A Thousand Leagues of Wind, the Sky at Dawn (e-book) by Fuyumi Ono, translated by Eugene Woodbury

I read another one of Eugene Woodbury's Twelve Kingdoms fan translations - this one is his translation of the book Tokyopop translated as Skies of Dawn. As I said in my post about the first book, I'd much rather read official, licensed translations than fan translations, so you won't see posts like this from me very often. The Twelve Kingdoms books are a special case.

I haven't included any read-alikes. If you want some, go check out my post for Tokyopop's translation of this book.

Review:

I wanted to read Youko's arc all in one go, so I went straight from Woodbury's translation of the first book to this one, which takes place right after Youko's defeat of the pretender Empress and the death of the Emperor of Kou.

Keeping in mind that Tokyopop's release of this book was an absolute embarrassment to traditional publishing – eight whole pages of text were missing from the hardcover edition – I think that Woodbury's fan translation could be an acceptable alternative. However, I didn't like his translation of this book as much as his translation of the first. There were no translator’s notes (maybe too much work?), and I noticed many more errors (typos, missing words or letters, and possibly a couple misused words).

Shadow of the Moon, a Sea of Shadows (e-book) by Fuyumi Ono, translated by Eugene Woodbury

I've been thinking about Fuyumi Ono's Twelve Kingdoms series a lot lately and decided that a reread was in order. But not quite the usual reread. Behold, my first post about a fan translation. Don't expect too many of these, though, because I prefer to stick to licensed translations. The Twelve Kingdoms series is a special case.

This post does not include a read-alikes list. I should mention, though, that this was the first time I realized that this first book has a lot in common with Alice in Wonderland - another story in which a girl is transported to a strange land with absurd rules.

Review:

I downloaded Eugene Woodbury's fan translations of the Twelve Kingdoms books ages ago but dragged my feet about reading them. For one thing, I was still holding on to the hope that Yen Press (or maybe Haikasoru?) would announce a Twelve Kingdoms license rescue. For another, Woodbury's decision to translate Higashi no Watatsumi, Nishi no Sokai as Poseidon of the East, Vast Blue Seas of the West made me worry that his translations would be more localized than I'd like. I haven't given up on that license rescue (and would definitely buy/rebuy anything that I'd already read), but I really wanted to find out what happened next in the series and decided I should at least give Woodbury's translation a shot.

I told myself I wasn't going to write anything about the story itself, since I've already reviewed the book, but I thought I should mention that I liked it even more than when I reread it back in 2014. I don't know if it was the translation or if I've just gotten so fed up with the current state of YA fiction. As frustrating as early Youko (I'm going to use Woodbury's romanization in this post) could be, it was refreshing to read about a heroine who actually changed, grew, and learned from her past mistakes. The Youko at the end of the book was definitely not the same person she was at the beginning.

Skies of Dawn (book) by Fuyumi Ono, translated by Alexander O. Smith

Skies of Dawn is the fourth book in Fuyumi Ono's The Twelve Kingdoms series. I've been debating what genre to put it in. It's definitely fantasy. I'd also argue that it's epic fantasy - this book alone covers 100 years and multiple kingdoms.

Review:

I have now finished all of the books in this series that were licensed and translated into English. If I could ask for one Tokyopop license rescue that hasn't already been announced, I'd ask for this. Ono created a fascinating world, and I'd happily read more about it.

Skies of Dawn is probably the most complex book in the series so far, because it doesn't just deal with one main character, but rather three: Yoko, Suzu, and Shoukei. Readers who've read the first book should be familiar with Yoko. Skies of Dawn picks up almost where Sea of Shadow left off - Ono chose to skip Yoko's defeat of the false king and the death of the King of Kou, and began instead with Yoko's coronation. Yoko quickly learns that her problems aren't over – her new kingdom, Kei, is a mess. As King, she has the power to make things better, but she doesn't even know where to start.

The two new characters, Suzu and Shoukei, are located in completely different kingdoms. Suzu is a Japanese girl who was transported to the Twelve Kingdoms one hundred years ago. After a few years, she became the servant of a flying sage in the Kingdom of Sai, which granted her immortality and the ability to understand all languages. Although her mistress is cruel, she doesn't dare leave, out of fear that she'd lose her new linguistic skills. Shoukei also had a painful history. Thirty years ago, her father was King of Hou. He was so unyielding and brutal that he, his wife, and his kirin were eventually killed by his own people. Shoukei was spared but forced to live the life of an ordinary villager.

The Twelve Kingdoms, Vol. 3: The Vast Spread of the Seas (book) by Fuyumi Ono, translated by Alexander O. Smith and Elye J. Alexander

The Vast Spread of the Seas is the third book in Fuyumi Ono's The Twelve Kingdoms fantasy series. It was published under Tokyopop's Pop Fiction imprint and is now out of print.

I won't be including a read-alikes list for this. Take a look at my first review of this book (which I've linked to at the start of my review) if you'd like some. If I were to add anything to that list, I'd probably include something from Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series, another epic fantasy series in which magical beings (horse-like Companions) play an important part in the kingdom's government.

Review:

Although I've previously reviewed this, I decided I'm going to write a new review for my reread.

This is my least favorite book in the series, although it was less emotionally draining to read than Sea of Shadow. The fantasy aspects of the world of the Twelve Kingdoms seemed to be less on the forefront here. Instead, the focus was on politics. It had its good moments, but the first half of the book was a slog. Also, unlike Sea of Wind, where I could see how the events of the book would fit into the more present-day history of the Twelve Kingdoms, there was very little here that seemed relevant to Yoko's time.

Book 1 was set in the present day, and Book 2 was set a few years before that. The Vast Spread of the Seas takes place 500 years before Book 1. Readers are introduced to two boys, one living in Japan and one living in the Twelve Kingdoms. Rokuta, the boy in Japan, is only four years old when he's abandoned by his parents so that the rest of his family can hopefully avoid starvation. It turns out that he's a kirin who was born in Japan, just like Taiki. He is found by his lamia and taken back to the Twelve Kingdoms. Koya, the boy in the Twelve Kingdoms, is also abandoned. He is found by a demon beast that, for some reason, chooses to take care of him rather than eat him.

