Video Backlog: "The Story of Saiunkoku"

Publisher: Geneon/Funimation (USA)
Format: Region 1 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English dub and English Subtitles.
Length: 39 Episodes x 24 minutes
Production Date: 2006 – 2007
Currently in Print (as of writing): No

This title is one of the last Geneon managed to get out the door as they were crushed under the weight of their debts and their parent company finally pulled the plug. Certainly they released some great titles, but the commercial viability of some those would be rather questionable. So “The Story of Saiunkoku” would probably be in that same category as “Master Keaton” and “Hajime no Ippo (Fighting Spirit)”. I really doubt it would have been a big seller. Indeed Funimation haven’t renewed any of the Geneon titles they distributed under the deal. The anime is based on a light novel series of the same name (literally meaning of the series’ title is “Tale of the Land of Coloured Clouds”). While the series is often referred to as a fantasy story, it’s more like historical Chinese drama, albeit the empire of Saiunkoku is fictional and so are all of characters that inhabit it.

The plot centres on a young woman named Shurei Hong. While she is a descendent of a noble, the family has fallen on hard times and are now practically commoners, though her father works in the Imperial palace’s archives. Though she is practically a commoner, Shurei has dreams of passing the national exam and become a civil servant in the court. However women are barred from public office and she spends her days teaching children at a temple and doing odd jobs to help run her household. One day she receives a request from the Emperor's Grand Advisor imperial household for six months as the young Emperor's consort in an attempt to make him more like a leader of the country, instead of the lazy, nobleman chasing man he currently seems to be. Shurei accepts the offer because of the amount of compensation involved (500 gold coins), but soon realises she might have work cut out for her.

First, I think the comparisons of this show with “Fushigi Yuugi” are way off. Sure, it’s shoujo and it’s set in China, but that’s where the comparisons end. This show is much more straight laced as such, and more realistic than that show. Sure, there’s a bunch of bishonen boys and a bit of humour, but’s more of a straight drama as such, albeit a light hearted one. The story progresses quite quickly over the 39 episodes. The initial plot set up of Shurei trying to rein in a wayward young Emperor is soon transformed into the Emperor trying to get the court to agree to allow women to take the national exams. This quickly heads into another plot where Shurei is a trainee and eventually takes on her first posting. I think I was really expecting more of a straight romantic shoujo comedy/drama. While the series does contain these elements, certainly a greater emphasis is put upon Shurei’s relationships with her father and friends and comrades she meets on her journey. There’s also a large focus on the politics involved with the court and how the empire is ruled, in particular outside groups and their relationship with the court. While that may sound a bit dry, most of the time it is presented in a pretty light and easily digestible way.

The major problem I had with the show was trying to get my head around the relationships in the show. There’s lost brothers, people with secret pasts etc. It was a bit too much for me. I really needed a chart showing who was related to whom or to what faction or group. I was also really disappointed with the lack of romance in the show. I really wished there was more. Certainly by the last arc in the series it’s almost forgotten about. There’s also the believability of the actions of Shurei in the dhow. With a society that has deeply entrenched beliefs about a woman’s place in that society, I sort of had some difficulty with some of what she achieved. I also felt that some of the animation and backgrounds were a little mediocre at points. It’s rather disappointing as this is a Madhouse production and I’d expect better from them. Some the characters were also a bit predictably written or just a bit over the top. Overall, it was a decent show, but not overly outstanding. There were some really good moments, but quite a number of mediocre or flat out dull sections in the series. It’s not like this is a bad series or anything, I just didn’t get into it. There is a second 39 episode series of the show, but I don’t think I’d be too disappointed if it never showed up in any legit English language format. I can only give this show 6.5 out of 10.

Remaining Backlog: 25 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).