History Literature / TheTwelveKingdoms

* ''Shadow of the Moon, The Sea of Shadow'' (Japanese: ''Tsuki no Kage, Kage no Umi'', TokyoPop: ''Sea of Shadow'')
* ''Sea of the Wind, Shore of the Labyrinth'' (Japanese: ''Kaze no Umi, Meikyū no Kishi'', TokyoPop: ''Sea of Wind'')
* ''Sea God in the East, Vast Sea in the West'' (Japanese: ''Higashi no Watatsumi, Nishi no Sōkai'', TokyoPop: ''The Vast Spread of the Seas'')
* ''A Thousand Leagues of Wind, the Sky at Dawn'' (Japanese: ''Kaze no Banri, Reimei no Sora'', TokyoPop: ''Skies of Dawn'')[[note]]Last book to be officially published in English[[/note]]

The setting is a massive fantasy world with a detailed and enthralling plot. The series begins following Youko Nakajima, an [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent ordinary]] {{class representative}} who is dragged into this world kicking and screaming by a [[{{Bishonen}} golden-haired man]] who swears loyalty to her. After being given a Hinman (a creature that possesses her and gives her amazing combat skills) and a magic sword, she is left alone in this world to fend for herself. Fighting her way past hordes of youma -- powerful monsters who seem to be following her -- and a corrupted king who wants her dead before she can fulfill her destiny, Youko discovers why she was brought to this world and comes to accept her responsibilities.

At first it bears a resemblance to ''Manga/FushigiYuugi''. It has similar premise tropes -- notably OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, TheChosenOne, and TrappedInAnotherWorld -- but with a different storyline and no romantic elements (aside from some healthy {{shipping}}). The world may be outlandish and magical but the people have a striking realism to them; very little of it is forced. The series, and even more so the books, is more about psychology and politics than action.

''The Twelve Kingdoms'' is a series of {{fantasy}} novels written by Creator/FuyumiOno and illustrated by Akihiro Yamada, which began in 1992 and concluded in 2019. The series was [[AnimatedAdaptation adapted into an anime]] by Creator/StudioPierrot that aired on Creator/{{NHK}} from 2002 to 2003.

** Why on earth would Youko leave anime-only character Yuka (who doesn't speak the local language) completely alone upon arriving in En?

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The plot involving Taiki and Gyousou's disappearance from Tai was never explained or resolved in the anime.
** As of 2019 - eighteen years after the last full novel - [[spoiler:the cliffhanger at the end of ''The Shore in Twilight'' has finally been resolved.]]

* TheChooserOfTheOne: The kirin are responsible for interpreting Heaven's Will to identify the next emperor. Technically, the kirin don't "choose" - Heaven chooses, and the kirin is the one who enacts Heaven's Will - but the power of selection is often attributed to the kirin anyway.

** {Caretaker of Shoukei} tells Shoukei about when her son threw a stone to stop the crucifixion of an innocent person. The guards conducting the execution grabbed him as well and crucified the both of them.

** [[PlayedWith]] in ''Hills of Silver Ruin''. [[spoiler:Back in ''A Sea of Wind'', Taiki spent months in a depression believing he'd ignored Heaven's Will. The flipside of that experience is that he also realized that no ''else'' could interpret Heaven's Will either. Which means that he can lie about it and no one can prove otherwise.]]

Books in the series are listed below in order of publication. Note that due to the lack of official translations for most of the books, the exact wording of the titles may differ between translations.

* ''The Demon Child'' (Japanese: ''Mashou no Ko'')

* ''A Thousand Miles of Wind, the Sky at Dawn'' (Japanese: ''Kaze no Banri, Reimei no Sora'', TokyoPop: ''Skies of Dawn'')

* ''The Shore at Twilight, the Sky at Daybreak'' Japanese: ''Tasogare no Kishi, Akatsuki no Sora'')

* AbortedArc: The story of Taiki just cuts out in both the anime and the original novels, albeit at different points.

''The Twelve Kingdoms'' is a series of {{fantasy}} novels written by Creator/FuyumiOno and illustrated by Akihiro Yamada, which began in 1992 and are still ongoing. The series was [[AnimatedAdaptation adapted into an anime]] by Creator/StudioPierrot that aired on Creator/{{NHK}} from 2002 to 2003.

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%%[[folder:''Sea of Shadow'']]
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%%[[folder:''Sea of Wind'']]
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%%[[folder:''The Vast Spread of the Seas'']]
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%%[[folder:''Skies of Dawn'']]
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%%[[folder:The anime]]
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* MeaningfulName: Nearly all names in the series have some meaning. ''Kirin'' that are especially beloved by their ruler are often given a special name.

