The Twelve Kingdoms

Episodes 31-33

Y'know Twelve Kingdoms, I can appreciate the need for a recap episode, but it sure would be nice if you could label them consistently. While Episode 31 isn't as ancillary as previous recaps – it moves the story along so far as it gets Gyokuyo on her way to Kei with Rakushun's approval – the bulk of the runtime is just telling us what we already know about the central heroines. It's almost justified when it's focused on Gyokuyo and Rakushun thinking over her (and Youko's) past, as a charming turning point for the prickliest character in this arc, but then the final third is about Asano of all people explaining Suzu's backstory to Shoukou, the corrupt official who ran over an orphan last episode.

That entire segment is weird and doesn't make any sense for the characters involved. I'm getting the impression that the anime writers regretted adding Asano to the show immediately after they did it, because nobody knows what role he's supposed to fill in anything going on, least of all himself. It's an odd, black mark on what's otherwise been a compelling and well-thought-out storyline, and every time this dude pops up to cuddle his gun and moan about his plight I wish the show had just let him drown back in episode 6. His presence has yet to serve any purpose other than ruin the tone of whatever scene he's in, and it's only gotten worse now that he's working for Shoukou for no apparent reason. Right now my greatest hope is that the show wises up and just kills him off or portals him back to Japan so he doesn't stink up the rest of the goings-on.

Because those goings-on continue to be really engrossing. Suzu's story takes up the bulk of the remaining two episodes, and it's fascinating to see her journey through grief and her thirst for vengeance. At first she's distraught over her companion's death, then desperate for accountability, only to be stymied by the very people who buried the boy insisting they didn't see anything. Shoukou has the entire city under his thumb, and any who oppose him will be silenced, turning the town into an even larger and bloodier version of the hell Suzu escaped from by leaving Lady Riyo. It's another impressive and depressing (impressively depressing?) example of Twelve Kingdoms' understanding of political power, where even a blatantly corrupt ruler can maintain some semblance of legitimacy through intimidation, because if those who enforce the law aren't accountable to it, then law becomes nothing more than window dressing for personal violence. That kind of injustice is sickening to witness, and I fully understand why Suzu's first instinct is to buy an immortal-killing dagger and plan to murder the guy (and Queen Kei, for apparently supporting his command), though being taken in by a band of rebels seeking to overthrow him seems like the stronger option.

It's hard to say yet how that rebel faction will play out for Youko's story. While she originally came to Wa province to learn about the people of her kingdom, she's also learning far more about the reality of her so-called political allies. Through the failed reign of her predecessor, the disastrous attempt at usurpation, and now her stumbling first months in charge, Kei's politicians have become a gnarled, corrupt collection of individuals vying for power behind the scenes of its ineffectual leaders, and that boil is fit to burst very soon. The question is how Youko will – or even can – handle this, as extricating toxic people from their positions of power is no easy feat. She could just use royal declarations to cleave out those exploiting the people or subverting her laws, but that path was the same one that led to King Hou's disastrous reign and eventual assassination. Even if Youko isn't the kind to institute martial law and hand out executions, she's stuck in the position of maintaining legitimacy through civility while trying to force out the worst actors, lest she lose whatever favor she maintains as Queen and invite her own revolt. If she can't do it fast or smoothly enough, it threatens to throw the country into its second civil war in 6 months, and that's if the various forces after her head don't get to her first. What's most striking is that even with all this on her shoulders, Youko takes it in stride and faces the problems head-on. It's a far cry from who she was even at the beginning of this story arc, and I'm excited to see her grow into her crown even more.

Gyokuyo, comparatively, gets a pretty simple story this week. Mainly because she's not on screen for most of it, making her way to Kei and bidding Rakushun goodbye before arriving at a town in Wa just in time to witness the local lord crucifying a man. In one of the sharpest scenes in the whole show, Gyokuyo sees in this stranger both the same horror she narrowly escaped and the terror her father inflicted, before almost unconsciously throwing a stone at the would-be executioners. This gives Youko both an opening to have her shirei rescue the man and a chance to save Gyokuyo from retaliation. It's no doubt an odd feeling for the queen to be on the run from her own soldiers, but it's some classic fantasy swashbuckling at the same time, and I'm hoping to see what might come of two of our heroines finally meeting eachother, if only briefly.

While far from climactic, this arc continues on as confidently as ever, and recap quibbles aside the show obviously knows what it's doing for the most part. I do find myself a little impatient for more development, as there's just so many moving parts on the board that I feel like we need to start consolidating fast, but overall having too many interesting things going on is a good problem for a story to have. But if they wanted to throw Asano off another cliff, that'd be cool too.

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The Twelve Kingdoms is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Amazon Prime Video.