Anime: Saiunkoku Monogatari

The Highlights

Characters: Flat, especially the male ones.
Visuals: Quite sketchy, especially as far as movements are concerned; clothes were a redeeming factor.
Attempt at politics: Abhorrent.
Ups: Rare.
Downs: Plentiful.
Music: Catchy introductory and ending themes and some decent Chinese folk tunes.

Review

I do not know what calls for higher complaint when referring to Saiunkoku Monogatari: the fact it leaves numerous questions unanswered, or the fact that the questions it left without answering could be seen as a positive if it resulted in the shortening of this abhorrence. At most points this show is as boring, superficial and banal as an anime can be.

The Story of Saiunkoku had me asking one predominant question throughout the series, “what story?” The show feels more like an artificial contraption in which a girl has a road set for her. Nothing can ever go wrong, and everyone who is anyone never fails to come to her rescue regardless of the fact she is a female government official in Dynastic China. The unrealistically attractive villain falls for her, the unrealistically attractive emperor falls for her, the unrealistically attractive plot devices (other characters) fall for her… it is even implied that her unrealistically attractive uncle falls for her. A few sections of the anime point in a positive direction, but they are overshadowed by what is essentially a very poor story.

The characters are simply atrocious. They are tedious, they are flat, they are an insult to anyone’s intelligence. Kou Shureei, the female lead, is the only character that barely surpasses the vegetative level… and barely means barely. Other characters, which mostly means unrealistically attractive males, can be likened to unused tissue paper, waiting to be used by Shureei. Metaphorically, the entire show’s approach to characters can very much be compared to the usage of tissue paper.

It was rather amusing, by which I mean excruciatingly painful, to observe a show lacking all intellectuality attempt to incorporate politics. Extremely unsuccessful is the easiest way to describe it. It was as if the creators of Baywatch decided to incorporate “global societal issues” as a leading theme.

Some might find this show entertaining (that some being teenage girls). However, this is undoubtedly an unoriginal anime, with very few redeeming factors. How an anime can manage to say and do so little in such a great number of episodes is beyond my imagination.

When I learned about this series, I immediately snapped it up, cuz I'm a sucker for stuff set in ancient China. I think, in this genre, comparisons to Fushigi Yuugi are probably hard to avoid. Story-wise, it has practically nothing in common with FY, other than that it's about a girl and a bishounen harem. FY was more of a fairy tale adventure, with the Good Guys and the Bad Guys fairly clearly delineated, lots of romance, and lots of swashbuckling. This story takes a bit more of a mature tack, with only a bit of supernatural stuff; there are no real villains (as in, no one character is pure evil, though there are a few fairly disreputable minor characters). Saiunkoku deals more with politics and human relationships (romantic, friendly, and professional) though it also contains a good amount of swashbuckling. Though it is a much more ambitious work than FY in that it presents a more complicated picture of morality and relationships, I don't think it achieved its goals as completely as FY. Some of the "oh he seemed like a bad guy at first but his deepest motives were actually honorable" plot-twists seemed a bit arbitrary, and a lot of the turns of politics were not very belivable. Also, it always touts a message of "believe in yourself and follow your dreams," which the more cynical and skeptical of us might find hard to take seriously. Overall, it strikes me as a series that would be best enjoyed by young girls that are naive enough to find the plot points credible.

For myself, what got me through the series wasn't so much the plot as the character relationships and the fact that I like bishies. I really liked all the main characters of this show (and believe me, there are tons; it was hard for me to keep track of them all at first, especially since their names are so similar); after the initial romantic tension is set up between Shuurei (the female protagonist) and Ryuuki (the emperor and arguably the most important male in the bishie barn), I was really curious to find out what happens between them. Sadly, there's no real resolution at the end, though that was pretty much to be expected, considering that the story continues in the second season which just started.

Now for an explaination of my catagory ratings:

Animation - 7
I liked the art style and character designs, but the animation was fairly mediocre. None of the movements have that fluid and natural feel you get with really well-animated works, like the Rurouni Kenshin OVAs, and sometimes the characters look a touch distorted from certain angles. The thing I didn't like the most was the way they animated Shuurei's running. Does she really have to run like such a sissy? Certainly nothing else about her is sissy. Also, her fingers don't move when she plays the erhu. Having said that, I think the overall animation is good enough to not detract from the show; in short, it's not that good, but it's not terrible.

Sound - 8
The show uses some clips of ancient chinese music, mostly erhu music, which is kind of a nice touch. Otherwise, the background music of the show is uniformly blah. The sound quality itself is good enough (I'm certainly no audiophile).

Story - 7
I've talked a good deal about the relative merits of the story already, so, basically, it's a 7 because it's an imperfectly executed good idea.

Character - 10
Definitely the best point of this series. The main characters are all interesting in their own way and really fun (my favorite is probably the eccentric but unexpectedly wise and reliable Ran Ryuuren). Often, the heroines of shoujo series like this annoy me because they do stupid stuff, but Shuurei is actually a very sympathetic and often admirable character, making her believable as the tough and accomplished young lady that the story says she is.

