(L) Saiunkoku Monogatari (1st Series) The Story of Saiunkoku

[sukreih]

I was kidda stereotypical about this anime because

Original novel was illustrated by Kairi Yura(the character designer of the Angelique series)
+It features a lot of hot guys
+ the cast is so brilliant(it's very rare to see Sekitomo,Hiyama Nobuyuki,Morimori,Ikeda Shuiichi etcs in one anime :P)
=It'll be a Haruka/Angelique-ish Harem anime
=not good

but anyways I was wrong. Kou Shurei is one of the best female characters ever.(Unlike those dodohead female leading roles in Angelique/Haruka./no offense to fans.Actually I'm a Ange fan myself From what I heard the novel is heavily based on Shureii and the country's political issues and very,very light on romance.Sweet.
Spring features wonderful male-harem works like Ouran High School Host Club and Saiungoku Story.So happy.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Just as good as episode one, IMO. A classic story in a classic setting, with excellent voice-acting, and a wonderful look. The premise is an old one, but it works. And Shuurei is such a wonderful character.

The OP and ED songs are both lovely, too.

[miaka]

Episode two is nice lots of funny scene. Its episode title is "The Frog In The Well Knows Not The Great Ocean" I think the frog is refering to the king. He is only exposed to decent luxery in the palace and unaware of what is happening outside. The episode also discuss the political structure of ancient chinese government.

a quick summary. but I did not go onto the details so forgive me.

Spoiler:

Episode 2 is about Shuurei and the king visiting the city. BTW, in episode 1, the king pretended that he was Lan Shuei ( guy in blue dress, a military general), however too bad... Shurei know his true identity. ) She intended to let him know the situations in the city. They helped one of shuurei's student to watch over a hair accesories shop, while she (the student) went off to take care her sick mother. With a good looking guy in the shop, it automatically attracted many female customers. ( That scene is really funny) lol Afterward, they went to Shuurei's house, and Shuurei told her stories that happened in the past about the hardship of the people. The king was touch with Shuurei story and in the next day he decided face the politics and do his responsibilities.

[Simon]

This may be a little premature for a series without a sub yet, but I was hunting around the Animate Shop website and stumbled across the DVDs for this anime. Its 39 episodes are going to be spread over 13 DVDs, available in both limited and regular editions (cat. numbers FCBN-6~18 and FCBN-19~31 respectively). First release is August this year, last is August 2007.

I find the Animate site a bit hard to navigate and link to, but CDJapan have listed the V1 limited and regular edition.

My one grumble is that it seems you don't get boxes even with the LEs, but you have to collect tokens and send them in - not very helpful for those of us outside Japan...

[luzmil]

I really hope someone sub Saiunkoku monogatari! I don't want it to be like Gallery Fake or Glass Mask, I was really looking forward to them and they didn't get a proper fansub --;

I don't understand why so many groups are working in the same projects and there are other good animes that don't get the attention they deserve, it's so sad

[Kaoru Chujo]

Oh, boy, did I love episode 3. Things get more and more interesting. And both Shuurei and the king become more and more attractive characters.

Spoiler for ep3:

Even Shuurei's shouts to get the king off her, despite the fact that they seemed to come from a more comic genre of anime, were a good device for defusing the situation dramatically.

Originally Posted by luzmil

I really hope someone subs Saiunkoku Monogatari! I don't want it to be like Gallery Fake or Glass Mask, I was really looking forward to them and they didn't get a proper fansub....

AndrewLB's page says that two groups are working on this series: Ayu and Say China.

[DoReMiFaSo]

After watching episode 3, I am beginning to like the king better, since

Spoiler:

he is actually a smart and perceptive person only pretending to be dumb.

Also, it's fun to watch that Shuurei is clueless about the king's feelings.

[Apocryphal]

For a series of 39 episodes, the pacing of the anime is much faster than I expected. Since the manga is still running (I think), would the anime ends at a cliff-hanger or would it try for an original ending?

[SmartChick]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

AndrewLB's page says that two groups are working on this series: Ayu and Say China.

Thanks for the info Kaoru I was getting worried that no was going to take this and id have to sit watching the raws not understanding a single thing. I cant wait either until the subs for this are released .

[miaka]

Just finished watching episode 4. The story revolved around Seiran.

Spoiler:

someone from the palace noticed that seiran resembled the King's lost brother in exile. Even Ryuuki noticed him while having a match in the martial art contest. However, Seiran denied it. The fun part was the last scene where Shurei thought Ryuki was in love with Seiran.

