Saiunkoku Monogatari

Whoever said that cartoons are only for kids...


Sigh...what can I say about this epic manga anime without either sounding like a love sick puppy or a rambling ole fool.


Saiunkoku Monogatari (The Story of Saiunkoku), Colour Cloud Palaces or SaiMono as we fans so lovingly call it, is a colourful manga turned anime of romance, political intrigue, historical splendour and mesmerising mythology created in epic proportion, worthy of my utter love and devotion.


One may be fooled by the anime's first few episodes that it is a mere romantic fluff, but after episode 6, the anime grew into more than the love affair of Emperor Ryuuki and his Ko Shuurei.

SaiMono Bishis - the Band Beautiful

The story is truly a journey for its characters, either on their own or collectively - a journey of female empowerment, of a stumbling prince to a worthy emperor, of outcasts to respected members of the society, of self discovery and many more.


Central to the epic is of course the relationship between 'beautiful' Emperor Ryuuki and his capable Ko Shuurei (a feminine feminist that put the Sungkyunkwan Scandal heroine to shame...hu hu). 


(credit : Crumchyroll)
The story, which takes place in the fictional medieval empire of Saiunkoku, follows the adventures of Ko Shuurei, a descendant of a noble family that has fallen on hard times.


Her father works as a librarian in the Imperial palace, a post which offers prestige and respect, but little compensation. Shuurei teaches in the temple school and works odd jobs to make ends meet, but her dream is to pass the imperial examinations and take a post in government, a path forbidden to women.


Shuurei's plans come to an abrupt halt when the Emperor's Grand Advisor makes a startling offer, which is joining the imperial household for six months as the young Emperor's consort, and teach the Emperor to be a responsible ruler. If she succeeds, the financial reward will be great.


The extra detail is that the Emperor has shown little interest in ruling the country while exhibiting preferences to be with men...and has thus far rejected the company of women (or so we thought).

Moi? Floozy?

The word 'floozy' naturally comes to mind when describing Ryuuki at this point of time (lol).


The story details Shuurei's growing relationships with the Emperor and other members of the court (as well as their journey of personal growth), set within the intrigues that surround imperial politics, and her commitment to better herself and her country.
(close credit : Crumchyroll)


The story's epic proportion are both its saviour as well as its detractor.  


A saviour because its love for details brought the characters and their development to life.

Seiran vs Ryuuki - which is which now?

Each character has his or her own story. And while Shuurei and Ryuuki are a joy to watch, so are their friends and even foes.


For instance, Shuurei has an adopted brother whose existence formed a love triangle between our two heroes and himself. However, at the same time, he is alsoa silent protector of both Shuurei and Ryuuki. And as the story of Shi Shieran, the adopted brother, unfolded, his role is made even more crucial when we realised his true identity.


The anime is laced with just the right amount of humour, pensiveness, edge of seat moments and political shrewdness.

First meeting between Ryuuki & Shuurei

We would wish for more romantic interactions between our two leads but the gradual strengthening of their individual character and mutual feelings for each other, will eventually lead to that boiling point that we hope to see at the end of the show.


The series are spunned from the manga and novella of the same name. While tha manga has stopped production for the time being, the story is still being continiued within the novella realm.


The anime has so far seen life for two whole seasons, but while fans all over the world are screaming for a third one, we are not strong enough in numbers to persuade a producer to take up the offer. This as I said earlier, is the detractor of the series - too epic and complicated to attract the casual viewers. Hence, popular anime producers do not see it as lucrative enough. 

Cosplay of Shi Seiran

Which is a pity because judging from the material from the novellas (available to non speaking readers in forms of reviews and or novel-summaries by kind souls within the virtual world), an anime reproduction would be just monumental...but then again, I might be biased (smiles). Hence, for those who just managed to watch the anime, Season 2 has left us hanging with a lot of unanswered questions and yet to be seen plot development.  


Whatever the case may be, just like Naruto, Bleech and many others, SaiMono has turned its followers into the creative beings that they are. Cosplays, chibis and fanarts are just some of the creative ways that fans have embarked on to show their love for the show.


So, come and lend us an extra voice as we plead, rave and rant for the powers that be to give us a third (and perhaps closure) season. Go on, grab a cloud and come fly with us .....  

The song featured in the video is not part of the anime OST,

but the fanmade vid captured some nice moments from season 1 & 2.