Series · 2002
The Twelve Kingdoms
十二国記
Yoko Nakajima is carried into another world by a stranger who calls her his ruler. Separated from him and pursued by creatures she does not understand, she must first survive. The world she has entered is divided into twelve kingdoms, each ruled through a relationship between a monarch and a kirin.
Yoko initially lacks the knowledge that her supposed status seems to demand. She does not know why she was chosen or whom she can trust. The journey therefore begins with dependence, fear and learning how another society works, before authority can become something she knows how to exercise.
The disturbance begins before the crossing: Yoko has been having a recurring dream that progresses from night to night. Keiki’s arrival turns that private anxiety into an encounter she cannot dismiss. Her ordinary school life and the unfamiliar world are connected through something she already fears but cannot explain.
Complete television anime · Approx. 19 hours · 45 episodes
Complete 45-episode 2002–2003 television adaptation; includes listed recap/transition entries. Not the full novel sequence.