Category: Saiunkoku Monogatari

Those horrible bastards! Seriously, they’re taking the rumours about Shuurei being the source of the epidemic way too seriously, shooting her with arrows like that! Anyway, when I guessed last time that this episode would be awesome, I was wrong. The next episode is going to be awesome, this one merely built up for it. Next time, it seems that Kourin will meet up with Eigetsu, and something tells me that the arrows we saw at the cliff-hanger DID hit someone. Still, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t love this episode, the past two episodes have been building up perfectly, after the dialogue-heavy previous arc. It’s interesting that there wasn’t really a main focus or anything. The entire episode just consists out of the different storylines which get developed further, and one new storyline to be introduced: the attempts of the bad guys to kill Shuurei. I didn’t pick up whether they were the ones behind the rumours or not, but the fact remains that we’ve got ourselves a group of warriors, and their leader has decided to kill off Shuurei. This really shows how easily people can be manipulated when stroke by something dangerous and unknown. The biggest theme of the episode would probably be the villagers being moved in to the capital of the Sa-province. Remember the two kids from the previous episode? Well it seems that they encouraged their fellow villagers to move out, and after a while, they run into a group of soldiers, who offer them protection. It’s interesting how one of these soldiers actually doesn’t agree, and still thinks that the disease is contagious (which it obviously is not). And god, Eigetsu looked horrible! Like I mentioned above, I’m so looking forward to when Kourin sees him again.]]>

This episode was definitely more fast-paced than the previous ones. Lots of things happened, and I really loved it. It basically consisted out of two parts: one focused on Eigetsu and one on Shuurei. It’s quite surprising, I expected Shuurei to take a long time to get back to the Sa-province, but due to the fact that everyone is racing to reach the Sa-province as fast as possible, they move considerable faster than they did before, when they had to watch out not to get caught. What also surprised me was Seiran: he actually stayed in the capital. Instead, he sent Ensei his sword, and that’s all we hear of him during this episode. The best part of the Shuure-part was when people started to refuse to let Shuurei pass because of the rumours that she might be the cause of the disease. The bad part is that Shuurei is actually starting to believe this. After all, if Li Senya really is THAT Li Senya, he’d indeed be causing trouble because of her, which means that she indirectly is the cause of so many people dying. The best part of the episode, though, definitely was the Eigetsu-part. To start, some more parts of his past get revealed: the parts that tie everything together. Yougetsu turns out to be a spirit, who saved Eigetsu when Doushu found him, killed by his own parents. This makes me wonder: is Yougetsu one of the sages who helped the first king? Anyway, Yougetsu’s condition for saving him was that he could only remain alive for twenty more years. When Yougetsu saved Doushu, these years probably not only got divided, but also considerably reduced. Otherwise Eigetsu would have lived till his sixteenth, while he’s around twelve years old right now. The reason Yougetsu saved Doushu probably also was because of the way Doushu treated him when he appeared. He never even once got angry or surprised with him. Anyway, in the present time, a lot of things also happen: most notably Eigetsu being kidnapped and tortured (O_o) by a Doushu-lookalike. If I had to guess, then he’s on Riou’s side. As for the reason? Yougetsu? Do they want him? In any case, I definitely do NOT want to miss the next episode, as something tells me that something incredible is going to happen. Meanwhile, elsewhere Kourin is coming after Eigetsu (another reason why the next episode is promising to be really good), Ryuuren realizes that Eigetsu is in danger (ditto), and we see the introduction of two new side-characters: Shuuran and Riou. Their family was struck by the disease. Shuuran finds her support in Riou, while Riou thinks he abandoned them. Even though it was the first episode I saw them, the discussion the two of them had was already quite touching, and I already like them A LOT. Shuuran already shows that she is really strong. … And why the HECK did Riou have the same name as the other Riou!?!]]>