** It's played with, though; King Kou's fear of taika kings doing a better job than he has is called out as foolish (he's even posthumously known as The Foolish King) by just about everyone else in the story, native to the Kingdoms or not. Also, the longest lived (and thus most consistently good) ruler is not King En but King Sou, who is never encountered in person but is mentioned to be close to breaking the record for a king's reign.

%%* TheChooserOfTheOne: The kirin.

* LeftHanging: The series was supposed to be much longer, but abruptly cuts off about twenty episodes before the projected endpoint. A popular rumor is that they were waiting for more books to be published (specifically for [[spoiler:Taiki's]] story to be fully resolved, which ''still'' hasn't happened), but nothing is confirmed.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: In the novels, [[spoiler:Seishuu points out that she and Suzu are not actually that different - they're both lonely and embittered, and have let that bitterness turn them into such unpleasant people that it drives off anyone who might actually be able to relate to them.]]

** Youko, having been raised in Japan, is very uncomfortable with full prostration on the part of her subjects as she sees it as demeaning to them; her first proclamation as Empress is to ban it altogether, except during formal ceremonies.

* SketchySuccessor: Subverted as the next king is not necessarily the son/daughter of the previous king (in fact, is required to not be closely related), but rather has to be chosen by the Kirin each time the previous one dies. As they are given nigh-immortality when they become kings/queens, they will live forever as long as they don't screw things up, so usually kingdoms don't have to worry about who'll be the successor for a few centuries. However, as the last ''three'' of Youko's predecessors (all queens, in turn) ruled for comparatively short periods before falling, in comparison to Shouryuu (in neighboring En) who has ruled for more than five centuries, great uncertainty continually exists as to whether new monarchs will find and maintain the strength to live up to their callings.

** In ''Poseidon of the East'': Shouryuu mobilizes the imperial army to Gen...to build levees. [[spoiler:He predicts that Atsuyu will order the levees destroyed to prevent the floodwaters from flowing towards Gankyuu. Atsuyu falls for it, and Shouryuu's forces win easily.]]
** In ''A Thousand Leagues of Wind: [[spoiler:the rebellion against Shoukou begins by egging him into deploying his forces outside of his stronghold, then striking before he can call for reinforcements.]]
** In ''Hills of Silver Ruin'': [[spoiler:Asen and Ansaku both correctly predict that Taiki will attempt to run to Gyousou in order to prove that Gyousou is the true emperor instead of Asen. To prevent him from doing this, they surround him with unfriendly soldiers with orders not to let him pass. Fails ''specatucularly'' when Taiki does the one thing absolutely no one expects: steals a sword and ''fights his way out himself''.]]

** Slightly subverted (as is wont for a Deconstruction), in that the "psycho" ''shirei'' are sometimes shown giving pause to and respecting anyone who references some link to a given monarch. [[spoiler:When one of Taiki's ''shirei'', during his second period in Hourai, demands of Yuka whether she's an enemy, she tells them that she is a friend of Queen Kei, i.e. Youko… whereupon the being immediately peacefully withdraws.]]

** Shushou loves to give these to everyone, especially Suzu.

* SketchySuccessor: Subverted as the next king is not necessarily the son/daughter of the previous king (in fact, is required to not be closely related), but rather has to be chosen by the Kirin each time the previous one dies. As they are given nigh-immortality when they become kings/queens, they will live forever as long as they don't screw things up, so usually kingdoms don't have to worry about who'll be the successor for a few centuries. However, as the last ''three'' of Youko's predecessors (all queens, in turn) ruled for comparatively short periods before falling, in comparison to En-Ou who has ruled for more than five centuries, great uncertainty continually exists as to whether new monarchs will find and maintain the strength to live up to their callings.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The plot involving Taiki and Gyousou's disappearance from Tai was never explained or resolved in the anime. Granted, it also still hasn't been resolved in the novels, but [[spoiler:Youko at least arranged an international search squad and brought the amnesiac Taiki back from Japan. That book, in turn, ended with a massive cliffhanger that still hasn't been resolved.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: Nearly every character gets to have a crack at this trope after their CharacterDevelopment, with Youko, Taiki [[spoiler:(when protecting Gyousou from Gouran, and then taking said youma as his servant)]], Suzu, and Shoukei being the most notable.

* TheChooserOfTheOne: The kirin.

* StockSoundEffects

* TheChainsOfCommanding[=/=]RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: [[FisherKing Being directly responsible for the welfare of an entire nation]] would make you stressed too. Aside from royalty, about half the military commanders in the series can be seen at some point on the front lines of a battle directly leading their subordinates.

Not to be confused with ''Series/TheTenthKingdom'', ''VideoGame/SevenKingdoms'', ''[[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms The Three Kingdoms]]''.