In the book's present, Rokuta/Enki (I'll just call him Rokuta from here on out) is frustrated with Shoryu, his king, who seems too lazy and laid-back. This is why he doesn't make much of a fuss when Atsuyu, the self-proclaimed regent of Gen Province, has him kidnapped – he figures that maybe this will force Shoryu to finally pay more attention to his people. Unfortunately, Rokuta didn't consider that his kidnapping might lead to the thing he hates most, war and bloodshed. Occasional flashbacks show how everyone met and became the people they are in the book's present, 20 or 30 years later.

The Twelve Kingdoms, Vol. 2: Sea of Wind (book) by Fuyumi Ono, translated by Alexander O. Smith and Elye J. Alexander

Sea of Wind is a Japanese fantasy novel. It was published under Tokyopop's Pop Fiction imprint and is now out of print.

I won't be including any read-alikes for this. Take a look at my first review of this book (which I've linked to at the start of my review) if you'd like some.

Review:

I loved this book when I first read it in 2010, and my recent reread of it didn't disappoint. Although I reviewed it when I first read it, I decided I'd write a brand new review for my reread because 1) my reviewing style has changed since then and 2) I had some new things to say.

My first read of Sea of Wind took place several years after reading the first book. This time around, I read it right after finishing Sea of Shadow, and this had a definite effect on my understanding of what was going on and my feelings about it all.

Sea of Wind is set several years prior to Sea of Shadow and has a tighter focus. At the start of the book, we see a little boy who has been sent outside into the snow as punishment for what his grandmother believes is a lie. When he feels a gust of warmth and sees an arm beckoning him, he goes to it, and is taken to the world of the Twelve Kingdoms. The boy is told his name is Taiki and that he is the kirin of the Kingdom of Tai. He doesn't really know what's going on, but he feels safe around Sansi, the lamia that was born to protect him until he reached adulthood.

The entire book deals with Taiki adjusting to life among the oracles at the Brush-Jar Palace. Although they tell him he's a kirin, he doesn't feel like one, and he's worried that he'll never be able to do what these nice people expect of him. He can't shift into his kirin form, he can't see kirin auras, he can't pacify even the tiniest of demons, and he's sure he'll never have the revelation that is supposed to help him choose the next king of Tai.

The Twelve Kingdoms, Vol. 1: Sea of Shadow (book) by Fuyumi Ono, translated by Alexander O. Smith

Sea of Shadow is a Japanese fantasy novel. It was published under Tokyopop's Pop Fiction imprint and is now out of print. Happily, you can still find it in libraries, and it's possible to buy relatively inexpensive copies via Amazon Marketplace and elsewhere. I keep hoping that some company - maybe Yen Press, since they're big on light novels right now - will suddenly announce that they've licensed the series and will be releasing new translations of the first four books and first-time-in-English editions of the next four.

Review:

The Twelve Kingdoms is one of my top favorite Japanese light novel series, although it's not without its problems, and it took reading the second book and seeing the anime for me to start feeling that way. I wanted to finally read the fourth book, but it's been four years since I read the second and third and more than six since I read the first, so I decided that it'd be best to start from the beginning.

This book introduces the world of the Twelve Kingdoms via Yoko Nakajima, a high school student in Japan. When we first meet her, Yoko is as bland and inoffensive as she can make herself. Pretty much the only thing that makes her stand out and that she refuses to change is her hair, which is red enough to look like it's been dyed. She prefers to wear it long, even though it looks redder that way, and even though her mother keeps pushing her cut or dye it so she'll blend in better.

Then one day a man with strange clothes and golden hair appears at Yoko's school and tries to take her away. She refuses, at first, until terrifying creatures she'd previously only seen in her dreams suddenly attack. The man, Keiki, hands her a sword and tells her to fight. When Yoko protests that she doesn't know what to do, Keiki tells Joyu, a jellyfish-like creature, to attach itself to her and help her, forcing Yoko to kill for the first time in her life. They escape to a strange new world and are soon separated. All Yoko wants is to go home, but first she has to find Keiki and figure out how to survive in a place where everyone and everything seems to either want to kill her or betray her.

The Twelve Kingdoms, Complete Collection (anime TV series)

If you asked me "what do you think about this series?" while I was watching it, I might have said either "I love it" or "I hate it" depending upon the part I was watching at the time. It's that kind of series. It starts off fairly weak, gets stronger, then gets pretty weak again, gets stronger, etc. Unfortunately, it ended weak. I'm not sure what happened, but I remember reading somewhere that the original plan was to cover the events of all the books in the series (this anime is based on a series of novels by Fuyumi Ono). Unfortunately, the anime wasn't able to go on that long and only covers 4 books (I'm pretty sure) of the 11-volume series. All those partially finished storylines are maddening.

Despite the show's many flaws, however, it's still going on my "never even think about selling" pile. My reasons: the kirin are pretty, Youko gets to lead an army, and Shoryu is awesome.

Synopsis:

Youko has spent her life always doing what she thinks other people expect her to do. One day, however, her life is turned upside down by a strange man with long blond hair. He finds her at school and pledges his loyalty to her. A confused and frightened Youko is given the ability to slay terrifying beasts that are trying to kill her. The strange man, Keiki, takes Youko and her friends Asano and Sugimoto back to the Twelve Kingdoms with him.

In this first part of the anime, Youko gets separated from Keiki and her two friends. She must learn to come to terms with a world where everyone seems to do only what's in his or her own best interests. Her life is in constant danger for reasons she can't fathom, and the sword she carries with her for protection is determined to drive her insane. Eventually she finds people she can trust, including a hanjyuu (half-beast) named Rakushun. Youko learns to her shock and dismay that she's the new queen of the kingdom of Kei. The king of Kou had been trying to kill her, even sending her friend Sugimoto after her, in order to keep Kei from becoming richer and making his own kingdom look bad. In the end, the king of Kou accidentally kills his own kirin, which will mean his own death in the near future. Youko defeats the false queen of Kei, frees Keiki, and takes the throne. With Keiki's help, Youko sends Sugimoto back to Japan. Asano is still nowhere to be found and possibly even dead.

