Saiunkoku Monogatari II Episode 1 - わが家に勝る所なし (There’s No Place Like Home)

OP Screenshots:

the rose is finally blooming

the mysterious white-haired man

another mysterious character… Bara Hime? o_o

Brief synopsis:

There is no place like home indeed, as Shuurei finally goes back to her home after the incidents in Brown Province. The first season left off with Shuurei and Eigetsu’s plans of making Brown Province as an academic research capital, and so Shuurei busies herself with negotations with the All-Merchants Alliance. Ryuuki on the other hand was still daydreaming about what happened between him and Shuurei the other night, and was happy enough to have felt some hope for their romance. But despite this happiness, Ryuuki is bombarded by pressures on marrying someone already, but all he does is run away from this (because he has set his eyes only on Shuurei to become his wife). Ryuuki isn’t the only one who faces this pressure on marrying, as Kouyuu suddenly faces this pressure of having to marry Shuurei as the condition Kurou gave him to succeed in becoming the Kou clan head (next to Reishin). A New Year’s banquet was held by Haku Daishogun and his troops, where Seiran unexpectedly agress to attend (and gets drunk), in response to what Shouka told him about taking some time to relax and think about himself. Ran was also unexpectedly dragged to this banquet, because of a prank to “capture him”, as he always runs away from the banquet. More surprising than this was the sudden appearance of Kouyuu in the banquet, who drank with them despite his weakness against alcohol (he wanted to “escape” from the pressure of having him marry Shuurei, that’s why).

As Yuushun and Sairin decides to visit Shuurei’s house to personally meet her father, Shuurei goes frantic to fix up her house which was in a mess due to her long absence. Shouka and Seiran arrives later, bringing with them Shuuei and a drunken Kouyuu. Shouka and Seiran helps her with the housecleaning, but fails miserably and makes things worse. Ran and Kouyuu also makes things worse for Shuurei as they making things even more of a havoc than it already is, and causes Shuurei to drive all of them out of the house. Yuushun and Sairin arrives just in the midst of this commotion, making Shuurei very much embarrassed for having them witness the situation. Sairin tells Shouka that Shuurei has done a great job of governing despite her young age, and thanks Shouka for Shuurei. After all the guests leave, Shuurei, Seiran and Shouka are left in their home, talking about the “new year”, how they will be busy once again starting the next day, and wonders what Eigetsu and Kourin are doing. And then we are left with a scene of Eigetsu seriously studying, with Kourin brewing him some tea as she intently looks at him with a sweet smile on her face.

(Just when I thought I was going to make a super short synposis of the two episodes of Saiunkoku, so that I could catch up until episode 3, here I was inspired to make a detailed “summary” =_____=””)

So here, a detailed summary… (sorry… this is the culprit for the delay in more posts of the Saiunkoku episodes x__x)

Detailed “Summary”:

There’s indeed no place like home for Shuurei, who finally arrives home after the incidents in Brown Province. She greets the fresh new morning, and was once again able to “savor” the nostalgic taste of her father’s bitter tea (which he prepared with all his heart, resulting in his bruises). Shuurei is in high spirits and says that she will do her best (to realize their plans of making Brown Province an academic research capital). Inside the palace, Ryuuki is still in his “daydreaming” mode as he thinks about what happened with him and Shuurei the other night, where he felt some hope for their romance (despite the possibility of waiting till eternity before it comes true). Shuuei pinches him on the cheek to bring him back to reality. Ryuuki snaps out of it (and says a little comment on how cute Shuurei was at that night), and decides to get back to some serious work for the sake of Shuurei and her plans of reformation for the Brown Province.

Shuuei tells Ryuuki of rumors he has been hearing from women saying how handsome he is, but Ryuuki tells him that having only Shuurei think of him that way is enough for him. Shuuei informs him that Kouyuu isn’t around with them because he has “other important things” to attend to, then Ryuuki advises him to attend the “devil’s banquet”(?) since he can’t keep avoiding it forever. Just then, a horde of palace officials (?) enters Ryuuki’s room, pressuring him to choose a wife from the women they recommended to him. Since Ryuuki didn’t have any intention of marrying anyone other than Shuurei, he simply dodges off their questions and runs away. In another side of the palace, Shuurei is busy preparing the necessary documents for their plans for Brown Province, and runs into Seiran but quickly bids him farewell as she has to go meet Yuushun. Seiran goes to meet Shouka, who comments on how much of a busybody she is.

