Sea of Shadow

I just finished The Twelve Kingoms: Sea of Shadow written by Fuyumi Ono, translated by Alexander O Smith and Elye J Alexander and published in the US by TOKYOPOP. I had to get this book after watching the anime. Unfortunately there are several more volumes - none of which have been published in English yet. I seem to always get myself mixed up in series that take forever to finish.

Anyway, the book goes into better explanation of the world of the Twelve Kingdoms than the anime did as one would expect. It also has no references to Sugimoto after Yoko leaves Japan or to Asano in it at all. This is fine with me since those characters were just tedious in the anime. This story deals primarily with Yoko and her coming to grips with her new role in a strange world. She starts out as a young girl who doesn't want to upset anyone - a people-pleaser. While trying to make it in her new world, she becomes disillusioned with all those around her to the point of not trusting anyone. She becomes cold and uncaring to others. Eventually she looks within herself to discover who she really wants to be and is finally able to make the hard decisions that she must.

As with anything - the book is much better than the show. It contains most of the story from the anime told in the Shadow of the Moon, Sea of the Shadow chapters. The only problem I have is how long we'll have to wait between volumes and whether or not all volumes will be published. I want to find out how it all ends - something that the anime failed to do.

I give this book a 4 out of 5.