Things getting to heat up. The series seems so organized. I was little worried about the complicated matter of the characters.

[SmartChick]

XD Im so happy Ayu finally released the sub now I can finally understand what they are saying. Thanks Ayu!!!

[justinstrife]

Just noticed Ayu's release and thought I'd do some research on it. Definetly sounds like something worth looking into and giving a chance.

[domino]

Yay, the sub is out! Thanks, Ayu!

I was worried that it would fall into one of the negative points that many shoujo series suffer from (bad animation, bad storytelling, annoying characters), but was pleasantly surprised to find that everything about the show is enjoyable. It's pleasing to look at, the music is nice and relaxing, the story + storytelling are really good... great show!

I really like the main character! I wish her luck taming the emperor. :P It looks like they'll be a cute couple.

Only thing I didn't like was the opening/closing songs aren't very catchy, but at least they're pretty. Sakura petals! Yura Kairi artwork!!

I love historical fantasy tales that are well-told and well-made, and this looks like it will fit perfectly. I'm happy~

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by domino

...Only thing I didn't like was the opening/closing songs aren't very catchy, but at least they're pretty. Sakura petals! Yura Kairi artwork!! I love historical fantasy tales that are well-told and well-made, and this looks like it will fit perfectly. I'm happy~

I really enjoy this show, too. I guarantee it stays just as good or better up to at least episode 4. Fortunately, tastes in music differ: for me, the OP is one of the best of the season.

[miaka]

I agree with kaoru Chujo. The opening theme is my favorite anime song for this season. By the way, the song is already out in Ayaka Hirahara's 4th album 4L.

[evillily]

I like the song as well!! This is the lyrics↓


はじまりの風

作詞：路川ひまり
作曲：ID
編曲：YANAGIMAN
歌：平原綾香

始まりの風よ　届けメッセージ
"いつでもあなたを信じているから"

あの時　夢に見ていた世界に立っているのに
見渡す景色に 足を少しすくませ
だけど後ろ振り向かないで　歩いてゆくこと决めたから
見上げた空　七色の虹　あなたも見てますか？

始まりの風よ　届けメッセージ
夢に駆け出した背中　見守るから
舞い上がる風よ　想いを伝えて
"いつでもあなたを信じているから"
羽ばたけ　未来へ

例えば　たいせつな人を胸に想う時は
誰もがきっと　優しい顔をしてるはず
道は時に果てしなくても　諦めずに行くよ

始まりの風よ　届けメッセージ
遥かな旅路のその先で待ってる
舞い上がる風よ　運命も越えて
願いは届くと　信じられるから
いつかまた逢えたから あの笑顔見せて

始まりの風よ　届けメッセージ
遥かな旅路のその先で待ってる
舞い上がる風よ　運命も越えて
願いは届くと　信じられるから
恐れるものなどない"あなたがいるから"


This anime's great but hard to translate though...since it's got heaps of culture related stuff in it.

[miaka]

Originally Posted by evillily

This anime's great but hard to translate though...since it's got heaps of culture related stuff in it.

yeah episode 2 even mentioned ancient chinese political structure and in episode 3 lots of hidden message behind a certain object.

Spoiler:

example : silver tea set given by Shuurei's father. Her father was actually telling her to be careful because someone was trying to poison her. In imperial court, silver needle was used to test presence of poison.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by miaka

yeah episode 2 even mentioned ancient chinese political structure

That's my hope for this series, that it will have the grand sweep of history and politics but still work on the more personal scale of individual characters and their relationships. My only reference point for this kind of Court drama is reading Dream of the Red Chamber - obviously I don't expect a story quite at that level, but I can see lots of potential in this anime.

Ep 1 was well worth the wait - thanks Ayu!

[froinlaven]

So I guess it's not technically shoujo, but it seems pretty shoujo to me. The whole reverse male harem thing kinda turns me off to the whole anime, but I could see why people would like it. I suppose Ouran is also a reverse harem, but for some reason, I can handle it. O'well.

Full impressions here.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I really like this anime. It's among my favorite shows of the new season.

However, much as I like it, I do find it quite hard to follow sometimes. The plot is getting fairly complex, and I can't keep the characters straight. So to solve the latter problem I made a page with the characters' faces and names and brief bios.

I've also included links to other resources, including a page that has summaries of the first three volumes of the novel, and a blog that looks like it will continue to follow the series.