Previously on Project Nitsuj. . .
(Isis): Tell me, have you ever heard of ishidiki?
(Nitsuj): Yeah, also known as sorebanzeme. A form of torture that involves bounding a person in a kneeling position, on top of a ridged board, with stone weights placed on their lap. Why?
(Isis): Very good, this means I won’t have to explain your punishment *turns around smiling sadistically while holding rope in hand*.
(Chibi-Isis): I got the stones all ready for Nii-chan *points to a stack of stones while smiling sadistically*.
(Nitsuj): This is all about that finger flicking incident earlier isn’t it?
(Isis and Chibi-Isis): Yep.
(Nitsuj):AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~! WHY AM I BEING TORTURED IN THESE LAST REVIEWS!?
(Justin): A very good question.
(Nitsuj): I’m sorry! I was just checking something out from Baka and Test!
(Isis): If he mentions that anime one more time throw two stones on him.
(Nitsuj): But the anime- *Chibi-Isis throws 2 stones on my legs* OWW~
(Isis): Now, I do know how we can resolve this issue. I’m looking at your schedule for September and see that you’re going to review Jing: The King of Bandits. Let me review it and I’ll consider the punishment paid.
(Nitsuj): What! No! I’ve been wanting to review that anime for months now. Isn’t there another anime you can review like Ouran or Arcana Familgia? The review has to be done in December and I have to supervise it.
(Isis): Chibi-Isis.
*Chibi-Isis throws another stone on my legs. We’re now at 7*
(Nitsuj): AHHH~ Alright! Alright! I’ll let you review your gay anime.
(Isis):I didn’t say anything about a gay anime.
(Nitsuj): I thought you were going to review Gravitation. *Isis and Chibi-Isis each throw a stone on me in anger* AHH~
And now back to our present time. . .
Greetings and welcome to Project Nitsuj I am Isis. The master has decided to take some time off this week *giggles* and has left me in charge of reviewing today’s anime, Jing: The King of Bandits. Jing: The King of Bandits is a 7 volume manga series written by Yuichi Kumakura in 1995. There was also another 7 volume manga for the series titled Twilight Tales. The series centers around a dashing young man named Jing and is bird for a partner named Kir. The series is a collection of short and usually disconnected stories about Jing and Kir going off to different places and trying to steal a certain treasure from someone trying to protect it or wanting it for themselves. For it’s time the series was quite popular, it featured a fun-filled adventure with enjoyable characters, good comedy, and clever adventures that won a lot of people over. In 2002 Aniplex the people who bought us FMA: Brotherhood, Black Butler, Blue Exorcist, and Dog Days decided to turn the manga into an anime and got Hiroshi Watanabe the same man who directed a lot of Slayer specials and OVAs to direct the series. It’s my first full blog let’s see if this dashing young man can steal the praise of watchers this is Jing: The King of Bandits. Also, I would like to note that I’m watching the dubbed version of this anime.
Opening/Ending theme
The opening to this anime is “Shout It Loud” by Scudelia Electro a heavy rock song that gets you hyped for the series. While I myself simply prefer classical and slow music I must admit that this song is quite good and fits well with the series. The beat is good, the feel, the energy and excitement from the singer and the guitar and bass drum are great in the background. A little bit of trivia for you, this opening was close to actually being in master’s Top 11 anime openings lists but as he kept going the song just kept going down the list. The ending for this anime is “Sha La La” by Scudelia Electro again. This song is much more on the slow side and offers calm and relaxing feeling than the opening. I personally didn’t find this ending all that appealing and usually skipped over it but I will admit I do like the psychedelic feel we get from this song.
