Category: Saiunkoku Monogatari

This episode was much like the transition episode between arc 3 and arc 4. It’s mostly meant to introduce Shuurei’s next task, but also to strengthen the position of women in the imperial court, even if it does mean that Ryuuki had to abuse his powers a bit.

In the first arc, Shuurei was assigned as Ryuuki’s temporary wife, in the second arc, she was studying hard in order to become a government official. In the third arc, she had to prove herself as shinshi, by having to endure a number of challenging trials and in the fourth arc, she gets assigned as the co-governor of the Sa-province. As the ring is still gone, and all of the ones found are fake, the Sa-province is in desperate need of a governor. If, after a year of the previous governor’s death, nobody is found, people can create a new ring. Ryuuki wanted to prevent some random guy to rise as the governor, so he assigned Shuurei and Eigetsu as temporary governors. By giving them flower buds, it means that he has absolute trust in them. This would prevent people from creating a new ring, as that would be going against the emperor himself, which they want to prevent. Still, this does mean that Shuurei is going to have a tough time from now on. Same as Eigetsu. There will probably be a number of people who don’t like her there.

Still no Kourin. I think that she’ll be able to meet Shuurei in the next episode. Interesting note: Shuurei still doesn’t know the things Kourin did to her. Also, there seem to be some serious plans about making Shuurei as Kouyuu’s wife. Signs are pointing more and more to the direction where Shuurei and Ryuuki will never really be together. After all, if Shuurei would marry Ryuuki, she’d be a princess, which is not something she’s aiming for. Another interesting fact is that when Kurou mentioned that when Kouyuu marries Shuurei, he’ll be taking over the Kou clan. But what if Shuurei ends up taking over the Kou clan?

I think I now know what Ten meant by the fact that the next episodes will be focusing a lot on Seiran’s background. After all, his history with Ensei has been rather unexplained. I think that that’ll be a major focus in the next arc.

I’ve just been wondering, if Wontaek’s prediction is right, and the fifth book will end around episode 25, then will there be enough time for all of the ten books to be shown?

I’m so glad that Shadow managed to finish her translation of episode eighteen. For some reason, I felt that it wouldn’t be a good idea to let my sub-par Japanese loose on Saiunkoku Monogatari 18, and after seeing the episode, it seems I was right. There’s so much going on, not to mention that entire speeches are given, at which you do need to know what they mean.

Anyway, about the episode. It was awesome. I had such a great time watching this. Not only because of the very interesting political affairs which went on, but also because the creators threw in some very nice jokes. I especially loved all the fuzz around Kijin’s mask. XD

Basically, the episode consists out of a debate between the government officials and Ryuuki and Shuurei, trying to get to the court in time and in one piece. We start with the commotion about Reishin. Ryuuki reveals to the officials that he’s the head of the Kou-clan. Sai gets a bit uncomfortable because of this. We then turn to Shuurei, who’s ready to leave for the palace. Seiran then brings Shuurei the make-up kit she got from Kochou.

Back to Ryuuki, he starts accusing Sai of a number of things, including that he was one of the people who was completely against women being permitted to take the national exam. Sai then tries to blame this on Ro, though that backfires when it seems that Ro had no problems with women being permitted, and was rather on friendly terms with Reishin.

We then switch to a rather interesting conversation between Reishin and Ro. It seems that Ro has assigned Eigetsu and Shuurei to tasks such as cleaning the lavatories and polishing shoes in order to build their own confidence, and the confidence of the other officials in the two of them. Most people in the royal court have heard about the tasks they were ordered to do, and they’ve seen them work hard. This shows them that they’re capable of doing much greater things, which will be extremely beneficial in the future. It also seems that Reishin got the same treatment. His murderous look towards Ro at that time was hilarious. ^^

In the end, Reishin manages to “blackmail” Ro into accompanying him to the court. For some reason, he wanted the two of them to go together. Shuurei and Seiran, meanwhile, get hunted by some of Sai’s henchmen, trying to prevent them from attending the inquiry. Though they should know better than to think that this would be able to stop her. ^^

Meanwhile, in the palace, Kijin holds a little speech about the financial businesses regarding Sai. A lot of money went into useless causes. It also seems that Eigetsu’s money, which he sent to his home village and somehow disappeared seems to have turned up in Sai’s pocket. It seems that there were similar cases like this in the past, so Kijin had the carriers being observed in secret. Sai then starts coming up with some desperate attempts in order to defend himself, and he then claims that Kijin might be an impostor, wearing Kijin’s mask in order to not be discovered.

The situation takes a very strange turn when Kijin suggests to take it off and suddenly some officials start begging him not to, with fear of their lives. It seems that Reishin has spread some rumours that his face would cause flying ravens to fall down unconscious. Things get even weirder when Shou Taishi suggests Kijin to take off his mask, while everyone else is looking in another direction. Ryuuki wants to see too, though suddenly he’s forced away by some desperate officials.

Say, is this how all government officials spend their time? ^^;

Back to Shuurei, the number of thugs keeps increasing until she and Seiran eventually get cornered. They get rescued by Ryuushin and the other citizens. They also reveal their reason for ignoring her. Government officials are important people. Whenever they’re seen, talking to ordinary peasants, their reputation drops. And Ryuushin is an exceptionally good fighter for his age. That, or the thugs are just a bunch of whim’s. ^^

They then arrive at the palace, and get a bit of help from Hakumei and Ensei in order to move past the pesky, ignorant guards.