The current episode closes another chapter in the story. Shuurei is finally done with all her tasks that she set out to do in the capital. She collected the permissions to turn the Sa-province into the centre of intellect for the country, and she gathered enough doctors to cure the disease that’s been plaguing in the Sa-clan. All that’s left? Get Ryuuki’s permission. The largest part of the episode focused on this. Yet again a huge dialogue, though fortunately this one was a bit easier to understand (emphasis on “bit”). Ryuuki was gathered along with all his advisors, and especially the advisors were angry at her for spending so much money (see previous episode) on the medics. Shuurei’s speech blew these guys away, though. At least, for a short while, they then started blaming Shuurei for the reason the disease spread. Ryuuki then silences everyone, but who was that person he turned into for a short while? He had the same glow as Sho Taishi’s younger form and Sa Enjun’s spirit-form. We never see any trace of him again, though. The rest of the conversation was a bit fuzzy, though in the end, it came down to Ryuuki giving his permission. The rest of the episode was more character-based, when Shuurei rests after her hard work, she says goodbye to Ryuuki and leaves towards the Sa-province again. Reishin and Kouyuu were hilarious as well, whey they stand besides a sleeping Shuurei and have to flee when she wakes up. ^^; Still, it seems that nearly everyone in the palace was worried about her, since she encounters lots of acquaintances who seem to have fallen asleep on their chairs in the library, where she was sleeping herself. Kouyuu found an interesting way to hide himself as well. ^^; Also: what happened to Eigetsu? He wasn’t featured at all during the episode, even though he’s about to die. He should be getting some spotlights in the next episode, though. I really wonder whether Shuurei will be able to see him again. Like I said before, Eigetsu at one point had less than a month to live, while it’d take Shuurei at least a month to get to the Sa-province. But then again, right now she’s in a hurry to go there with the doctors as fast as possible, so I can imagine that the journey would only take half the time when she puts some speed in it.]]>

Once again, Saiunkoku continues to stun me with some amazing episodes and plot developments. I do admit that the struggles within the Sa-clan dragged on a bit, but the current arc more than makes up for it. I can’t believe how awesome Shuurei is when she’s determined. (On a side-note: only now I noticed that Shuurei still wears the make-up that she received from Kochou). So, in the last episode, it seemed that the cause was somehow spread through the snow foxes into the water-system, and the disease wasn’t contagious. In this episode, we finally get to know the truth about the disease: it’s caused by the bugs that live on the snow-fox. People swallow them while drinking the water, and the bugs start to take over the human body. The only cure: manually removing it by cutting into the human body. This is where the problem lies, though: nobody of the palace-medical team knows how to do this. And this is where the strange guy we’ve been seeing with Sho Taishi comes into the picture: he actually was the doctor who took care of Shuurei when she was sick, and he turns out to be a legendary medic who knows how to properly cut into the human body. He then agrees to go with Shuurei to the Sa-province, along with the medical staff from the palace, with whom he spends the rest of the episode teaching how to properly cut into the human body (I know there has to be some kind of special word for this, but I just can’t seem to remember it), by practicing on a pig. If this wasn’t already enough, we also get to know why Doushu’s death means Eigetsu’s death: Doushu died once already. Yougetsu then put half of Eigetsu’s soul inside Doushu, so that he could remain alive. Apparently, this only kept him alive for about six or seven years, before this part of the soul died along with Doushu. Now that Eigetsu has lost half of his soul, I can imagine that he can’t live without it. I’m glad to say that I actually understood the first half of the episode quite clearly. The second half… however, was a different story. I know that Shuurei went to a department to ask permission for something, but which department that was, and what she needed from them still remain a big mystery to me. Shuurei also exits the episode with the message that she only has one job left to do, and I do wonder what that job might be… It’s interesting how you can compare the pacing of Saiunkoku Monogatari with Les Miserables. With both shows, you just know some things are definitely going to happen. With Les Miserables, it’s for example Fantine’s death and Jean, revealing his own identity, while for Saiunkoku Monogatari it’s for example the scene where Eigetsu either dies or gets saved somehow, and the revelation of who the mysterious Li Senya actually is. With both shows, these scenes are definitely going to happen, and with both shows, you won’t be able to predict exactly when these moments will come. It can be the next episode; it can also take five more episodes. That’s another thing I love about both of these series.]]>

Whoa… this episode was basically just one huge dialogue. It’s hard to find a moment in which people actually didn’t talk about something. Unfortunately, that made things difficult to understand, but I can feel that this episode was building up to something great. We start with Shuurei’s meeting with the governor of the Koku-province, Kai. Kai shows her the books that Doushu gave him, and it seems that they’re all highly advanced medical books. Why did Doushu tell Kai to give these books to Shuurei and not to Eigetsu? Why was it so important for him to deliver these books? Kai also informs Shuurei that Eigetsu will be dying soon. The reaction of Shuurei was marvellous, and I do wonder whether Eigetsu will she be alive when she gets back to the Sa-province (remember, the journey does take thirty days). Kai also tells him that when Doushu was about to die, he tried to get a doctor to look at him, though when he got back, Doushu already was gone. If my memory doesn’t fool me, he then went outside to die, under the shades of a tree. I think he wanted to have a bit of time for himself. Also, he gives Shuurei the final permission she needs to carry out her plans. ^^ The rest of the episode was a big puzzle for me, though, and I’m eagerly waiting for Impz and Usagijen to post their views on it. Eigetsu arrived in the town I assume was plagued by the disease. In there, he meets up with some kind of official. Shuurei shows the books to the medical staff of the palace, and they realize that they were written by some kind of legendary figure, who was supposed to be dead. And that’s about all I picked up. Like mentioned above, I feel that this episode was building up to something amazing. The episode was very focused and detailed, and really took its time explaining. The next episode should prove to be a beauty. :)]]>

