To the public, Nijuu Mensou is known for his flawlessly executed heists and the advance warnings he sends his victims. But the gentleman thief is no common criminal—he firmly opposes killing and primarily targets those he views as pigs.
One job brings Nijuu Mensou to the Mikamo residence, where 11-year-old Chizuko, nicknamed "Chiko," lives with her aunt Yoshie and uncle Shouji following the death of her parents. While Chiko is the sole inheritor of a substantial fortune, there is more to her family circumstances than meets the eye, and she would like nothing but to escape her home life. Fortunately, her wish comes true when Nijuu Mensou makes off not only with the Mikamos' heirloom gemstone but also with Chiko herself.
Quick to join the infamous thief's crew, Chiko learns the tools of the trade and grows closer to her new partners in crime, attaining the loving family she has always desired. At the same time, she begins to gain notoriety as the daughter of Nijuu Mensou—a title that carries more than its fair share of trouble.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Archaeon
I admit that I love a good mystery, especially when they're reminiscent of creations by Conan-Doyle and Christie. The suspense, dama and tension in those stories is sometimes breathtaking, however their on-screen adaptations are often a little more lacklustre. Enter then, Nijuu Mensou no Musume or, to give it a snappier title, "The Daughter of Twenty Faces" (I should point out that the show also has the unfortunate title "Chiko, Heiress of the Phantom Thief" for some odd reason - I prefer the middle title as it has a certain grandstanding, operatic quality about it which is more in keeping with the series). The story is looselybased on the detective novels by Edogawa Rampo (the author's pen-name), in which the lead characters were often an eccentric but skilled detective named Kogoro Akechi, and his arch nemesis Kajin Nijuu Mensou (the Fiend with Twenty Faces). The anime version is an adaptation of the manga that was released in 2002.
Where the anime version deviates from the works of Edogawa is in making the main character a girl who gets caught up in the exploits of the famous thief known as Twenty Faces. She views her "kidnapping" by Twenty Faces and his gang as a gift, and rapidly warms up to her new "family" - the reasons for this being made obvious in the first few episodes.
The plot is very well paced throughout the series and, whilst the main story is split into two very clearly defined arcs, the method in which the story is handled is very subtly different in the second arc. The first arc is dramatic and mysterious, especially when Chizuko (Chiko for short), considers the mysterious man known as Twenty Faces. The second arc has an added sense of adventure which is brought about by the introduction of Shunka Koito. Although the second arc tries to maintain some of the same suspense as the first, it never quite matches up to it as the audience by then is well aware of Chiko's capabilities, and knows that she will find a way to come out on top.
The animation is, for want of a better word, excellent. The characters move with a natural surety and sense of rythm that's wonderful to see, and this is not only prominent in action sequences, but in the quieter moments as well. Each of the characters is also very well designed, with a sense of individuality to them. One thing that I liked was the sometimes subtle changes made to each of the characters to show the passage of years.
The backgrounds and backdrops are very well made, with an exceptional amount of detail in them. These make a very atmospheric and realistic setting upon which the action can take place. CG has been used to great effect in the series, and is sometimes almost indistinguishable from the normal animation.
As far as the music goes, the show has a very atmospheric soundtrack that is reflective of it's post-war setting (i.e. 1950's). The OP is a very nice track called "Kasumi" that has a certain tragic yet hopeful quality to it, whilst the ED, called "Unnamed World", is a very upbeat ditty sung by Hirano Aya (who also plays the role of Chiko). One nice thing about the two theme songs is how reflective they are of the two story arcs without actually giving anything away.
The effects are extremely well used in the show, and actually have a greater impact on the viewer than one would expect. The sounds are very atmospheric, and when added to the music, gives a scene a certain "completeness".
As I've already mentioned, Hirano Aya plays the role of Chiko, but this is no Suzumiya Haruhi typecast, oh no. Chiko is calm, capable, and very, very clever, and it's nice to see Hirano displaying a wider range of talents here than she is normally able to. The other characters are equally as well portrayed, however the main focus of the show is Chiko, which is one of the downsides to the series (not a big one though).