Back to Kijin, the reason he always wears a mask suddenly becomes clear. It’s indeed able to make ravens drop from the sky. Not because it’s so horribly ugly, but because it’s so horribly beautiful. It’s also clear why everyone had to turn away, as Sai immediately gets hypnotized by this, allowing Kijin to get a confession out of him.

At that time, Reishin arrives. He rather abuses his powers in order to finish Sai. It seems that Kouyuu was rather insulted at one time by him, and Reishin hasn’t quite forgiven him for it. To top things, he reveals that the long lost ring of the Sa-clan was hidden under Sai’s wig, of all places. You’d wonder how he found out in the first place. Still, Sai then starts talking about Shuurei, and starts accusing her of all kinds of things. But then, Shuurei arrives, the inquiry begins and Sai can probably kiss his status goodbye. The bastard. ^^;

In any case, I love how Saiunkoku Monogatari manages to effectively blend comedy with such a strong story. The combination of these two elements really works great.

Just one thing. What happened to Kourin?

I’m SO glad that Saiunkoku Monogatari’s back again. And to top things, it returns with one of the best episodes so far. I really loved it!

Remember when Shuurei was on the verge of being captured by Kochou and her henchmen? The story returns from this point. Kochou orders Shuurei to come inside, as there’s someone who wishes for it. She can’t refuse, as it’s a person whose rank is way higher than Shuurei, Eigetsu and Seiran’s combined. Kochou reminds Seiran of the fact that he can’t do anything with his current status, and that he can’t even protect his loved ones. She gives the subtle hint that if he was an officer with authority like Shuuei, he could have done something. Seiran gets this hint, and leaves.

We then see a scene in which the bad guy for this arc has a small conversation with one of his henchmen. He seems to be the one who ordered Kochou to take in Shuurei, and he indeed seems to have set his mind to kicking Shuurei out of the palace. He also seems to have a grudge against Eigetsu. I’m not sure about the reason yet, but I think Yougetsu made a fool out of him once. He also surprises himself over the fact that Reishin would volunteer to act as Shuurei’s sponsor. It seems that he also wants Reishin to leave.

Next, a discussion between Shouka and his younger brother, Kurou. It begins strange, when Shouka reveals that Kurou was the one who gave Eigetsu food and a place to stay after he ended up sending all of his money back to his village. I always thought that Eigetsu was staying in Shuurei’s house, though now it seems that Kurou has been taking care of him. Kurou also seemed to have asked Eigetsu about Shuurei. Apart from this research, he also seems to have been the one to prevent Shuurei from facing a huge amount of harassment, though it’s not yet clear what. He also tells Shouka that he hates him, and he seems to have been the one to throw Shouka out of a certain home. Shouka, however, remains indifferent about this. Not only that, but he also plans to have Shuurei become Kouyuu’s wife. A messenger then arrives, telling him about Reishin who’s been locked up and Shuurei and Eigetsu are stuck in Kogarou. There’ll also be an inquiry about the two of them the next morning. Kurou figures that the two of them are being held to prevent them from being able to attend, so it would seem that they were afraid to come and have fled, making them guilty. Kurou then gets serious, and plans to make use of his power as a member of the Kou-clan. He doesn’t like it when his clan-members are put in difficult situations.

Back when they were taken in by Kochou, Eigetsu secretly gave Seiran the stamp he got from Ryuuki in the previous episode. During this episode, the purpose of this stamp gets explained. If you give a letter that stamp, it will always arrive with top priority. Seiran used this to notify Ryuuki that Shuurei’s been captured. He discusses this with Shuuei, and they both don’t like it. When Ryuuki also finds out that Reishin has been captured and Kurou, who apparently is the proxy head of the Kou clan also has been sighted, he really begins to see that things aren’t going into the right direction. The reason for that, we see later. Ryuuki gets an idea when Kouyuu notifies him with the letter for the petition. He plans to go to Shuurei, though Kouyuu commands him to come back soon with a very evil voice. ^^

Then we see Seiran, who’s paying a visit to Raien, who seems to be a high-ranked official. Seiran asks for the position, rank and authority to wear a sword to protect what’s important to him. Kochou’s plan seemed to have worked.

Shuurei, meanwhile, is getting a bit depressed inside Kogarou, because Kochou betrayed her. Eigetsu then tells her the reason why he wanted to become a government official. It seems that it’s for the money. Eigetsu’s village had one doctor. At times, this doctor wouldn’t be able to handle all of the patients who came to him. If he had money, he would have. The doctor always had a sad look on his eyes when this happened. Eigetsu doesn’t want him to get that look. Some thugs then come to pick up Eigetsu, in order to play around with him a bit. I love the thugs in Saiunkoku Monogatari. They seem to fit perfect, but are clueless at the same time. This becomes clear when they try to feed Eigetsu some alcohol. Eigetsu gets taken away, along with the alcohol. In any case, they also mention something important. The reason why Eigetsu went berserk was because he refused to marry the daughter of the bad guy.

Next up, a discussion between Kourin and Ensei. Ensei seemed to have grown his beard again (he indeed really hates shaving). It seems that the two of them will be arriving early, and Kourin displays the strength of her character. This scene really made me respect her. It seems that Kourin wanted to meet the one she tried to kill, in order to apologize, and repent for her sins. She’s actually willing to take responsibility for the things she’s done.

Back to Shuurei, one of the thugs decided to have a bit of fun with her (being in a brothel, and all). Then, it seems that the thugs managed to feed Eigetsu some alcohol after all, and Yougetsu appears. That takes care of the annoying thugs.

