Youko isn't the only reason I loved Twelve Kingdoms, just the biggest one. The stories and the world are wonderful also. The political aspects of the story are really interesting to watch - each kingdom's ruler (or previous ruler) makes different high-level decisions and you get to see how it impacts all levels of their kingdom. You get to see all sorts of different rulers - ones who are proud, ones that try their best to serve the people, rulers that have good intentions but become twisted, rulers that act as the "rudder" for their kingdom, and others. Another major plus of the storyline is that there's no significant romance in it. I like a good romance, but it's silly to inject romance into every kind of story out there. Along the same lines, it's nice to see anime that isn't injected with ecchi. This story stands on it's own two feet, and doesn't try to cover it's faults with those things. Similarly, I felt that it wasn't as predictable with the storyline as most stories (anime or otherwise). It's nice to watch something that feels fresh instead of feeling that you're watching the same mini-stories as dozens of other series.
The side characters, the voice acting, and the music were all also very good.
There are some faults in the series, but the story was so good it deserves a 10 despite any issues. Firstly, I didn't care much for the animation; it's the same style as Escaflowne, where a face has the skin color and the shadow color but no in-between. I didn't notice it much after the first few episodes though cause I was so engrossed with the story. The overall story is in four segments - Youko, then Taiki, then Youko again, then a small one on Shoryu. The Taiki storyline was never concluded or anything. Beyond that, there could've easily been another 45 good episodes about Youko and the events surrounding her. I guess that's my only major gripe - that I wanted more.
