(L) Twelve kingdoms (Juuni Kokki)

[BobJosh]

Is there any romance in this? Between the main chara and Keiki?

[TinyRedLeaf]

Goodness. Who'd expect this thread from the past to resurface?

No. Romance is not the focus of this series, at least not in the anime. I can't speak for the novels, since I haven't been able to read all of them. I can say that, in the two volumes I've read in English, there is no romance.

Twelve Kingdoms is, at heart, an allegory on governance. What is justice? What will it take to establish a just society? These are the core questions of the story.

To be sure, if there were to be a romance, I would rather that it's between Yuko and Rakushun.

[kari-no-sugata II]

Yep, blast from the past.

While the story has some strong relationships it's not really a romantic series at all.


PS I looked around a bit. Seems the author still hasn't released anything since 2014. She's apparently working on a new release but has been ill and there's no release date except "hopefully in 2018"...

[SeijiSensei]

The most likely pairing would be Youko and Shoryu, the Emperor of En. But they remain friends throughout. Rakushun might be a contender, but a relationship with him might be complicated to say the least.

[Kamieichi]

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...r-2019/.140692

[SeijiSensei]

Crunchyroll has licensed Twelve Kingdoms in both its subbed and dubbed formats. Until now only the dub version was available, on Netflix as I recall.

https://www.crunchyroll.com/the-twelve-kingdoms

Originally Posted by kari-no-sugata II

Seems the author still hasn't released anything since 2014. She's apparently working on a new release but has been ill and there's no release date except "hopefully in 2018"...

"1st New Twelve Kingdoms Novel Story in 6 Years Slated for 2019"

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...r-2019/.140692

As for shipping, it's pretty difficult for Youko since she is

Spoiler:

immortal

That tends to rule out obvious candidates like Rakushun, though it leaves Shoryu in the running.

Spoiler:

At one point Shoryu laments how the various women with whom he has had romantic affairs have all died off.

Plus the immortals never change physically. You'll always be involved with the physically teen-aged Youko or thirty-something Shoryu. That has to be difficult for the person that's aging.

[Proto]

Oh wow, a blast from the past. This definitely used to be one of the first series that definitely made me wow at what anime storytelling could accomplish. I definitely see myself giving this another watch.