Saiunkoku Monogatari
I’d like to start this post off by saying I’ve always made it a rule to NOT start any type of anime or manga series that isn’t already completed (at least in Japan). Why, you ask? Well, since I am currently not fluent in Japanese, seeing raw versions of the shows wouldn’t do me any good, nor would importing any of the literature. Also, as I am a terribly impatient person from time to time, waiting for fansubs or domesticated releases just KILL me.
Thanks to Saimono, that’s all null and void now. I’m still avoiding Bleach though. XD
Anyways, back to the anime. Okay, I’ll admit it. The first thing that drew me to this series was the artwork. I know, I know, it’s a pretty shallow reason. However, I was doing some websurfing one day and the picture on Geneon’s DVD of Ryuuki and Shuurei just caught my eye. The artwork was similar to that of Fushigi Yugi (which happens to be a big favorite of mine), so I was intrigued. After reading up about the series on Wiki, I decided to take the plunge and check it out.
FYI, the page on Wiki that I originally looked at primarily discussed season I, and me being in a hurry didn’t notice that this anime had more than one series. I was under the impression it was completed at 39 episodes. Stupid, I know.
If I had one word to describe this anime overall, it would be pastel. Some of you might go o_O at this, but to me, this is pretty accurate. Pastel in my head equates to things being soft, pretty, easy on the eyes and easy to like. Visually, the anime is done in lovely shades of pink, blue, purple, green… all nice and pale and pastel. There are tones of bishies running around Shuurei at all times, and everyone is amiable and happy. On top of that, for the most part, everyone gets along well enough too. And even though what Shuurei has achieved was never even dreamt of back then, the anime still makes it all seem so very viable. It’s a lovely, heart-warming story thus far that doesn’t make you feel as though you’ve spent vacuous hours in front of your television (or computer). I believe it’s made this way by the strong sense of intelligence infused into most of the characters. If they acted like a bunch of airheads all the time, I’m pretty sure I would have been very turned off from this series.
Okay, here I’ll delve into my thoughts on characters. I’ve seen all the anime episodes up through episode 14 in season II and I’ve read all the novel summaries from various sources, so my character impressions in this post will be drawing upon those source.
Shuurei – Usually, female leads like this irritate me. A lot of the time when they create a female who constantly goes against the norm, they end up making them far too headstrong and bossy for my taste (Rei in Sailor Moon, Kaoru in Kenshin, etc. I didn’t dislike these characters, but they annoyed me more often than not). Shuurei however, doesn’t annoy me hardly at all, aside from her obvious lack of knowledge about love and her family’s position in society. She is a pleasant figure with great cooking skills (close to my heart!) and a good head on her shoulders to boot. She rises up to every challenge that comes her way and sees it through to the end. What I like most about her is that she realizes that she isn’t infallible. When she became the co-governor of Brown Province, she even went as far as telling Ensei to take her head if that’s what it would take to restore peace in that area of the country… which perhaps was a bit extreme given the irrational nature of the situation, but nonetheless it’s a striking illustration of her sense of duty and honor. As she goes about her duties as an official, she is very much a mature woman. Clever and calculating, she still manages to remain empathetic to the people’s needs and treats children with a motherly sort of affection. She never looks down on anyone, in spite of her prestigious lineage. Shuurei is indeed a noble figure.
When it comes to love though, she is just… helpless. I can’t put it any other way. I understand what it is Shuurei wants to do, but she really is insensitive to the emotions of others when it comes to personal situations. She repeatedly refuses Ryuuki, but then lets herself be drawn in by Sakujun who, in his pursuit of her, is nearly the same as Ryuuki. (Later I need to analyze WHY Shuurei seems to be drawn to Sakujun so much more strongly than Ryuuki because as it is right now, that whole bit confuses me.) Shuurei doesn’t strike me as being afraid of love, but she’s clearly inexperienced. She seems to try to make up for that inexperience with indifference, pretending that the attentions of those around her don’t strike her in any way… yet through flashbacks and inner monologues we see that she does think about these things. Personally, I think she’s going to end up very lonely if she continues to push intimacy out of her life the way she is in exchange for her career. Work is important yes, but so is developing relationships with those around you. While this doesn’t happen to everyone, I wouldn’t be surprised if Shuurei ended up as a career woman who looks back in 50 years and realizes just how much she missed out on during her lifetime.