Episodes 1-4
We start this anime is the desert opening up with a skeleton riding a carriage being pulled by what looks like a skeleton dinosaur (nothing out of the unordinary there) who has absolutely nothing to do with this series (I’m not kidding he even says he has do with the series). We then see our main characters Jing the cool, calm and collected bandit of the series who has earned his rightful place in my harem voiced by Joey Hood and Kir the loud-mouth and feisty crow who hits on human women voiced by Ron Berry. They’re overlooking a city known as the Capital of Thieves where they hope to steal a treasure known as the Double Mermaid jewels (ohh~ it’s a double mermaid all the way across the ocean. Ohh~ it’s so beautiful. What does it mean) from the evil mayor Cognac who is watching travelers enter the city and wondering which one of them is the so called Bandit King (now here’s a change the anime makes from the manga. In the manga Cognac knows that Jing is the Bandit King and knows what he looks like. In the anime he doesn’t know what Jing looks like at all). There’s really not that much to this episode it only serves the purpose of showing off how cool Jing and Kir are. Once inside the city they meet an old lady who tells them that the Double Mermaid is kept in a large tower that many thieves have died trying to get to and that Cognac only has one of the Double Mermaids with the other one’s whereabouts unknown. She than tells him that if he wants to be successful he should seek out a veteran bandit by the name of Vodka (no thank you I’m not much of a drinker) at a bar in the city. Jing and Kir find Vodka and fight his men by Jing combining his right arm with Kir and forming a cannon that he calls Kir Royale (all the alcoholic references, the author must do a lot of drinking). He manages to defeat the henchmen and Vodka decides to take him on as an apprentice much to Jing and Kir’s dismay (if anything this guy should be asking to be Jing’s apprentice. He looks like Hulk Hogan if he was reincarnated as an out of shape pirate). While Vodka and his man are plotting a way to sneak into the tower we meet Postino a mailman voiced by Gary Haddock (Sanouske from Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc OVA) who next to Jing and Kir is the only reoccurring character in the series but really does nothing. He’s basically a representation of the surreal tone in the anime, he shows up, delivers a clue or plot exposition to Jing and Kir, leaves and is never seen again for the remainder of the episode. Vodka and his men decide to use their clothes to create a balloon and fly to the top but Cognac shoots them down (I would say that was the obvious result of their plan but that would imply that their plan actually had a chance. Jing sweety, show them how it’s done). Jing sees one of the guards take an egg from a dragon-bird (a dird if you will) that can’t fly because it’s gained too much weight up to the tower for Cognac to have the egg. Jing provokes the mother to get her egg back and she starts to fly all the way to the top of the tower with Jing riding her (he also brings the old lady from before with him. Sure endangering the elderly might be reckless but if there’s anyone who can make it look cool its Jing). They spot the mermaid imprisoned in a giant crystal (has this guy not heard of holding cells or for that matter a pool? This isn’t the best way to keep your most valuable treasure intact) but Cognac has his 9-eye bodyguard fight Jing who takes him out with one shot of the Kir Royale (now be sure to call a taxi for your ride home. No driving for you tonight). The blast causes the crystal to break setting the mermaid free. The old lady runs to her where we see that the old lady is actually a mermaid herself in disguise (the old lady was a lie) and that she is the mother of the imprisoned mermaid. The two cry and their tear drops combine to form a jewel that Jing grabs. With the treasure collected he and Kir make their escape by jumping out of the tower leaving Cognac to realize that Jing was in fact the Bandit King to end the episode.
Episode 2 is probably my favorite episode in the whole series. Jing and Kir go to a Wild West town called Blue Hawaii (more alcoholic beverages, truly this is the drinking man’s anime).In town they meet a pretty deputy girl named Rose who is investigating the rumors of a ghost ship that’s got everyone spooked (Why? We have living skeletons and all sorts of strange and monstrous creatures in this show, why would they be afraid of a ghost ship) and has stolen the desire of her father who happens to be the sheriff (you’ll find out about this part later) of the town leaving him in a lifeless state. After hearing from Postino that the ghost ship is powered by greed and desire they make their way to the port with Rose who plans on arresting Jing if she sees him trying to steal something. At the port they fight some ghoul and use his boat to get to the ghost ship where they fight and destroy the talking anchor of the ship to get on board (. . .that sounded very surreal even for this anime). Once inside the ship they find out that the ghost ship is actually a cover for a casino (I’ve already made the “it’s a lie” joke so I’ll let this one slide). The group decides to gamble a little bit with Jing winning so big that everyone starts to take notice of it. After one of the visitors tries to kill Jing, Jing finds out that the inhabitants on the ship are actually lost souls who were consumed by their greed and trapped in the gold coins of the casino (gold coins is made of PEOPLE~). Seeing how his cover is blown the head of the casino which is a man with the body of a machine and the head of a piggy bank (weirdness. Weirdness upon surrealness). He combines all the coins to turn into a golden monster and uses his powers to take away Jing’s greed but it fails because since Jing is the King of Bandits he is able to control his own greed (I think it’s just Jing showing off his awesomeness). Jing and Kir use their Kir Royale to destroy the monster and the ghost ship. He also steals back the sheriff’s desire and hands it back to Rose with Kir saying that desire is basically a part of human nature and without it you’ll become lifeless. We end the episode with Rose completely falling for Jing and kissing him instead of arresting him (that’s right, he can even steal a girl’s heart. Also, the kiss scene was a little more intense in the manga).
