Saiunkoku Monogatari II Episode 11 – 知らぬは亭主ばかりなり (The husband is always the last to know)

Shuurei arrives with the doctors but becomes faced with much resistance from people of Koringun who still blames her for the disease. They are thrown in a pinch as these people headed by Shuon, rebel against Taishu’s orders and is determined to prevent them from entering the town. Will Shuurei and the doctors be able surpass this hurdle to save the people in time?

The title translates to the famous saying “The Husband is Always the Last to Know”, referring to how the other officials were able to ask help from the women in the village without their husbands knowing, which will be made clear as you watch this episode.

Screenshots

Summary

Before Shuurei arrived in Koringun, Ryuuki is informed by Shuuei about what happened, making him hope that Ensei will protect Shuurei well as they arrive in Korinjou. That night, one of Taishu’s men confirms if Shuurei will indeed be arriving in their place, and Taishu firmly believes that they will. As they anticipate the coming of Shuurei with the doctors, Shuon has also gone into convincing most of the men in town into rebelling against Taishu and becomes united in doing what they can to stop Shuurei from entering their place in fear that she might infect them as well.

While the men are out plotting what they’re going to do upon Shuurei’s arrival, an official visits the houses of several women for a request he had. Shuuran takes a walk that night and goes to pick up some food which someone has been providing them, then leaves a letter of thanks in return and goes back home to feed her mother. As Shuuran attends to her sick mother, she ponders upon how death will cause her mother not to suffer any more. Negative thoughts plague her as she thinks that even a great person will be stumped in what do in the kind of situation they’re in, but brushes away these thoughts as she remembers Eigetsu’s words that help will be coming their way, and tells her mom to hold on a little longer.

Shuurei arrives the next day, where they find themselves having a rough welcome from the soldiers by the gates. Ensei and Shuurei heads on towards the gate before it closes as they get striked by a rain of arrows, with Ensei assuring Shuurei that he’ll protect her and won’t even let her have a scratch. Shuuran seems to have sensed the commotion happening outside and follows Taishu through the hole of the wall separating them from the rest of the people in town. Taishu heads outside the gates towards Ensei and Shuurei, much to their surprise as he is intending to take cover for them. Ensei manages to block the arrows hurling towards Taishu and easily defends them against the rain of arrows with his spear, then reprimands Taishu for his reckless actions considering his age.

Shuurei steps down from her horse and thanks Taishu for everything he’s done for them all by himself. Shuurei’s words brings Taishu to tears and tells her he has long anticipated her coming, then kneels before her as he holds on to her hand, expressing his deepest thanks for not abandoning Koringun despite all this. Hearing the words of Shuurei also makes Shuuran realize that she’s the one Eigetsu was referring to, bringing her much happiness as she has finally come to their aid. But much to her surprise, the other men in town have started their move towards killing Shuurei as they forbid her entrance into the town, leaving Shuuran perplexed as to why they would think this way.

The people asks Taishu to move away from Shuurei, knowing that she’s the cause of the disease and starts accusing her for holding a grudge against them, thinking that she came to infect them with the disease as well, and the fact that nothing like this has happened until she was appointed as the governor simply attests this to be true. They also think that she must have done something to have Taishu under her control and so he allowed the people of Sekie into their town. Taishu was about to explain the truth about this matter but Ensei believes that what he tells them will be useless, since they’ll be regarding him to be saying these things under ‘Shuurei’s control’.

The people continue to show their hostility towards Shuurei, exclaiming how she should be killed to appease the anger of Eight Immortals so they won’t be plagued with any disease, and even say that the people of Sekie should be driven off their town and be burnt to death. This brings Shuuran to sadness and makes her wonder if it would’ve been better if they simply stayed in Sekie so they won’t have to hear these harsh words from all these people. Just then, Shuurei gains the resolve to tell these people that there are still things left that she has to do, and she can’t simply die without having even saved any people yet. (Ensei lets out a joke as Shuurei was saying this, telling her that the people might even blame she for their constipation next time, to which Shuurei replies in disbelief that he thought of that example out of other possible ones ).