The second portion of the anime focuses on the story of Taiki, the kirin of Tai, whose eggfruit was torn from the world of the Twelve Kingdoms and deposited in the belly of a woman in our world. Eventually, Taiki is found and brought back to the Twelve Kingdoms, where he learns what it is to be a kirin and chooses the new king of Tai. At first, Taiki is terrified that he made a selfish and incorrect choice, but he is eventually shown that it is impossible for a kirin to choose anyone but a kingdom's true ruler. This entire portion of the anime is presented as though it were a story being told to Youko and Keiki.

The third portion of the anime is complicated, involving the intertwining of three different characters' stories. There is Shoukei, the pampered princess of Hou, whose father is killed after he begins executing his people for committing crimes of any sort. During her father's reign, Shoukei was beautiful and immortal. After his death, she is bitter at the loss of her immortality and at the gradual loss of her physical youth and beauty, and she must live in fear of what the people of Hou will do to her if anyone ever finds out she used to be the princess. There is Suzu, a young Japanese girl who ended up in the world of the Twelve Kingdoms, unable to speak the language and generally mistreated by others. Even after she becomes a sen-nin, an immortal who can speak the language of the Twelve Kindoms, Suzu's life is still little better than that of a slave. There is Youko, who, although now queen of Kei, seems incapable of making anyone take her seriously. She has no idea how to rule her kingdom and doesn't even know whose opinion she can trust.

After Shoukei and Suzu hear about Youko, they both travel to meet her. Shoukei wants to steal Youko's kingdom from her, believing herself to be more deserving of it. Suzu believes that Youko, a kaikyaku (person in the Twelve Kingdoms who is originally from Japan), will understand her, sympathize with her, and be her friend.

During their journey to see Youko, both girls change. Shoukei learns that she does indeed have a lot to atone for. Suzu learns that Youko may not, in fact, be the perfect person she was hoping she would be and becomes determined to kill her. During all of this, Youko has been spending most of her time and energy trying to learn what her kingdom is actually like, and she doesn't like what she sees. Corruption is rampant, and there is little Queen Youko can do about it. However, when Youko learns that there is a revolution brewing, she decides that there is something she can do about the current situation if she acts as nothing more than another revolutionary. In the end, Youko reclaims her kingdom and has many corrupt officials arrested and replaced. She offers both Shoukei and Suzu a place in her court and they both accept.

Once again in the guise of a story (one being told to Youko by Shoryu), the anime goes backwards in time, to the time when Enki, the kirin of En, was a child born in Japan. After his village is wiped out in a war, he is abandoned by his parents and almost dies before he is found and brought back to the world of the Twelve Kingdoms. Firmly believing that all of a kingdom's problems are caused by rulers, Enki is horrified when he learns that, as the kirin of En, he is expected to choose the kingdom's next ruler. Eventually, though, he does find and choose Shoryu, who was the young master of the Komatsu clan in feudal Japan. After Shoryu's clan is wiped out, Enki takes him to his new kingdom, En.

At first, no one, not even Enki, has faith in Shoryu's abilites as a ruler. He rarely attends court and must constantly be dragged back to the palace, usually after he has spent all his money on prostitutes and gambling. Convinced that Shoryu is a war-hungry idiot, Enki allows himself to be captured by Kouya (a friend of Enki's and someone who was raised by a demon) and Atsuyu, a governor of a province in En. Atsuyu wants to overthrow Shoryu. He says he wants this for the good of the people, but, as his behavior becomes increasingly erratic, his own people turn against him. Shoryu arranges things so that the people in Atsuyu's province see the royal army not as an invading force, but rather as something meant to help them. When Atsuyu opposes the royal army, then, he pits his army against his own people. Eventually, Shoryu is forced to kill Atsuyu. He promises Kouya that he will one day make En a kingdom where demons and humans can live together peacefully.

Commentary:

I'll start by talking about the things I disliked about this show, so I can end by talking about all the things I liked about it. Because, overall, I did like it.

1) I didn't like the beginnings of several of the story arcs - mainly the first one with Youko and the later one with Shoukei and Suzu. All three of those girls were annoying at the beginnings of their stories. Youko was a weak and whimpering girl who later became hard and distrustful. It wasn't until she thawed a bit that I actually started to like her - I think I had to make it to the second DVD before that happened. Even when she was likable, she wasn't quite believable - how humble can one character be before they start to appear saintly? Although their initial flaws were different from Youko's, Shoukei and Suzu were similarly easy to dislike at first, eventually morphing into characters that were almost unbelievably good and humble.

2) The artwork was occasionally sloppy. No, it was never as bad as the worst shows I've seen, but I shouldn't be watching two characters talk and thinking "the angle of that person's mouth is really odd in comparison to the rest of her face."

3) Keiki was lame. Thank goodness I had already read the first two books of the series and knew not to expect much from him. So many anime series have trained female viewers like me to expect that pretty male characters with long flowing hair will either fight alongside equally awesome female characters or act as protectors. Of course, these pretty male characters would also be love interests. Right away in this series, Keiki not only doesn't fight, he flat out tells Youko that she has to do all the fighting for the both of them and hands her a sword she can use. Actually, that bit was kind of funny.

4) I hated how Taiki, Shoryu, and Enki's stories were turned into "tales being told to Youko." I know that the anime's creators were probably at a loss as to how to turn this series into a single coherent story, but the way they chose to do it was boring and didn't always make a lot of sense. Along that same vein, I know that Sugimoto and Asano were used to make certain parts of the book easier to communicate in the anime - that doesn't mean I didn't hate them and wish they hadn't been included. Sugimoto was annoying and kept reminding me of the horrible "clashes between friends" that was Fushigi Yuugi (although I'd argue that Youko and Sugimoto were never friends to begin with). Asano, on the other hand, was just useless - ineffectual in both life and death.

