The Twelve Kingdoms Forum

of course...my fave would be keiki...

I know we're supposed to pick favorites, but I'm going to pick them all. Each character are very individualized in their personalities, thoughts, and beliefs. They also all connect in their own way, whether through growth, experience, or ignorance. I guess Youko would be one of the top favorites for the fact we saw her transition and saw the world through her (attactment to main characters). At the same time, these characters are very realistic and are not perfect...their imperfection are also realistic (if that makes any sense). In a way, they are always growing, even Shouryuu. I love them all. That's it.

Here, Here!

I shouldn't be posting or reading here since I'm facing the edge of a hurricane at the moment, but I have to largely agree with AliceC. Youko may have been the character that I most connected with, and Rakushun may be the character I'd like to be the most like, but as for favorite? I really couldn't choose one.

Well said. Hm... What hurracane!? Oh damn! I hope you and your loved ones make it out unscaved.

Yes, too hard to choose.

Keep us updated zitch! Be careful!

yes yes....that's the thing about juuni kokki....the world it runs may not be realistic. but the concept of humanity fuyumi has shown in her novel, is very realistic...kudos!!!

kei_taiho wrote:yes yes....that's the thing about juuni kokki....the world it runs may not be realistic. but the concept of humanity fuyumi has shown in her novel, is very realistic...kudos!!!

Hehe, that's what makes it realistic. The characters are people we not only deeply care for, but are so real it is as if we know them.

AliceC wrote:Yes, too hard to choose.

Keep us updated zitch! Be careful!

Just to keep ya'll updated, I'm alive and well. I've faced these things many times already. Most you can do is either batten down the hatches and/or get out of the way. Did both, myself, but escaped with minimal damage.

Now back to 12k since the danger of that shouku is out of the way...

As for favorite characters, I can't really choose. More often than not, I'm actually more interested in the relationships between characters than the characters themselves.

However, I quite like Queen Kyou, even though she appears in only a few episodes. I don't think she acts like a bitch just for the sake of acting like a bitch. Not most of the time, anyway. She's prone to throwing tantrums and she can be rather irrational in her judgments, but I think she clearly knows what she wants out of her kingdom. She seems to know what she's doing.

However, she seems very by-the-book in the way she rules her kingdom, not very experimental at all, unlike Youko and Shouryuu. She is actually similar to the deceased King Hou, except not nearly as extreme. At the very least, she grasps the concept of overly cruel punishment.

As for Keiki, I just wish he appeared in the anime more! I think he's a very interesting kirin. He understands people very well when he tries to, even though he usually seems serious and cold.

I think all the characters of Juuni Kokki are great but my fav is youko since later on she kicks @$$! and Rokushun cuz he's a sweetheart. Which makes me hope something might happen between the two(when he's in his human form)

bLkPari wrote:I think all the characters of Juuni Kokki are great but my fav is youko since later on she kicks @$$! and Rokushun cuz he's a sweetheart. Which makes me hope something might happen between the two(when he's in his human form)

well...at first you might think rakushun is for youko...but in the later part of the series, i think it's not that way...in the way he treated shokei, it just proves that rakushun is the nicest person in JK.... for me his kindness is no longer human...well, he's a hanjyuu in the first place....

I don't really mind if theres no romance in Juuni Kokki...the series is so good...but i guess as a fan i can't help my imagination

bLkPari wrote:I don't really mind if theres no romance in Juuni Kokki...the series is so good...but i guess as a fan i can't help my imagination

well...yeah... JK is one of the best... it doesn't matter if it doesn't have any romance.... it doesn't lessen the quality of the story....

Yes, I agree with Bellpickle, Queen Kyou is an interesting personality, I like her. She is rational. Although she looses her temper, she never let her emotions get in the way when making official decisions.

I'm reading Shore at Twilight (the book where Risai seeks help from Kei). I also sense that Keiki understands people particularly Youko. His passive and non confrontational nature balances Youko's emotional outbreaks and harsh statements. His ability to understand and calm Youko is obvious in that book. I actually prefer Queen Kyou to Queen Kei. I think I'm the only person in this forum who has reservations about Youko. Reading Shore at Twilight reinforces my negative opinions about Youko's leadership style. My favourite character is still Shouryuu, he is a remarkable leader. The shore at twilight has no tinch of romance, very business-like and I love it that way.

bellpickle wrote:As for favorite characters, I can't really choose. More often than not, I'm actually more interested in the relationships between characters than the characters themselves.