Seiran tells Shouka how Shuurei never needed her help from the beginning, and Shouka mentions that it was them who ended up relying on Shuurei instead. Shouka also mentions that this is but similar to Shuurei’s situation in governing, where she is also being relied on by people now that she’s the governor. Seiran relates to Shouka about the past events that happened in this life - the lonely life he spent in the palace where he never had anyone to call as his “family” except for his little brother Ryuuki, and then his life after Shouka picked him up and welcomed him to their home. “May it be in the past or present, we are a family - that will never change”, says Shouka, and Seiran was indeed happy to have become part of Shouka’s family. Shouka remembers about Haku Daishogun’s invitation for Seiran to join them in their New Year’s banquet, but Seiran doesn’t want to attend this “devil’s banquet” because it would simply be filled with the drunken Hakudai and his troops. Shouka tells him that it’s a good idea to attend the banquet, so that he can relax, speak out his thoughts and worries, and think only about himself for a change (which Seiran is not good at doing the most). “You’re too tight on yourself, even when there’s nothing that should hold you in shackles now”, he tells Seiran, since both he and Shuurei are free to leave his side anytime.

In Kouyuu’s place, Kurou just arrives and gives him a little scolding when he asks about Kurou’s children while addressing them with much politeness. It seems that Kurou has been teling him many times to stop being that polite and formal towards them since they’re but one family. Kurou mentions about Reishin being angry with him (most likely due to his insistence of wanting Shuurei to marry Kouyuu, though I’m not really sure). Kurou goes direct to the point and tells Kouyuu that if he intends to succeed in becoming the clan head, he will do his utmost to help him (and silence the other clan members regarding the matter), with the condition of making him marry Shuurei. Kouyuu couldn’t say anything and was left stunned and speechless.

Shuurei is on her way to the place of the All Merchant’s Alliance when she runs into Yuushun and Sairin, who tells her that the office is closed because all the people had something else to attend to. Shuurei worries that their plans might go to waste if the negotations will not proceed, and so Sairin tells her that she will see to it that these negotations will be continued. Yuushun and Sairin expresses their intention of wanting to visit Shuurei’s house to formallly meet her father, much to her surprise because her house was still in a mess. She gives them the excuse that her father won’t be around till late in the evening (hoping for them to not proceed with their plan, or at least postpone it till the following day perhaps), but in the end, she wasn’t able to refuse them.

Shuuei on the other hand goes outside the place of the banquet, undecided if he will attend it or not. Just then, someone seemed to be targetting him and continuously strikes him with arrows, all of whose attacks he was able to evade. He sees the man and chases after him, and before he knows it, arrives in the place where the banquet is being held. Shuuei sees the place filled with drunken soldiers, and was suddenly caught by surprise as Hakudai gave him a warm welcome with his spear. “I will not let you escape”, he tells Ran, knowing that he always runs away from the banquet. He sees Seiran behind Hakudai, and recognizes him as the one striking him with arrows earlier. He was quite pissed by the “rough welcome” he gave him (despite the fact that all of Seiran’s attacks were intended to be a miss), but Seiran tells him that he’s simply following someone’s order (or rather a prank) of “capturing General Ran”. Shuuei was quite surprised to see Seiran getting drunk and wonders if there’s anything wrong. Seiran tells him there’s nothing for him to worry about. Just then, an unexpected visitor arrives in the person of Kouyuu, who was obviously down and looking gloomy (from the shock he had with regards to what Kurou told him). “Another lost sheep”, says Shuuei.

Meanwhile, Shuurei is frantically cleaning up her [wrecked] house with no one else to help her. Shouka arrives later, with Shuuei, and a drunk Seiran and Kouyuu. Shuurei asks them if they had a drink, and Seiran who was much more honest(?) and impatient due to the alcohol’s effect, glares at Shuurei and sarcastically asks her if there’s something wrong with that. Shuurei then goes to ask Kouyuu if he’s alright, since he drank so much despite his low alcohol tolerance. Kouyuu was suddenly awakened by the sight of Shuurei in front of him, and stutteringly mentions Shuurei’s name in surprise. Due to the shock he got from Kurou’s words, and his drunkenness, Kouyuu rushes off inside Shuurei’s house when he ends up hitting the pole instead… and they end up dragging him inside the house. Shuurei was still not finished cleaning up, so Shouka and Seiran goes to help her, but fails miserably and ends up making things worse.

