15th entry - Twelve Kingdoms

This is another one of my favorite Japanese anime. It is a fantasy story about a group teenagers who were spirited away to a parallel universe filled with monsters, mythical beasts and unicorns. This universe had 12 kingdoms, with each ruler being selected by a unicorn. A benevolent ruler will enjoy immortality and riches, and the people will enjoy abundance, peace and prosperity. A tyrant, on the other hand, will cause his/her unicorn to fall ill and die, after which he/she will also pass away, and the country will turn into a wasteland. A new unicorn will be born to select the new king of the country.

The main character is Yoko, the girl with red hair in the picture that I downloaded from the official website, http://www.12kokuki.com/index.html In Japan, Yoko thought that she was an ordinary girl born to a middle-class family. She always sought to please others around her, and strove to be "a good girl" so as to be accepted and "rewarded with compliments". One day, a unicorn (which had magical powers to transform into a human form) named Keiki (shown in the picture as the handsome serious-looking guy with long blond hair, which was typical of unicorns) came to Japan and chose her to be his queen, claiming that she had the "kingly aura". Keiki did so because the queen that he had chosen for his kingdom had abdicated and the country was without a king.

Unknown to them, an evil king of a neighbouring kingdom had sent monsters to follow Keiki and kill him and his new queen. Yoko was bewildered, which was expected as Keiki did not have time to explain things to her. Before she knew it, Yoko and her 2 high school friends were spirited away to the universe. Yoko had to learn the hard way how to survive attacks from her enemies and monsters. She was even forced to fight her high school friend who betrayed her at one stage. Most importantly, she learnt to conquer her own fears and became mature in her thinking. She realised that she would be happier seeking to do the right things rather than to do things just to please others.

Meanwhile the kingdom that was rightfully hers (because only a unicorn had the right to choose the ruler of its country) was overtaken by a false queen under direction from the evil neighboring king. Fortunately, Yoko got help from friends like the Rat (named Rakushon) half-beast (he can turn into a human form if he wanted to, but had no other magical powers, unlike a unicorn) and a good king of another neighboring country (he was formerly a samurai, but also selected by a unicorn to be a king) - these characters are shown in the picture too. Together, they helped her take back her kingdom and enabled her to ascend her throne.

Yoko's real adventure only just began, however. She discovered that she did not have the knowledge to rule her kingdom well, and was merely used as a puppet by the ministers and court officials. She went "undercover" amongst her people as a commoner to learn how her people lived, and to know what sort of kingdom they wanted. She discovered, among other things, that some of her officials were corrupt and involved in a power struggle, while her people suffered at the hands of these officials and had began to lose faith in her as a queen. With the help of 2 other young girls of her age, each with their own sad stories, Yoko managed to lead a rebellion in her own kingdom (sounds absurd so far?!) against the corrupt official and uncover the plot by her own Prime Minister to seize power from the throne. She also found good men whom she trusted to help her rule her kingdom. (Here is a picture downloaded from a fan-site, http://12ktp.inspirelight.net/)

She learnt that not everyone who was nice to her had good intentions, and thus not everyone could be trusted and not everything could be taken at face value; she was nearly sold as a prostitute by someone she thought was kind! She learnt that she was not completely sincere towards her friends, but merely wanted to be accepted and to be complimented for doing things that pleased other people; the betrayal of her high school friend was a consequence of this, as she felt that Yoko was a hypocrite, only talking to her when nobody was looking so that nobody would think they were friends (unlike Yoko, this high school friend of hers was ostracised as an unpopular, aloof and rude girl and everyone was mean to her). Yoko learnt that she had to stick firmly to her moral principles and do what she believed in no matter what others say or do; she nearly handed power over to the corrupt and power-hungry officials, to the detriment of her people. Her 2 friends also learnt not to indulge in worthless self-pity and not to blame others for their own misfortune or mistakes.

I think I liked this anime because many of the lessons taught can be applied in management and in life. When I look at the human dynamics (or "politics" as some call it) in the offices that I had been working, I realise that managing an office is just like ruling a kingdom. For instance, I learnt to be cautious in dealing with people in the workplace, yet to be sincere to people even when they may not be; to try not to get myself involved in the "politics", so that I will not be used by people with ill intentions; and most importantly, to remind myself to cherish true friendship. I also learnt that I must try to uphold a strong moral ground in the face of trials and tribulations. The anime made me realise that I was similar to Yoko in many ways, before she matured. Just as Yoko had to go through character building in the process of building her kingdom, I also need to develop my own character as I go through life so that I can become a better person and a more effective employee (hopefully a good manager and leader someday).

It is not easy to win a life's many battles, and its even harder to win the war by living a victorious life. For Christians, God is with us every step of the way - if we follow His lead we will win every battle and emerge victorious for His glory. God also blesses us with gifts of friendship and wisdom to help us during times of hardship and difficulties. We must not forget to thank Him daily.