This episode probably was more than enough to please all the Saiunkoku fanboys and fangirls. Not only does it start with Shuurei, getting saved by none other than her father, but the kissing-scene between Eigetsu and Kourin was just BEAUTIFUL. This definitely was one of the best Saiunkoku-episodes so far! Seeing Shouka save Shuurei really surprised me, as I nearly forgot that he was, in fact, the leader of a highly successful assassin group once. He’s got a very interesting conversation with the white-haired immortal (apparently named Riou), after he ordered Shuurei to leave, as it seems that the two of them have met each other before. Shusui also shows her face again, in what feels like an absence of thirty episodes. Riou mentions the name of Bara-hime. If I had to guess, then this Bara-hime was a very special person to the guy, and somehow Shuurei resembles her. That’s why he’s after her, even though he knows that the two of them aren’t the same person. We’re definitely going to see more of him in the future episodes. Shuurei, meanwhile, runs into Seiran, who finally gets a bit of screen-time again when he notices Shuurei, obviously in trouble. She tells him about what happened, and he seems to get worried as well. That’s the strange part about this. I can imagine Shouka having some kind of history with the guy, but I believed that Seiran’s past already was wrapped up. If that’s the case, then why did he react so worried when Shuurei described the guy? The next part: Kouyuu finally spends a bit of time again with Shuurei, when she saves him from getting lost in the middle of snowy weather. After a while, he forgets his worries about marriage a bit, and calms down a bit. That is, until Tei Yuushun shows up, with the news that the governor of the Koku-province will be arriving on the next day. I do wonder what’ll happen with the two of them, and whether we’ll have some kind of climax between the two of them, before Shuurei leaves to the Sa-province again. Seiran, meanwhile, informs Ryuuki about the things Shuurei told him, but Ran and Ryuuki don’t really take this seriously. I still don’t know why he’s so worried, simply because of her description, and he also didn’t freak out like he did when the Satsujinzoku was mentioned. Still, the definite highlight of the episode was the scene between Kourin and Eigetsu. I originally believed that Yougetsu created Eigetsu, but this was a lie. At one point, Eigetsu was nearly dying, so Yougetsu offered him his body, so that he’d live. I’m not sure why Yougetsu did this. Perhaps it was out of compassion, perhaps there was a deeper reason behind it. But still, Eigetsu’s soul could only remain in Yougetsu’s body for a limited amount of time, it seems. And that time is now running out. That probably also explains why he didn’t chose to be a doctor. People like them take at least twenty years to become really good, while he knew that if he studied enough, he’d have more chances becoming a government official. That’s also the reason he became a child prodigy, and managed to pass the national exams in first place: he just wanted to be useful more than anyone else participating in it. By the way, does anyone know how much episodes the second season will consist of? If I’m not mistaking, we’re currently at novel eight of eleven or twelve (?). This probably means that there’s enough material for about twenty-six episodes. Any opinions about this?]]>