Kouyuu looks for some water to drink, and was unexpectedly keen in directions, but ends up drinking even more wine than water. The now even more drunken Kouyuu wanders around the house and bumps into Shuurei, who was busy with the [additional pile of work] her father and Seiran gave her. Shuurei finally runs out of patience and tells all of them to stay put in the living room until she finishes cleaning things up. Seiran comments on how nosy Shuurei is, much to Shuuei’s surprise. Shouka gives his own comment that Shuurei is not fit to become a wife with that kind of attitude. Shuurei hears all of this and drives them out of her house so they won’t be a hindrance to her house cleaning. As she was scolding her father and other “guests”, Yuushun and Sairin arrives and sees them in the midst of this embarassing situation. Shuurei was greatly embarrassed for having them witness such an unsightly scene, though Yuushun and Sairin found it very interesting and funny (Sairin mentioned about being reminded of this novel about “the bean sweeper”(?)).

Sairin comments on how a young girl like Shuurei has done a great job in governing over Brown Province. Her father agrees and says that she is indeed a “brave daughter”. Both Yuushun and Sairin thanks Shouka for Shuurei. After some time, the guests bids them farewell, leaving only Shuurei, Seiran and Shouka in their home. Shuurei says that she finally feels that it’s a “new year”, and that she will be busy again the following day. Their topic then changes to Kourin and Eigetsu, with which Shuurei wonders what they might be doing. After which, we are left with a scene of Eigetsu seriously studying, with Kourin brewing him some tea as she intently looks at him with a sweet smile on her face.

(Forgive the not so-good storytelling… I think I still have to work on this, especially with the many dialogues and event shifts from time to time >.<)

Thoughts:

With the first season still fresh in my mind, it’s great to once again see the glimpse of Shuurei and the others in this sort of “break” from all that has happened in the past (commotion in the Brown Province and all). Kurou wanting Kouyuu to marry Shuurei, which left many fans wondering, has finally been set place in this second season (and plays quite a key part in terms of the “romantic” developments going to happen). Kouyuu x Shuurei fans must be clearly rejoicing now that this pairing is given much attention and possibility of development. I still can’t imagine Koyuu and Shuurei as a couple, but seeing him all flustered and awkward when he faced Shuurei was just hilarious and cute! I wonder how Kouyuu will deal with this, considering his weakness of dealing with women in “that” way.

Nevertheless, what I’m anticipating is more of the “effect” that this will have in terms of Shuurei and Ryuuki’s relationship, since Ryuuki will not simply stand and do nothing while seeing this danger of having Shuurei become someone else’s (who is no one else but Kouyuu - backed up by the Kou clan to boot). The shock and surprise the unveilment of this issue will bring out is definitely something to look our for this season. Not only this, there will also be the worsening pressure on Ryuuki to get himself a wife (which we’ve already seen a glimpse of in this first episode). I’ve actually heard rumors with regards to the development in this aspect, but I don’t think I’ll mention them until I’ve read the novels myself

And then there’s the blossoming relationship between Kourin and Eigetsu, who can be considered pretty much a definite pairing already, but it’ll still be great to see more of their sweet moments in the future (and also to perhaps see the development in Eigetsu’s feelings towards Kourin, since I haven’t really seen him blush or react romantically towards Kourin, except for his kindness).

Aside from this, we’ve also seen Seiran becoming true to himself (?) as he’s able to talk to Shuurei harshly (but honestly) ^^;; (despite the fact that this only happened in his drunken state) I think it shows that he’s becoming “closer” to them since he’s able to speak to them in pretty much the same way he talks with Ensei.

There’s also that mysterious looking white-haired man in the opening, with which I heard rumors that it must be Sakujun… not sure, but there’s indeed a possibility that Sakujun is still alive since he mysteriously disappeared when Shuurei and Eigetsu went to see him.

On a side note, I still love the opening song up until now~ As for the ending song, I’d say it was but fitting for Saiunkoku… the oriental feel to it, and the lyrics of this “Asu e”, perfectly depicting Shuurei and the future that awaits her (or rather what she has to do to reach that ‘tomorrow’).

Similar Posts:

• Saiunkoku Monogatari II - 04
• Saiunkoku Monogatari II - 02
• Saiunkoku Monogatari II - 03
• Saiunkoku Monogatari II - 05
• Thoughts on Saiunkoku [halfway through the series] (on Shuurei x Sakujun)

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