In episode 3 Jing and Kir journey to a town called Adonis a town run entirely by time where even if a person is 5 seconds late to something their punishment is execution (and you thought being late to work and getting your pay docked was bad). Anyway, Jing is here to steal what is known as the Clockwork Grape a grape that is said to be sweetest fruit known to man. They get past the guards and enter the city where they see a girl named Mirabelle about to be executed for being late to an event. Kir steps in and stops the execution himself but he gets attacked from behind by Gear the ruler of the city (who seriously needs to cut his hair because it’s clearly out of control and causing him a fortune in shampoo and conditioner. He looks like a female if she decided to go all metro on us). Jing and Kir fight him but he shows that he too has his own animal arm cannon in the form of a wolf named Cheri which overpowers the two. They try to escape but Cheri has the powers to sense their heartbeats and can track them anywhere in the city. They escape into the sewers thanks to Mirabelle where they meet the local resistance group. In the sewers Jing sends a letter to Gear saying that he’s going to steal the time from Adonis but the resistance group are too scared to face Gear (not much of a resistance group if you ask me). But Jing and Kir decide to carry on their plan without the help of the resistance group and head back up to the surface (time for a game of disappearing time).
The story continues in episode 4 with Jing being true to his word and stops time by stopping all the clocks in the city (well looks like Gear’s time is on hold for the time being). He accomplished this clever tactic by destroying the big hourglass in the city that keeps the clocks moving and also contains flower seeds of the city. After seeing Jing stop time the resistance group joins Jing and Kir and helps them sneak into the clocktower with Mirabelle where the grapes are being held (he’s really going through an awful lot to get these grapes they better be worth it). They find the grapes and Mirabelle gets hurt protecting Jing from a wolf blast. They take her up to the top of the tower and leave her on a balcony for safety while they fight Gear and Cheri. Gear seals off all the exits and closes all the windows so they don’t escape but Kir manages to escape, go down a floor and set off a bunch of clocks which cancels out Gear and Cheri’s heartbeat senses because of all the noise (that’s gonna leave one time consuming headache if you ask me). Jing takes advantage of all this and manages to get close to the two where he holds his hidden blade (I didn’t know Jing was a part of the Brotherhood) up to Cheri’s neck prepared to kill her. But Cheri separates herself from Gear’s arm and leaves saying that he is undependable and incompetent (agreed. A man who can’t protect his own partner is not worthy of one. I give my master credit, even though he can be a troll at times and annoy me I can always depend on him to have my back). With Cheri gone Gear admits defeat but the Demon of Time shows up, possesses Gear and tries to destroy Jing and Kir himself. Our two bandits take him down with a Kir Royale (how anti-climactic). With the demon defeated they escape the crumbling tower (looks like times falling apart here) by doing a leap of faith into a conveniently place patch of flower seeds (well it might seem illogical and crazy to you but keep in mind it would have been more illogical if they landed in a pile of hay and not have any broken bones whatsoever). The town is finally free from the rule of Gear, Jing gets his delicious grapes, and they set off for their next adventure.