It should go without saying by now that Chiko is an extremely well realised character in the series, and her growth and development is well handled in both the scipt and Hirano's acting abilities. Unfortunately, the series has a wealth of characters who I would have liked to have known more about. The original members of Twenty Face's gang for example, and the reasons why they joined him were things that could have been included. That said, I found it both surprising and pleasing to find that the mysterious Twenty Faces is actually rounded out very well come the end of the series, mainly through the use of flashbacks.
I found that I enjoyed this series a lot. Whilst it does suffer from a certain transparency at times, it does have a lot of action and mysteryto keep you interested. The sub-plot in the second arc was actually more interesting for me as it went into more detail about the "Great War" that Twenty Faces alludes to in the first arc, and not even the antics of the "Detective Girls" could stop me from wondering what would happen next.
What I found nice about the series as a whole was that it is clearly an homage to Japan's first mystery series featuring a recurring detective and nemesis, and the flavour one gets from the story is very Conan-Doyle, a fitting tribute since Edogawa was heavily influenced by him. The fact that Kogoro Akechi appears in the series, and is on the trail of Twenty Faces is great to see, however there are more homages to Edogawa's novels than just the obvious, one in particular appearing in the final episode (see if you can spot it, and if not, then just ask).
This is a good series that just misses the mark of being great, primarily because of it's focus on Chiko. The lack of attention to the other characters (in comparison to Chiko that is), gives the whole series a slightly unfinished feel come the end. Whilst it does have the feeling of a classic detective story, it lacks that certain polish that comes with a cast of characters you actually care about.
On the whole though, it's a very good homage to Japan's first great detective novelist, and it would be nice to see more mysteries of this kind.
Master10K
Nijuu Mensou no Musume (The Daughter of 20 Faces) is an Action, Adventure, Mystery, Drama that feels just like many of the classic detective shows. It consists of 2 story arcs, so expect changes during the transition between the 1st & 2nd arcs. The story follows a gang of thieves led by the infamous man known only as ‘Twenty Faces’, who one day decides to take a young girl with him (hence the name of this series). The beginning is nothing spectacular, it just sets the scene for this late 50s themed detective fiction, which focuses mostly on Chizuko. The series follows an episodic nature, witheach episode dealing with individual endeavours but unlike most episodic anime, the story actually progresses nicely from episode to episode. Though the endeavours the group undertake tend to be more geared towards anime theatrics than thought-provoking realism. This all changes once it reaches the major turning point, early on and the series goes downhill a bit, upon losing all direction it once had. Adjusting to the sudden change does take some getting used to and it doesn’t help that the once entertaining story of thievery becomes something too complex for its own good.
What makes up the story has to be the large cast of characters; which 20 Faces’ gang, the important recurring characters of the second arc and the unimportant episodic characters make up. Chizuko (Chiko) is quite the remarkable girl because not only is she really intelligent in the beginning, she is also the only one that develops very well throughout the series. 20 Faces does prove to be quite the enigmatic figure however the rest of the gang just don’t seem all that important but that doesn’t mean they are any less entertaining.
Just what you’d expect from Bones, the series features some great animation & sounds. This anime has some immensely detailed environments, aesthetic realism for the settings, appropriately used CGI & nicely animated characters that fit in well with it all. Overall it’s great but I did feel the animation could have been much better. The music on the other hand fit the theme it was going for perfectly, going for some suspenseful music to match the detective-fiction themed adventure.
Overall this anime series is a very entertaining experience, as it’s full of action, drama & suspense then develops into something very mystifying. Though there are still numerous flaws, most of which are prominent in the second arc, when the story diverges and the ‘great war’ subplot becomes more apparent. It really isn’t clear what to expect upon watching this series, so it’s best to just watch and experience it yourself.
Note: May edit if necessary. ^_^
5camp
There is a very specific reason why Daughter of 20 Faces doesn't work. However to properly explain this point, I have to spoil pretty much the entire plot. Bear with me though, because it's a damn good point. Daughter of 20 Faces is a Bones anime from spring 2008. The story is about a girl called Chieko who was freed from her horrible life with her evil stepmother by a band of thieves led by the charismatic 20 Faces. The band became Chieko’s surrogate family, with 20 Faces become a father figure to her. He taught Chieko tricks of the trade along with many other lessonsabout humanity and morals and so on. Chieko was a pretty talented thief in her own right even at a young age, many suggesting she would succeed 20 Faces to be the new leader. She became the ‘daughter of 20 faces’ so to say. That is, until shit got real in episode 6. I can’t quite remember the exact details, but basically 20 Faces rescued Chieko and disappeared off on a burning train, presumably to have died.