5) I hated the ending. I know there's probably an explanation for why the series ended with an episode that was little more than a recycling of clips from the final story arc, probably something to do with funding suddenly being yanked. Whatever the explanation (and there had better be one, because what kind of moron would do something like this on purpose?), it was a terrible way to end the series. I already intensely disliked the "interlude" episodes for generally being worthless on DVD (I can see their usefulness in a weekly televised show, where a story arc recap might be helpful, but it still seems like a cheap way to pad the episode count). I did not see the benefit in ending the series with one of them. It seemed like a waste, when there were still loose ends like the whereabouts of Taiki waiting to be tied up.

Now that I've written all about the things I hated about this show, I'll write about the things I liked about it.

1) Once Youko got over being all whimpery, she was pretty awesome. True, her fighting skills were due to a hinman (a water spirit Keiki had ordered to possess her), but it was still fun to watch her kick monster butt. Plus, in her later story arc, she got to face down a whole army. How awesome is that?

2) The whole world of the Twelve Kingdoms is interesting and complex. I watched the show twice, first in Japanese with English subtitles and then in English, and during my second viewing I realized how much I hadn't noticed. Lots of characters make multiple appearances throughout the series - I remembered that Suzu appeared as early as Taiki's story, but I hadn't realized that Kouya had appeared that early in the series as well. I liked learning how the whole world worked, even if certain aspects were kind of depressing, like the poor kirin, who basically have no choice about anything.

3) Shoryu is awesome. The guy managed to set things up so that his enemy couldn't oppose him without making his own people turn against him. Very cool. Plus, any guy who can wear a pretty, flowing pink bow and still look manly gets a thumbs up from me.

4) The kirin. I know, I said Keiki was lame, but he was also pretty. Although Taiki probably would have been just as useless in a fight as Keiki, what with the whole allergy to blood thing, watching him face down the toutetsu was fun. Let's see...Keiki was the pretty one, Taiki was the awesome/cute one, and Enki was the smart-mouthed one - every one of them had some aspect that I liked. In addition, even if the kirin weren't, by themselves, always cool, they traveled with beings that were pretty nifty.

5) The anime clarified a lot of things that had confused me in the book. I may not have always liked how the creators of the anime chose to do things, but it was a lot easier to figure out who was who and what happened when. I wish the entire series had been made into an anime - I just know there will be things in future books that will confuse the heck out of me.

6) Some things in this series were just beautiful. The music was lovely and fit the series well. Even though the artwork definitely had rough spots, the backgrounds were often very nice. You could tell, too, that the animators must have had a soft spot for Youko, because she, in particular, tended to look really good, especially during the arc in which she is queen.

So, overall, I liked this anime. As long as I don't think too much about the way it ended...if I do that, then I start to get angry.

I highly recommend watching this in Japanese with English subtitles, rather than dubbed in English. The English dub voice acting often felt awkward, and I think the casting was, in general, badly done. Some voice actors were reused far too often - while several members of the Japanese cast also voiced many characters, I found it much more noticeable in the English cast. Those who are sticklers for name and word pronunciation will cringe at the way some characters' names and some Twelve Kingdoms words are said. Although there are moments when the English dub is good and certain characters (unfortunately only minor ones, in my opinion) who are consistently done well, the Japanese language track is much, much better. I could believe that Aya Hisakawa, Youko's Japanese voice actor (and the voice of Yuki Sohma in Fruits Basket!), might get mistaken for a guy, but Midge Mayes always sounded like an annoying girl to me.

Watch-alikes and Read-alikes:

• The 10th Kingdom (live action mini-series); The 10th Kingdom (book) by Kathryn Wesley - In this mini-series, a New York waitress and her father are transported into a world filled with fairy tale people, places, and magic. If they are to survive and get back to their own world, they have to help a prince regain his true form. Those who'd like another story in which characters are transported into a strange and sometimes dangerous world might want to try this. The special effects in the mini-series are sometimes a bit cheesy, but it's still fun to watch. Anyone disappointed by the lack of romance in The Twelve Kingdoms will probably like that there is romance in both the mini-series and the book (which is a novelization of the mini-series).
• The Story of Saiunkoku (anime TV series) - Those who'd like another series set in a pseudo-historical world might want to try this. Shurei, the main character, is, like Youko, a female character who (for the most part) doesn't let romance rob her of her brain. This series has more romance than The Twelve Kingdoms, but not nearly as much as one might expect - the bulk of the story deals with court politics and adventure.
• Fushigi Yuugi (manga) by Yuu Watase; Fushigi Yuugi (anime TV series) - Two friends are transported into a book - the main character, Miaka, becomes the priestess of Suzaku, while Yui becomes the priestess of Seiryu and her enemy.  This one might be good for those who liked the idea of someone being transported to another world but wanted way more romance - most of the male characters in this series are handsome, several of them love Miaka, and there are even a few who love Yui.
• Inuyasha (manga) by Rumiko Takahashi; Inuyasha (anime TV series) - A teenage girl is transported to the past, a time filled with demons and magic. Together with Inuyasha, a half-demon, and several others, she must find and purify the shards of the Shikon Jewel. This series has more humor and romance than The Twelve Kingdoms but may still appeal to those looking for another "transported to another world" story.
• Graceling (book) by Kristin Cashore - This YA book might be a good suggestion for those who'd like something else starring a strong female character ("strong" being a bit of an understatement in this case) who, like Youko, must survive great danger. This adventure takes place in a pseudo-historical world in which some people develop into Gracelings, people with amazing special skills.
• Arrows of the Queen (book) by Mercedes Lackey - Talia is a dreamer who longs to leave her restrictive home and live with Heralds and their Companions. When she is given the chance to do just that, she must also figure out how to deal with those who would do anything to keep her from getting in the way of their ambitions. Those who were particularly intrigued by the kirin and their relationships with their rulers might want to try this book or perhaps another book in the series.  There are times when the Companions are a great deal like the kirin.
• Daughter of the Blood (book) by Anne Bishop - The first in a trilogy focusing on several powerful, emotionally damaged characters. For centuries, Daemon has waited for Witch, a woman he is determined to serve and love. Somehow, Daemon and others must protect Witch, who is still a child, so that she can grow into her power and save everyone from the corruption that has almost destroyed the Blood. It's a dark series, but a good one. The Queen of Kyou prompted me to add this to my list of read-alike suggestions - there is something about her that reminds me of Bishop's Queens, or at least makes me think of what they could have been.
• Blue Sword (book) by Robin McKinley - Those who loved finding out about how the world of the Twelve Kingdoms works might want to try this book, which also includes a lot of interesting world-building details. Like The Twelve Kingdoms, the main character in this one is a young woman who must gradually become stronger and more capable, to the point where she is able to lead others against an entire army.
  

