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cikinimey

  • Norway
  • Joined Nov 11, 2011
  • 30 / M

Daughter of Twenty Faces

Daughter of Twenty Faces, also known as Nijū Mensō no Musume (二十面相の娘), is originally a Japanese manga series which got adapted as an anime series. My first impression was really something, and it made me continue watching all the 22 episodes in just 9 hours!


Story

The story is split in to two. The first is from episode 1-6, and the second is from there and out the rest. The first part is probably the best part (score 10.5/10), but the second is also just as good for me as things turns around because of the tragedies (score 9.5/10.

The first thing you will watch is a 11 years old girl named Chizuko Mikamo (Chiko) who only makes troubles for her parents, behaves coldly toward them, despite their efforts to make her happy. What you will see later in the first episode is that these relatives are in fact not her parents, but her aunt and uncle. Her real parents are dead. And the reason she has for making trouble is because she knows that her aunt and uncle are trying to slowly poison her so that they can take her inheritance for themselves. Thanks to her intelligence and knowledge, gained by reading detective novels, she tries to avoid eating the food her aunt prepares. Which then again results in to her starve herself. She still doesn’t give up though, as she still hopes for some miracle to happen.

Her butler is revealed to actually be the world-famous thief Twenty Faces. His mission at that time was to steal a family heirloom gem known as the Anastasia Ruby. By infiltrating the mansion, he realizes what Chiko’s been going through, and feels that she needs an opportunity in her life. He asks her if she wants to come with him and his band on their travels around the world. She doesn’t only agree. She runs to him at all her might as her life finally gained a hope. Twenty Faces and the members of his band becomes her new family and she learns from then every day. They were the ones that shortened her name to Chiko. After living with the band for two years, Chiko becomes a skilled thief and thinks of Twenty Faces as her father. All this however, ends in a sudden train accident caused by Tiger, which kills most of her new family. The only survivor is her, 20 faces, and Ken.

As this tragedy turns out, she is finally “found” after getting “kidnapped” by 20 faces. She is in shock after seeing her new family die in front of her, including 20 faces and ken, which did survive without her knowing. She becomes depressed and refuses to talk because of the shock. But when a mysterious detective appears and she learns that there is a possibility that he may still be alive somewhere, Chiko becomes more lively and works, with the help of a few new friends, to find him by following the clues that he seems to have left behind, which begins with the finding of the Anastasia Ruby! Now, Chiko must dodge her aunt's attempts to murder her and unravel the mysteries Twenty Faces left for her to solve.


Characters

Chizuko Mikamo 美甘千津子 (Chiko) score 10/10

First introduced as the 11-year-old heiress to the Anastasia Ruby. The story focuses on her and how her life changes after she is saved from her greedy relatives. She is smart, and good at looking for options in any situation she is going through. Chiko learns many tricks from everyone on the team and she becomes a talented thief. At the age of thirteen, Chiko appears to be the last survivor of the Phantom Thief.

Twenty Faces 二十面相 score 10/10

A former scientist that has become a infamous thief. Not much is known about his past, but it can be inferred that he was somehow deeply affected by the Great War. He teaches Chiko and the rest of his team that the most important abilities one must have in life are to be able to listen, observe one's surroundings, and to be able to think for one's self.Most of the team calls him Boss, but Chiko prefers to refer to him as Oji-san (Uncle). Before the train incident, he seemed to be indirectly training Chiko to be his heir, since she is one of the most clever, eager, and willing members of the team. This way, she would be able to continue where he left off in the case of his death. He appeared to have disappeared the night of the train incident when the car he was on exploded, but returned later when Chiko was in terrible danger, disguised at first as Akechi. He disappears again soon after, saying that he had recently discovered that the Great War was still ongoing beneath the surface. It is revealed that during the Great War, he had been a researcher whose work could revolutionize warfare with his discovery of how to induce the fourth state of water. However, when he realized how dangerous his discovery would be, he destroyed the laboratory before abandoning his colleagues, who would pursue him to learn the information that he never disclosed, and made it his life's mission to try to stop another great war from happening.

Shunka Koito 小糸春華Score 9/10

Tome トメ score 9.5/10

Ken ケン score 10/10

Detective Akine 空根太作 score 8/10

Akechi 明智 score 10/10 [a detective from traditional Japanese detective stories, which results getting 10 from me]

Nozomi Kayama 香山望 score 9.5/10

Skipper 船長 score 10/10


Sounds and animation

I don't want to rank any anime based on sounds or animations, unless it's no sounds, black and white only or a 240p video. BUT it still have some effects on my opinion on rank. The sounds were great. I liked the background music and the sound effects. The animation tells me that this is a japanese prodused animation (anime :P). If I had to rank them, it would be something around 7 and 8 of 10. 


Overall

I really liked the story. It catches your eyes and has the best start of any story I've seen. Even though some of u might find it bad that people you want to watch more of is dying, but I think the first arc would become boring if they stretch it more out. and the second arc is not bad, and I didn't get the usuall "filler" feeling I get at some series. The characters are great. They really have thought this through. Ofcoure my favorite character is Chiko. I love how the story focuses her and her adventures. I also have this feeling of joy when I see how her dear thief friends keep watching over her from distant. The personality of all the different characters are great. And the series had a nice happy ending.

Everyone who loves action, drama, thief, adventures, twists, and young girls fighting should check this one out! 

There are some small pieces of comedy.

There is no ecchi thinks here (exept for one time) nor is it any reversed harem (even if it's one girl among a gang of male thiefs. 


10/10 story
?/10 animation
?/10 sound
9.5/10 characters
9.5/10 overall

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