Value - 7
To be totally objective, there probably aren't any outstanding points of artistic achievement in this series, since the technical aspects of the show are fairly average, and the story-telling aspects are like-wise unremarkable. Having said that, this is a series worth watching if you're a fan of the genre. It may not come to be as legendary as Fushigi Yuugi, or exalted for artistic achievement like Lain or Saikano, but it's still an enjoyable show without major faults. Sometimes you just want to look at bishies prancing around ancient China, and this series certainly fulfills that purpose very well.

Enjoyment - 8
A purely subjective score. Watching it was a fun experience for me, and I certainly don't regret the time I spent on it, but I also won't rank it as a perennial favorite to be revisited often.

Anyway, that's my two-cents on this series. I would recommend you pick this up if you like shoujo series in general. It's not as well done as Ouran, for example, so its appeal won't be nearly as broad; but fans of the genre will probably find it very enjoyable. Well, I hope my rambling will be helpful, and I wish you all happy anime-watching!

Tale of Saiunkoku (Saiunkoku Monogatari) is a historical romance story with a bit of fantasy and comedy. It is set in a fictional land of Saiunkoku and rotates around the life of a girl named Kou Shuurei. Main plot follows her ambitions about political career and the events in the coloured provinces of Saiunkoku. There are many subplots about relationships between characters and secret affairs. The story is long and catchy, countinuing all the way to the second season.

Animation

Quality and style for this series' animation were very well chosen. Soft background tones and colorful characters give the feeling of Chinese environment from 1000 years ago. Styling is not something unique, but everything is done clearly and proportionaly. Character expressions are believable and people blend into their surroundings very well. There is no 3D implementation, which is quite common in new animes, but in this case it is no way a disadvantage. Animators did a rather simple, but at the same time great job on making this series into a moving picture.

Sound

Saiunkoku Monogatari has gathered one of the best seiyuu cast of all animes i have seen. I cannot think of a single character with unfitting or unbelievable voice actor set for it. Main heroine Kou Shuurei has the deep and memorable voice of Houko Kawashima (you can remember her as Clare from Claymore or Sango from Inuyasha), main male character are voiced by well-known actors too: Tomokazu Seki (Chiaki from Nodame Cantabile, Keisuke from Initial D, Tate from Mai-HiME) has lent his voice to Shi Ryuuki and Hikaru Modorikawa gave voice to Shi Seiran. Other notable actors are Toshiyuki Morikawa (Naraku from Inuyasha, Alex Rou from Last Exile, Carrosur Dawn from Madlax, Takumi from NANA) as Ran Shuuei and Takehito Koyasu (don't even need to mention the roles, most popular voice actor according to ANN). Others are not so well known, but still does their job great.
However background music and sound effects are not that impressive. They aren't done improperly or unsynchronized, but I expected something a bit more impressive, at least Kou Shuurei could have known more than one song to play with erhu from time to time. The savior that brings sound score back to ten is the OP/ED ("Hajimari no kaze" by Ayaka Hirahara and "Saikou no Kataomoi" by Sachi Tainaka) combination which fits the romantic part of the series by 110 percent.

Story

Story is another good reason for this anime to brag about. It is hard to think of anything to compare to but maybe Juuni Kokuki is the closest one (except the fact that there is much less fantasy in SM). Storyline is deep, interesting and quite difficult to folow (the latter is valid if you are watching a fansub, because I found myself pausing constantly and reading several times through more difficult conversations, and I dare to say that I am not that bad at english). There are no parts that you just wait to finish faster and constant action attracts your attention from the start till the end. This is one of those animes that is full of secrets and countinues to surprise with plot twists in nearly every episode, absolutely not the kind that you know what is going to happen in the end after first five or so episodes. Plot is rich enough to keep your attention for whole 39 episodes and still continues in the second season (which, sadly, is not in the interest of any fansub group yet).

Characters

Great story combined with professional and well chosen seiyuu results in believable and interesting characters. And since it is a romantic comedy about political career, memorable characters are essential. Main heroine Kou Shuurei is a kind and hard working girl from a noble family but living on a low income. Being a clever lady she works as a teacher and has a dream to become a politician someday, but it seems nearly impossible, because females are forbidden from this career by law. As the story develops, her character evolves and it is very interesting to observe her progress towards career goal and her feelings for everyone. Other main characters are also involved in various affairs and deals with them in their own style and manner. Although most names sound quite similar, you will remember majority of the characters instantly because none of them are alike or boring/not interesting. Even minor characters have something special about them.

Value

Saiunkoku Monogatari provides great experience and once you watch it you will want everyone to watch this too. It is not an anime that you would want to watch over and over again, but watching it one more time would certainly deliver a better understanding of the story and you would be happy to notice the parts you missed while watching it the first time. It is essentialy the one to keep in your collection and the one that you will not forget to have seen.

Enjoyment

Not much to say here since I tried to describe my enjoyment through all the sentences above and only to sum up I can say that this is one of the most enjoyable animes I have seen. It did not surprise me when i saw that the only ones ranked higher on anidb are Kanon remake and Kenshin Tsuiokuhen.