The Twelve Kingdoms – Sea of Wind, Shore of the Labyrinth [LN3]

While the first two volumes of The Twelve Kingdoms focus on Youko's story, this volume covers a character we haven't met yet, a young boy named Kaname Takasato. We learn that Kaname is actually a Kirin (Kirin of Tai, AKA Taiki) who was meant to be born in the world of the Twelve Kingdoms before being mysteriously transported in a storm, born in Japan instead. After 10 long years, his caretakers rescue him from Japan and bring him back to his rightful home and place.

This is such a heart-rending book. Taiki is a victim of familial abuse, and is desperate for love and affection. On top of that, he's thrust into this strange world and tries his best to live up to everyone's expectations as a sacred Kirin whose job it is to select the next ruler of Tai. The poor boy doesn't want to disappoint anyone, especially not his new caretakers who are lavishing him with attention.

As I've mentioned previously, I've already seen the anime for the series, and I was intrigued while reading to spot any difference in the plot. To be honest, the anime stays pretty faithful to the book, other than some necessary cuts to exposition about the characters' feelings on certain plot events. Since this book predates Youko's story by about 6-7 years, It's interesting to see characters like Keiki and Enki in a slightly different light. Keiki especially gets a lot of development in this book, which is interesting since he actually doesn't appear very much during Youko's arc.

Because Taiki is a Kirin, we have a lot of opportunity to see the more fantastical elements of the series. This world is fascinating, and I always love learning more about it, harsh though it may be.

That's it for non-spoilery thoughts, but I want to talk about anime/novel differences, which requires spoilers below:

Since it's not easy to include exposition when adapting the novel to screen, one of the plot details that got lost was Gyousou's feelings about meeting Taiki. We can tell just from Taiki's reactions that he feels something around Gyousou, and that he's desperate for him not to leave at the end of the Ascension to Mt. Hou, but curiously the anime left out a small detail. Gyousou explains that he doesn't take loss lightly (especially since Taiki hadn't sworn fealty yet) and is leaving both the mountain and the service of Tai as a General of the Forbidden Army (what a sore loser lmao). This makes sense since he's quite prideful, but the novel adds some additional flavor.

"Even as he was filled with wonderment, a lingering feeling of regret reared its head. He could not abide his own unwillingness to leave the Kirin behind, and so he pushed himself to descend the mountain as quickly as possible." (Page 322).

Why leave this part out? It bring up SO many questions. Do Kings feel some unconscious mystical pull towards their Kirin as well? Or is this just personal feelings on Gyousou's part after spending a scant few days with Taiki (he's very lovable that kid). This also relates to how Keiki's first King (Queen Joukaku) ended up falling in love with him to both her and her country's detriment. Why was she chosen to begin with?

Another change between the novel and the anime is the ending of the arc, where we actually see Taiki and Gyousou work on administrative tasks together, as well as Gyousou's coronation. We see that Tai has serious cash flow issues, and Gyousou gets to work right away cutting unnecessary expenses. The anime already spoils the fact that Taiki ends up back in Japan after just a year, so what happened after Gyousou's coronation? We have no idea, and it's not revealed in this book at all. I'm sure we'll circle back eventually, and the country is totally stable without Taiki 👀 😅