Shuuran was even more convinced that Shuurei really did came to save them with these words, but the townsmen remain close-minded to what they think as they accuse Shuurei of not having the shame to even take responsibility for what she has done, and even say that everything will certainly turn for the better once she dies. One of the military officer in the crowd turns to Ensei and reminds him that it’s his responsibility as the governor’s aide to take the life of Shuurei, knowing that it’s the very means to stop the disease from spreading. Ensei makes them swallow their own words as he lets them understand the meaning of what they said – that burning the suspected carriers of the disease (the infected people) is the ‘solution’ they have for the disease, which means that if the disease comes down to Koringun, they’ll also be burning their own people to death.

Ensei retorts that it’s but normal for a person to think about helping someone sick and needs attention, and it’s for this reason that Shuurei came all the way from Kiyou, doing everything she can to find the treatment and gather the best doctors in the country no matter how difficult it might prove to be. Ensei reprimands the townsmen for their actions, making them face that fact that simply believing in rumors and thinking about killing them won’t be able to save anyone, and that the very reason why Shuurei herself did all these is for the sake of everyone (including these people who are now thinking of killing her). Shuurei then steps forward and asks to let them into the town because there’s no more time as they have to save the people inside, while assuring them that she’ll confront the Jasenkyou afterwards and even have them take her life if it proves to be necessary.

The people were almost convinced by Ensei and Shuurei’s words, until Shuon steps forward and warns them that they’re simply being tricked, considering that everything they do will simply be useless if Shuurei has indeed incurred the wrath of the Eight Immortals. Shuon is determined to kill Shuurei and says that he’ll do it by himself if he has to since that it’ll be worth the effort knowing that it’ll be able to save the lives of many. Shuuran who bears witness to all this becomes filled with sadness as she can’t help but wonder why these people can think of killing the very people she has long been waiting for to save the people of Sekie.

As the people prepare to attack, Ensei takes cover for Shuurei as she assures him of her determination to live, knowing how she still has an unfinished business left to be settled. Shuuran can no longer contain her sadness and runs past the townsmen bursting into tears, begging them to stop what they’re doing as she questions why they can think of doing this to someone who has come all the way to save her mother and everyone else. Shuuran’s father and many other people in the village, and it’s for this reason that she doesn’t want to see any more people die.

Shuuran tells Shuon and the other townsmen that there’s no way she can believe the words of people who doesn’t know how much Eigetsu has done to help save them – people who even says ridiculous things and thinks lightly of killing people. Shuuran believes in no one else but Eigetsu and what he told her about a woman who’ll definitely come and save them, thus she believes in Shuurei. Ensei and Shuurei brighten up as they hear about Eigetsu, and You-sensei thinks about how Kada’s sentiments and wish of not giving up until the end to find a means to save people have finally been exemplified in the person of Eigetsu. Shuuran turns to Shuurei, pleading her to save her mom. Shuurei can’t help but see herself in Shuuran who experienced the same thing she did ten years ago and comes to embrace that past as she embraces Shuuran, assuring her that everything’s alright now, to which Shuuran thanks her for coming to their help. Shuon however was still determined as ever to kill Shuurei and goes to attack her together with Shuuran, but Ensei rushes just in time and knocks him down instead, as he hollers the people to move and let them in the town.

At that moment, a messenger arrives for Hei Taishu, informing him that the preparations have been finished and that they can already start with the treatment immediately, as they have already convinced a number of women to help them in taking care of the patients, and about ten women skilled in sewing have already memorized the instructions given by You-sensei who are now on standby as they await for further instructions from them. You-sensei explains that there’s no one who’ll compare to women when it comes to taking care of people even since before, and the townsmen were perplexed by the sudden turn of events.