I just realized that from now on, my Saturdays are going to be really busy, with Seirei no Moribito, Kaze no Shoujo Emily, Toward the Terra, Saiunkoku Monogatari and starting from next week, Dennou Coil as well, all airing on that very same day. This is going to be interesting, as these four series already are top-quality, and I’m suspecting Dennou Coil to be great as well. ^^; Anyway, back to the episode, it starts off by refreshing our memories about the eight immortals that supported the first king. After the first king did, they disappeared, and legend told that when there was a king, fitted for them to serve, they would return to the building we always see Sho Taishi in and watch over this king. With this bit of information conveniently passing right after we get a proper introduction of the white bishie, this really confirms that he is one of these immortals. This also explains why Sho Taishi did what he did in the first season. As it’s for sure that he’s an immortal as well, he just got a bit impatient and instead of waiting for a good king, he decided to take matters in his own hands, and pull some strings behind the scenes, in order to make this happen a bit faster. Still, I nearly forgot it, but there has to be a reason why the silhouette of each of these immortals is different, and actually very detailed. Something tells me that each of them is going to make some kind of appearance in Saiunkoku Monogatari. I do wonder when the other six arrive. Back to the white bishie, he does know Shuuri from something, but how and where did he learn her name. At the end of the episode, he approaches her, and she is so stunned that she’s not even able to move. Is there a deeper meaning behind this, or was this a variation of the “Kijin-effect”? Surprisingly, a majority of the episode is about Reishin. While he was as funny as usual (especially Kurou, noticing the prospect of Reishin becoming Shuurei’s father-in-law), the guy really is getting worrisome. He really doesn’t want Shuurei to know his name, and when he finds out that Kurou presented Shuurei a bag of tangerines, he just had to do the same thing. Hakumen also nearly spoils his secret, making Shuurei at least aware of the existence of a guy named Kou Reishin who keeps giving his subordinates too much work. Eigetsu also surprised me even more when the disease gets even worse, and it is confirmed that a snow-fox has been spotted in the autumn. This does suggest that we’re dealing with a disease which travels along with foxes. Anyway, Eigetsu only has a feint hope that there is some kind of cure discovered, and he actually begs Yougetsu to give him a bit more time. This suggests that he really doesn’t have that much time left, and he knows it. Also, Tei Yuushun finally tells Ryuuki that he’s a good emperor, and pledges his trust into him. Ryuuren, meanwhile, first looks for something called the Phoenix Wind, after which he disappears from Kokujun. The fact that Shouka noticed this must mean that this will play some kind of role in the future episodes. Finally, what the heck happened to Seiran? If I’m not mistaken, this episode only saw one shot of him, eating, while the previous episode only mentioned him once, about how he fled the house because of Ryuuren’s presence. What has he been doing for the past few episodes?]]>

Whoa, talk about a change of focus when compared to the first season. I don’t know exactly what it is, but so far, the second season has felt refreshingly different from the first one. Shuurei surprisingly isn’t the centre of attention at all. Heck she does what she needs to do in the capital: get a bunch of permissions, while the other characters now are turning far more interesting. Especially Eigetsu got fleshed out even more, and I never expected that the guy actually doesn’t have any longer to live. Up to this point, it’s still unclear exactly what his relationship with Yougetsu is, but if I had to guess, then we first had a person called “Getsu”. Getsu then became Yougetsu, because of the influence of his parents. When he was taken in by Doushu, he probably created Eigetsu as his alter-ego, due to the guy’s influence. And Kourin was just great. After the previous episode, I noted how the relationship between her and Eigetsu had rather stagnated, but with this episode, it just skyrocketed forwards, when Eigetsu gets more and more absorbed in his work, and Kourin finds out about his shortened life-span. We also see Kokujun back, though things didn’t go as you’d expect, as he’s following Ran Ryuuren now. I’ve got no idea what the two of them are planning, but Kokujun regards Ryuuren very highly. Reishin pays a visit to Shouka’s house, and still is too scared to reveal that he’s her uncle. In fact, he reveals that he’s actually willing to marry her. Still, I do wonder whether Shuurei is going to marry in the first place. Also, quite a bit of characters were introduced or mentioned through the course of the episode: a white wolf, a fox, the leader of a strange cult who goes by the name of “Li Senya”, and some kind of acquaintance of Sho Taishi. What is their role going to be in the future episodes, and where did they come from? I personally believe that Sakujun wouldn’t be stupid enough to just say to everyone that he’s back. If he was somehow alive somewhere, he’d use his methods a bit more subtle, in order to meet Shuurei. We also get a confirmation that the white bishie will be the antagonist for the coming arcs, when Ryuuren warns Shuurei for a silver-haired man. Obviously, this has to be this guy. Or spirit. I have high reasons to believe that he’s one of the seven sages, just like Sho Taishi.]]>