The Twelve Kingdoms, Vol. 3: The Vast Spread of the Seas (book) by Fuyumi Ono

Synopsis:

Rokuta's story begins in Japan, approximately 500 years ago (my knowledge of Japanese history sucks, and I can't remember the name of the conflict, but apparently this was sometime during a civil war). Barely even able to find food and shelter for themselves, Rokuta's parents abandon him when he's only four years old. Rokuta is actually the kirin of En, and, nearly dead, he is saved and taken back to the world of the Twelve Kingdoms by his nyokai (in the book, this is translated as "lamia"). In the world of the Twelve Kingdoms at around the same time (I think), a different boy is abandoned by his mother. Unfortunately, he doesn't have Rokuta's luck and is instead found and raised by a demon (youma). A few years later, Rokuta befriends this boy and names him Koya. As long as Koya stays with the Big One, the demon who adopted him, he can't be around people, because it's in a demon's nature to eat people, and Koya doesn't want anyone to get hurt. When they part, Rokuta figures he won't see Koya again.

When Rokuta learns that it's his job as the kirin of En to find and serve the new ruler of En, he's horrified. He's convinced that rulers do nothing but destroy their countries and kill their people, because that's all he's ever known rulers to do. To try to escape his fate, he goes back to Japan and spends several years wandering before he encounters Naotaka, soon to be the new head of the Komatsu clan. Rokuta also knows that this man is the new king of En, and he can't help but want to be by his side. After everyone in the Komatsu clan except Naotaka is killed, Rokuta finally accepts what he must do. He offers the kingdom of En to Naotaka, who accepts.

Twenty or so years later, Naotaka, now called Shoryu, is driving everyone crazy. Instead of attending court and showing a proper amount of interest in political matters, it seems that Shoryu would rather gamble his money away and sleep with whatever pretty young ladies catch his eye. What decisions he does make baffle everyone. Rather than relieving those who insult him of their duties or having them put to death, he instead has a tendency to promote them. Everyone, including his kirin, thinks he's an idiot.

Then trouble starts brewing in one of the provinces of En. Atsuyu, who oversees that province in his father's stead, is upset that Shoryu hasn't ordered that levees be built and does not permit those who oversee the various provinces to make those decisions themselves. Believing Shoryu to be a lazy ruler who doesn't care about his people, Atsuyu wants Shoryu to give him a sort of over-king position, a position with more power than the king. In the world of the Twelve Kingdoms, where the Heavens decide who the rulers for the various kingdoms are via the kirin, this is blasphemy. Atsuyu figures that the best chance he has is to kidnap Rokuta (Enki, the kirin of En) and hold him hostage, something he does with the help of Koya, Rokuta's old friend, and Koya's demon, who is now named Rokuta. Koya has done well for himself and faithfully serves Atsuyu.

Things look good for Atsuyu at first - his people love him, and his ministers are all on his side. Once Shoryu actually starts doing things, however, Atsuyu is in trouble. Rather than having his army fight Atsuyu's army right off the bat, Shoryu has others spread rumors that Atsuyu is going against the Heavens, that he has kidnapped the kirin and might kill him, and that the king is a good and wise person that the country would not want to be without. Lots of people still remember what En was like when it didn't have a king, so it's not long before the ranks of the royal army swell with volunteers - and yet Shoryu still doesn't send them to fight. Instead, he has them build levees. The people love the levees, but Atsuyu doesn't, because they would cause flooding in just the right areas to kill his rebellion.

Rather than admitting defeat and deciding that maybe Shoryu isn't a complete idiot, Atsuyu orders his army to take down the levees once the rain starts, which instantly puts his army in conflict with the locals, who then have the royal army on their side. Suddenly, Atsuyu is the bad guy. Meanwhile, Rokuta has a chance to escape but, suffering from blood poisoning (kirin can't stand being exposed to blood, and Rokuta was exposed to a lot of it in a particularly tragic scene), gets a bit turned around and instead learns that Atsuyu's supposedly sick father is actually being held prisoner. Rokuta is found by Shoryu, who has joined Atsuyu's army under a different name. That's right, Shoryu joined his enemy's army.

Anyway, everything falls completely apart for Atsuyu now. His people no longer support him, and Rokuta reveals what Atsuyu has done to his father. Even Koya, who kills for Atsuyu even though he used to hate killing, is starting to waver. Atsuyu begins blaming everyone around him for everything - Rokuta's kidnapping was done on the advice of a traitorous minister, he had no idea what had been done to his father, etc. Shoryu reveals his identity as the king of En and challenges Atsuyu, who backs down and then goes after Shoryu when his back is turned. In the end, Atsuyu dies, finished off by Shoryu. Rokuta realizes that maybe his king really is someone who can be trusted to do what's best for En, and Shoryu promises Koya that En will one day be a place where demons can live among people without fear.

Commentary:

I was dragging my feet with this book and was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to finish it by its ILL due date. I had 2 days left, and I hadn't even read half the book. This was after having it in my possession for 2 weeks.

Then I hit the bit where Shoryu actually started doing stuff and the world began to fall down around Atsuyu's ears, and suddenly the pages just flew by. Shoryu is awesome - it doesn't matter whether I'm reading a book with him in it or watching him in the anime, he's consistently one of the most enjoyable characters in the series.

I finished my first viewing of the anime not long before starting this book, so I had a pretty good idea of how things would go. One thing, though: the anime crams the events of this book into four or five full episodes and a few scenes mixed in with events from other books. That's it. Even so, the anime was a pretty faithful adaptation. There are some things it gets across more clearly than the book, and some things the book gets across more clearly than the anime, so I tend to like both versions for different reasons. I felt that the book conveyed a much fuller, better picture of Shoryu than the anime did. Unfortunately, I also felt that the book suffered from the same problem the previous books in the series did - the writing/translation was a bit clunky and the glut of names, places, and Twelve Kingdoms jargon made it too easy to get lost and confused (there's no glossary and no "character guide," just a map of the Twelve Kingdoms and a map of the parts of En that are featured most prominently in the book).

