Saiunkoku Monogatari – 15 – Poor Kouyuu

This episode was focused on Kouyuu. It becomes clear why he was taken in by Reishin, and he feels rather unappreciated by him. Shouka is, again, the person to show him the light.

Reishin has been treating Kouyuu very indifferently lately. He’s been very cold towards Kouyuu, and this begins to gnaw on the latter. Kouyuu begins to feel underappreciated. The very reason he entered the National Exams was because of Reishin. The fact also remains that Reishin gave Kouyuu the name Li Kouyuu when he took him in. Not Kou Kouyuu. When someone speculates that this means that Reishin’s planning to let go of him some day. This gets even more to him.

Not to mention that Kouyuu’s already feeling gloomy when he watches Shiurei and Eigetsu work all day. The fact that he notices that Reishin only seems to be out to please Shouka only worsens this, up to the point at which he thinks that Reishin became Shiurei’s sponsor only to please Shouka. Eventually, he goes to drink sake, along with Shiuei, Ryuuki and Seiran, and then he blurts out Reishin’s reason for adopting him. Kouyuu was just a normal street kid back then. He made a lottery by himself, with as consolation prize plum blossoms. Reishin then decided to take him in, like it was nothing. This all happened thirteen years ago, right after Shouka took in Seiran. In Kouyuu’s eyes, Reishin only took him in in order to please Shouka.

Shouka then tells Kouyuu a few things, which make him think differently about Reishin. As Shouka refused to be the head of the Kou family, Reishin was forced to pick up this task, and get involved with some pretty dark stuff. he wanted to protect Kouyuu in this by not giving him the name Kou, but Li. The “Kouyuu”-part all have something special, which shows his love for Kouyuu. Reishin also seems to be very introvert. He doesn’t really show his true feeling often. It’s indeed right. In front of Kijin, he acts a bit business-like. He tries to impress Shiurei, though he’s too scared. He tries to please Shouka and he acts cold towards Kouyuu. Though his real self remains cropped up inside. Another interesting detail is that Reishin seemed to love plum blossoms, which seems to be the reason why he took in Kouyuu, of all persons.

Whether Reishin still loves Kouyuu as a son remains a mystery, though one thing is clear. He did love him when he took him in and raised him.

Ryuuki and Seiran, meanwhile, have their own problems, as they begin to feel a bit useless towards Shiurei. Both are only able to watch her. At the end of the episode, they decide to solve this by helping the ones near Shiurei. Ryuuki goes to Eigetsu and gives him the Imperial Stamp. It seems to be significant. Don’t ask me why. Seiran goes to Kouyuu, and brings him to Shouka. This way, they’re both helping a bit.

Official Ro makes an interesting observation, by the way. Shiurei is extremely lucky. Even though she did a lot on her own accord, she was helped. She only took the aptitude test and the final Kaishi test, while normally, you’d be spending a whole year passing exams before you can get in. This indeed shows that there still isn’t any equal treatment for men and women. lets hope it’ll change to the better side.

Overall, I like Kouyuu’s case. It’s interesting to see a different side of his.

Memorable Moment: Ryuuki, thinking that Seiran was alone while actually, Shiuei and Kouyuu were near him. I wonder what would’ve happened if they didn’t. ^^;