Unfortunately, what I’ve feared has finally happened: Saiunkoku Monogatari got licensed. While that alone isn’t such a bad thing, it does mean that both We Suck and Shadow Dreams are going to stop distributing their fansubs. This just forces me to start watching the raws again, simply because: – Being Dutch, I could care less about what shows America licenses. – I really don’t think I can wait that long till the English DVDs appear anyway. Still, I switched from raws to subs once for a reason, as this series is very difficult to understand without subtitles. I remember when the show first started, and I completely missed the main points (if you don’t believe me, then check out the entries I made of them, they’re really full of non-sense ^^;), so I’m going to be heavily depending on Usagijen’s and Impz’s episode summaries. Especially Usagijen deserves credit, with the huge summaries she writes. 🙂 Anyway, this episode had two major focuses: Ensei and Kouyuu. Eigetsu reveals his past in the episode. It seems that when he was small, his parents attempted to kill him once, in order to solve their poverty. A kind man named Doushu then took him in. And with “kind” I mean really kind. Whatever happened to him, he just continued to smile, and he taught Eigetsu to do so as well. Even when people would steal all his medicines, he would still not mind a thing. In fact, he was glad that people would actually find his medicines useful. Because of this, Eigetsu probably got the idea of getting a job to help people. His first idea was to become a doctor, though he then figured that he could do way more as a government official. Kouyuu, meanwhile, continues to get pressured by Kurou when he finds out that the Ran-clan has future plans to marry Shuurei off to Ran Ryuuren. Obviously, he fancies her, and the people from the Ran-clan would love to use her as a leech to control the guy a bit. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Shuurei finds out about this. Shuurei, meanwhile, has been busy to collect permissions from different chamberlains and governors. At the beginning of the episode, all she needs left are Kijin, Reishin and the governor of the Koku-province. At the end of the episode only the Koku-province governor is left, with the help of Tei Yuushun, Sai Rin, and amusingly, Kouyuu as well. ^^; This probably was the first time the Koku Province was mentioned. I also don’t recall having seen anyone from the Koku-family as well. I wonder what kind of role it will play in the future episode, especially its governor. We aren’t shown what his relation to Doushu exactly was, but the fact remains that the two of them are at least acquaintances, when Doushu trusts the guy with a bunch of books that he really wanted to give to Eigetsu, after which he dies. Could it be that Eigetsu grew up in the Koku-province? That death-scene, by the way, was a great one. It seems that Eigetsu told him all about Shuurei in his letters, and it was great to see him thank her for taking care of Eigetsu. I think we’ve also got our first glimpse of the new antagonist for this season. The way he was presented really screams “hey, look at me being mysterious. I’m evil and pretty”. Still, he somehow knows Shuurei, or he heard her name somewhere. Where did he come from, and what’s going to be his goal or purpose? I also do wonder, when are the creators planning to further develop the relationship between Eigetsu and Kourin? For quite a number of episodes, all they’ve been doing together is look embarrassed and cute after their eyes or hands meet each other. While this is nice once or twice, I want to see the two of them get on with it. :P]]>

Ah, Saiunkoku Monogatari is finally back! The episode really reminded me of the first half of the first season again, when Shuurei still finds herself very busy in the main capital. The OP-animation has changed, there’s a new ED and I’m back in love with this series! Another thing I noticed: the OP and especially the ED never really focused on the people, back in the Sa-province. This does suggest that the current arc will be focusing on the old characters, instead of the new ones, and I’m SO glad about this. The characters from the first half definitely are more interesting than the new ones. The most important development in this episode definitely came from Kouyuu. His uncle decides to visit him (Kou Kurou) and finally carries out his plan to get Kouyuu as the head of the Kou-clan if he accepts Shuurei as his wife. Obviously, he’s going to become very interesting in the future, as it’s probably clear now that he’s in love with her. Shuurei was AWESOME. The episode focuses on Tei Yuushun and Sai Rin, asking to come and visit Shuurei’s house, when Shuurei suddenly realizes that nobody has cleaned there for ages. ^^; The male characters have gone to the “demon’s banquet”, or a place where everyone can drink his sorrows away alongside each other, and they decide to go to Shuurei’s place after that too place. Obviously, Shuurei demonstrates how dangerous she can be when Seiran, Shouka, Shuuei and Kouyuu keep getting in her way, time after time, because they’re all so drunk (or in Shouka’s case, just clumsy). She looked so cute when her efforts weren’t enough, and Tei Yuushun had to see giving a tantrum. ^_^: Seiran begins to realize more and more that Shuurei actually doesn’t need him. In fact, he actually needs her, and it’s like that for Shouka as well. He goes to the Demon’s Banquet as well, because of this (and almost ends up shooting Ran after drinking a bit ^^;). I can imagine that it’s difficult for him. Shuurei and Shouka have done so much for him, and he can’t even repay her. In fact, he never really saved her, and the only times she actually needed to be saved (when she was kidnapped and when Sakujun kissed her), either Ryuuki was the one to take up this role, or he wasn’t able to do anything at all, even though he stood right before it happening. Shuuei also attends the Demon’s Banquet, but it seems that he’s been avoiding it for quite a few years. I wonder why, as the previous episodes did show that he quite often visits the red-lights district. He’s quite interesting when he’s drunk, by the way. He’s very silent, and his usual witty remarks are gone. Still, rule number one: NEVER make Shuurei angry. Never. ^^;]]>