This is the Death of the Tutor, a pretty standard trope in any mode of story-telling. Everything from Star Wars to Madoka Magica does this. The reason it happens is to allow for further development of the main character. They learn the life lessons from the tutor but they can’t move on while they live in the shadow of said tutor. The Death of the Tutor shocks them out of that sense of security and forces them to develop themselves. This is exactly what happens in Daughter of 20 Faces. Chieko’s development went from talented child under her evil stepmother to finally having the freedom and guidance to train these talents of her. Getting 20 Faces out the picture forced Chieko to develop further. There was some moping but she then went on to form the ‘detective girls’ with some friends, starting down the road of a perhaps more law-abiding version of 20 Faces gang of thieves. They discover a bigger plot is going on, Chieko and co. start to uncover the mystery until about episode 12 where the fatal happens.
20 Faces comes back.
And with that, the story dies.
Chieko reverts back to how she was before episode 6. Her development is aborted. She’s back to relying on 20 Faces for guidance, unable to tackle these problems herself. The ‘plot’ continues, but the plot was never particularly good to begin with. It was a vague mystical science thing where water can blow up, scary scientists plot world domination and plot holes are as regular as a panty flash in Rosario to Vampire. The real appeal of the anime lay in the development of Chieko’s character, which until now had been done brilliantly. That ended with 20 Faces return. She wasn’t capable of developing further.The author didn’t have the balls to kill off 20 Faces, but in bringing him back, he succeeded in killing his very own story. The Death of the Tutor seems like a tired trope, but watching Daughter of 20 Faces brought to light how important it truly is.
Since this is MAL, you're apparently meant to cover points like animation and sound even when they have nothing to do with the points you are making. So here we go:
Story: Plot is as dumb as fuck. The real story ends in episode 12
Art: Good. This is still Bones after all
Sound: Forgettable. Lots of Aya Hirano going 'Oji-san'
Character: See entire above review
Enjoyment: Ended when 20 Faces came back
ggultra2764
The Daughter of Twenty Faces basically makes its own plot based on characters from the classic Japanese mystery novels written by famous Japanese author Edogawa Rampo, in particular the thief Twenty Faces and detective Kogoro Akechi to a lesser extent. The series centers on orphaned girl Chizuko becoming involved with the thievery of Twenty Faces and his gang with the first five episodes of the series focused on their world-traveling thievery. Some shocking events in the sixth episode, which I won't spoil here, completely change the focus of the anime in later episodes as it changes over to Chizuko trying to seek out Twenty Facesand learn more of his past as two antagonists acquainted with him in the pasthave their own diabolical plans in store for the thief and anyone close to him.
Daughter of Twenty Faces offers up an engaging focus on the bond between Chizuko and Twenty Faces as the former regards him as a surrogate father and the latter sees her as potentially being his future successor while teaching Chizuko the tools of the trade as a thief. The first five episodes are somewhat setup like Rupan Sansei with Twenty Faces being gentleman thief and focus on his international exploits stealing loot overseas from those who are better off without it, only without the perversion and slapstick comedy from Monkey Punch's classic series. The episodes are used to setup the bond that Chizuko and Twenty Faces develop with one another and it did quite well in having me believe that their bond was genuine. The shocking events that develop in the sixth episode made for a surprising and effective twist in the title's plot to change its focus from the thievery of Twenty Faces' group to Chizuko now having to reunite with him and learning of his past when she is returned back to Japan.
The rest of the series goes into some retro-futuristic like developments in its focus on Twenty Faces confronting the elements of his past as the foes he confronts make used of advanced versions of technologies commonplace during the era in which the series is set. It does accurately depict the Showa era in Japan with the fashions and traditional norms of the era, as well as many folks still being on edge from the events of World War II during the time period. It also features Chizuko adapting to the sudden changes in her life as she settles into a somewhat mundane routine as a teen schoolgirl after being brought back to Japan, learn of Twenty Faces' exploits, avoid attempts on her life from both her greedy aunt and said antagonists of Twenty Faces and not being around Twenty Faces' gang.