However, I quite like Queen Kyou, even though she appears in only a few episodes. I don't think she acts like a bitch just for the sake of acting like a bitch. Not most of the time, anyway. She's prone to throwing tantrums and she can be rather irrational in her judgments, but I think she clearly knows what she wants out of her kingdom. She seems to know what she's doing.

However, she seems very by-the-book in the way she rules her kingdom, not very experimental at all, unlike Youko and Shouryuu. She is actually similar to the deceased King Hou, except not nearly as extreme. At the very least, she grasps the concept of overly cruel punishment.

As for Keiki, I just wish he appeared in the anime more! I think he's a very interesting kirin. He understands people very well when he tries to, even though he usually seems serious and cold.

That is an interesting observation Fragile_Bloom. It is very obvious to me (I am also reading that book, btw) that shuryuu is very worried about Youko. I hadn't quite put two and two together until I read your message. Youko is very loose-handed in a tight-fist world. There will be people taking advantage of that... Yet Youko also throws temper tantrums: like when she stalks off after Risai finishes her story because King En tells her there is little she can do. She didn't stick around to discuss it. I really like Youko and I hope she is successful, but after all, she is a teenager and I think the author sticks that in to remind us of that. A humble reminder that sometimes we are what we are Don't forget, though, that she has matured a lot since she first arrived in Ko, so it does follow that she will continue to mature.

I love your phrase "loose handed". Right you are! Perhaps I did overlook the fact that she is a teenager, very idealistic.

Not only did Youko storm out of the meeting, the following day, during the brainstorming meeting to help Tai, she accused En-O of adopting a "no action" attitude towards Tai: Do nothing, wait for Tai-O and Taiki to die and let the kirin cycle repeat itself with a new fruit. In this way, En is safe but people in Tai will be sacrificed. This statement left her Kei officials speechless and as usual, Keiki had a word with her quietly. En-O was of course angry and defended his position as the ruler of En. Even Enki had to say "Do what is best for En". Unless my understanding of the Chinese language is so very flawed, this was what happened in that meeting. A disastrous statement made without thinking of its consequences. I read this many times, could not believe what she said. En-O may indeed have adopted such a strategy towards Tai but somethings even when true cannot be publicly uttered and she did this in front of Shouryuu and senior Kei Officials. All her officials thought that would hurt Kei-En relations. I thought that would affect her personal relationship with Shouryuu. After a long speech, in a light hearted and childish manner, she managed to make En-O make a verbal commitment to lead the mission to find Taiki.

I think Shouryuu is very concerned with Youko but most concerned with En. I sensed that he also sees himself as a "mentor" to Youko. However, what Youko said during that meeting is regrettable. I am not sure if Shouryuu will forgive and forget.

nightchaser wrote:That is an interesting observation Fragile_Bloom. It is very obvious to me (I am also reading that book, btw) that shuryuu is very worried about Youko. I hadn't quite put two and two together until I read your message. Youko is very loose-handed in a tight-fist world. There will be people taking advantage of that... Yet Youko also throws temper tantrums: like when she stalks off after Risai finishes her story because King En tells her there is little she can do. She didn't stick around to discuss it. I really like Youko and I hope she is successful, but after all, she is a teenager and I think the author sticks that in to remind us of that. A humble reminder that sometimes we are what we are Don't forget, though, that she has matured a lot since she first arrived in Ko, so it does follow that she will continue to mature.

fragile_bloom wrote:I think Shouryuu is very concerned with Youko but most concerned with En. I sensed that he also sees himself as a "mentor" to Youko. However, what Youko said during that meeting is regrettable. I am not sure if Shouryuu will forgive and forget.

I'm sure that En-O is much too experienced to let a temper-tantrum from a teenager affect him that much. It was obvious to me that Youko still has alot of room to grow at the end of the anime. I suspect that En-O likes to throw out hypotheticals, but not necessarily act on them. He also seems a bit hard-headed once he goes on a train of thought and someone questions him on it, but this is pretty much a necessary leadership trait and he does always at least reflects on those lines before he acts.

En-O also has a big advantage of having direct examples though his father and his first "failure" at leading a kingdom to learn and experience from. Youko basically has to learn all of this from scratch. I'm sure that it will be a long time before Youko becomes a great queen.

(Note: I haven't read the book in question yet, so I'm basing this off of my observations from the anime series and from the discussion here. I'm thinking a separate thread should be splintered off to continue this particular line of discussion, since it's getting a bit off-topic from "Who is your favorite character?")

