Les jumeaux du bout du monde

Jean Chalopin (co-creator of Ulysses 31) had done it again. He had made another true classic. Yet again, this is one of those greats I came across while doing an online search for some other show, but as always, when I find something of this quality, I'm very much glad I did. Another show I hadn't heard of nor known about previously, I wish I had been able to watch this in my childhood. Even back then, I'm sure I still would've loved it. For some reason, it seems that the English dub of this French-Japanese co-production was hidden from U.S. airwaves but not Australia's, making me unaware of it priorly. It should've gotten airplay in the U.S., in fact, it would've fit in and been well at home on Nickelodeon along with other anime series that used to be shown on there, like The Mysterious Cities of Gold. I checked out the first few episodes I've seen so far for most of this past week online and I've been enjoying them well so far. Another one that's got me hooked. Some of the programs I find are the best discoveries I've ever made.

Set in the very late 19th century/very early 20th century, this tells the story about two special and gifted, fraternal twins who are different not only in gender, but also in race/nationality named Jules (who is the Asian/Chinese brother) and Julie (his Caucasian/English sister) Tournier. Despite both of them being born to two different sets of parents, as well as their racial/national differences, they are still considered siblings to each other and treated as if they're related by blood just the same. This all has to do with them having several things in common, such as both of them being born in Shanghai, China, their real fathers becoming widowed after their mothers died in childbirth, a Moon Goddess involved with them from afar, both the twins being born and blessed with special powers, and more. All of the aforementioned are parts of a prophecy. A Chinese empress named Dowager sends her henchmen to have the babies slain to prevent the future of the two becoming saviors of China and having her overthrown. But through an act of a miraculous event, they are saved and manage to survive the failed attempt of being murdered. Baby Jules and Baby Julie are taken in by Martin Garcon and Captain Tournier, who adopts them. They all eventually make their way to Europe. Twelve years later, they're now preteens, but they're still not quite out of danger, as Empress Dowager has her henchmen trying to do her dirty work again. The kids have to be whisked away to safety and for the rest of the series, they are pursued through Eurasia. The twins are bonded by an intuitive connection, such as both being strongly able to sense danger or that something's wrong. Along the way to reaching their goal of freeing their dads from imprisonment, they gradually improve on the use of the seven powers they share and experience double the extraordinariness.

Everything about this is brilliantly well-done. The characters (especially the titular, two main protagonists/heroes), the writing, the art/animation, the music (especially the English version of the theme song), and the voice work (I heard the English dub only and it sounds fine). Not really any complaints about this. Well, almost. The exception being I just wish the audio/visual synchronization was perfect, as it's off at times. Amongst the animations that are so different from the more common fare. Once again, it has become another one of my favorite foreign cartoons/anime, animated shows of the 1990s, and just among my favorite shows overall, animated or otherwise. It's just as great as Chalopin's other creation, Ulysses 31. Shows of this high caliber should be getting more push instead of the mindless dreck that gets more attention. It truly deserves so much more. Another DVD release in which I'd be interested and invest. This is added to my "Best Cartoons/Anime/General Shows" Ever Made" list. Everybody who may be reading this, this is an exciting show that will give you one of the best thrill rides of your life. Well worth the watch and recommended.

In the year 1995 at 5pm in the afternoon on ABC TV, I settled down after school to watch this show religiously. It had me hooked as it wasn't 'silly' like most of the cartoons on at that time, It is saddening that there is barely a trace of this show left on the internet, let alone on TV. I'm 25 now, and find myself rather worried at some of the cartoons that are produced these days. They're a waste of money compared to the in depth cartoons, that were shown on ABC in the early to mid 1990s.

Hopefully one day it will be released on DVD.

It is one of the cartoons I miss, along with Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea.

Twins of Destiny was rich, intelligent and beautifully animated. I guess it was aimed at children, but the concepts were quite adult as well. It's a great travesty of pop culture justice that you can't run a google and find a hundred web shrines to this program... This series is a whistle-stop tour of Europe and Asia around the turn of the 20th century, a mammoth adventure and, quite simply, a masterpiece of story telling. Two twelve year olds are on the run, with very real danger around every corner. Much of the beauty of the series is in its depiction of the various ne'er-do-well characters who the Twins encounter on their journey from France to China. Rustic old sea captains, dandies, fallen women, martial arts masters, psychotic eunuchs, street hustlers, magicians...just about everyone they meet have rich, fully developed, often flawed characters. If this were to be made into a live action film, it would take someone like Scorcese to do it justice.

The common point of most animation is to show very clever heroes against very stupid anti-heroes! And most of the time in every episode, we must watch the same childish idea.

Twins of destiny was one of the few animations that left this old rule in behind. The challenges that the main characters faced in this story, were probably the biggest in cartoon history!

The despicable and merciless killer character of this story was created so interesting that most kids liked him.

Although the creator of the anime, to achieve this goal, had been forced to break boundaries and use the adult elements. To be honest, most anti-heroes in adult programs at that time usually were not smart enough either, but the equal position of the heroes and anti-heroes made the series a great success among kids, probably because they didn't want to be considered children! Adult elements in this anime such as death, liberation, the greed of humans and also self sacrifice make this adventure cartoon the color of horror and thriller films, ( especially with terrifying music)

I grew up watching this anime. It pushed me to a level of taste, that meant that (except one or two time) I never enjoyed another anime as much.

I would not say twins of destiny is flawless and that I was totally satisfied with it, but nothing is perfect in the world and I always wished that there were more series like it.

Twins of Destiny was great. I was like 9 years old at the time of watching the show. I remember it was on ABC(channel 2) and aired at 5:00pm on fridays.

I never missed an episode and even recorded a few to VHS. The show had a great story and you always wanted to know where it was going to go next. I remember watching the last episode the most cause it had the best ending. I can't get over how rare this show actually is. It hasn't aired on TV since and yeah if it ever comes on TV again in any form i'm more than willing to check it out. Cartoons like this are rare and I do believe that this really was a one of a kind show. The only stuff that has come close is some Japanese Anime series. I don't know if it was this show all them years back but now I love anime.

It's funny looking back on the show now. I have a few screen shots on my computer and they always get a laugh at how out dated the animation is. But you can't go past the great story line of the series and that's for sure.