Kochou then arrives at the place. The thugs then command her to summon the guards, though Kochou turns back on them, using her own guards to knock out the rest of the thugs. In a highly intimidating way. Afterwards, Yougetsu tries to hit on Shuurei, but faints before it gets serious. The remaining thug then scolds Kochou, claiming that she betrayed them, after all of the affection his master showed. Kochou then claims to never have been on his side in the first place, and that the guy should really begin to know his place. She also yells at him for doing things to her precious Shuurei. Shuurei then realizes that Kochou just acted, and that she never betrayed her in the first place. What follows is a touching scene in which Shuurei’s extremely glad that Kochou didn’t turn her back on her. It seems that Kochou told her to stay away from Kogarou was to protect Shuurei. After all, if she was seen in a brothel, she’d be in trouble. Kochou also tells her that she acted the way she did because of a request from Shuuei. It seems that the guy really knew what was going on.

Back to Kurou, Kage (the messenger) and Shouka. Kurou has taken drastic measures when he sends out a message to every member of the Kou-clan living in the capital. Kurou’s really getting angry for having his big brother locked up.

Back to Kogarou, Ryuuki explains Shuurei about the ring of the head of the Sa clan. Originally, Sa Taiho had this, though ever since his death, the ring has been missing. The bad guy is trying to take advantage of it. How exactly isn’t known. It seems that if you have the ring, you automatically have status, or something, but that isn’t really explained. He also tells her about t
he inquiry. Ryuuki thinks it’s a good idea to let Shuurei and Eigetsu stay at Kogarou for the night, so that they can head for the palace next morning. There’ll probably be resistance, though he won’t assign any major guards, as he wants Shuurei to come on her own strength. Seiran gets to be the only one to protect her. Ryuuki then grabs a number of papers, which somehow will become a large piece of evidence of that corruption. I think he means Shuurei’s report on her treatment for the last couple of episodes.

What follows is Seiran leaving to check up on Shouka and Kochou bringing Eigetsu to bed. It seems that they knew that the two of them needed a bit of time along. In this time, Shuurei thanks Ryuuki for not going soft on her. The fact remained that when she worked as the queen, she was never told about anything. She was being protected, though now she isn’t. She likes it that Ryuuki treats her as a normal official. Ryuuki then gets notified of a very angry Kouyuu, who alerts him of the fact that half of all work outside of the castle has come to a halt (Kurou’s work).

Back in the palace, Ryuuki surprises himself over all the petitions that arrived. This just shows the power of the Kou clan. The capital is in a state of major confusion. Senior Secretary Kou has been occupying one of the distant residences all by himself (remind me again… who was that?) and has put himself under self-imposed house-arrest. Shuuei then figures that should be going back to normal in a day, if nobody does something about it. The power of the Kou clan is much larger than what Kuro demonstrated and they’re able to do much worse. So, basically, Kurou is telling them to resolve everything within a day. Then, another interesting fact gets revealed. Ryuuki wonders what the bad guy was thinking by going against Reishin. Shuuei then mentions that Reishin hasn’t revealed the public that he’s the actual head of the Kou-clan. And indeed, when we later see a scene with the bad guy, he’s astonished about Reishin’s power. He never imagined it would be this big. Oh, and they also get a note from Ensei, with the message that he’s likely to arrive the next day, in the evening. Ryuuki then orders them to arrive that noon instead. Probably because he wants them to attend Shuurei’s inquiry.

Back to Shuurei and Kochou, Eigetsu seems to have woken up, and the two of them spend the rest of the night working on their report, to get them done before the inquiry begins.

The next day, we see what Kijin was planning with the papers from the previous episode. I have no idea what kinds of papers they were, but they were valuable to Shuurei’s and Kouyuu’s reports, and he slipped in into their work.

Next episode promises to be a big one. I’m glad Saiunkoku Monogatari returned. ^_^

This episode continus where episode 14 left off, and makes it two times worse. The hate towards Shiurei continues to increase, and people are actually plotting to get rid of her. Still, the first signs of people appreciating her also start to show.

So, to recap, the bad things:
– Wa remains as horrible as ever.
– People actually start throwing dirt at them like little kids.
– Ro keeps burdening Shiurei and Eigetsu with the most horrible jobs. His treatment actually was the saddest to see.
– Remember the ring from the Sa-family which was stolen? It seems that some person is plotting to do something with a fake version of that ring. I have no idea what it is, I have no idea how it’ll happen, though Shiurei and Reishin will end up worse with this.
– Someone’s spreading rumours that Reishin cheated with the exam in order to let Shiurei in.
– Because of this, Reishin gets arrested.
– The guy from the Sa-family has hired Kochou in order to do something to Shiurei. We’ll have to wait till the next episode in order to find out what, but it’ll involve a bunch of big strong guys equipped with a bunch of big, sharp swords. Poor Shiurei. T_T

Still, if Shiurei doesn’t overcome these things on her own, she’ll never be able to rise. Go Shiurei!!

Anyway now the good things:
– Hakumei has taken pity in them. He uses the excuse of the two of them fainting being disadvantageous to him, but he doesn’t fool anyone when he says that he does it only for himself. He’s quite an ambitios fellow as well. He seems to see Kouyuu as his great example.
– Some mysterious person keeps sending Shiurei and Eigetsu tea and buns. I’ve got several persons in mind, Shouka, Ryuuki and Seiran all could’ve done it. For now, I’ll put Shouka in the seat of major suspect.
– At one department, people are starting to appreciate Shiurei. More of them will definitely follow!