I wonder how I would have felt if I had read this book before finishing the anime? The second book in the series confused me, because I had a hard time figuring out where in the timeline of the Twelve Kingdoms it fell - I imagine I might have had the same problem with this book. This series keeps moving backwards in time - there was the first book, with Yoko, then the second book took place during the previous Queen of Kei's reign, and this third book takes place primarily 20 or so years after the start of the King of En's reign. The first book takes place 500 years after the third one.

Anyway, the first half of this book was a bit of a slog for me - all those names and places, and nothing much going on, aside from some examples of Shoryu's rather odd behavior as the new king. Things didn't start to get good until Shoryu stopped lounging and slouching his way through the book and actually started doing something. Things didn't start to get really good until the horrible, sad bit where Ribi explained to Rokuta how much of an idiot Shoryu was not and demonstrated the extent of her loyalty. I have a weakness for awesome leaders who will do anything for their people, and Shoryu was definitely that - it just took him a while to show it.

I've read a few reviews of this and other books in the series, and none of those reviews mention the general problem I've had with the series, the whole "I dragged my feet through the first half and then just loved the second half" issue. I can't be the only person who has this problem with Ono's books. They just seem so bogged down with stuff in the beginning, and it's not until much later than Ono lets her characters show how truly awesome and interesting they really are. Seriously, all my favorites scenes in each of the books end up being in last 50 to 100 pages. I'm surprised, but glad, that this tendency hasn't been a series killer. I want to read more about the Twelve Kingdoms (although I'm already peeved by spoilers I've read that say that Ono never resolves the situation with Taiki and Tai).

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I might not have liked the beginning as much, and I thought the translation felt clunky and sloppy, but there were many things in the last half of the book that made this a worthwhile read for me. As I've already said, Shoryu was awesome. I loved how the relationship between him and Rokuta developed, as Rokuta learned more about the side of Shoryu that he doesn't often show and learned to trust him more. I liked reading about the people around Shoryu trying to figure him out. I loved the scene where Shoryu told Koya off for being ok with the idea of En being destroyed - it was the first really good, obvious demonstration of just how much Shoryu cares about everyone in his kingdom, and it reminded me of the scene in the anime where Enho told Yoko to consider the people of her kingdom to be her children, since she would never be able to have any herself.

Extras:

The book includes a map of the Twelve Kingdoms, a map of the areas of En that are of greatest importance in this book, and five illustrations.

Read-alikes and Watch-alikes:

•  Fushigi Yuugi: Mysterious Play (manga) by Yuu Watase; Fushigi Yuugi: Mysterious Play (anime TV series) - Those who'd like another story in which the main character is transported into another world (in this case, "China of the past"-like world inside a book) might want to try this.  This series is much more focused on romance than politics, though.  Way, way more focused on romance.
• The Story of Saiunkoku (anime TV series) - I've only seen the first season of this one so far.  Those who'd like another story set in a historical-feeling world that, like the world of the Twelve Kingdoms, has the occasional fantasy elements might want to try this.  It might seem, at first, that this series is as focused on romance as Fushigi Yuugi, but, surprisingly, it becomes more focused on politics as it progresses.
• Fullmetal Alchemist (manga) by Hiromu Arakawa; Fullmetal Alchemist (anime TV series); Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie (anime movie) -There is an additional incarnation of this series, a new TV series called Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, but I wouldn't recommend beginning with it, as it flies through the earlier portions of the series far too quickly.  Also, don't assume that because you've seen the anime you know how things are going to go in the manga - after a point, the two are very different animals.  They're both good, but they're really different.  Anyway, those who'd like something with political machinations and a heavier dose of action might want to try this.  This might also be a good one for those who want something less...girlie girl...than my other two suggestions.
• Peacemaker (anime TV series) - This one is based on actual historical events and people - it focuses on the Shinsengumi, and the TV series, at least, ends well before things start to go really bad for them (the TV series is based on a manga series, which I haven't read yet and which I believe was never finished).  You could argue that Tetsunosuke, the main character, is a bit like Enki, and this story also deals a bit with an uprising.  There are spies and minor battles and one major battle - it's pretty nifty.  In the earlier episodes, this series also has quite a sense of humor, although it becomes much more serious (and bloody - one character is tortured to death and another is beheaded) as it progresses.
• Rurouni Kenshin (manga) by Nobuhiro Watsuki; Rurouni Kenshin (anime TV series) - You might want to try this if you'd like something else starring a character who occasionally acts like a goofball but is actually pretty awesome.  Kenshin isn't awesome in the same was as Shoryu, but he's not bad.  This series is a bit...simpler...than any of the Twelve Kingdoms books or the TV series - yes, there's an overarching story that packs quite an emotional punch, but it's also basically a bunch of battles, some of which are more than a little over-the-top.  It's based somewhat on actual Japanese history (set in the beginning of the Meiji era), but the crazy stunts that tend to pop up during the fight scenes tend to make it easy to forget that this is a historical series.

Caught up in another anime

I've been watching The Twelve Kingdoms off and on all weekend and, for the most part, loving it. I just really, really wanted to smack Sugimoto, and I still can't figure out why Asano even existed. However, I've now gotten far enough into the show to be able to confirm that, yes, the show deals with more than just the first book of The Twelve Kingdoms - I've just begun Taiki's story. Since I haven't read past the second book yet, I'm not quite sure if the whole bit about Taiki going back to our world after getting drawn back to the world of the Twelve Kingdoms is invented entirely for the anime, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were - although this series is more faithful to the original than some anime adaptations, there are still quite a few additions and changes. Overall, I've been ok with that, aside from what I've already said about Sugimoto and Asano. I'm not liking all the expository talk that comes with Taiki's story - the writers for this show had an excessive fondness for telling over showing.

