Saiunkoku Monogatari Review - 90/100
I can sort-of understand why people often are reluctant to check out very lengthy series. After all, they’re a huge commitment and it’s very hard to tell whether it will turn out worthwhile or not if you have to sit through more than sixty episodes. Series like Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball Z and Inuyasha went on and on, amidst pointless fillers, and just could have gotten so much better if they were just 1/4th of their original length.
Still, let me say that for every lengthy series that screws up, you can always find a lengthy series that’s absolutely worth the commitment. Take Legend of Galactic Heroes, Gintama, or any of the World Masterpiece series. And of course Saiunkoku Monogatari. It’s set in a world, reminiscent of ancient China, and follows Shuurei, as she tries to be the first female govermnent official, in a male-dominated society.
Of course, there’s much more to the story than just that. The series starts out as an innocent shoujo love-drama, but soon enough this series shows its josei-roots and develops its huge cast of characters perfectly. Be sure to expect lots of politics. The different arcs are very different from each other, and they’re more than enough to keep this series interesting though its entire run. And of course, there’s quite a bit of romance as well, but don’t expect standard Shoujo-romance here. Quite often, you see two characters who are in love with each other, yet can never be together due to their social status, or the things they did in the past.
I do want to note, though, that some parts of this series are less interesting than others. Saiunkoku Monogatari has a couple of incredibly deep and well-developed characters, but it needs to build up a lot in order to achieve this. There will be a few arcs that aren’t that special, other than that they build up for some amazing scenes, later on in the series. It’s also a shame that the final quarter of the series builds up to a third season that’ll probably arrive in two or three years. The final few episodes also showcase some dramatic budget-problems, with three recap-episodes within twenty episodes, so that’s also something to take into account.
Still, despite the flaws, Saiunkoku remains a versatile and engaging series. If you liked The Twelve Kingdoms (I haven’t seen the series myself, but I hear from everywhere that that’s another excellent series), you’ll definitely like this series. Now all that’s left is to wait a few years for the third season to arrive!
I’m only a few episodes into the second series (fansub group picked it up again woo!) but this really is one of my favourite series, I always like how there wasn’t one large overall goal to it, it made it seem far more true to what life would be like. Admittedly it is sometimes too slow and too complex for it’s own good (I keep forgetting what characters do, though that isn’t a terrible thing) and I’m not so sure about the supernatural side of it playing a bigger role in this series but overall an incredible achievement on the production company to have such a long series and only a few minor slip ups.
Comment by marmot — March 8, 2008 @ 15:28
hmm………………………….
looks like this is the End of the End.
based on how it looks, they’re not planning for a season 3. because as part of my former simulation, there’s no indication of the next move, which is the upcoming Kouyuu Arc… so… hmm, even though it’s sad on my side, but even if they do have a new season, like what psgels said, it’s not gonna be very soon.
hmm….
Comment by shun — March 8, 2008 @ 22:28
I picked Saiunkoku after my craving for 12 Kingdoms, I really like stories with rich and complex worlds, I am currently waiting for more subs.
For those that want to watch 12 Kingdoms warning: you will want more.
www.anime2leech.com
Comment by death13a — March 9, 2008 @ 17:26
>some dramatic budget-problems
budget problem? really?
I thought that the problem is caused by the tight schedule caused by the original novel. As you know, this animation is based on the novel of the same title for teenagers. The novel is still going-on, and the latest volume, on which the last several episodes of the animation were based, was published last summer. This might cause a problem for the production team of the animation, because they did not have enough time to prepare scripts for the rest of the animation series. To insert three recap-episodes was a solution for them, maybe.
Regarding the possibility of the third series, it totally depends on Yukino Sai, the author of the original novel. Even though I never read the novel, I personally think that it is better that the Saiunkoku Monogatari finishes with the second series, since I am a little bit worried if she has a good idea how to end the story…
Comment by Kei — March 24, 2008 @ 18:38
The thing that mostly led me to believe that the show had its budget-problems was due to their strange placement. Saiunkoku Monogatari didn’t just have three recaps, but around December and January, there were lots of one- and two week hiatuses, and three episodes before the ending another recap gets introduced. I can’t really believe that everything was planned that way.
Comment by psgels — March 24, 2008 @ 19:52
I love Saiunkoku!! You said on another blog it gets the most hits on your blogsite, but interestingly enough I haven’t run into anyone that’s have heard of it besides people online! It’d be nice to have someone to talk about it to, lol. It is such a great series though. It has strong characters and has a good balance of humor and seriousness. It has it slow parts and sometimes it’s hard to remember who does what and whose name is whose in the show, but it’s easy enough to get past. This show is especially good though since it’s so rare to such a strong female character like Shuurei! I really hope they make a third season as well. I’d love to actually see Shuurei and Ryuuki together, not just hope they are.
Comment by kawahato — March 30, 2009 @ 2:04