A quick search revealed that there was not a thread for this anime. I am definitely surprised.
Description:
! Youko Nakajima is just an ordinary high school girl, a model student. However, despite her outward appearance, she is struggling with an emotional confused inner spirit. One day, a she is confronted by a man that pledges his loyalty to her. The man takes her to an alternate world that is full of mysteries. Two of what she thought to be her friends were taken with her, and the three of them began to explore the world on there own because their guide had gone missing in the journey while fending off the attacks of some wild beasts. They come to discover that they do not understand the language of the world, all of them except for Youko anyways. She mysteriously can talk to the rest of the people. However, them being there presented a problem to the ruler of the land and they quickly became fugities on the run, running around in fear of captivity. There journey unfolds as various secrets and plots are revealed, including the reason that they are hunted so vigorously.
! Additional Information: In the new world, there are 13 distinct territories. The middle ground is essentially sacred ground, and contains the Koukai, the land where Youma (the beasts) live in. It also contains the holy land on top of the mountain (I forgot the name), home to the Taiho (servants to the rulers of each nation.) The rulers of each of the twelve kingdoms are granted immortality and rule over their kingdom until the heavens deem them unfit to rule. Once they are deemed unfit, their Taiho (also immortal) becomes ill with a disease called Shitsudou. And unless the ruler changes their ways, the Taiho will die and then the ruler will also die shortly afterwards.
I apologize for the amateur description, ANN was down when I attempted to go to it.
I thought that this was a very good anime. The artwork and animation were spectacular. The music score wasn't too bland. The characters were interesting. The story was overall quite good, although it was basically 4 different stories that just moved on from the last bit. I can definitely see how it started off as novels.
! My favorite of the four arcs was the one where Youko goes down to Kei and lives with Enho. I loved how each of the girls developed and eventually met. The whole arc was just spectacular.
! They left a lot of things hanging with the ending of the anime. I was annoyed about how they mentioned Sou several times as the nation with the longest ruler, and yet we never got to meet them. Also, I disliked how the issue with Tai was unresolved. I hope they make a sequal to this series, else I''ve have to find the novels. :(