King of Bandit Jing - Series Review

When I first heard of "King of Bandit Jing", I was curious about it due to the fact I saw it through giant promotional colored posters hanging around at the convention, Anime Central in Chicago, IL. When I finally laid my hands upon this exotic series, I had some assumptions about the show and thye were quickly dashed away when I got to see what a unique experience this anime really is first hand.


The Story:

Jing is our lead, a young teenaged boy who happens to be known as the infamous "bandit king", a bandit so legendary and death defying, he could steal the stars from the sky or time itself according to rumors. He is accompanied by Kir, a wise cracking, smart mouthed, girl chasing bird who can speak perfect English and one other "special" ability. Together, Jing and Kir travel the weird world they live in, changing people's lives, battling bizarre creatures and criminals, and unearthing the greatest treasures of the world.


The Good:

When I first saw the show I originally thought this whole Bandit King legend thing would come off as a weak Vash the stampede reputation clone from "Trigun". However that was happily not the case and as I watched, i found out this show truly is one of a kind. Jing is a very visual show, the beautifully animated landscape is designed with a very exotic and surreal sense of imagination. You'll be in awe seeing the cast assortment of colorfully designed costumed characters, Alice and wonderland like monsters, and cities and towns that scream with originality.

For example, one episode features Jing visiting a town focused entirely around time, everything is designed with clocks, clock towers, and ticking bells making it look like some sort of time obsessed Halloweentown from Tim Burton's Nightmare film. The show never fails to impress you with its unique towns and characters, Jing himself is a rather calm, self assured young man. His calm demeanor seems odd at first but it grows on you as a character as you watch the series, Kir provides practically all comedic relief and does a good job at it too.

He's crass without being vulgar and funny without being crude, Kir's battle sequences with Jing and the villains are some of the most visually appealing parts of the series. The music is just as exotic and pleasing to the ears as the landscapes are to your eyes, the opening theme song is one of the finest anime songs I've heard in a LONG time. The cast is full of unknowns and they work very well, especially Jing and Kir. Most of the actors are not ADV's most notorious, yet their empathetic delivery of some of the show's most cryptic lines comes out nicely and I feel captures the dream like tone the show emphasizes.


The Bad:

One of the best things about an anime series is trying to introduce it to new viewers and see their reaction, unfortunately with Jing its a lot like showing someone a magic eye poster: not everyone is going to see past the pretty colors to get the point. Jing is not an easy series to show to others because its not a show everyone can understand, which is a big problem because there's quite a bit of things that are very hard to understand in the series. Slim to zero information is given on the characters, we get very little family or background info.

A lot of times the episode's discovery or plot point at the end comes off being too cryptic and while the characters all grasp it, we are left grasping at straws and scurrying to get onto Wikipedia to see if someone else can explain it better. It's like Jing and the cast all have some secret joke or gag they all know, and everyone in the show knows it except the viewers. There are some episodes where the weirdness just seems to be there for the sake of being weird, and doesn't have any real meaning or point. 90% of the time you get it, but there are some episodes that are hard to wrap your already visually over stimulated brain around.

Another unfortunate fault, sometimes the episode plots fall into predictable outcomes as with the main character passing out great revelations at the end of the episode to wayward one shot characters like cheap candy. Sometimes its indeed necessary and done well, but after seeing so many similar instances like (again) in "Trigun", you can only have so many Down-in-the-dump-Danny and Debbies before the heart strings your tugging on breaks off.


The Conclusion:

King of bandit Jing is a unique visual treat that will give you a wide variety of flavors to enjoy and stimulate your mind into a truly unique and inspiring experience. Enjoyable characters and a good english cast keep the characters likable and entertaining. Jing though is not an anime everyone can get or understand, its not for everyone but those who can swim through the cryptic waves this show dishes out, will find a sparkling rare gem of an anime in their midsts.


Voice Acting: 7/10
Visuals & Animation: 10/10
Story: 6/10
Music & Sound: 8/10
Overall: 6/10


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