The show has been working well as a distraction - another thing I've been doing off an on all weekend is cleaning my apartment. My pet rat died a little over a week ago, and I've been having some problems being in the same room where his cage was located. Unfortunately, that room is my bedroom. So, I'm finally getting around to vacuuming, airing things out, and cleaning things up. Hopefully, that will help. I really miss the little guy, though, and it's easier to deal with when I'm not in the same room he used to be in.

The Twelve Kingdoms, Vol. 2: Sea of Wind (book) by Fuyumi Ono

I really enjoyed this book. That's Taiki on the cover, by the way - when I first picked this book up, I thought it was kind of odd that a supposedly modern boy would have such long hair, but it made more sense when I read the book. It turns out that Taiki needs to have long hair, because his hair is actually his mane, and it looks funny if it's short when he shapeshifts.

I read the first book in this series several years ago. I had completely forgotten about this series until I saw a blog post on Sakura of DOOM that mentioned this book. I requested this via ILL and will eventually do the same with the third book. Although I don't remember being all that wild about the first book, this second one was enjoyable enough that I'd like to continue with the series.

In theory, my synopsis will spoil things for you if you haven't read the book. However, my synopsis is probably so confusing that it may not matter. Read at your own risk. And feel free to scratch your head in puzzlement. I found it extremely hard to coherently explain how this world works (so much fantasy jargon...), but I swear it makes more sense when you actually read the book.

Synopsis:

In the world of the Twelve Kingdoms, the ruler of each kingdom not only rules their kingdom, but also acts as the kingdom's anchor. Each king is chosen by a kirin, although, really, it is Heaven that chooses, and not the kirin. The kingdom of Tai does not currently have a ruler, but that's soon to change. Sansi, lamia for the soon-to-be born kirin of Tai, has been born and, along with the oracles of Brush-Jar Palace, watches over the kirin's egg-fruit. In ten days' time, the kirin will be born from the egg-fruit. Unfortunately, the kirin's egg-fruit is torn from its tree and tossed into our own world, where it lodges in the womb of a woman. Sansi and the oracles are bereft, not knowing where the kirin, Taiki, has been sent.

In our own world, a boy is standing in the snow. His grandmother won't allow him inside again until he apologizes for lying. The boy didn't lie and doesn't want to tell his grandmother that he lied, because that would be a lie. Unsure what to do, the boy continues to stand in the snow, until he sees a white arm beckoning him from a place surely far too small for an adult to fit. Curious and cold, the boy goes to the arm and the warmth that comes from its direction.

The white arm belongs to Sansi, who has not stopped searching for Taiki in the 10 years since he disappeared. The boy, "renamed" Taiki in this new world, is confused about everything everyone is telling him, but he at least feels safe around Sansi and Yoka, the oracle who was supposed to help Sansi care for him. Sansi and the oracles dote on Taiki and try to reassure him, but Taiki is deeply worried that he'll never be able to figure out how to do the things he's supposed to be able to do as a kirin. He can't seem to change into his other form, and he can't even pacify the tiniest and most pathetic of demons. Even worse, as the kirin of Tai, Taiki is supposed to be able to identify the next king of Tai. The rulers of the kingdoms are incredibly important - the well-being of a kingdom's lands and its people depends upon its ruler. Taiki needs to find Tai's ruler, hopefully a good, strong ruler, who can overcome the excesses of the previous one.

Taiki doesn't actually need to do anything, though - everything comes to him. Keiki visits Taiki (actually, he's encouraged to visit him, since Keiki isn't really enough of a people person to think to do that on his own) and tries to teach him how to do the things a kirin does. Keiki isn't terribly successful, since it's hard to teach someone to do something that should just come as naturally as breathing, but Taiki at least makes a new friend and learns a bit more about what he should be able to do. All the prospective kings make the dangerous journey to Taiki, hoping that he will look at them, speak to them, and have a revelation. Again, Taiki makes some new friends, in the form of Lady Risai and Lord Gyoso.

Everyone is disappointed and surprised that Taiki doesn't have a revelation about Gyoso. Gyoso is so well-loved that it's just assumed he'll be the new king. Although Taiki is somewhat drawn to Gyoso, he's also frightened of him. As Taiki spends more time with Risai and Gyoso, though, he begins to become a little more relaxed around Gyoso. Taiki even gets the oracles' permission to accompany Gyoso and Risai on a suugu hunt (a suugu looks a bit like a tiger, only with shimmering fur). Unfortunately, the hunt goes badly, and instead the group is attacked by a t'ao-t'ieh (a big, fierce demon?).

All kirin have a deep aversion to blood, so deep that it can make them weak and sick. When Sansi fights a man in order to protect Taiki, Taiki's aversion to blood turns out to be so strong that he can't be around Sansi for quite some time after the fight. Despite his very gentle nature, when Risai and Gyoso come under attack, Taiki tries to protect them from the t'ao-t'eih by distracting it with his gaze (part of the demon pacification process involves the kirin staring into the demon's eyes). To everyone's surprise, Taiki manages to pacify the t'ao-t'ieh, a being Gyoso hadn't thought even a kirin could pacify, and calls it Gohran.

All of the prospective kings get ready to leave, including Risai and Gyoso. Taiki finds that, despite having had no revelation about Gyoso and still occasionally fearing the fierce man, he is deeply upset at the idea of Gyoso leaving and never returning. Taiki goes after him, managing to evade Sansi and Gohran and finally shifting into his other form. When he finds Gyoso, he declares him the next king and pledges to serve him. Gyoso accepts.

Now Taiki is miserable. He is convinced that he has committed a heinous crime, selfishly declaring Gyoso as king, even though he never had a revelation, just because he couldn't bear the thought of Gyoso leaving. He doesn't want to tell anyone of his worries, but Gyoso senses that something is wrong anyway and, in the midst of cleaning up the mess the previous king left behind, calls for Keiki to come visit Taiki. After Taiki tells Keiki what he did, Keiki leaves, and Taiki is sure that his crime will soon be revealed to all.

