“The Twelve Kingdoms” light novel series has been left alone for the past 18 years and now it has been confirmed that the series will be receiving a new installment.
It was on December 12 that the writer’s staff announced the completion of the new manuscript’s first draft. So far the series has editing and illustration preparation underway along with a possible release in 2019.
Other than this, it has been noted that the upcoming work would be taking place in the Kingdom of Tau and may possibly be 2,500 pages long (with up to 400 Japanese characters per page).
“The Twelve Kingdoms” novel was first released in 1992 with its first entry being titled, “The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow” and released by Kodansha in Japan. Written by Fuyumi Ono and illustrated by Akihiro Yamada, the fantasy novel series ran for a total of 8 volumes until 2001. The series later released a book of short stories set in different kingdoms around the world of the series in 2013.
The series is said to focus on a world inspired by Chinese mythology, where twelve different kingdoms exist under the rule of an individual chosen by the Tians. There is no specific protagonist for the series but there has been a recurring appearance of Youko Nakajima, the protagonist of the first novel, and Taiki, the protagonist of the second book.
An anime adaptation of the series was released in 2002 under the production of Pierrot. It was directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi and had both Seiya Fujima and Shou Aikawa as the writers.
The story of the anime tells of a high school girl named Youko Nakajima. All that she’s ever wanted was to be normal; she does what she is asked, gets good grades, is the class president, and even helps her classmates whenever she can. Unfortunately, due to her red hair and pushover attitude, Youko ends up an outcast and is taken advantage of by her classmates. Then everything changes one day when a man who claims to be from another world barges into Youko’s classroom and bows before her.
His name is Keiki and he claims that Youko is his master and belongs on the throne of his kingdom. To add to his sudden appearance is the following of otherworldly beasts called youma. This results in Keki not only escaping to his own realm with Youko but also dragging along her two other classmates Ikuya Asano and Yuka Sugimoto. What’s more, due to the youma attacking, the students end up separated from Keiki. Now alone in this strange new land, these ordinary students must learn to fend for themselves or die.
Starring the anime are:
Aya Hisakawa as Yoko Nakajima
Takehito Koyasu as Keiki
Aya Ishizu as Yuka Sugimoto
Yūji Ueda as Ikuya Asano
Source: Crunchyroll News