Many of Daughter of Twenty Faces' prominent characters are reasonably fleshed out as many of them carry tragic pasts they are trying to move on from. This fleshing out works well in either learning more about what connections said characters had with the past of Twenty Faces, how their lives were effected from the war or being exploited for the personal gain of the later antagonists confronted in the series.
The animation to Daughter of Twenty Faces sports solid production values sporting vast and detailed scenery shots, nicely rendered CG animation used for some scenes such as the rendering of blimps and a good amount of fluid movement and solid choreography shown within the title's action scenes. The music does its part in adding suspense and drama to the title's revelations on the exploits of Twenty Faces and the actions of the various villains seen throughout the series, though there was nothing that stuck out too strongly for me.
Despite its solid setup though, Daughter of Twenty Faces is muddled with a fair number of flaws. Suspension of disbelief is a requirement to get enjoyment out of a nice number of the various acrobatic feats from Chizuko and the abilities of other characters seen throughout the show as they are certainly not possible to pull off in real life. In addition, beyond the nice amount of depth many characters get in this series, a number of them still follow standard character archetypes you would find from older or more conventional anime titles. The later antagonists introduced get their moments of depth yet they also are a bit over-the-top at times with their behavior to the point where it was more laughable than serious. The plotting to the series also has its rough elements as there are some plot developments with supporting characters left unresolved thanks to the larger focus on Twenty Faces' past and the resolution to the conflict with the second villain from Twenty Faces' past was so contrived in its developments that it got a bit mind-numbing for me.
Putting aside these flaws, Daughter of Twenty Faces still made for a somewhat solid and unique take to Edogawa Rampo's classic characters that believably depicted 1950s Japan alongside its addition of the retro-futuristic developments that come about from the title's later episodes. It's far from being the best anime I seen, but it still made for an entertaining watch nonetheless.
zoddtheimmortal
The story focuses on a girl being destroyed by the world around her and the tall dark and handsome stranger who takes this 12 year old under his wing bringing her into his family of high profile thieves. This group represents her first real family and it's a short lived family because families in crime are bound to have powerful enemies. The remainder of the series is this girl fighting to hold onto the few bonds she has left, using the skills she took away from her first real "family". I rate this anime at 5.8 The main character is truly depicted as super human, bothpersonality wise and capability wise, which ruined it for me. The plot is some what sluggish, and the side characters that surround the main character all feel fake and predictable. The saving throw for this series, is the late in the series action scenes are spectacular, also the music is a massive part of this anime, super ceding any story elements to really drag the viewer in.
Tempsy
A good mystery is hard to make. You have to take a lot into consideration when making one. Is it satisfying? Is it smart? Is it entertaining? But most of all, do I care? Well I can say with an honest heart, that I cared about The Daughter of 20 Faces. I really, really did. the story is about a girl who gets "kidnapped" by the famous thief known as Twenty Faces, and begins travelling with him and his gang of fellow thieves. Instead of viewing her "kidnapping" as a curse, she instead views it as a gift and quickly warms up to her new comrades,viewing them as the family she never had.
For what it is, the story is very well paced throughout the show, and it never feels as though there's a dull moment. Now, the show is separated into two very distinguishable arcs, that are handled in two very different manners. The first is very fun, mysterious and a plain old joy to watch. This arc is important in establishing how Chizuko grows in strength and as a character, whilst also depicting how close the gang is and how they grow as a family. The second arc adds in a sense of adventure and drama with the inclusion of characters Koito and Tome. Although the second arc tries to replicate the same level of fun that is had in the previous arc, it never quiet matches up to the same level of enjoyment I had watching the first, but instead adds new things by making the story darker in tone to keep me interested till the very end.
The animation is, for lack of a better word, fantastic. All of the characters have a natural sense of movement that really adds to the overall nature of the show. Where the animation stands out the most however, is in the action sequences. Never before have I seen an anime that has fights as smooth and well choreographed as this. The character designs, although not ground breaking, are really nice and unique. Every character is distinguishable and can be easily recognised by the viewer many months prior to finishing (probably).
The soundtrack is one of my favourite things about this whole show. It gives off a very atmospheric post-war vibe that really adds to the overall quality. The opening song is a very nice song to listen to that gives off a certain feel of tragedy and, of course, a sense of mystery. The ending song feels as though it's the polar opposite, with a more upbeat, almost "childish" vibe to it. It's also worth mentioning, each song is reminiscent of the first and second arcs respectively.
