Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 5:39 pm
First of all... hello everyone. I'm new obviously. Saw the anime years ago, recently rewatched it, saw that the first book was out, ordered it, and started reading Eugene Woodbury's translation of Shore in Twilight.
Anyway, so far I've finished book 1... and I'll go through the differences in the story that I've noted.
First, the anime doesn't really represent the hair color differences. In the books, weird hair color is the norm in the 12 kingdoms. In the anime, Yoko, Shokei, and the kirin have hair that is different from the normal.
Kirin (generic)
Anime - Mostly white with some having gold/yellowish hair/mane in human form, but it being off-white in Kirin form.
Book - Described as being "tiger yellow" with golden mane in both forms
Kirin (special)
Black kirin are described as having more color variation than they do in the anime.
Red and White Kirin are also mentioned as especially rare.
Now... in terms of events...
Obviously, a lot of stuff changes in the first book. Without Asano and Sugimoto being big players, things tend to happen very differently.
Actually, until a good bit later in, things are pretty much the same.
The old man from WW2 era Japan doesn't meet Yoko until a good while after Takee's exposure as a brothel-slave trader. He introduces himself as an odd-jobber from Kei. Instead of betraying Yoko to the authorities, he takes her goods and runs, leaving her broke. She was expected to pay for her inn services the next day, but had no money, so she had to force her way out of town.
Rakushun is described as having a "child-like" voice in his rat-form. I'm not entirely sure if that follows for his human form as well or not. If it does, it didn't seem well-noted in the anime.
On the topic of the taveling performers (can't remember what they call them right now)... They don't accompany Yoko for any length of time in the books and they aren't involved in helping her get a ship to that port town in En. They do however try to help her look for Rakushun in that one town that Yoko abandons him in (you know... "KILL THE RAT!"). She leaves them while they are doing that and doesn't have much involvement with them.
Shoryu's past isn't revealed in the first novel. He makes it seem as though he comes from a modest background (rather than being a ruler). I'm not sure though. I've only read the first book after all. I found it strange that he looked the same before and after coming to the 12 kingdoms in spite of being a Taika in the anime.
Enki is described as being around 13 years old in appearance (allegedly he came to maturity as a Kirin at 13). He doesn't sound or look quite that way to me in the anime (playing Japanese dubs of course)
Yoko hears a lot more about the political nature of the world during this novel than in its stretch of anime, mostly from Takee and Rakushun. Most of it is revealed to her in the anime portion of Thousand (pick your distance system) of Wind.
Other than that, not a whole lot to say. It does go into much greater depth about some things... like for instance King Kou's ambitions for wanting Kei to suck in general. Also, the fact that King Kou was originally just a guardsman before being a king. Lot's of interesting stuff to note.
Anyway, so far I've finished book 1... and I'll go through the differences in the story that I've noted.
First, the anime doesn't really represent the hair color differences. In the books, weird hair color is the norm in the 12 kingdoms. In the anime, Yoko, Shokei, and the kirin have hair that is different from the normal.
Kirin (generic)
Anime - Mostly white with some having gold/yellowish hair/mane in human form, but it being off-white in Kirin form.
Book - Described as being "tiger yellow" with golden mane in both forms
Kirin (special)
Black kirin are described as having more color variation than they do in the anime.
Red and White Kirin are also mentioned as especially rare.
Now... in terms of events...
Obviously, a lot of stuff changes in the first book. Without Asano and Sugimoto being big players, things tend to happen very differently.
Actually, until a good bit later in, things are pretty much the same.
The old man from WW2 era Japan doesn't meet Yoko until a good while after Takee's exposure as a brothel-slave trader. He introduces himself as an odd-jobber from Kei. Instead of betraying Yoko to the authorities, he takes her goods and runs, leaving her broke. She was expected to pay for her inn services the next day, but had no money, so she had to force her way out of town.
Rakushun is described as having a "child-like" voice in his rat-form. I'm not entirely sure if that follows for his human form as well or not. If it does, it didn't seem well-noted in the anime.
On the topic of the taveling performers (can't remember what they call them right now)... They don't accompany Yoko for any length of time in the books and they aren't involved in helping her get a ship to that port town in En. They do however try to help her look for Rakushun in that one town that Yoko abandons him in (you know... "KILL THE RAT!"). She leaves them while they are doing that and doesn't have much involvement with them.
Shoryu's past isn't revealed in the first novel. He makes it seem as though he comes from a modest background (rather than being a ruler). I'm not sure though. I've only read the first book after all. I found it strange that he looked the same before and after coming to the 12 kingdoms in spite of being a Taika in the anime.
Enki is described as being around 13 years old in appearance (allegedly he came to maturity as a Kirin at 13). He doesn't sound or look quite that way to me in the anime (playing Japanese dubs of course)
Yoko hears a lot more about the political nature of the world during this novel than in its stretch of anime, mostly from Takee and Rakushun. Most of it is revealed to her in the anime portion of Thousand (pick your distance system) of Wind.
Other than that, not a whole lot to say. It does go into much greater depth about some things... like for instance King Kou's ambitions for wanting Kei to suck in general. Also, the fact that King Kou was originally just a guardsman before being a king. Lot's of interesting stuff to note.