dangermousie | Oh, I love Saiunkoku Monogatari with an unholy passion

So, to blab on:

You disappoint me, Evil Counsellor.

I kept hoping that with your squinty glare and abundant mustache, you could make our heroes' lives a living hell for at least a few episodes.

But I hate to point out to you, Sir, that your plot has holes the size of a truck at a demolishion derby.

(Oh,

katranna, ep 6 is where the plot kicks in, with assassination attempts, coups, kidnappings and lots of swords).

OK, fine. I give you points, you discovered that Seiran is Prince Seien, the exiled missing one.

In abstract, getting him to replace his currently ruling brother, Ryuuki, is not a stupid plan: new one will be grateful to you after getting put on the throne, blah blah.

In abstract.

Have you considered people involved? Or the logistics? Or is there only hair inside your head, too?

Yeah, yeah. Kidnap Shuurei, use her to draw Ryuuki into a place full of assassins. Meanwhile offer the throne to Seiran.

Brilliant. NOT.

1. Seiran will OF COURSE go along with having his loved little brother assassinated. Clearly. WTF? And it's not as if you are deluded about Seiran's views on things, you are all 'you were the only one who cared for Ryuuki.' WTF.

2. Great, activate option 2. You will make Seiran unconscious, and by the time he comes to, Ryuuki will be dead and he will be on the throne. Brilliant. He is going to be so grateful to you for killing his brother and also placing Shuurei in harm's way. You just offed/harmed 67% of people he cares about. Of a guy who is awfully good with weapons and lives to protect those he cares about.

You think you had problems controlling Ryuuki. Seinen is THE capable, alpha brother. You are kidding when you think he'll be docile, right? Unless you plan to keep him drugged all the time (in which case good luck controlling anything) or you think he will magically be 'ehhh, nothing I can do to fix it now, buh-hye, Ryuuki, where's my crown?'

3. Umm. Ryuuki. Is the best damn swordsman around. With the possible exception of Seiran. Which you should have at least some inkling of! You live at court! You send him into a building full of assassins and he just might, you know, wipe them all out? He is sweet and oversocialized, not suicidal or weak.

4. Fine, you don't know that Shuurei's father is the feared legendary head of the assassin squad. I am trying to figure out, if your coup had succeeded, whether, after he finished cutting off bits from you on Shuurei's behalf, he would first start cutting off bits on behalf of Ryuuki, whom he took care of when Ryuuki was an abused little tot, or on behalf of Seiran, whom he took in over a decade ago, and treats like family. Hmmmm.

But you DO know that this assassin dude is out there somewhere, loyal only to dead Emperor and would probably not be keen on you playing musical chairs with succession.

YOU FAIL.

Also, I think we are supposed to feel sorry for Kourin, the 13-year old who wanted to help her father figure, Evil Advisor, and attempted to off Shuurei on her own (without him ever telling her to do anything!) but I just think she is too stupid to live.

Speaking of the opposite of 'too stupid to live,' I adore Shuurei! Finally, a heroine in shoujo with a lot of common sense.

It's amazing to me that she is just so full of common-sense, down-to-earth, and undramatic. She never does the stupid, high-flown thing.

When she first meets Ryuuki and he pretends to be only a court official, you realize later that she recognized him as the Emperor right away but just let him carry on with it. As she points out, who else could it be, no military uniform, wandering around in informal clothes around everywhere in the Palace like home.

Or later, when he comes into her room, and just falls asleep sitting up, she just tucks him into her bed and is all 'where am I going to sleep?' and instead of doing something stupid, like sleeping on the floor is all:
(1)it's a big bed
(2)Ryuuki likes guys
(3)no way can he mistake me for one
(4)I'll put a bolster between us just in case
(5)snore.

You rock, Shuurei!

Plus, I completely crack up when Kouren comes in with tea in the morning and misinterprets and runs out, and Shuurei wakes up to find out Ryuuki has kicked the bolster away and is now hugging her. LOL.

Cuteness.

She also doesn't go starry-eyed around bishounen, which is nice. When her father is all 'be nice to Ryuuki, he is lonesome and had childhood from hell' she is 'yeah' (and she was beforehand anyway) but is not 'Awww, let me soothe his woobienss with my adoration.' (sidenote: Dad was all 'he came into archives every day with cuts and bruises and I put stuff on them' What on earth do you put on bruises? Cuts, fine, some medieval bandaid type thing, but bruises? Other than raw steak?)

And I love that she thinks Seiran and Ryuuki are a couple. LOL. And is totally fine with it, even if it is her husband and her best friend.

