The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Wind by Fuyumi Ono

[meganbmoore]

Though the second books in the series, Sea of Wind actually takes place before the first book, Sea of Shadows.  It tells the story of Taiki, the kirin of Tai, whose ranka was blown to our world.  (I'm not explaining all the terms again...I think I did with the first book, so check the tags.)  After ten years of isolation and feeling like an outcast in our world, Taiki is found and returned to his own world, where he is showered with adoration, and given expectations far greater than a small child can hope to meet.  Learning that, by being the only one who can choose the king, he has the fate of a nation in his hands, and being surrounded by people with so much unshakable faith in and respect for him, both of which he feels undeserving of, has just as much of a crushing, isolating effect on Taiki as being hated and hunted has on Youko.

Not having grown up on Hohzan, Taiki does not understand a kirin's nature, and becomes increasingly more and more confused as it's explained to him.  Help comes in the form of Keiki, the stoic, emotionless kirin of Kei who has a stick permanently up his butt.  In the end, though, it's Keiki who benefits more from the relationship, learning how to care and let people into his cold shell(which, unfortunately, leads to the tragedy leading up to Sea of Shadows.)  While Taiki better understands a kirin's duties, however, he feels even less up to the task of choosing a ruler that's before him, a burden that weighs even heavier on him when the first round of hopefuls come to him, including two generals-Risai and Gyosei-who he quickly becomes close to.  One  gives him the feeling of comfort and comraderie, but not of leadership, and the other a mixture of awe, fear and adoration.

Honestly, I've watched and talked about the anime arc that covers this book so much-and unlike Sea of Shadows, the anime is an almost exact adaptation-that I don't feel like I have a lot to say, beyond "I love it, even if I want to strangle the translator."

But a couple notes on differences from the anime.

In the anime, it's clear that Gyosei is the best king for Taiki, but not so clear that he's the best king for Tai.  Here, it's almost the reverse, where he's clearly the best king for Tai, but not so clearly for Taiki(I blame the translator.)  It's also easier to see why people eventually rebelled against him because, seriously, Ilove the man, but that is one arrogant guy.

Also, is it just me, or was Enki in the anime arc more than he was in the book?  I seem to remember him being there for more than the one scene in the anime.