Juuni Kokuki : Kakukakutaru Oudou, Kouryoku no Uka

Juuni Kokuki: Kakukakutaru Oudou, Kouryoku no Uka is a Japanese PlayStation 2 role-playing game from Konami, released in Japan on June 17, 2004. Based on Fuyumi Ono's Twelve Kingdoms fantasy novels and their anime adaptation, it continues Konami's 2003 PS2 game Juuni Kokuki: Guren no Shirube, Koujin no Michi. The story follows Yoko Nakajima after her difficult rise to the throne of Kei, shifting the focus from her arrival in an unfamiliar world to the responsibility of governing a kingdom still damaged by its former ruler.

The game places Yoko in the setting of the Twelve Kingdoms, a realm organized around separate countries, royal courts, and the heavenly system that chooses each nation's monarch and kirin. Kei has suffered under the misrule of its previous king, and Yoko must travel beyond the palace to understand the problems left behind. The scenario draws on the world and material associated with the novel Kaze no Banri, Reimei no Sora, while also adding events created for the game. Its story therefore gives familiar characters and places a new route through the wider Twelve Kingdoms setting rather than simply replaying the television series.

Unlike the earlier PS2 installment, which leaned more heavily toward adventure-game presentation, Kakukakutaru Oudou, Kouryoku no Uka is structured as an RPG. Exploration takes Yoko and her companions through locations in Kei, where conversations and story scenes move the central missions forward. The game uses event encounters as well as dungeon exploration, and players can solve puzzles, collect useful items, and prepare before pushing deeper into dangerous areas. The campaign is divided into seven main missions, giving its political and personal conflicts a clear sequence of goals.

Combat is party-based and menu-driven. Battles can pit groups of up to three characters against three opponents, with Yoko joined by protectors and other allies as the adventure develops. Enemies include the supernatural threats associated with the series' otherworldly setting, so party composition and the available abilities matter alongside ordinary RPG commands. The game also incorporates shirei, summoned beings connected to the setting; each allied character can have one attached, and the associated summon can be called when the battle conditions are met. This gives encounters an extra layer beyond choosing standard attacks and items.

Yoko remains the center of the game, but the emphasis is not only on defeating monsters. Her position as Kei's new ruler makes journeys into troubled districts part of the larger effort to restore the country. Encounters with officials, residents, and traveling companions put the pressures of leadership alongside the series' fantasy adventure. That perspective distinguishes the sequel from the beginning of Yoko's tale: she is no longer merely trying to survive in an unknown land, but confronting what it takes to rebuild one after a corrupt reign.

Konami presented the game with material associated with the animated adaptation, including anime footage and character imagery during conversations and battles. Small sprites handle movement on the field, while larger animated character sprites are used in combat. For fans of the original novels and anime, the release also includes original game events and a collection of illustrations by Akihiro Yamada, the novel series' illustrator. These elements make the PS2 title a companion piece to the franchise as well as a standalone role-playing adaptation.

Players who had save data from Juuni Kokuki: Guren no Shirube, Koujin no Michi could carry it into the sequel. The transfer can alter mission content and open a hidden mission, rewarding people who experienced both parts of Konami's short-lived Twelve Kingdoms game series in sequence. Released only for the Japanese PS2 market, Juuni Kokuki: Kakukakutaru Oudou, Kouryoku no Uka remains a distinctive adaptation of the property: a game about exploration and party battles that also treats the difficult work of ruling Kei as its central adventure.