I totally adore Ryuuki btw. I think he is my favorite character in this.

He does wander around for the first few eps in a sort of shell-shocked trance (which makes sense, what with big civil war which offed the rest of his unenviable family, and abused child issues, and lack of exposure to the real world) but he is funny. And sweet. And very very bi. (Sidenote 2: I love that even in such a total mainstream, shoujo anime, much more suited to kids than Fushigi Yuugi, it's a matter-of-fact thing to have the hero be bi. Heh).

He actually makes me think of a mixture between Yuki from Furuba, Hotohori from FY, and Tamaki from Ouran.

Like Tamaki, he is a total blond, and is also very overdramatic, and kinda fragile. And very unfamiliar with normal world.

And like Hotothori, he has the whole hottie isolated Emperor thing going :)

And he has Yuki's whole stand-offish, overly polite oversocialized thing going, and the perfect mild manners which are just total shellshock in a way. Which makes sense as they have a very similar childhood background, what with being locked in dark rooms for days at a time, and being told they were unwanted, and being beaten every day because it made good amusement for his Mother and half-brothers.

Oh, and also mother issues. A mile wide. I think Ryuuki gloms onto Shuurei because she totally mothers him. And is all 'you can have the sweet buns later. I will tell you a story. You need to study. etc etc etc.' It's like 'whoa, Mommy figure that is not abusive?'

And I think it's cute they sleep together every night (not that way, alas, it would be a very different anime :D) because he doesn't like darkness or being alone.

AWWWW.

Now if he could only tell her he doesn't like only boys.

I love that he might be clueless about certain basics of life (such as walking and eating at the same time) but can tell what kind of poison was slipped into a cup just by looking at its shade in the silver. A very specialized kind of education.

Of course, anime makes clear he is not stupid at all, just unmotivated, and also I bet the whole 'Oh, I don't know anything, anything at all' must have been totally a surivival tactic in that creepy family.

Oh, and Seiran? ROCKS. I did love the whole bit where Ryuuki figured out who he was, and Seiran was all 'I am not your older brother, but if I was, if you revealed it, I would have to go away, and I am going to watch over you. And hug you now. But am not your brother, nope.' Awwww. Siblings.

Random note: I like Ryuuki's two advisors. They amuse me. I might or might not ship them :)

Ryuuki comes to see Shuurei at night:

Common-sense! I love you!

Ryuuki earns double points for being able to amuse me immensely by his use of the royal 'we' and make me want to pet him for the little lost boy 'nobody told me fairytales because they were too busy beating me' vibe. At the same time. Heh.

Common-sense wins again!

LOL

Advisor people and awesome hair-styles:

Ryuuki drinks poison intended for Shuurei. Because he can tell it's not fatal. That's a really useful education if he wants to join Pratchett's assassins' guild.

Ryuuki explains his emo:

I think this screencap is a little too dark, but I like how in the anime, the mother and siblings are just these giant dark silouettes with red eyes, and look as tall as they would to a kid. Very Furubaish.

I really like the peony in her hair. She always wears it. I wonder if it's some sort of proper imperial flower or what.

Seiran has his own emo, listening to his brother:

Because chibi!Ryuuki is uber-cute:

Shuurei playing that musical instrument to get Ryuuki to sleep:

Awwww, brotherly reunion, where it flashes back to their younger selves. I am glad SPN fanfic writers aren't in this fandom:

Two advisors:

Are worried that Seiran is in on the plot by Evil Advisor:

But Ryuuki is blonde, not stupid:

I love that shot of Seiran holding a sword to Evil Advisor's throat:

Common-sense heroine! Being logical even when kidnapped and tied up!

As I said, Evil Advisor's plot is utterly stupid because hello...

Meanwhile Ryuuki is all 'Grrrr, had to come to drafty dark place and I hate dark places. They kidnapped my OTP! And now my hair is getting mussed. Argh. Slash, kill.'

But is kinda single-minded, which is a family trait:

He throws his sword down because assassins tell him they have Shuurei. Seeing that this is only ep 6 out of 70+, I am not too worried:

Woo-hoo, Shuurei's Daddy is Super Assassin:

I think, so far, even though the animation is prettier (as this is my newer) and Shuurei is much smarter than Miaka, I do prefer Fushigi Yuugi, because FY had that deliciously post-modern tongue-in-cheek vibe where it was poking fun and metaing on itself. And also, FY had a hell of a lot more angst. I can't see how they can top what happens to Tamahome's family in FY or the death-toll (not that I want them too, one day bawling is enough).

It is, however, utterly awesome.