been collected into one volume, Kasho no Yume. One short story, , published in 1997, accompanied the drama CD for Higashi no Wadatsumi, Nishi no Sōkai and remains uncollected elsewhere. In February 2008, the new Twelve Kingdoms short story, was published in Shinchosha's Yomyom magazine, followed by in September 2009. Hisho no Tori and Rakushou no Goku were later collected into a volume of short stories titled Hisho no Tori, along with two new previously unpublished stories in 2013. U.S. release On May 11, 2006, U.S. publisher Tokyopop said in an interview with comic book news website Newsarama that it would be publishing the novels under its "Pop Fiction" imprint. The first book was released in March 2007. The first four books have been released. Media Anime The anime adaptation by studio Pierrot aired from April 9, 2002, to August 30, 2003, in Japan on NHK for forty-five episodes. The opening theme is "Juunigenmukyoku" by Kunihiko Ryo while the ending theme is "Getsumei-Fuuei" by Mika Arisaka. The anime series has been released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States by Media Blasters, which are now out of print. The license was transferred to Discotek Media, who released the complete series on Blu-ray in 2019. Animanga Kodansha printed a fifteen-volume "animanga" series in 2002-2004 by combining images from the anime series with printed dialogue and sound effects. It has been released only in Japanese. Video games Konami has released in Japan two games based on Twelve Kingdoms, both produced by Takashi Shimomichi. They are Juuni Kokuki: Guren no Shirube Koujin no Michi and Juuni Kokuki: Kakukakutaru Oudou Kouryoku no Uka. Both games contain footage from the anime and many stills of the characters are used during conversation and during battle. The games are sprite-based, with small sprites used on-screen and larger, highly animated sprites used during battle. Juuni Kokuki: Guren no Shirube Koujin no Michi was released for PlayStation 2 on August 28, 2003. It follows Yoko's journey to becoming Empress of Kei. While classified as an RPG, it is often described as an adventure game. The game was re-released in Konami's The Best lineup on June 9, 2004. Yoko is capable of summoning Keiki's Shirei into battle as well as having additional party members. Juuni Kokuki: Kakukakutaru Oudou Kouryoku no Uka was released for PlayStation 2 on April 4, 2004, and is a sequel to the first game, continuing