As far as protagonists go, Chizuko is amongst the best. She's a very well realised character that has a very realistic sense of development and growth. Both the script and voice actor have a very good understanding of who her character is supposed to be. I was also surprised to find that Twenty Faces is actually a really well rounded and realistic character whom you can sympathise with, through the use of flashbacks. However great these characters may be, I felt as though I would have liked to have seen more backstory and development given to some of the supporting cast. Although they're not bad characters in any way, I feel that giving the members of Twenty Faces' gang a reason as to why they joined would have given the anime that extra push that would have made it that extra bit closer to perfection. This probably won't effect your enjoyment in any way, because I'm just nit-picking at this point.
On the whole, The Daughter of Twenty Faces is an outstanding anime with interesting characters, exceptional animation, a kickass soundtrack and most of all, a mystery I cared about.
Hope that helped.
mouthpiece
Daughter of Twenty Faces is a light mystery/adventure concerning a team of thieves traveling around the world and stealing precious heirlooms. The story plays out in a most romanticized manner, as the thieves have their life’s goal to “liberate” beautiful items from those who don’t deserve them, as well as having a sense of adventure and freedom to do anything they like, liberated themselves from the constrains of their society. This makes the feeling of the show to be bent too much on emotion and ideals and less on pragmatism or reality in general. So in order for someone to enjoy the anime, he orshe must not try to rationalize too much whatever is going on in the story but rather take it easy and just enjoy the ride. Which is something I can say about all BONES anime; they always have great production values and premises and always mess up on the story development.
The setting of the show is an alternative world, pretty close to our own but with its own history and countries. Although the thieves are traveling all over the globe, based on clothes and building architecture to the most part it will feel like it takes place somewhere between late 19th and middle 20th century central Europe. This rather exotic and uncommon setting helps the audience to emerge better in the feeling of adventure it emits. I personally found it to be something between Sherlock Holmes and Oliver Twist in the way it tries to depict its imagery. The overall production values are also very good, with consistency throughout the show, usually lively motions, basic choreographies in battle, and far more than a change of clothes to depict when the characters are growing older. Even the CGI feels like it fits perfectly with the 2D animation. As for the soundtrack, it is full of fitting easy going tunes and not extremely emotional J-pop or rock. They also fit with the overall feeling of the series, which is not aiming to make your heart go wild but to subtly portrait the characters and the setting.
Although the band or romantic thieves is big, only the main two members of them are focused a lot and matter in the longrun. One is their leader, the Man of Twenty Faces, and the other is the girl he took under his wings in one of his missions, Chiko or the Daughter of Twenty faces. Their nicknames are based on the fact nobody outside the team knows how they look like in reality and they keep disguising themselves in each mission to make it even harder to have a helpful photo on their wanted poster. Truth is, Chiko is the only one who becomes memorable for her radical change from a weak girl to a dynamic woman (plus because she is voiced by Hirano, the voice actress of Haruhi). Other than that, they are both depicted as highly intelligent, extremely cunning, amazing at disguises and acrobatics. They give off an aura of security and superiority for acting and feeling completely above anyone else.
The truth is though that they are just a bit smarter than the rest, plus the entire world of the series appears to be run by idiots. Although we can excuse it somehow by thinking this is happening in a previous century where most people were ignorant and gullible, you are still made to think that everybody can be fooled with tricks which are child’s play or completely see-through with modern standards. You just have to accept the fact the heroes can put on a wig and a mask and become completely identical to the friends and allies of their opponents. And no, they don’t even do it in a fancy hi-tech way like in the Mission Impossible series. They also have access to super powerful technology, super awesome spy gadgets, super cool disguise kits, and can move around the world in fancy cars or cool zeppelins completely unnoticed. Hell, they can easily destroy everything and buy new ones if they are ever discovered, so it’s like they have endless money and can easily replace anything they waste. So in a way they win most of the time because their opponents are idiots or don’t have equipment from the future. Makes it kinda cheap and anti-climactic to see them constantly winning with childish tricks, full of immature bravado and impractical uses of technology. It is even dumber when the villains constantly make the ridiculous James Bond mistake of trying to imprison the heroes just to explain their plan to them before killing them instead of just killing them. Or they leave the room and assume they will be killed by someone else, something which of course never happens. But as I said you are supposed to like the atmosphere and the characters and not the story and its plausibility. It’s just that in the longrun it makes most of the cast to feel neglected or stupid and thus they are thrown aside for being completely uninteresting to bother remembering.
