Uta Koi already was a great series to provide background for Chihayafuru while we wait for the second season (Winter 2013, hell yeah!), but this episode showed a little detour. A detour into Genji Monogatari, to be exact. This episode was entirely dedicated to its writer: Murasaki Shikibu, offering its own interpretation of what her mindset would have been like while writing it.
Once again, this episode fits itself into the “being a woman in history SUCKS”-themes. Murasaki managed to avoid this fate, but a close friend of her according to this episode’s interpretation did not, and ended up being a captive in a marriage. With that in mind, I can see how that would result in the creation of such a romantic drama as with the Tale of Genji, although it remains a bit strange for her to at the end simply say that she wants to tell a story about female strength. Sure, it’s one of the themes of the Tale of Genji, but there was much more going on in Genji Monogatari, especially considering all that the girls and women went through. A few of them died quickly after giving birth after all.
What’s also daring is that they turned her of all people into a lesbian. I mean, I paid close attention to the OP and noticed one female couple amongst the different people who passed the screen, but I never imagined that this would be the author of Genji Monogatari. It’s an interesting idea, especially considering the contents of what she wrote about. This kind of meta-fiction is what makes Uta Koi so good and special: showing the mindsets and thoughts that were put into works of fiction and poetry. I have no idea how this happened, but nevertheless I’m really glad they made this.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)
It was a period where two of the greatest piece of Japanese literature by woman was produced, and them being literary figures at the time also did write poems. They just highlighted the Pillow book, so naturally Tale of Genji get attention
Though it’s worth noting, it’s not the inspiration of the whole of the tale of genji. The piece she present has Aoi written on the top, which is the name of Genji’s principal wife.
What I find most interesting is that the new chapter she presents at the end of the episode is the chapter in which Genji marries the young Murasaki and starts to turn their relationship into a sexual one. Considering Murasaki’s (the author) resolve to write a story about the strength of women, its curious that her newly inspired piece is what cements Murasaki’s (the story heroine) sad fate with an unfaithful lover, at least in my opinion.
I did love the lesbian angle as well. Her father was said to have regretted the fact that she was born a woman despite being so intelligent, so having her long to be a man makes sense. She would be able to do all she wished if that were the case, from displaying her intellect without worry to staying with her best friend forever. Truly a great episode.