Ryuuki - Ahhh… my current all time favorite male lead in an anime series (previously it was Inuyasha; he just cracks me up). Ryuuki is so charming to me. He’s clearly extremely intelligent as we see in the beginning of the series when Kouyuu is finally able to give him lessons, but he is also very child-like. What I love about Ryuuki is that he has been steadily progressing since the beginning. From a slacker to an emperor worthy of respect, his progress has pleased me greatly. The story of his childhood certainly tugs at my heartstrings… those scenes of chibi-Ryuuki with or without bruises just make my heart melt! Still, because he was so unloved by everyone except Seiran and Shouka as a child, it makes you wonder why he clings so ferociously to Shuurei just a little bit. I’ve no doubt he truly loves her, but I can’t help thinking it isn’t quite a mature love, not yet. At first he compares Shuurei to a nagging mother when she scolds him for eating too many manjuu, but he’s clearly already fond of her. A nagging mother huh? Well we know Ryuuki’s never had any sort of kindness from a maternal figure so…
Later of course, I think he ends up falling for Shuurei because she truly is an extraordinary woman (especially for ancient China), but it still has this underlying current that unsettles me. His love for Shuurei in some ways has held him back from being a truly great emperor, but as Shouka pointed out to Reishin, the more Ryuuki behaves like an emperor, the more lonely he becomes. And Shuurei was a dream given to Ryuuki that under normal circumstances he never would have had. Without truly realizing what it would mean to allow women to take the Imperial Examination, Ryuuki pushes the bill through. All the while we see him thinking about Shuurei and how happy she’ll be. Even his advisers question the morality behind this move. Granted I think equality is a good thing, but I don’t think Ryuuki understands the magnitude of such a thing. Still, he’s becoming more and more mature as a character, as is evident when he finally realizes that, as an emperor, he cannot sit around and wait for Shuurei until the end of time. It’s like he’s accepted that he can love her, but as is part of his duty he will have to move on and accept another woman as his wife.
Like most fans, I just want to see Shuurei hurry up and realize she’s been in love with Ryuuki all along. Wouldn’t it be great if they not only changed the Imperial Court by allowing female officials, but also changed the entire role of the Emperor by allowing Shuurei to continue in her work? I doubt this will happen, but hey… I can dream.
Seiran – First, I have to say OMG Seiran’s seiyuu was also the seiyuu for Tamahome! [fangirl squeal]. Ahem. Seiran comes across to me as a strong, silent type. His manner of speaking is very gentle and he always, always shows the utmost respect for Shuurei and Shouka. Naturally this stems from his gratitude towards them for taking him in, but I sense a hidden talent within Seiran. Not just from what has been hinted at either when we see them speaking of “wonderful prince Seian” either. There’s just something about him that I can’t quite put my finger on yet. When he gets angry though, he seems like he’d be scary if Ensei wasn’t there to hold him back. For some odd reason, whenever this happened in the anime I’d get a sensation of “Super Saiyan Seiran” lol. Still, even more so than with Shuurei, Seiran is able to open up and relax around Ensei. This is probably because he feels Ensei is the only person he can depend on to be his equal in just about any situation. I’m eager to see how the author continues to develop his character.
Ryuuren – I have trouble deciding who’s prettier: Ryuuki or Ryuuren in normal clothing? That bit of silliness aside, Ryuuren is one of my favorite characters in this series. The genius of the Ran (Lan?) clan, he is definitely more than a little bit eccentric. I know geniuses more than likely see things differently than we “common” folk do, but does he really not realize how out of tune his flute playing is? Or that using vegetables to decorate yourself is just… odd, aside from wasteful. Well, whatever because it all adds to his charm! Having dubbed Shuurei his soul friend, I figured it would only be matter of time before some kind of romantic element entered between those two. At this point we only see it mentioned in passing that he’s asked for Shuurei’s hand in marriage, but I wonder if the author is going to stop it there? Also, Ryuuren’s sense of intuition is eerie. He just knows when something big is going down. This has nothing to do with being a genius folks! I like how he accepts these littles lessons in humanity from Shuurei though. They’ve managed to capture how people that are highly intelligent seem to… struggle for lack of a better term when it comes to socializing with others. I’ve known plenty of highly intelligent people who had a knack for making others feel isolated and/or uncomfortable the same as Ryuuren. Perhaps this is why I’m so fond of him, as he resembles a great many of my friends.
