Twelve Kingdoms
Mar. 24th, 2010 10:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesReading Book 4 now. One thing I like that the anime didn't do (as well) was explain why we are following around Suzu and Shoukei, besides that both hear about Youko's coronation and decide to Do Something.
Basically, Youko notes her main flaw is that she cares too much what other people think. That's not a good trait for a king to have, since she is inevitably going to piss someone off. Her other flaw is that she was a Japanese schoolgirl and has no idea about what life in her kingdom is like*. In order to be a good king and make her kingdom prosper, Youko decides that she needs to understand her kingdom at least as well as if she was born there.
The other two protagonists have similar gaps in understanding. Suzu was originally from Japan, but was carried off to the Twelve Kingdoms in a storm, as Youko was. Unlike Youko, who got the gift of tongues by being chosen as the king of Kei, Suzu didn't speak a word of the language and pretty much got stuck doing scut work and missing Japan, then ended up doing more scut work for a minor immortal because at least she could understand everyone. She assumes that because she and Youko are both from Japan, that they will come to an understanding, and that she could never learn the language or live happily in this world.
Shoukei was a king's daughter, who gets booted from the palace after her parents get deposed and executed, since the king managed to get a fifth of the population killed, mostly by execution for minor crimes. She's set up as a peasant, then gets exiled when the village she's in figures out who she is and tries to kill her via mob justice. Shoukei didn't realize why any of this is going on, or why everyone is being so mean to her -- she's having more than a bit of a problem in reconciling the parents she knew with the fact that the people around her have all lost people to the king's insanity. So she mostly doesn't.
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* For those of you just tuning in, the kings of the Twelve Kingdoms are appointed by the kirin, creatures born with a strong innate morality, and the ability to sense when someone could become a good king. The kirin aren't perfect judges of character, because people can either rise to the occasion or give in to their flaws. But, when the king and the kingdom become intertwined such that the king lives and the king prospers only as long as his or her rule is a just one, and the fall of a king usually means years of famine and demon attacks before the new king has to pick up the pieces, it means you want to find the most suited people.
Basically, Youko notes her main flaw is that she cares too much what other people think. That's not a good trait for a king to have, since she is inevitably going to piss someone off. Her other flaw is that she was a Japanese schoolgirl and has no idea about what life in her kingdom is like*. In order to be a good king and make her kingdom prosper, Youko decides that she needs to understand her kingdom at least as well as if she was born there.
The other two protagonists have similar gaps in understanding. Suzu was originally from Japan, but was carried off to the Twelve Kingdoms in a storm, as Youko was. Unlike Youko, who got the gift of tongues by being chosen as the king of Kei, Suzu didn't speak a word of the language and pretty much got stuck doing scut work and missing Japan, then ended up doing more scut work for a minor immortal because at least she could understand everyone. She assumes that because she and Youko are both from Japan, that they will come to an understanding, and that she could never learn the language or live happily in this world.
Shoukei was a king's daughter, who gets booted from the palace after her parents get deposed and executed, since the king managed to get a fifth of the population killed, mostly by execution for minor crimes. She's set up as a peasant, then gets exiled when the village she's in figures out who she is and tries to kill her via mob justice. Shoukei didn't realize why any of this is going on, or why everyone is being so mean to her -- she's having more than a bit of a problem in reconciling the parents she knew with the fact that the people around her have all lost people to the king's insanity. So she mostly doesn't.
--
* For those of you just tuning in, the kings of the Twelve Kingdoms are appointed by the kirin, creatures born with a strong innate morality, and the ability to sense when someone could become a good king. The kirin aren't perfect judges of character, because people can either rise to the occasion or give in to their flaws. But, when the king and the kingdom become intertwined such that the king lives and the king prospers only as long as his or her rule is a just one, and the fall of a king usually means years of famine and demon attacks before the new king has to pick up the pieces, it means you want to find the most suited people.
