Saiunkoku Monogatari is a lovely way to spend the evening

[dangermousie]

EEEEE!

Ryuuki just went super-assassin on the assassins.

OMG.

And wiped them all out without blinking.

And the dying head assassin is all 'you'd make an excellent assassin' and Ryuuki is all 'if I were that kind of person, Shuurei would hate me.'

And then he found Shuurei and cut her ropes/gag off. And OMG, I love Shuurei, because she thanks him and is all 'it's so dark, you must be scared' (he has dark-places phobia) and he just swoops her into this hug and tells her that even if it's dark, as long as he knew she was there, he wasn't. AWWWW. And only then, after being rescued, and also making sure he is OK, does she let go and allow herself to faint.

And then there is various plot stuff and her recovering from the poison and hugging and amusingness and then she announces she is going home because mission accomplished: Ryuuki is all Emperor-like (I love how Seiran tries, very low-key, for her to stay. He is a good older brother). And LOL, everyone has come to say bye to her, and she is worried whether she will get her $$$ and Ryuuki is all 'she married me only for $$$, I feel so used :D' and then is about to offer her more $$$ to stay and his advisors physically cover his mouth before he blunders in. LOL.

And then...

and then...

and then...

he tells her he has something to confess before she leaves. And he leans close and tells her. 'I don't only like men. I like women too.'

AND AND AND AND HE KISSES HER.

In front of everyone. And she is sputtering. LOL. And he is all 'you'll be back.'

OMG.

Heeee.

And all the others are goggling.

How can I not ship them?

Seriously, it's humanly impossible.

ETA: LOL LOL LOL LOL Shuurei, I love you. It's apparently been a month since, and Ryuuki has been sending her love missives by the dozen and she uses the blank sides as paper for her students to practice writing. LOL. And he's apparently been sending over totally ridiculous gifts, like trees and giant blocks of ice (it's really hot). LOL. He is such a Tamaki.



Because chibi!Ryuuki is adorable:



Siblings!



Ryuuki goes all ninja on the assassins:



Based on some pretty assassin-type observations:



Even dying assassin is impressed:



But Ryuuki is less so:



He finds her:





And cuts away her ropes:



That made me go SQUEE:







Heeee. I don't normally slash, but excuse me. How could you not?











Needing antidote for Shuurei:





Prettiness:



And creepiness:



Giganto AWWWW:







Shuurei's Dad the super-assassin and the lady-in-waiting his subordinate assassin. They both just got much more interesting:



Ryuuki in the rain and bonding with Seiran :)





The swarm of bishounen look on in amusement:



Heee. Advisor dude physically shuts Ryuuki up. This is such an Ouran moment:



I think I squeed so loudly I must have woken up the neighbors:









Heh.





Ultimately though, eight eps in, my verdict stands. I enjoy this quite a lot, but even though it's more modern in art design being newer, I prefer Fushigi Yuugi. This doesn't have the tongue-in-cheekness, or the crazy pace, or the dramatics and the star-crossed OTP of FY. FY was, after all, a romance/perilous quest story. SM seems much more a social study/world-building/character interaction piece. There isn't enough angst and adrenaline and crazy strong emotions to make it take over FY's place in my heart. Hmmm, I really should continue with my FY rewatch.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

You know, this honestly sounds more like 12 Kingdoms(once Yoko grows her extremely admirable spine) that Fushigi Yugi to me. (Then again, 12k got compared to FY, too, and they aren't remotely alike.)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

But this does have romance and funniness.

12 Kingdoms is something I never had any interest in whatsoever.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I consider 12k to be one of the best things to ever happen to anime(amazing worldbuilding and lots of character study into what's innate, and what your experiences make you) but I doubt you'd like it.

The world and social system here jusdt sound more like 12k than FY to me.

But then, I probably just get testy about how any series dealing with ancient China and/or Chinese mythology gets compared to FY, no matter how little they have in common.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I don't really hsve much interest in world-building (as long as it's done at least somewhat, more than utterly nonexistent like in Pretear). and only certain character study stuff is interesting to me, and then only if it has a complicated fast-paced plot, angst and/or OTP.

i think Fy system would be like this if not on brink of war.

Re:comparison with FY. Well, it IS the best known example of the genre so I can see why people do it. it's the easiest way to explain.

I decided one of my big reasons why this is nowhere near FY for me: Shuurei is a very nice person,but she has no quirks or flaws, not really.My fave heroines, from Makino to, yes, Miaka, have these very individual quirks and 'features' and a very strong sense of them but Shuurei is just nice. The end.

If she felt some overhwelming emotional reaction/response to something, I might like her better. But she is so unruffled and in control, I never got invested.

Mr. Mousie's take on it was 'watch Mary Sue and her kooky friends' and IMO that is too harsh, but I do wish she was more individual somehow, more something for me to seize on.

I am also getting to the point where I am:

Shuurei, come on.Just marry the freaking Emperor. You will havemore money and political influence than in any other way (two things you crave), you don't think he is fugly, and you don't have strong feelings for anyone.

Basically, I want a stronger, unitary plot. And a quirkier heroine.

Because as is, I really enjoy it, but I am not passionate about it.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I don't really hsve much interest in world-building (as long as it's done at least somewhat, more than utterly nonexistent like in Pretear). and only certain character study stuff is interesting to me, and then only if it has a complicated fast-paced plot, angst and/or OTP.

Whereas I'm all about worldbuilding, character development and character study(and crack), and look at OTPs as lovely icing on the cake. Pretear made me sad, mostly. So many anime try to be fairy tale meta-y and go wrong. Only Princess Tutu really got it right.

Re:comparison with FY. Well, it IS the best known example of the genre so I can see why people do it. it's the easiest way to explain.

FY was essentially the first shojo, first romantic fantasy, first magical girl, etc. to make it to the US and get big, so it always pops to mind. The problem is that, rather like Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Ghost in the Shell, etc., people compare EVERYTHING to it, no matter how wrong the impression it gives. I even saw someone compare Soul Hunter/Houshin Engi to FY once, and if you check my or crumpeteer's tags, you'll see that that's about the most wrong thing you could do.

(none of the above is saying anything about the above series-my opinion varies from like to love on all and no dislikes-just saying that fans tend to do series serious disservice in comparison sometimes)

Not having seen SM, I can't really comment on the character stuff, though Mr. Mousie's comment really describes most shojo.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I really think you will like SM a lot. It seems like very much your thing.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Heh...basically, everything you say about why you have a problem with it sounds like one more thing in its favor to me(which, amusingly, is the exact opposite of when you were watching Tenjo Tenge)

[madame-parker.livejournal.com]

I adore Saiunkoku Monogatari. Mostly because it doesn't go crazy with the angst and it's so cute but also it has such well written characters.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

The characters are well-written, but I want my angst!

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I love watching anime vicariously through your experiences. :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heee. I do get all hyper.