I recently bought Box 1 and Box 2 of the budget US release of 12 Kingdoms. I don’t think the world really needs yet another review of this anime, which was licensed several years ago, so I’ll just describe the two versions of the box-set. The full price one costs about $100 for each of the two boxes, while the budget one costs $50 for each of the two boxes.
So what’s the difference? Apparently the DVDs are the same in both variants, so the difference is in the packaging. The budget box has one DVD mounted inside the front, two mounted (overlapping) on a swinging carrier, and two mounted (overlapping) inside the back. And that’s it. So, less artwork, fewer boxes, less convenience in handling. And for the extra hundred bucks I assume you get a box for each DVD and more artwork and synopsis text. Your choice.
I’ve also read the first of the original novels (Shadow of the Moon, a Sea of Shadows, by Fuyumi Ono) in translation. This is a curious experience, as it’s rather like reading a pared-down version of the anime story. As some will already know, two characters (Sugimoto, who appears only fleetingly in the novel) and Asano, who doesn’t exist at all in the novel) were added to the anime to facilitate the adaptation. Seems that a number of scenes I remember from the anime are just not there. The novel is told from Youko’s point of view, and it’s very hard to put it aside and stop reading. It’s an intense experience watching her change from cringing schoolgirl, to prisoner, to refugee, to a competent street-person who actually enjoys chopping up youma.
By the way, I think I have seen the 12K series described as “light novels”, which seems a bit derogatory, but apparently this Japanese term means that they are shelved with sci-fi, movie novelisations and romantic novels and not with highbrow literary novels, Booker prize winners and suchlike.