In episode 5 Jing Kir arrive in the amazing town known as Technicolor Town (aww, we skipped Black and White Town and Silent Town, I imagine we could have had so much fun there). Once inside the city Jing and Kir rescue a female bird and a young girl named Fino who were auctioned off at some art show to a man named Drambuie who wants to add them to his art collection (well this is one taste of art I truly can’t understand). Once they get to safety Fino tells them that her father was a famous painter who used her body to create his final masterpiece, a painting that contained all the colors in the world but he left on a journey to find all the colors in the world leaving his wife and Fino behind where the wife eventually died leaving Fino to be by herself. Drambuie’s men find them and they escape (yeah, hiding in his basement was probably not the best idea) and they run into Postino who tells Jing that the key to finding the final color lays in Fino’s memories. They hide in a bar to ditch their pursuers (obviously, well as long as we’re here I’ll take a ginger ale) and make plans to go to Fino’s house (so Jing likes to do it the Persona 3 way instead of the Persona 4 way). They go into her house where they find her father frozen in a block of ice (ohh~, I didn’t think I would get to use this joke in correct context, https://youtu.be/nC8zz95rm8s). After seeing him, they go into another room where they see his masterpiece painted on a marble wall but the problem being is that there’s no red in the painting. Drambuie comes in with Fino’s unfrozen father (he unfroze him quickly. I imagine that be pretty dangerous). Drambuie hands him a bottle of red paint said to be the true red he’s been looking for but he just tosses it aside saying that’s not the real red he’s been looking for and sets the place on fire killing himself, Drambuie, and destroying his masterpiece in the process (I don’t get it either, to be honest this whole ending pretty much confuses me. If episode 2 was my favorite I would have to say episode 5 is my least favorite just because of how confusing this scene is and it’s disjointed flashbacks and story). Jing and the others manage to escape and we end with Fino doing some inner monologue while overlooking the town in the snow.
Episodes 6-10
We start a new arc in episode 6 with Jing and Kir meeting a girl (of course, that’s how all the arcs start off) named Vermouth who wants their help in finding the lost kingdom of Reviva a kingdom who is said to have discovered the secret to eternal life (so these people are the ones who have the dragonballs). They set off on their journey and reach a graveyard where they come to the first challenge of the quest: find King Arthur’s sword. Also, on their journey their pursued by another duo trying to find the key to eternal life as well. One is a scholar named Pernod (who reminds of Malcom McDowell from Clockwork Orange) the other is his zombie assistant. Their purpose, provide comic relief throughout the challenges. At the first challenge Pernod picks the wrong sword and gets attacked by a golem watching over the graveyard of swords. Jing picks the right sword and the golem carries Jing and his group to the next challenge. The next challenge is to find the sleeping old lady (head down the road, take a left, and you’ll be at a retirement home I’m sure you’ll find at least one there). It turns out the sleeping old lady is actually the face of a mountain and past that mountain lies a castle where the next challenge awaits them. In the castle they fight a skeleton who’s forced to drink a never ending barrel of wine because it keeps passing through his stomach and into the barrel again (drinking without worrying about the hangover or drunkenness, truly everyman’s dream). Jing uses his Kir Royale to destroy the barrel of wine which frees the skeleton from his curse and he gets on top of a giant bed, removes his shirt, and forms a sail for the group to use to sail into the ocean to end the episode.
There’s not really all that much that happens in episode 7. The group reaches Reviva where they see that the whole town is in ruins and the only one left on the island is the king himself. It gets revealed that Vermouth is actually a robot girl created by the king and that the whole mission of Reviva was to create perpetual motion. The king tells Jing that everyone gave up on the search of perpetual motion and choose to leave the island and return to their mortal lives. After all that dialogue the king hands over the water of immortality but Pernod shows up with his upgraded zombie to steal the water for himself but Jing and Kir defeat him and send him on his way (flawless as ever those two. https://youtu.be/FfvTXACPv30?t=4s, I’ve always wanted to do that). When the fight is over the king lies down on his bed and dies leaving Jing to decide if he wants to remain on the island and live immortally or go (so you have to decide if you want live on an island trying to discover perpetual motion for eternity or leave the island and live a life where tomorrow could be your last day. Not really that tough a call if you ask me). Jing steps outside and pours the immortal water into the ocean saying that if he were to drink it he would never be able to see his mother again and that he’d rather live a life shining brightly for a split second than live a dull and grey life (well said Jing, well said).
