You should try the novel, translation issues aside it makes the anime look crap

I love the anime, and saw it long before i read the book. I have the DVD’s and i frequently rewatch them. But the novel is a million times better. Youko is more real in the novel than the anime, he way of thinking and stuff is drawn out more. At times i really hated her in the novel, and by the end i loved her. You don’t get that in the anime, from the outset all i felt was pity in the anime.

The story flows a lot differently aswell in the novel, since only Youko is taken, which allows her to go through some radical changes that i loved.

My main grief with the anime is that Youko is supposed to go through some serious, almost total changes, but they never really showed it in the anime. Even when she died her hair blak, it’s still red :(

As for a continuation, it’s not likely to happen for a while, Ono-sensei was ill for a long while, which is why they stopped the anime. When she came back she dropped the project to focus on other projects, and has said she wont go back to 12 kingdoms for a while. Which is a shame, since i feel it has the potential to be an epic, much like Lord of the Rings is.

Tokyopop are releasing the book now, volume 2 is due out shortly :) can’t wait for that