Speaking of the story, it never manages to be too exciting or memorable in terms of plot. The first part is episodic missions where Chiko slowly learns various tricks to use in their adventures. The second part is about an opposing team of also skilled villains trying to accomplish some devious scheme regarding the war that ended some years ago. Progressively the series becomes less mysterious (because Chiko is learning fast the basics of thievery) and far more action (because she now knows lots of tricks and so do the new enemies). In this regard, the initial feeling of excitement and adventure gives its place to something close to a dull fighting shounen. Although the story becomes more on-going, at the same time it feels like it moves way too fast without much payback in terms of action or character coloring. Especially the finale which is pretty much a snorefest.
Although this anime is in overall very uncommon in the way it tells its story and not following the usual anime clichés too much, down to it lacks the most vital element of any series: Excitement! It doesn’t have much of it and when it attempts to do so all you get is dumb villains, shallow ideology, and dull fighting shounen. Chiko and Man are cool but they are simply not enough to keep you interested in watching for more than a few episodes without something great to look forward to. So nice try but not great in overall.
SUGGESTION LIST
Big O
Pumpkin Scissors
Kino’s Journey
Lupin the 3rd
Alison and Lilia
And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 7/10
General Artwork 2/2 (interesting setting)
Character Figures 1/2 (nothing amazing but consistent)
Backgrounds 2/2 (detailed and with good CGI)
Animation 1/2 (good but dull)
Visual Effects 1/2 (good but dull)
SOUND SECTION: 7/10
Voice Acting 2/3 (good but rather cheesy on ideology)
Music Themes 3/4 (fitting but not memorable)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok I guess)
STORY SECTION: 5/10
Premise 1/2 (cheesy)
Pacing 1/2 (slow)
Complexity 1/2 (too much focus on Chiko)
Plausibility 1/2 (mentally challenged but there)
Conclusion 1/2 (cheesy)
CHARACTER SECTION: 7/10
Presence 2/2 (bold)
Personality 2/2 (rather cheesy but well founded)
Backdrop 1/2 (generic and simplistic but it’s there)
Development 1/2 (mostly for Chiko but it’s there)
Catharsis 1/2 (generic and simplistic but it’s there)
VALUE SECTION: 4/10
Historical Value 0/3 (none)
Rewatchability 1/3 (small since most episodes are dull)
Memorability 3/4 (generally memorable but could have been much better)
ENJOYMENT SECTION: 3/10
Interesting for awhile but the lack of excitement and capable idiots kills it in the longrun.
VERDICT: 5.5/10
movoning
This series has a lot of potential, but unfortunately it didn't really come together. First, its atmosphere is really unique, changing from a carefree tone to a serious one out of expectation, especially in the beginning. However, I don't think this kind of story telling gives the viewer enough time to digest everything. I don't mean the story itself is confusing, but how the plot is executed compromises many scenes that could have been the defining moments. As a result, the story seemed really trivial. I don't think it's the fault of the content of the story, but how the story is told. Then thecharacters...the main characters are very likable in my opinion. I can see why the anime glass mask is among one of the recommendations. The heroine and the hero in both series are very alike, and their relationship is similar. I won't spoil too much, but the heroine in nijuu mensou no musume doesn't care for love.
Even now, I have a hard time deciding whether I liked this series or not. I was glued to the screen the whole time while watching, but I still think the show failed in its execution. It is entertaining enough, and usually I don't mind innovative execution as long as it doesn't compromise the story. In this case, I was disappointed. I haven't read the manga so I don't know how closely it follows the manga. The series has basically two nicely paced story arcs, but the themes are all over the place. In the end, I honestly don't even know what it's trying to say. That's another major disappointment.
So overall, I don't think the series is organized well. I really do think it has so much potentials though. It's just so disappointing when I got to the end. I didn't like the ending either, but that's just my personal taste in closures.