Apart from that, another few interesting facts were revealed:
– Shouka has yet another younger brother: Kurou. Much isn’t revealed yet. He seems serious.
– Something seems to be going on at the Department of Protocol (the one in which idiot Wa works). Shiuei and Eigetsu decide to write their final assignment about this. Further details are yet to be revealed. That, or I just didn’t manage to pick them up.
– Kourin and Ensei are returning from the Sa-province. Kourin said that she wants to see Shiurei. When that happens, it’ll be pretty interesting. After all, Shiurei never managed to know it was Sa Taifu who attempted to kill her, and Kourin’s role in all this. The fact also remains that Kourin still loves Sa Taifu, even after his death, so I’m eager to see her reaction.
– Both Ryuuki as Seiran as Shouka are looking over Shiurei. And all of them are having huge troubles not to help her. Especially Ryuuki really has to convince himself not to go. ^^;
– Kouyuu and Ran seem to be bothered by a huge load of guys who offer their daughter for marriage. (Talk about shamelessness. It’s a good thing they declined every single one of them).

Some other very amusing things happened:
– Ran really had problems trying to restrain Ryuuki from helping Shiurei.
– The mud-throwers accidentally hitting Kouyuu.
– Shiurei noticing Ryuuki who kept spying on her.
– Shiurei’s methods of dealing with Wa’s treatments. (Go Shiurei! ^^)
– The flashback in which Kouyuu accidentally burned a random person’s toupet.

Overall, I just couldn’t help but feel pity with Shiurei. She has to put up with so much. Still, when she gets acknowledged, she really can show everyone what she’s worth. ^_^

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. ^^;

This episode basically was meant to show the harsh treatment Shiurei and Eigetsu had to endure on their first month of work. Ryuuki may have passed the bill which allows women to take the exam, the fact remains that half of the palace hates the two of them now. You can’t change the beliefs of people that easily, and Shiurei, as a woman, really has to show people how awesome she can be. Not an easy task, though she’ll definately be able to manage in the end.

To sum things up:
– When Shiurei and Eigetsu get a letter about their first day at work, the dates are changed.
– People keep talking behind Shiurei’s back, without caring whether she hears it.
– Shiurei gets assigned to clean the lavatory (in the minds of the palace officials, the only useful thing a woman is able to do).
– Eigetsu gets to polish shoes.
– Officials are get too enthusiastic when they see a chance to bump over a bucket of water near Shiurei.
– Eigetsu gets kicked in the face numerous of times.
– Did I already mention the talkings behind Shiurei’s back?
– People treat Shiurei like she’s a patch of dirt.

Though this does show Shiurei’s strength. She’ll live through this, and within no time at all, she will be the one to order around everyone who talked bad about her. Talk about revenge! Those officials will really regret the day they mocked with Shiurei. ^_^

Eigetsu also manages to survive his harsh treatments. We don’t know exactly what’s going on inside his head, though he does try to not pay attention to the officials, and just tries to remain his usual fake-cheery self. Still, there’s one thing about Eigetsu that bugs me. He’s a genius, though I’ve yet to see any genious actions from him. Okay, he’s a thirteen year-old, though he didn’t really strike me as a very smart thirteen year-old. (After all, who sends an enormous amount of money through the postal order?).

In any case, Shiurei will be tested like this for two entire months. The first one and a half months, she’ll have to continue assignments as cleaning the lavatory and cleaning up paperworks, after which she gets half a month the time to write a report about this. Once this is over, the real officials get picked, out of the ones who survived the national exams, based on the things they accomplished over these two months. This arc will probably follow Shiurei as she makes her way towards the end of the two months.

We also got introduced to another minor character this episode: a yellow-haired boy, Haku. He’s the one who came in fourth, after Shiurei, and he didn’t quite take a liking in her. After all, she beat him fair and square, and now she’s busy cleaning lavatories. He doesn’t want to imagine his status when the truth remains that Shiurei’s above him. After all, this would make him below the level of lavatory-cleaning. We should expect some great things from this guy in the near future.

Rijin also played a big role as observer during this episode. He didn’t quite grow, though he made sure of some interesting background commentary about Shiurei. When Shiurei speaks to him for the first time, he gives subtle hints to her that Shuu and Shiurei were different persons. He also advices Shiurei to act more like Shuu, which is in one way a compliment, he approves of her and the things she did the previous summer. I have to admit, when I first saw him, I thought him as a bad guy, though he really has good intentions. He also asks his assistant to subtly show Shiurei a small pile of papers. The assistant gets shocked when he sees these, though I never really found out what these papers meant. So, what were they about?

Ryuuki also was adorible once more. He saw it as his duty to protect Shiurei on her first day, so he dressed up as a soldier. I have to say, he looks surprisingly good in an armour, though his hair looked a bit whacky. (^^;) An interesting fact is that he doesn’t appear in the rest of the episode, and he’s nowhere near Shiurei when she gets to endure these harships. I wonder what his reason was not to interfere. Of course, there are countless of reasons, but I also see him crazy enough to do something about it as well.

The beginning of the episode also shows that a certain ring of the “Sa”-family has been found. Still, it was gone as fast as it appeared. The leader of the group who found the ring was not exactly happy with this. More background about this ring, and what it’s got to do with this arc, is missing, though.

