By now, some readers would have noticed that I do, on occasion, go ga-ga over selected Anime (Japanese animation) series. Twelve Kingdoms is just such a great experience for me. 

This series is an adaptation of the novels by Fuyumi Ono, and what is refreshingly different about this series is that, there isn’t (gasp!) a romance subplot at all. Which is an unusual departure for Anime. But the show is packed with political intrigue, bloody battles with monsters and some real interesting lessons on governing a kingdom.

Briefly, the story tells of how an ordinary 17-year old (high?) school girl was approached by a silver-haired noble-looking man, who swore allegiance to her as his Queen, and subsequently drawn her into a parallel dimension/world that is at least a couple of hundred years behind modern Japan. While there, she was pursued by a political rival who sought to end her reign by sending tonnes of monsters to assassinate her. She has to uncover her enemy, overthrow an imposter queen, quell a civil uprising and in the process, learn what makes a king great.

Warning: this is a long post!

Between the last post and this, I have been jumping back and forth between modern and medieval Japan, pursuing the adventures of a certain modern teenage girl, Kagome, and a silver-haired half-breed dog demon, Inuyasha.

If anyone had told me two months ago that I would fall in love with Anime (Japanese animation, pronounced a-nee-may) series and manga (comics, graphic novel), I would have laughed my head off. But ever since I caught my first episode of the animated series – episode 39 in season two of the series’ screening on local television – I became possessed. That’s right, there’s no other word to describe my indecent obsession with the two characters and their adventures. My husband taunted my feverish pursuit of this ‘cartoon series’. Hah, what does he know? Anyway, I have his niece to thank for introducing me to this exasperating and reluctant half-demon hero.