Moving on to episode 8 Jing and Kir are on a quest to complete the systema solari a set of stones said to hold the energy of the solar system. They have all the other stones but the one stone missing is the Sun stone which is located in a town called Sungria (yes, this is the name of a drink I looked it up) being run by a criminal overlord who won’t allow visitors to enter. So the two take up a job delivering these cute little creatures called Por Vora to get into the town. The only problem is the Por Voras are highly explosive creatures and are said to explode whenever they feel scared or are touched by fire. And if you can believe it, the people of this anime use these creatures to blow up mines killing them entirely (hey, PETA, where were you on this one). Along the way they’re accompanied by a woman named Izarra who wants to go into the city to kill the criminal overlord because he killed her father (nothing personal it’s just good old fashioned business). They come to the final part of the route which is passing through a magma valley where the magma is actually a living creature (why on earth would you take dangerous creatures into a place like this? Are you asking to be killed or are you just stupid). In the valley the mother Por Vora sacrifices herself so that the others can get to safety. When they reach Sungria Izarra finds the man who killed her father and is about to kill him but the baby Por Vora steps in front of him and she fires her gun (oh you are the worst female lead in this anime, I swear). But Jing shows up and takes the bullet saying it would be wrong to kill the Por Vora just to get her revenge. Jing gets back up to show that the bullet didn’t hit him and instead the bullet got lodge into the Mercury stone of the systema solari. Izarra pushes the bullet and it reveals the location of the Sun stone with Jing explaining that the Mercury stone’s purpose was to activate the Sun stone. We end with him riding off on the huge Sun stone and Izarra adopting the baby Por Vora.
Episode 9 is my second favorite episode not because of the story but because of the island they go to. In this episode Jing and Kir journey to an island called Coco-Oco an island famous for making musical instruments. What makes this island so amazing is not the fact that it’s beautiful but that everything on the island is in some way or form a musical instrument. For example, the railroad they use to get to the island sounds like a xylophone, the wind blowing through the trees sounds like a flute, and one of the walkways is a big piano keyboard. That’s so creative. I could so imagine myself living on this magnificent island. Waking up each morning to the sound of the railroad xylophone, taking a blissful walk while listening to the sounds of flutes playing as the wind blows through them, and the man of my dreams is there to sing a song for me. Sorry *blushes*, I seem to have gotten caught up in a fantasy of mine, please keep that last sentence to yourself, the master would surely have a field day with that. Anyway, on the island Kir gets irritated by Jing’s jokes and goes off by himself where he meets a clumsy woman named Mimosa who has a crush on this guy named Russian (that’s quite the name to give a child, I imagine he was the center of attention for all the Soviet Russia jokes back in the school). Throughout a majority of the episode it’s just Kir hanging out with Mimosa helping her develop her character and build up her relationship with Russian (the bird of love is a black loud-mouth crow. Who knew). One night when Russian was practicing his flute playing (that sounded wrong just now didn’t it) a storm hits the island and he gets trapped inside a cave (who practices inside a cave, honestly). Kir gets Jing to come and rescue Russian, him and Mimosa get together, and Jing and Kir make up and leave the island the next day to end the episode.
Not a whole lot happens in episode 10. Jing and Kir get lost in a fog covered forest where it turns out to be the home of the Por Voras. The Por Voras take them back to their home where they meet Elixir a security android and protector of the Por Voras (*looks back at episode 8* she needs to find a new line of work). Inside their home one of the female Por Voras falls in love with Jing and hangs around him most of the episode (what I wouldn’t give to exchange spots with that little one). We find out that some thieves have broken into the Por Voras’ home to steal their treasure and they accidentally open a door that shouldn’t be open forcing Elixir to activate the self-destruct sequence on the hideout that will destroy her and the Por Voras (this it’ll be one explosive finale). But Jing deactivates the self-destruct sequence and blows up the bridge leading to the Por Voras’ home so that no one can disturb them ever again. Also, for some reason the girl in this episode looks like the girl from Jing’s treasured crystal shard that he always carries with him. My apologies, I forgot to mention that in the series Jing has this green crystal shard with a woman incased inside that looks an awfully lot like Elixir. It’s unsure of where he got it, it’s hinted that his mother gave it to him but we’re never given a clear answer to it. The only thing we know for sure is that Jing cares deeply for it not handing it over to anyone or anything.