Overall, the more I think about it, the more awesome this episode becomes. This is one of the few shows that doesn’t need to create tension in order to be good. Something that’s very rarely accomplished. Each of the main characters are just so likeable. Oh, and Kouyuu’s sense of direction was too cute once more. ^_^

Memorable Moment: Seeing Kouyuu trying to handle the tasks of the emperor for one day. ^_^

The Eigetsu-arc is probably the best arc of Seiunkoku Monogatari yet. Not nessecarily because of Eigetsu, but all kinds of things are happening at once. The setting also is a very original one, and Shiurei continues to be awesome. Not to mention the original humor that the creators posess. ^^

I had a few troubles with the first arc of the show. After all, Shiurei only managed to get in the castle because of the high status of her father. If she would have been just a commoner, she would never have been able to accomplish that. She did show her strong character, but in the end she did end up as the damsel in distress, only to be saved by Ryuuki. Then the second arc started, and this element was immediately gone. Shiurei now advances because of her own hard work. Starting from the second arc, we really get to see what kind of an amazing person Shiurei is.

We start at Kougarou. Shiurei wonders what Ryuuki’s up to. He answers that he was here to see Eigetsu. Kouchou reveals that Shiuei was indeed the one who left her in the middle of the night and dropped Eigetsu off. Shiuei also is surprised when he sees Eigetsu with such a different personality. We then see a flashback of the previous night, in which Eigetsu beat up a couple of punks with a very evil look on his face. This suggests that the guy must have some kind of dual personality. In any case, Eigetsu doesn’t seem to remember what happened back then.

He also reveals that he lost his official wood token. Later in the episode, the importance of this token gets explained, and why Eigetsu was in such panic when he realized he lost it. Kouyuu and Ryuuki seemed to be shocked when they find out that the Seikintou have been collecting these official wood tokens.

Afterwards, Keichou seems to have arrived in Kougarou. When Shiurei finds out about the fac that he’s joined the Seikintou, she begins to yell at him. ^^; It seems he did it in order to be able to boast about something to the girl he loved. While Shiurei continues to unleash her anger upon him, Seiran reveals that Keichou used to often hit upon her when the two of them small. This even got so far that Keichou ended up in a river in the winter. ^^

Keichou then reveals that the Seigintou will be invading Kougarou that evening. What follows is a very enjoyable scene in which the Seigintou get ambushed by an army of crime-bosses. Kouchou happens to be the leader of the crime-bosses. ^^ Things start very nicely when the leader of the Seigintou gets bombarded with a giant ice-ball (nice haircut, by the way). Shiurei, Keichou, Seigintou and Kouyuu are hiding in a shack somewhere, as all of them can’t really fight. Eigetsu then decides to head out after all, as his token is very important to him. Kouyuu sends Shiurei along with him. Keichou follows them, though Kouyuu doesn’t really care about him.

The leader of the Seigintou meanwhile managed to escape the ambush, and he managed to invade the building of Kougarou. He then runs into Eigetsu, Shiurei and Keichou, searching unconcious bodies for the tags. He then manages to take Shiurei as hostage. Even though the two of them know they aren’t strong at all, they still try to attack the guy. Only to end up on the floor, knocked out in Keichou’s case, and in a barrel full of sake in Eigetsu’s case.

Then the mystery behind Eigetsu’s second personality becomes clear. It seems that whenever he drinks alcohol, he turns into Yougetsu, his total opposite: violent, strong, confident. Kouyuu meanwhile manages to free Shiurei by dropping a huge flower pot on the guy’s head. Shiurei also acts as a perfect hostage, as she just doesn’t want to stay still. the leader of the Seigintou has huge troubles to prevent her from checking whether Eigetsu is allright. Kouyuu managed to finish this in a nice anti-climax.

It seems that the creators were really enthusiastic in giving the leader of the Seigintou a couple of fun haircuts, as the guy now walks around with an afro full of flowers. ^^ Then, Yougetsu woke up, and kicks the guy’s ass. These fighting scenes looked very amazing. Shiurei also manages to find out the purpose of the wooden tags the Seigintou have been stealing. They’re indeed passes which permit a person to take the national exam. For a lot of people, these tags are worth more than their life, and so the Seigintou have found a nice way to blackmail persons.

At the same time, this explains the importance of Eigetsu in this story. Both Shiurei as Eigetsu will be taking the national exam. This means that they both will become government officials at the same time, they’ll be advancing together. Eigetsu will probably also end up living with Shiurei, Seiran and Shouka, so the two of them will be spending a lot of time together.

Eigetsu also seems to be the one youngest person to pass the local exams at the top of his year (therefore, beating Kouyuu). It also seems that his tag was not among the ones the Seigintou have been stealing. Then it appears that Yougetsu was responsible for the disappearing tag. He saw the danger of the ruckus he caused, so he gave his tag to a third party (Keichou’s father. Apparently, the two know each other). He also ordered a bottle of high-quality sake, which would explain Eigetsu’s empty pocket at that time.

Now that everything has been solved, the show still has enough time left to wrap up a couple of things. First of all, Shiurei’s last day. In the previous episode, Kochou promised Shiurei a surprise for her last day at work. It appears to be a make-up kit. (Shiurei looks beautiful with make-up, by the way) Kochou also reveals that both Shouka as Seiran knew about the fact that Shiurei was working at a brothel. They both came to her, begging to take care of Shiurei. It was quite funny that both of them said the exact same thing.

