History YMMV / TheTwelveKingdoms

* StrawmanHasAPoint: In the anime, Shoukou has a point when he points out that the system where kingdoms' rulers are decided by a kirin is silly, especially since the kirin's choices are ''not'' [[ThePoorlyChosenOne infallible]] and ''most'' rulers eventually wind up hurting their kingdom and eventually have to be taken out, either by a mandate from heaven or by their own persecuted subjects.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: In the anime, Shoukou has a point when he points out that the system where kingdoms' rulers are decided by a kirin is silly, especially since the kirin's choices are NOT [[ThePoorlyChosenOne infallible]] and ''most'' rulers eventually wind up hurting their kingdom.

** Suzu's backstory...well if you like her that is [[TheScrappy but most people really don't]].

* FanNickname: Some fans like to call Asano "TheGunslinger from Kei", due to his WeaponOfChoice being a Western six-shooter.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: In the anime, Shoukou has a point when he points out that the system where kingdoms' rulers are decided by a kirin is silly, especially since the kirin's choices are NOT infallible and ''most'' rulers eventually wind up hurting their kingdom.
** AppealToForce: Without a kirin's direct demonstration of the monarch's receiving the MandateOfHeaven ([[spoiler:or without the latter's literal ContractualImmortality]]), victories such as Youko's re-subordination of her own [[spoiler:illegally-dispatched]] royal army, and subsequent 'major alterations' to her [[spoiler:previously corrupt]] court would have been all but impossible due to [[HumansAreFlawed human nature]], especially [[CorruptPolitician as regards politics]]. Bottom line: if she hadn't been made a [[GodEmperor God-Empress]], possessing the fealty of even supernatural beings, Youko wouldn't have been able to escape being a [[PuppetKing Puppet Queen]]. Strawman [[AndThenWhat conveniently forgot to mention]] that failure to live up to the [[ComesGreatResponsibility divine responsibility]] necessarily results in [[BoltOfDivineRetribution fatal judgment]], or that a strong-willed, good, absolute monarch can cleanse a land of corruption/evil approximately [[DemocracyIsBad infinity times faster than democracy]]. Eventually, Youko herself explains to her court, and even Keiki, what she has decided the real problem is: [[spoiler:an entire culture encouraging terror at the prospect of challenging, but especially speaking out against, wrongdoing by superiors]]. Kei doesn't get better until she forces it to do so.
** While the judgement of Heaven may be certain and ''eventually'' fatal, it is anything but swift. The King of Hou killed 600,000 of his own people, a ''fifth'' of the population, and the only reason he didn't kill more was that his people declined to wait for the shitsudou to carry him off and... [[OffWithHisHead expedited]] the process. To make things worse, the judgement of Heaven initially manifests as bad harvests, disease, natural disasters and the like. In other words, the punishment for a ruler losing the Way falls on the people rather than on the ruler, and that's on top of whatever the ruler is doing that made him a bad king to begin with. In all, it's hard not to wonder what the King of Heaven was thinking when he set up this system. And of course, unlike purely human systems of government, which can be fixed, there's not a thing anyone can do to correct the flaws in this one.
*** He was likely thinking [[ValuesDissonance what Japanese culture]] to this day still shows marked belief in, the idea that nobility are inherently 'better', or at least more valuable, people than are peasantry, and that [[MyMasterRightOrWrong absolute loyalty to one's lord]], [[HonorBeforeReason even to the point of]] [[{{Seppuku}} unhesitatingly committing suicide]] if ordered, is superior behavior. Possibly related is the concept that the best form of government is also the worst form of government, depending on who's doing the governing.
** This is basically implied in-universe; while (after being captured) he treats Youko as the instrument of Heaven's vengeance and proof that he was wrong, ''she'' still seems skeptical.

* WhatAnIdiot: In the novels, the King of Kou orders Kourin to ''personally'' kill Youko, who is currently covered with blood and nearly helpless from fighting Youma, using Youko's own sword, even though as someone who has ruled for fifty years he should clearly know that 1. Kirins cannot kill, 2. blood is deadly poison to Kirins, and 3. Youko's sword is a royal treasure of Kei and [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield cannot be wielded by anyone but the ruler of Kei]]. On top of this Kourin is visibly dying of ''shitsudou'' precisely because he is making her do this, and he will die if she does. The anime avoids this (aside from the last part) by having him use Sugimoto for that scene instead of Kourin.

** Risai has quite a bit in the novels, with fellow Gyousou-loyal judge Kaei.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Shoukou has a point when he points out that the system where kingdoms' rulers are decided by a kirin is silly, especially since the kirin's choices are NOT infallible and ''most'' rulers eventually wind up hurting their kingdom.

* {{Narm}}: The evil Queen of Hou is named [[UnfortunateNames Kaka]]. It sounds exactly like a (very childish) Spanish word for... poop.