Episodes 11-13
We begin the final arc in episode 11 with Jing and Kir arriving at the kingdom of ZaZa a kingdom famous for their annual masquerade ball. Here, Jing hopes to steal the Vintage Smile a pearl white mask that is the kingdom’s prized possession. After they enter the city in a comedic fashion they find out the ball is actually a fighting tournament where the winner will become the next ruler of ZaZa, get to marry Stir the beautiful princess of ZaZa (who for some reason likes to wear all leather outfits), and win the Vintage Smile (it’s also said that they’ll win an all-expense paid trip to the Bahamas). Throughout the rest of the episode all we really see is Jing get into fights in the tournament and with the local crowd and we find out why Madame DuBonnet the ruler of the kingdom who constantly wears a mask to hide her face is having this fighting tournament. It turns out that her son Lemon was killed by his uncle in a war 8 years ago. Overcome with grief and sadness she became cold and heartless and turned the masquerade ball into a fighting tournament forcing all the warriors to fight until none of them were left standing to exact her revenge on them (when life gives you lemons make lemonade and when a relative kills your lemon make a fighting tournament to vent out your anger). Her targets for her revenge are the D’Ice Brothers: Baffle, Crash and Cube who are the men responsible for killing Lemon (so why the tournament? If you know they’re the ones who killed your son why not just have them executed and get on with your life? This really isn’t all that complicated, you’re the ruler, you can pretty much do anything you want). We also find out in this episode that there’s a mysterious warrior dressed in all red-armor (loud much) that’s beating all the favorites in the tournament and is said to be the new favorite to win.
The tournament continues in episode 12 with Jing advancing in the tournament where he faces Crash one of the D’Ice Brothers in the quarter-finals. In the fight Jing cleverly makes Crash faint from overheating in his armor by using the candles in the arena to create a ring of fire around him to win (clever boy. Clever smexy boy). This means he advances into the semifinals where he’ll meet the red-armored warrior being called the Warrior of the Rising Sun where the winner will get the chance to face Baffle the oldest of the D’Ice Brothers in the finals (the younger one Cube lost to the Warrior of the Rising Sun in a match earlier. Man, that’s a mouth full. Screw it, I’ll just call him the Red Samurai). We also get a scene where Jing sneaks into the castle and has a moment with Stir (I guess he likes his women like he likes his drinks. Stirred and not shaken).
In the final episode Jing and the Red Samurai fight in an impressive fight but it gets interrupted by Cube who pulls a Kool-Aid man maneuver by breaking through the wall and using his hammer to knock out the Red Samurai. The samurai’s armor gets destroyed and the samurai is revealed to be Stir shocking everyone in the arena (you know with all the twist in this series we could get a game of twister started couldn’t we). Jing carries the unconscious Stir to the balcony where her mother is and destroys all of her mask so that she has no choice but to show her true feelings. But the guards arrest him thinking he tried to assassinate the Madame and prepare him for execution where Baffle comes in and demands to execute him himself and Jing takes him up on that challenge (I’m sorry but aren’t you one of the guys who killed the prince of ZaZa? Shouldn’t we be having an execution for this guy as well). While that’s going on the Madame finally takes off her mask while watching over Stir in her room and begins to cry admitting her foolishness (and all it took was the near-death of your child to see that. Forget all the other warriors who died they weren’t important). The next day comes and Jing and Baffle have their fight but it gets revealed that Jing switched clothes with one of the guards who he befriended in ZaZa and takes this opportunity to get the Vintage Smile. Before leaving he goes to say goodbye to Stir and shakes her lips with a kiss as a farewell gift (so he stole the Vintage Smile figuratively and literally). As Jing and Kir are escaping Baffle comes after them trying to kill them (this guy doesn’t know when to quit doesn’t he) and gets taken out with the best Kir Royale in the show (it was like watching a Falcon Punch). We end the series by seeing that the fighting tournament is no more, the masquerade ball has returned, and Stir is waiting for Jing to return to give him her first dance.
