So apparently Saiunkoku Monogatari went, just like myself, on a two-week hiatus, so I didn’t miss anything of this series. Today, the next episode arrived, and I must say that this series is getting better and better.

And seriously: Seiga is a bastard!!

First he guides Shuurei, dressed up as Juusanhime into a horse carriage to spend the night, only to pull a Sakujun on her. If it wasn’t for Ran, who happened to be passing by, things would have turned out even nastier. And then later we see him making shady deals with the ones who actually PLAN to assassinate Juusanhime! And really, he TOO tries to mess with Shuurei’s hair.

Ryuuki, meanwhile also seems to have paid a visit to the mansion of the Ran-family. Probably to get acquaintanced with Juusanhime, but I think that he also secretly hoped to see Shuurei somewhere, which happens near the end of the episode. Juusanhime also mentions her loved one to him for the first time, and I liked how both of them realize that they’re in the same boat: that they’ll never be able to live happily with their loved one.

Speaking of Juusanhime’s loved one: I think I know who he is: the prisoner who refused to go out of his cell in the previous episode. While I still don’t know the details, it does make sense how such a criminal like him can never really be fit to marry someone of such a high status as Juusanhime.

Yup, just like expected. Even though it’s a bit early, the first Christmas-episode has arrived. Interestingly enough, it went very different from what I expected, though. The focus is way more on Utau and Ikuto than on Christmas itself, as the two of them get quite a bit of development. Both of them are still quite angsty, but they’re getting less and less annoying, and this episode worked out quite well.

The only bad part about this episode was the revelation that Utau turns out to be an idol. Of course, in such a series it was unavoidable to not have some kind of idol somewhere, where so many members of the cast are popular, cool and good-looking. I’m also not sure why being an idol can help her and her manager to find Embryo. Could Utau perhaps be the link to Embryo?

In any case, in the later parts of the episode, Ikuto distances himself from both Amu and Utau, when he collects a huge amount of X-eggs in front of the former and refuses to come to an appointment with the latter. One thing I do want to see is a good explanation of why he’s so incredibly angsty. What the heck has happened to the guy? Bad childhood? There really has to be some kind of episode in the future that shows how he and Utau grew up together.

You have to love the cliff-hangers of this series. For the past episodes, they’ve always brought some kind of new twist. This episode gives a bit of a humorous side to the twists, which works out quite well, if I say so myself, even if it’s a bit mean. ^^;

This episode was mostly building up as usual again. After the previous episode, Tarou gets a new sort of therapy recommended by the councillor: Thought Field Therapy. I’m not yet sure what that means, but we’ll probably find out in the next episode, because Tarou really needs this after being exposed to the figure of the guy who kidnapped him and all. It now also seems that the councillor took the things that happened to him rather seriously, and is still frightened of the strange time-leap he made, two episodes ago.

Also, one of the questions that was raised in the OP has been answered: remember the Fox-like creature? That’s actually Makoto in Ghost Hound-mode. After seeing Tarou, he tried to move into the same form, and succeeded. In the meantime, the bully-side-story still isn’t over, when the bullies have now decided to make Masayuki into their victim. Luckily, Makoto prevented any real casualties in this episode, but things have to go wrong at one point.

Meanwhile, Masayuki finds out about Tarou’s crush on Miyako. Cute moment, by the way. Miyako seems to be really wary of her father, by the way. He just takes out one beer and she notices and gets annoyed. Could this have to do with her schizophrenic side, that was mentioned a few episodes ago?

Overall, I’m liking the quiet moments of this series more and more. It’s interesting enough for me to just see the different characters interacting, and that’s one of the signs of a good anime for me. Let’s see what this series will have in store for us once it enters its second half. Ghost Hound is an excellent recommendation for this season.