Shuuei – The consumate ladies’ man of the series. I love how he patronizes Kouyuu constantly about getting lost and for being so mean to someone who is only looking out for Kouyuu’s best interests. It’s obvious he cares about Kouyuu very much though. Learning that he is essentially the middle child of the Lan clan though, it lends to Shuuei all sorts of aspects that go along with being in that position. We already know that he was in love with his elder brother’s wife… and it seems the author has dictated Shuuei to be a victim of unrequited love alongside Ryuuki.
Kouyuu – Kouyuu always makes me smile. I love how in the anime he tries to rationalize getting lost by exclaiming how the heck could such and such an office have grown wings and flown away in the middle of the night!? That must be why it’s not here! A genius with a short temper and a curious dislike towards women. Either I missed it or it hasn’t been explained yet, but I don’t really get Kouyuu’s distaste towards the softer sex. Reishin is married, so it couldn’t have come from him. Also, he doesn’t get lost when he’s drunk apparently o_O. Thus far, we haven’t seen him doing much beyond tutoring Shuurei and Ryuuki, but I have a feeling great things are in store for Kouyuu since it appears that he has been marked to be the next leader of the Kou clan. I look forward to his future.
Shouka – How cool would it be to have a father who is as kind and wise as Shouka, and a top-notch ex-assassin to boot? I love how Shouka takes everything in, but doesn’t try to push anyone in either direction. He offers his advice as pearls of wisdom, but everything is stated in such a way that there’s no arguing with him or getting offended by what he says. He says things as they are, and that’s what I like most about him. Also, his relationship with Reishin is very amusing. He’s constantly trying to instill some sort of humanity into Reishin (even going as far as slapping him on the forehead for being too harsh) as well as point out the larger picture (i.e. Ryuuki being in love with Shuurei and how ultimately the choice in the end will be no one else’s but Shuurei’s).
Kourin – An elegant child who is far more ladylike than Shuurei, it’s not surprising that Kourin has been mistaken for her once or twice. I pitied her at first because of her motives behind poisoning Shuurei, but she’s shaping up to be yet another admirable character.
Ensei – My rogue prince! The bear references are always a good laugh, but when Ensei gets down to business he’s definitely a force to be reckoned with. He constantly nags at Seiran, telling him in all sorts of underhanded ways that he needs to grow up, especially when it concerns Shuurei. Ensei is also quite inspirational however, having kept the peace in the Brown Province for 10 years without having actually passed any of the typical qualifications to become an official. It also doesn’t hurt that he kicks major ass. I sense a strong emotional undercurrent towards Shuurei though, so I am curious to see whether or not the author will turn Ensei into a romantic rival for Ryuuki. Also, what is the deal with Ensei’s teacher!?
Eigetsu – I’m not sure why, but while I like Eigetsu well enough, I don’t really feel any particularly strong emotional ties with him as of yet. As such… I really don’t have anything to write I’m afraid. I may edit this section later.
Reishin – CAUTION: Overprotective powerful relative lurking in the shadows somewhere! Cold and haughty, Reishin is always transformed into something like a puppy starved for affection whenever it comes to Shouka or Shuurei. He’s also the laziest official I’ve ever seen, real or fictional. As told by the novels though, there is a reason for him never doing any work. I think I need to do more research on Reishin before I can write on him properly though, because I still am in the dark as to exactly why Shouka was kicked out of the clan, why it was Reishin that did it, and why he despises the Kou clan so much.
Senior Secretary Kou – I really want to see his face. It’s not fair that the audience only gets to see his chin! (Given the nature of anime however, I don’t see how they could make him any prettier than Ryuuki or Ryuuren or Seiran, so it’s really not a big deal in the end.) While I like how Hojou teases Reishin and always points out when he’s acting creepy or ridiculous, once again I can’t comment properly on him until I’ve read up on him more.
At this point, in terms of the story, I’m just waiting to see how the author plays everything out. So far, character development is just beautiful. I also really enjoy the relationships that are formed between characters. While some of the aspects irritate me immensely (these repeated themes of unrequited love make me pause and think sometimes), overall this anime is hugely enjoyable, no matter how unrealistic it may seem. I’m sure there will be many more posts concerning this series in the future.
Sitting here and thinking about how unrequited love is such a strong theme in this series, maybe they should consider a name change ~_~ As I learn more about the series and new characters, I’m sure you’ll be seeing many more Saimono posts from me in the future.
Ja ne~
