The Story of Saiunkoku, Vol. 1 by Kairi Yura

I adore Shurei and love the fact that the original illustrator of the light novel series took up the challenge to create the manga, because she knows the whole story so well and can still instil little points of emphasis that let me view certain developments in a new light. There's love on offer - of a paternal and filial nature which she delights in/ of a romantic nature which she worries might lead her astray from her aim of bettering the future - of being the strong support her friends need. She's female, so she appreciates and fosters relationships to get what she wants/to make others rethink their views.

There are many powerful shoujo heroines, but here you have a female josei heroine in an epic fantasy society, with (almost) a reverse harem eventually, trying to make her way in a man's world, man's society and man's job (eventually) just so her country can be healed and run better by the politicians/administration/civil servants. I was quite grateful that Funimation finished the first series, but the second series was only available in fansubs - and I haven't heard of this world developing a strong fanbase, so I hardly think we shall get it in English. Of course I was biased to like this version of one of my favourite female empowering animes - which sadly got too little PR in the West due to Pioneer/Geneon suddenly vanishing from the anime publishers list in the US. I'm already hella confused, I don't want to completely befuddle myself. I don't remember any of the men, so I'm not going to risk going there.ĭon't think I'll continue. Shuurei was fine as far as main characters go. Then you go around calling everybody by their wrong name because there is nothing that makes them look different.Ĭoming to the characters, I remember the main character's name and how she looks because she was one of the only female with dark hair.

By the time you're greeting your 15 person, you are likely to have forgotten the names of the first 10 people. Now go around introducing yourself and asking their names. Imagine you are in a room with about 50 people who look exactly the same. Because they all look the same, none of the names stuck. But that's not the only problem it brought. That makes differentiating who is who just a liiiitle difficult. ALL OF THEM HAVE ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME FACE AND BODY STRUCTURE. This wouldn't be much of a problem if all of them didn't look EXACTLY the same.

No no, I don't think you fully get this: Every. Frankly, the only decent thing I can say about this book is that the art is lovely.

The Story of Saiunkoku, Vol. 1 by Kairi Yura