I really liked this one. The art is well done the character build up is realistic. Sure it is typical in a lot of ways but it is not overly syrupy. Which is nice because I'm tired of women being portrayed as idiots and having no desire to better themselves outside of getting the man. This is a good repeat read.

I just finished watching both the anime series of Saiunkou monogatari and I gotta say This is such a great anime; I have no words that would do justice to it. I had started watching it a long time ago but then I gave up on it for some reason. But then I remember how great the main female character was and how rare it is to find a heroine in anime who is so completely and utterly cool like Ko Shuurei. She is smart, funny, unbelievably driven, and best of all she is not a whiny cry baby who requires a man to be complete. Other than Shuurei, my other favourite characters were the Emperor, Shi Ryuuki, and Sa Sakujun. Ryuuki was so adorably lovable, he could be so wonderfully cool when carrying out Imperial duties and yet so silly and innocent at other times, waah Kawaii!!! I loved Sa Sakujun even though he was somewhat villainous. I loved how he was so in love with Shuurei and always trying to seduce her, and plus he is just so magnificently gorgeous Kyaaaa! There were so many positive qualities I admired in the main characters, which made me want to be just like that. The soundtrack is another thing I have fallen head over heels for. This anime was a lot like Seirei No Moribito, mostly because the setting and the music were of a historical era and both have strong women who carry out missions of countrywide importance, plus the emperors in both are super lovable. Ah I could talk about this for ever.
I will miss Shuurei and all the other characters… too bad the next series (Just like NANA) might not be made and if made it will be too far in the future and who knows I might have lost my love of Anime then. Sigh…

I tried reading the manga, but animated action and color is so much better after all, plus the manga plot is far behind the anime.

(PS: I know I just gave a review of an anime in a manga section, sorry for that. I wonder if there's an anime review site just like this Manga site...)

SO ANNOYING! i love this story to death but the manga is like...dead. and the anime has only 2 seasons!!!!!!! T-T i wish there is a 3 season...at least...+ nothing happened between shuurei and the emperor...!!!!! i feel like crying when i think about that. why doesn't the sensei write more T-T anyone like me out there who wants this series to continue??

I first picked up the series because of the pretty artwork. And when reading this series, I fell in loved it. It wasn't girly romance that involves guy-chase-girl-who-chase-another-girl or cry-a-bucket-of-tears-and-everything-shall-be-ok storyplot. It's mostly talk about Shuurei trying to get into politics (where back in the days girls stay home and be good wives instead) and what the main character is trying to do to make Saiukoku a better place. For a politic-hater like me, it's not that annoying to the point I want to throw the manga against the wall, but rather wanting to read some more. And for a female like her, I like the girl power showing out. =D

An update for others. This is originally a novel, which became very popular and the same artist decided to do a manga version while the novel was still going on, thus the artist is VERY slow when it came to updating. The anime was also spawn from this and it ended earlier than the novel's ending. So if the anime ending pissed you off, it's not the real ending. They just had a hard time finding the right moment to give it the ending for the anime. Since the novel recently ended, I do hope the manga will update quickly.

... Last updated on November 9th, 2011, 10:08pm

I neglected this manga at first because of the weird title but now I know I'm so wrong. This is also the first time I have seen such a beautiful woman in term of intelligence and passion. An extremely heart-warming story in which the heroine is an epitome of virtue and a symbol for all women to strike for. It's nice to know that Shuurei didn't fall into the typical type of shoujo heroine as she created a whole new image of herself as a strong woman in a modern society, dared to challenge the old stereotypes in which men should be the pillar of all.

I love the anime, so I checked out the manga. Its nice to see the manga does not simply follow the anime, instead takes plot elements left out or changed in the anime, staying truer to the novel.

I love the characters in this story, so many characters at first are hard to keep track of, but its excellent when you know who is who and can follow the indepth story lines. The women in this story are amazing, I'm sick to death of bland stupid weak cliched females in shoujo, this series blows all of those out of the water. The females are diverse and interesting, you have all types of females.

Shuurei is dense in her own naive way, but it is a particular issue that the story is trying to address as an actual plot point rather than using it for convenience to draw out a stupid romance.

The romance between her and Ryuuki is playing out realistically, I love that she didn't just fall for him right away.

@jungyunho

I agree. Who would ever have thought that clusmy king is such a smart person? In front of shuurei he acts like a kid, pretty much... but in truth he is very serious and complicated (in a good way).

... Last updated on May 31st, 2012, 2:32pm

i really enjoyed this idont know why this is classified as josei though i think its more shoujo its certainly very cute the female lead character is very likable smart , pretty, makes good buns . she's not one of those hopeless heroins who cries at a drop of a hat. The male lead character is the who is really cute acts stupid sometimes but really cute the way he acts and he's good looking *droooooools* the arts great too. its something i really enjoyed its worth reading

The manga is just beautiful artfully. The story is not so bad but moves rather slowly. A lot of characters to keep up with but all contribute to the story. I think this is a reverse Fushigi Yuugi because the main character Shuurei isn't stupid like Miaka. It still has wonderful Bishounen. I think it's good they have an empowering female lead but also shows her faults such as her disability to love.

Sorry, before this, I was mistaken the manga series with the novel one. I really like the story as it was really sweet and lovely and not to mention that the character are full of bishie. I really like it although it quite fast from one scene to next one.This was one of my favourite historical manga beside Anatolia Story