There's no sign that Keiki told Gyoso anything, but in a couple days Keiki, another kirin, and the Ever-King of En all come for a visit. Taiki is told that he must bow before the Ever-King and tries desperately to do so, not wanting to offend him, but his attempts cause him pain and come to nothing. Finally, Enki, the kirin of En, takes pity on Taiki and puts a stop to all of this. The Ever-King explains that it's not possible for a kirin to choose a false king - Taiki couldn't bow before the Ever-King because he wasn't his king, but he could bow before Gyoso. Keiki further explains that a revelation is different for everyone and that a kingly aura may not necessarily be visible to the naked eye, even a kirin's eye. Taiki's fear of Gyoso was actually awe, and he couldn't bear for Gyoso to leave him because a kirin dislikes not being around his or her king. Taiki's revelation was when he chose Gyoso as the king. The terrible weight has been lifted off Taiki's shoulders, and Gyoso's coronation is a happy event for all.

Commentary:

Was Keiki the kirin from the first book? Does the first book take place after this one? I don't know - I kind of feel like I should reread the first book, but I didn't really like that one as much, so I think I'll just rely on the anime to remind me of how things went (although I know the anime changes a few things). Anyway, things are bad between Keiki and his ruler, a former peasant girl who's not adapting well to her new role. He's too cold towards her and, I think, when Taiki teaches him to thaw, she begins to fall in love with him. If this is the person I'm thinking of, she becomes jealous of all other women around Keiki and kills them off or sends them away. When Keiki becomes sick because she lost the path, she kills herself, rather than allow him to sicken and die. Then Keiki finds his new ruler (if I'm right, Yoko, the main character of the first volume of this series), who basically has to go through hell.

Although Taiki (named Kohri at the end of the book) doesn't actually do much, I enjoyed this book because so many wondrous things happened. It's just cool that he was able to pacify that awesome demon (love that scene!!) and change into a black kirin. It's always good when an author with an amazingly complex world like this one chooses a main character who knows nothing, because then the reader can learn about the new world through them - and there was a lot to learn about here, what with the main character discovering that he's not even human.

I was kind of amazed about a few things. Despite a bit of homesickness, Taiki adapted amazingly well to his new life, including the revelation that he's a different being altogether. It was good that he didn't quite believe he was really a kirin, though - I wouldn't have either, if I had been in his position. Taiki seemed to be completely unaffected by the revelation that he apparently has no free will - basically, if he does things, it's because he was meant to do them, and that's totally ok with him. Because he chooses a king, that's the person who was supposed to be chosen. Confusing? Yeah.

Although the artwork didn't entirely appeal to me, I did appreciate that the novel included a few pages of illustrations - I'm not sure I would've been able to picture Sansi or some of the other beings in the book very well, otherwise. Unfortunately, the reproductions of the illustrations don't appear to be very good quality - the lines in the artwork are somewhat pixelly.

Overall, I liked this book. Taiki appealed to me much more than Yoko, the main character of the first book - although, to be fair, Yoko's introduction to the other world was much harsher than Taiki's. Whereas Taiki was welcomed with open arms and lavished with care, love, and attention, Yoko was repeatedly betrayed and attacked. From what I remember, there are very few kirin appearances in the first book, so this second book really made up for that - I loved getting to learn more about them. I have no idea what the third book is about, but I can't wait to find out. I'll also have to make sure to watch my DVDs sometime soon - I wonder if Taiki shows up in the TV series at all, or if it just focuses on the events of the first book?

Read-alikes and Watch-alikes:

• Pet Shop of Horrors (manga) by Matsuri Akino; Pet Shop of Horrors (anime TV series) - Count D is a mysterious pet shop owner whose pets aren't the sort you could find anywhere else. When cared for properly, these pets can bring their owners contentment and companionship like no ordinary pet ever could. However, there are potentially horrific consequences when Count D's pet care instructions are not followed. Officer Orcot, an American policeman, goes to Count D's shop to investigate after the strange and unexplained deaths of several of Count D's former customers. This series has the feeling of a bunch of short stories - different chapters feature different pets, and the pets and their owners tend to be the focus. Although this series has very little in common with Sea of Wind, some may like the manga volume (sorry, can't remember which one) and anime episode that features a kirin.
  
• Fushigi Yuugi: Mysterious Play (manga) by Yuu Watase; Fushigi Yuugi: Mysterious Play (anime TV series) - Miaka is an ordinary 15-year-old girl who wants nothing more than some tasty snacks and to be accepted into the same high school as her best friend (who, unfortunately for Miaka, has much better grades than she does - getting into the same high school is going to be tough). When she visits the National Library with her friend, she stumbles upon the book The Universe of the Four Gods and literally gets sucked into the story. She becomes the priestess of Suzaku, protected by her Celestial Warriors. If she can find all seven of her Celestial Warriors, she will be able to summon Suzaku and go home. Those who'd like something else with a similar historical-feeling setting that's filled with fantasy elements might like this. Miaka, like Taiki, has no idea what's going on, even though she's been told she has an important role in this new world she finds herself in.
  
• The Story of Saiunkoku (anime TV series) - Shurei has always wanted to become a government official, so that she could have the power to make the people of Saiunkoku's lives better. She's a princess whose family has fallen upon hard times, so when she's offered a large sum of money to become the young emperor's temporary concubine, she accepts - not only is the money nice, she figures this is probably the closest she'll ever get to achieving her dream. Little does she know, Shurei will get to achieve her dream and more, if she can survive the political machinations going on around her. Those who'd like something else with a similar-feeling setting (kind of "China of the past," with a few fantasy elements?) might like this.
  
• Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Furnace (book) by MaryJanice Davidson and Anthony Alongi - Jennifer Scales thought she was just a regular girl, until her body started changing in totally unexpected ways (scales, claws, and other things...) and her parents finally admitted to her that she's half weredragon. Even for a weredragon, though, Jennifer's changes don't seem to be quite normal. Somehow, she has to try to figure out what's going on and protect herself and her family from deadly ancient enemies. It's been a while since I read this one - if you're familiar with MaryJanice Davidson's writing, I assure you, this is much more appropriate for teens than her books for adults (which some might consider appropriate for older teens, but probably not younger ones, considering the sex scenes). Those who liked reading about Taiki learning about being a kirin might like this book.