I think this is really a bit off-topic as well, but too interesting to stay silent.
fragile_bloom
I haven't read the whole book, only the part that is translated on Otyaku. It stops almost immediatly after the meeting you mention. So i can't comment on the moment when Youko convinces En-ou to help Tai kingdom. My reaction is a bit different from yours and i don't think she "breaks" her friendship with Souryuu. She has a bit of emotional outbreak but from what i come to know about En-ou and Enki they'll understand and won't take it to the heart. At least that's what everything that happened before suggests. It's not like she throws some personal insults into their faces.
Besides, how come she gets from him the promice to help (and, btw, why SHE doesn't take the mission on HERSELF?!) if they are foes all of the sudden?
But! From what i read - i have to say (and, please, don't kill me) i'm a bit disappointed with the novel itself. And, while i appreciate the author's noble attempt, as Zitch exactly has noticed, to remind us that Youko is still an idealistic teenager who still has to learn and develop to become a great ruler...Some of her writing is a bit off for me. I'm talking about the logic of character development. Or should i put it another way - inconsistencies. I don't want to dwelve on the issue right now and here, as i'm afraid i may offend some people here and i really don't want to.
Let me just say so much - after reading all the available translations (and all of them are wonderfully done, imho) on the net...I don't consider the novels as..."cough, cough" perfect. I'd like to discuss it a bit more, but i really don't want to stir troubles on this forum, so just let me know if anyone wants to continue.
Oh, of course, i'm not trying to say that the anime is perfect (by no means!) or it is better than the books.

OK, I have started a new thread for Shore at Twilight, it should be a seperate topic. But for one last time here: Kei is unable to pull through a large scale kiring hunt in Horai in search of Taiki. The search was complex and involved 7 kingdoms. En's reputation and strength needed for this. In fact Youko suffered a rebellion in her palace because the Kei officials were unhappy with her helping Tai putting Kei at risk of violating a heavenly rule which prohibits interference with internal affairs of another kingdom. The atmoshpere of this whole episode is very tense. It was no easy task retrieving Taiki, he almost died.

Now, a reminder, this discussion topic is: Who is your favourite Character? javascript:emoticon(':lol:')

beranda wrote:I think this is really a bit off-topic as well, but too interesting to stay silent.
fragile_bloom
I haven't read the whole book, only the part that is translated on Otyaku. It stops almost immediatly after the meeting you mention. So i can't comment on the moment when Youko convinces En-ou to help Tai kingdom. My reaction is a bit different from yours and i don't think she "breaks" her friendship with Souryuu. She has a bit of emotional outbreak but from what i come to know about En-ou and Enki they'll understand and won't take it to the heart. At least that's what everything that happened before suggests. It's not like she throws some personal insults into their faces.
Besides, how come she gets from him the promice to help (and, btw, why SHE doesn't take the mission on HERSELF?!) if they are foes all of the sudden?
But! From what i read - i have to say (and, please, don't kill me) i'm a bit disappointed with the novel itself. And, while i appreciate the author's noble attempt, as Zitch exactly has noticed, to remind us that Youko is still an idealistic teenager who still has to learn and develop to become a great ruler...Some of her writing is a bit off for me. I'm talking about the logic of character development. Or should i put it another way - inconsistencies. I don't want to dwelve on the issue right now and here, as i'm afraid i may offend some people here and i really don't want to.
Let me just say so much - after reading all the available translations (and all of them are wonderfully done, imho) on the net...I don't consider the novels as..."cough, cough" perfect. I'd like to discuss it a bit more, but i really don't want to stir troubles on this forum, so just let me know if anyone wants to continue.
Oh, of course, i'm not trying to say that the anime is perfect (by no means!) or it is better than the books.

For lack of anything terribly intelligent to say, Taiki is my favorite. He's a sensitive kid who tries his best to do what's right. He puts too much stalk in what others say. His mind gets confused and his confidence eroded by conflicting advice. Reminds me of myself.

It hard to pick, but I have to say:

Keiki -- just love his japanese dub voice. He is sweet ( on the inside). Also, I find the relationship development between Youko and him funny.

Youko -- She is by far the strongest ( mentally) and most independent of all the transcent-into-another-time-girl in all the animes.

Keiki!! just like Hiyah said, he's a softy on the inside

Youko- She IS the queen! :p

Shoukei- I like how she changes...

ok i acutally like all the charas except Suzu. and i don't like the animated version of Koukan.

I absolutely love taiki, i was really hoping that they were going to finish up his story, I was so sad when they didn't He's so cute I just want to hug him!

I absolutely love taiki, i was really hoping that they were going to finish up his story, I was so sad when they didn't He's so cute I just want to hug him!

His story isn't done in even the original series yet. That's probably one of the main reasons as to why the production has been stalled.