After that, we see Shiurei and Eigetsu heading to the palace, in order to take their national exams. In the palace, they run into a Ryuuren again, as weird as ever. (I loved it when he used his flute to talk ^^) The results are also announced afterwards. Eigetsu really is a genius, despite his shyness, when it seems that he managed to get the best results. Ryuuren managed to come in second and Shiurei third. Eigetsu and Shiurei will be working in the palace afterwards, though I think that Ryuuren will continue roaming around.

One more thing… what kind of “job” did Shiuei have to do at the beginning of the previous episode? He couldn’t have known about Eigetsu, could he? (*wink wink*)

Overall, this arc was great. Saiunkoku Monogatari really gets just better and better. I’d love to see the reactions of the ones who follow the subs. If they already thought that the first arc was awesome, I can’t wait till they find out about the second and the third arc. 🙂

Memorable moments: The leader of the Seigintou getting bombarded by a giant iceball, and Shiurei seeing herself with make-up for the first time.

I don’t know whether it was the episode, or the fact that Shadow Dreams managed to finish the translation before I got to watch the episode, but the fact remains that I enjoyed this episode. A lot. So many interesting things happen. And so many funny things as well. ^^;

We start out with Shiurei, who recieved the message that she passed her aptitude test. This allows her to take her national exam, which will take place in about a month. A lot of people have been coming to the capital in order to take this test. Or take advantage of the people taking the test.

We then see the introduction of a new main character. In the OP, he looked like some kind of girl, though he actually is a 13-year old boy. Shiuei tells Ryuuki that he’s been notified of a disturbing rumour, though it remains a mystery what this rumour might be. It’ll probably be revealed in the next episode. Interesting note: Shiuei and Kouyuu both have the symbol of Ryuuki, the purple flower, decorated on one of their accesoiries. Which means that they’re yet a step closer in loyalty to Ryuuki.

Shiuei then informs Kouyuu that he needs to take care of some business in the red-lights district. Kouyuu doubts that that’s got anything to do with his job, though. ^^; We then flash to the red-light district, and we see Shiuei and the new main character pass each other. Furthermore, we see three suspicious characters, wearing suspicious blue cloths, smiling very suspiciously. This was a great scene, because it actually reveals quite some things about what’ll happen in the episode. Except for the fact that you, as a viewer, don’t realize it at that time.

We then switch to Shiurei, who managed to find another temporary job after working in the palace. She actually works at one of the best sites at the red-light district. As an administrator, not the other thing. ^^; In any case, she seems to know the people who run it. A boy who works there seems to be a childhood friend, and he starts out nicely by insulting Shiurei, and suggesting that she should find some kind of husband who’ll take care of her.

The owner of the place, Kochuo, scares the guy away. She also seems to know Shiurei ever since she was little. In fact, Shiurei, when she was a little child, had even begged her to let her work in the brothel. That was just so cute. At that time of poverty, Shiurei was so determined to help her father that she was even willing of joining a brothel. Her statement that she had to get home at sunset in order to prepare a meal for Shouka and Seiran only made this better. ^_^; I can understand why Shiurei doesn’t like to remember that. ^^;

Kochou then mentions that she’s got something to show Shiurei on her last day of work (apparently, Shiurei’s been going back to her living of taking lots of different jobs for a small time, just like the beginning of the show). Shiurei hestitates, though when Kochou threatens to tell Shouka and Seiran, she gives in. It’s interesting that she didn’t tell them that she was working at a brothel. Hehe.

We then switch to the new main character, or Eigetsu, as he’s called. A regular brought him to Kochou’s brothel, and paid quite a sum of money in order to let the guy sleep there. Eigetsu, meanwhile has a nightmare about his hometown. For some reason, this is sad, as he cries, while having the dream. Then he wakes up.

Eigetsu has a shy character. He knows what he’s talking about, he’s not an annoying brat who keeps acting impulsive, though he remains a child. Imagine how he reacts, waking up in a brothel. Once he settles down, he tells Shiurei and Kochou that he remembered getting into trouble with some thugs and getting dragged into a restaurand. Apart from that, his memory’s fuzzy. Then he finds out that a large sum of his money has been stolen. Shiurei then offers Eigetsu to stay at her house. After all, her house is quite big, and they already had a bear-like person staying there last year. (Ensei? Bear-like person? XD).

Eigetsu then spends the rest of Shiurei’s shift helping her with some accounting, and he appears to be quite a good calculator. Then Seiran runs into them, with the message that he organized the four of them to eat out for the night. At first, Shiurei’s not happy with this, though when she finds out it’s to celebrate her passing of the aptitude test, she thanks Seiran.

In the restaurant, we get some more background on the world of Saiunkoku Monogatari. In this case, the underworld of the capital. But not before three drunk men joke about the fact that women aren’t fit to take the national exam. This gets built up perfectly, until Shiurei almost explodes with anger. Seiran’s about to do something, but Shouka beats him, destroying the table the men sit on while nobody watches. He acts like nothing happened afterwards. If there ever was a thing such as a brilliant scene, this was it. ^^

In any case, the translation on the info about the underworld is a bit fuzzy, The Seikintou are a new bunch of thugs, who try to place themselves in the underworld. They’re pretty impulsive, and they identify themselves by wearing blue cloths. The crime bosses actually manages the downtown hoodlums, and they protect the peace of the downtown when a lot of people are coming in because of the final exam. Or at least, that’s what the translation says. I think I misunderstood a few things…

In any case, things succeed each other fastly after this is told, as Eigetsu reveals that his money was gathered by all of the village members, and he finds out that all of it has been stolen. Shiurei freaks out, and both of them start stuttering. Eigetsu then runs off and Shiurei follows him.

