The Story of Saiunkoku

Reviewed By: Carla Land

Geneon DVD 2007

Review based on volume 1 (episodes 1-5)

Rating 13+

What it’s (basically) all about: Shurei comes from a poor but noble family. She is very well educated, but is unable to take the National Exam or even go to the palace because she is a woman. When the opportunity arrives for her to teach the new king, Ryuki Shi,  how to rule, she takes it- even though it means masquerading as his consort. In order to help her family and her country, Shurei is determined to stay at court, but the new king is making things difficult for her. Will she be able to succeed in turning out a good king?

Nitty Gritty: Shurei’s first obstacle is that the King Ryuki has no interest in ruling at all. Her second is that it is rumored he prefers men over women. Her third is that he won’t even reveal who he is to her. And her fourth is that the King is falling in love with her. She also has to convince all the other men in the court that she isn’t a foolish woman.

Language is very mild (damn and bastard), and there is no nudity and no sexual situations. A man follows the king into a bedroom one night, and Ryuki starts sleeping next to Shurei, but none of this involves any nudity or sex. Though the king does seem to prefer men at first, there is still room for romance between him and Shurei. Later we learn the real reason for Ryuki's "preference" is that he hates to sleep alone because he has nightmares, and he lets the court think he prefers men so that they don't push their daughters and granddaughters on him. In truth, Ryuki has been playing everyone for a chump- he's actually quite capable of ruling the country. He just needed a little encouragement.

The animation is really well done, and the story is really good. It has romance, intrigue, humor and drama all rolled into one, as well as a strong lead female character and an enigmatic lead male character.

Extras included are the textless opening, DVD credits, and Geneon previews for Paradise Kiss, Rozen Maiden, and Ayakashi- Yotsuya Ghost Story.

Survey says: Appropriate for YA/ teen collections.

Personal Ad: I really love this one- it’s a Cinderella story with a twist- and I went out and bought it for myself. Unfortunately, Geneon is not going to be around much longer in the anime market. Hopefully The Story of Saiunkoko will get picked up by another distributor soon. Considering this anime was featured in Newtype-USA in September 2007, I think that’s a very good possibility.