え付けてあるBlu-rayプレイヤーで問題なく再生でき、画質もとても綺麗で満足しています。 また、Diskの入れ換えを何度も行わなくてすむので、続けて一度に観たい方などには大変憂しいです。

大画面ではどうか知りませんが一般的な画面サイズで見る分には問題ないと思います。

普通に見れたし不満は一切なかった！十二国記好きで買って、一個見ちゃうともう全部見たくて残りは一気にかいました

音楽、絵、ストーリー声優最高です。うちの嫁さんのおすすめです。