Eigetsu headed for the Seikintou, and for some reason, they’re accusing him of stealing from them. Eigetsu also seems to be looking for a card or some sort. What follows is Shiurei taking Eigetsu, and an extremely enjoyable chase. I especially loved it when the two of them had been running into a circle, only to end back up at the Seikintou again. Though nothing will probably beat Shiurei’s treatment to one of the thugs, when he approached to her. Shiurei Rocks! ^_^

Then, Seiran arrives and they run into a messenger, who tells them to head for Kochou’s brothel. For some reason, Seiran already knew about this, though he’ll explain his reasons later.

Then, everything which has been happening at the beginning of the episode becomes clear when we see Kouyuu, Ryuuki and Shiuei walking though the red-light district, while Kouyuu gets angry at Shiuei for dropping Eigetsu at the brothel. It seems that Ran was the one who put Eigetsu to sleep and brought him to the brothel for savekeeping. He reveals that it’s actually quite safe in there.

It was just great to see the different way these three reacted. Shiuei has been in the red light district many times before. not only because of his work (after all, everyone seemed to know him, and he was a regular of Kochou’s brothel, after all. Therefore, he acts like it’s nothing at all. Kouyuu, however, gets nervous and angry. Though Ryuuki’s reaction was just priceless. He was just so incredibly fascinated by everything which was happening around him. Like a small child in a candy store. ^_^;;

We then turn to the headquarters of the Seikintou. Their chief was quite pissed that Eigetsu managed to escape, though one of the members saw him, along with Shiurei and Seiran, head for Kougarou (which is apparently the name of Kochou’s brothel). None other than the boy from the beginning of the episode (the childhood friend, Keichou) tells the chief about it. The latter then gets the twisted idea to raid that place, and turn it into their head quarters. Keichou, meanwhile, goes to warn Shiurei about this. You’d wonder about his intentions.

The episode ends with quite an amusing scene, at which Shiurei notices Ryuuki inside Kougarou. She immediately suspects him of having a bit of fun in there, and his reply is the most destructive you can ever imagine. Shiurei wasn’t exactly pleased when she found out about this. ^^;

I’m curious about the crime bosses. Their sillouettes were shown for a couple of seconds, and each of them looks distinct. That means that all of them will be appearing at some time during this anime. I wonder what kind of role they play, as I still have no idea whether they protect the townspeople, or they steal from them.

Next episode, we also get to know the deal with Eigetsu. He’s special in some kind of way, as he appeared to have robbed the Seikintou, he comes from a village which witnessed a disaster, Shiuei finds him important enough to put to sleep and keep safe in a brothel and he’s collecting some kinds of strange cards. He also has great calculating skills, and he’s only 13 years old. So, what’s up with him?

(on a side-note: is it me, or has the backgroung music been getting better and better?)

This episode was another intermezzo. In the meanwhile, a few months have passed, and it’s in the middle of the winter. I didn’t understand every part of the episode, but the parts that I did understand were great to see.

Apparently, Shiurei has to wait a bit more before she gets to take the exam, as nothing is shown about this issue. We start with Shiurei chasing one of the children she teaches (Ryuuji). Apparently, he wanted to play, but this goes too far and Shiurei winds up falling in a river. That is not good in such cold weather, and she indeed ends up with a cold in bed.

Seiran then decides to stay near Shiurei’s bed. Shiurei apologizes for being a bother, though Seiran tells her not to worry. We then get to see a flashback from when Shiurei was a very small child, and her mother was still alive. Apparently, she was sick at that time too, and Shiurei being sick reminds him of that time. Small Shiurei looks too cute, by the way.

Then Shouka arrives at home. He’s startled that Shiurei’s sick, and he carries some weird items. A bit later, the two of them try to take care of Shiurei. Do I still have to tell you what happens when Shouka offers to make Shiurei some food ^^;

A flashback later, and Seiran managed to view the battlefield that Shouka left behind. Then Ran and Kouyuu, who apparently heard that Shiurei was sick, pay a visit. They’re startled as well by Shouka’s actions. ^^; Seiran quickly sends Shouka to some other duty.

Seiran, Ran and Kouyuu then talk a bit about some thing I didn’t understand, and the two of them get a bit annoyed. Shiurei gets even more guests when Reishin and Kijin decide to pay a visit, for god knows what reason. Reishin gets a bit startled by his big brother. It really seems that he looks up to him. The two of them also enter through the window. I have no idea why, but it looked funny 😀

The two of them seemed to have brought some medicine. The three of them (Shouka, Kijin and Reishin) pay Shiurei a small visit, and then they run into Seiran, Ran and Kouyuu, who are all quite startled. Especially Kouyuu. Then Ryuuji’s father pays a visit, in order to tell Shouka that Ryuuji’s gone missing. Seiran, Kouyuu and Ran go to look for him. Reishin refuses for some reason, and he gets slapped by Shouka. The interesting thing is that, even though it looked like Shouka gently slapped him, Reishin really looks hurt. Kouyuu, Ran and Seiran notice this, and begin to suspect something.