Final Thoughts
As my master would say this anime is awesome! The anime is done really well from the characters, to the story, the music, and the world. Jing is a great character, he’s smart, clever, and quite charming. I like how he always remains calm in any situation presented to him. Although it’s shown that in the manga he’s not as calm as he is in the anime I still prefer the anime Jing over the manga Jing. I love how he’s able to see past all the tricks and obstacles presented before him and get the job done in a way you wouldn’t have expected him to do it. Kir can be a little annoying with his constant hitting on other women but for the most part he’s quite funny and a good companion for Jing. He actually does have some funny lines and does help out a lot in the arcs so he’s not just there as useless baggage. The girls that he meets in the arcs are quite cute (not as cute as yours truly) and have their own character and motive that separates them from the other. My favorite was Rose for being firm and independent and having a good chemistry with Jing. I wished they would have made her a permanent character in the series and have her travel with Jing and Kir or go the Sly Cooper route and just have her chase Jing while hiding her true feelings for him. The one thing that I feel makes this anime better than the Japanese version is the great voice acting done in the English version. Joey Hood and Ron Berry do an excellent job voicing Jing and Kir, their voices fit them perfectly. Hood makes Jing sound calm and sexy which matches well with his personality and image and Berry makes Kir sound like a funny wise-cracker which is who he is.
The animation is nice for its time and still holds up in today’s world. The world as I said before is surreal but at the same time creative. Most of the world’s populace is a mixture between humans and monster-like creatures which are quite creative and the locations they go to have good shadows and shading on them as well as look dark and peaceful given where they’re located. It’s like they took Halloween Town from the Nightmare Before Christmas and made a world out of it. The music ranges from soft jazz to rock music. Again, a surreal combination but it fits with the anime and the scenes where you hear the music.
The only downside to the series is that we never hear a whole lot about Jing and Kir’s past such as how they met, why they’re bandits, who taught them how to be bandits, their families, and how they’re able to combine themselves to form the Kir Royale. We never get any answers to these questions and they make no hints or attempts at trying to explain them. On top of that the series never had a definite ending it just ends. To be fair I can’t blame the anime for these problems as these problems are also presented in the manga so I guess in respect for the series they decided to stay true to the manga and just leave it in its original context.But despite these problems Jing: The King of Bandits is a well done and great anime that deserves your time and attention for its good characters, stories, and creative and surreal world.
Final score
Jing: The King of Bandits earns an 8/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. This is an anime that deserves your attention and needs to be seen by anyone interested in fantasies or anime in general. And if you like the anime I recommend checking out the manga both the original and the Twilight tales for more of Jing’s great adventures. The anime covered most of the arcs in the original manga except for one and the anime did skip over a few parts from the manga so they’re definitely worth going back and reading them. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nit-
*Alarm going off*
(Isis): I’m sorry, it appears we have a few viruses in the system. No doubt left over from Shibai when she snuck into the premises last time. Excuse me.
*Goes into the system where the viruses are at*
(Isis): You guys are making yourself comfortable I see.
(Virus 1): Well hello sexy AI care to cross some digits with me.
*Virus 1 approaches Isis*
(Isis): Sorry. *Points AI gun to the Virus’ 1 head* You’re not my type *fires gun blowing off Virus’ 1 head*. Who’s next.
*8 viruses try to rush her*
(Isis): Time for a little Exile *AI sword appears before her while guns disappear*.
*Isis walks past the viruses while slashing through them*
(Isis): AI swordsman style: Data Notchi Sutoraiki (Data Notch Strike) *sheaths sword*
(Viruses 2-9): AHHH~ *disappears*
(Isis): *Sigh* why must I slice such worthless creatures. *Looks to the remaining 5 viruses* Don’t keep me waiting.
*The viruses combine into one to create a big virus. Isis pulls out AI guns and fires at creature but it has no effect on it*
(Isis): Well. . . I’m out of ideas.
(Nitsuj): I have one. *Assault rifle appears before Isis* take a shot of this Isis Royale. Stirred, not shaken and the rocks are on hold.
(Isis): Well do. *Isis fires rifle at the virus’ legs. Virus falls down. Isis runs up to the head of the virus and points rifle at the head of the virus* 2 shots in one day, I think I’ll cut you off after this 3rd shot *fires rifle*.
*The big virus is destroyed*
(Isis): System is clean. Detecting no more signs of viruses in the system.
(Nitsuj): Nice shooting Miss Texas. How about a tip for the bartender.
(Isis): Sorry, I’m all out of money so you’ll have to settle for the alternative *comes out of the system and kisses Nitsuj on the cheek*.
(Nitsuj): Ohh~ might I have another shot of that?
(Isis): Only one per customer. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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