Shouka and Reishin then are alone and have a very long discussion. What the heck were they talking about? In any case, the guests don’t stop coming when even Ryuuki pays a visit to Shiurei. And he does something stupid again. ^^; He tries to take care of her, though when she asks for water, she won’t drink it. His solution to this made Shiurei quite angry when she found out. Haha. So funny. ^^;

Ryuuji is meanwhile found. He tried to make it up for Shiurei by picking one of her favourite flowers. (Any Fantastic Children-references, anyone?) The parties talk for a bit, Shiurei gets some rest and she does appreciate Ryuuki’s effords. Overall, this anime’s going pretty fast, just skipping from summer to winter like that. That could promise to become something great. Still, I have yet to see any subtle changes in Shiurei, or any of the characters. You never see that in anime, by the way, characters subtly aging. Only when three or more years have past, you can see the difference. The Law of Ueki attempted to do this, but never got farther than just letting Rinko’s hair grow, while keeping all of the other characters the same, and from what I’ve seen from screenshots on other blogs, I believe that Haruhi’s doing the same thing as well. But then again, I’d be surprised if she wasn’t the only one whose hair started growing.

This episode marks the end of the Ensei arc. He reveals why he came, and takes off at the end of the episode. Unfortunately, my crappy Japanese skills weren’t enough to find out why he came in the first place, but apparently, his task was to deliver something. Ryuuki also managed to produce a law that approves women to take the national exam, which brings Shiurei another step closer to her dreams.

We start with Ryuuki finally finishing the complicated law. After all, such a law, which permits women to enter the palace requires a huge change in culture, so it has to be prepared very carefully. When Ryuuki finally manages to finish it, he gets a big smile on his face. After all, he’ll be able to see Shiurei again. ^^;

We then turn to Shiurei and Ensei, visiting the grave of Shiurei’s mother. It appeared that she was an amazing person in Shiurei’s eyes. It also seems that the day afterwards will be either her birthday, or her death’s anniversary. Shiurei asks for Ensei’s family, though then it appears that they’re all dead. Shiurei also still hasn’t recovered from her death, as she turns emotional for a moment.

We then turn to the next day, to a very interesting conversation between Ryuuki, Kouyuu and Ran. Ryuuki, with his happiest and most childish voice, presents his plan. He let Shouka proofread the plans, just in case. Apparently, it has one major flaw,as Ryuuki screams when he finds out Shouka’s comments. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch what that one might’ve been. Back to Kijin, Kei, Shiurei and Ensei: they get bothered by a couple of lawbreakers who apparently took a wrong turn and ended up in Kijin’s office. Ensei then shows everyone his powers in battle by smashing one of these guys with a chair.

Afterwards, Kijin and Ensei have a small talk, and somehow they say something that ends the both of them up having tea at Shiurei’s. Afterwards, even more unexplainable things happen, as Ryuuki, Kouyuu, Seiran and Ran sneak into the gardens of Shiurei’s house. There, they meet up with Ensei, who had been waiting for them. Then, a bunch of outlaws appears out of nowhere and the five of them then have to knock these guys out. Still, it was very amusing to see them doing this while just continueing their talk. As if these guys didn’t exist at all. ^^

Then, Kijin and Kouyuu have a strange conversation, and Shiurei sees what happened in her back yard. Ryuuki is extremely glad that she’s back. They wonder where Ensei went, though apparently, he took the opportunity to shave himself (I read somewhere that he hated to shave, which only makes this scene more funny). When he gets back, Shiurei needs a bit of time to recognize who he is. Ensei then bows to Ryuuki, and explains who he is. Apparently, he’s some kind of important warrior. He then gives Ryuuki a few items. They don’t say me anything, but they must have some kind of value. In any case, everyone talks a bit (which is not too good when trying to follow a raw) and Shiurei ends up cooking dinner for everyone. Ryuuki then takes this opportunity to ask Shiurei what happened to the ice, flowers, eggs and straw doll that he gave her, and it seems that she managed to find good use for them. ^^

Ryuuki then gives Shiurei a branch of a tree, which makes her remember the first episode. She even cries on this, after which the ignorant Ryuuki feels confident to kiss her again. Do I still have to mention that Shiurei’s not too happy with this? (So funny ^^) Anyway, the next morning, Ryuuki, Kouyuu and Ran say goodbye again, but not before Ryuuki tells her that he managed to introduce a law that allows women to take the national exam (don’t ask me how). Ensei also says goodbye, as it seems that delivering the package to Ryuuki was his only task. He takes off again, to somewhere unknown.

Then Shou Taishi (the old advisor guy) closes the episode, with even more unexplainable stuff. I managed to read somewhere that he is indeed one of the eight sages, which does explain his transformation in the sixth episode. He now does something to a bottle of insence, in order to make its smoke turn into another guy. I’m not surprised if that were to be another of the eight sages. Apparently, he was needed for something.

Ah well, the series has passed its 25%-mark. And so far, I’m very happy with it. Especially the quirky characters turn this into an awesome anime. There’s also so much more to the plot than that what we’ve seen up till now. After all, Shiurei can now take her exam and become a goverment official. What will happen afterwards? We’ve still got twenty-nine episodes to fill.

Some of questions for this episode:
– Why did Ensei have to deliver the package in the first place, why did he stay with Shiurei for so long, and why didn’t he just go straight to Ryuuki when he had the chance?
– What happened to the eight sages after they disappeared? Apparently, some of them died and some of them stayed alive. But is there any reason for that? And why did Shou Taishi need the other sage-dude to come back?
– How exactly did Shiurei’s mother die?
– Why were those outlaws near Shiurei’s house, why did Ryuuki know about it, and why didn’t they send a squad of soldiers to take care of them?
– How did Ensei meet up with Seiran?
– Will Shiurei be able to immediately take the exams, or are there special dates for people to take it?