As the people were left puzzled, the women in the town arrives and one of them reprimands her husband’s actions and questions if he’ll also kill her and their children if the sickness comes to them. The man explains that he’s not intending to kill the doctors and that he’s actually doing this for their sake, but the wife says that she’ll never want a murderer for a husband. The woman confesses that at first she was against the idea of having the villagers of Sekie into their town but having heard how a little girl came all the way from their village to save her mom and the rest of their people touched her, allowing her to realize that if the same thing happens to her children, she’ll do everything she can to save them despite whatever rumors there are.

The husbands were too busy thinking up plans to kill Shuurei that government officials were able to enter their homes and ask for their help without their husbands knowing. The fact that a government official even bowed down before them and ask their assistance made the women really happy, and made them think that they’ll certainly do the same thing if they need help as well (and says something like, that their taxes have paid off). The wife orders the people to put down their weapons and that not helping them out is an act of looking down on women. The husbands were still hesitant to this, so she finally tells them that they should experience giving birth, for them to not think of killing anyone so lightly (as they realize the importance of each and every people’s lives). She makes them move out of the way and let Shuurei and the doctors into the town, since there are still piles of things left for them to do.

As Riou sees Shuurei enter the town, he comes to realize the fact that Shuurei is ‘the woman’ someone told him about, then approaches Shuuran and scolds her for her reckless actions. Shuuran retorts that he should’ve helped him then, but he simply lets out an excuse that he didn’t have any chance to do that with the situation earlier. The woman then refrains them from fighting and tells them to get along well with each other and Shuuran thanks her for the food she’s been giving them. The woman says that she’s the one who should be thankful to Shuuran instead because she awakened those stupid people, and Shuuran burst into tears from all that has happened, making Riou comment on how she’s such a crybaby.

Thoughts

When Saiunkoku Monogatari started, we’ve already seen how this anime is going to focus on proving how women like Shuurei can be at par with men, and even exceed them in some aspects with the experiences and noble aspirations she has. This episode however goes into another level of showing this feminist view of the author, as exemplified by the ‘cool obachan’ and the thoughts of You-sensei about how women are most skilled when it comes to taking care of people. Basing from the reaction of the husband to the [striking] words of his wife (the obachan), we can see how these men were portrayed to be ‘uxorious husbands’ (submissive husbands), so to speak. The feminism was even more elaborated in the novel, where the wife also says that there’s nothing wrong with having a woman for a government official, considering how she (as the wife) actually kick the ass of her stupid husband :p

This feministic remarks of the wife is just in response to what the husbands said (omitted in the anime), where they thought about how ridiculous Shuurei is for meddling with political affairs, considering that a ‘woman’s job’ is to spend time at home cooking and taking care of the kids. They even express what they think about “equality between men and women”, as they reason out that men can’t bear a child so they have to work in behalf of their family; women in return should just be housewives and take care of the house and children – a typical patriarchal way of thinking. It’s great that someone like the obachan stepped out and falsified these ‘arguments’ and showed just how competent women could be ^^

As for Shuurei and Shuuran, I was really touched by their meeting, seeing how Shuurei was able to see herself in Shuuran and came to embrace her past through this young girl who experienced what she did ten years ago. The words that Shuurei told Shuuran (“everything’s alright now (since the people will already be saved)”) are the very words she longed to hear during that time (as the novel also mentions), but alas she wasn’t able to hear that considering how helpless they were during that incident, unlike here where Shuurei and Eigetsu initiated on doing this for the sake of saving the people of Sekie. No one was able to tell her those words, and now that she was able to say this to Shuuran, she was able to confront that past and put an end to that bitter memory as well (symbolizing how she was also able to tell her past self that “everything’s alright now” in the process). Shuuran quickly became attached to Shuurei because of this, and I find them really cute… like a mother and child ^^ (like this pic below, which will be probably be shown in the next episode)

And as I’ve mentioned before, Shuuran is also similar to Shuurei in that she’s just about as strong as Shuurei in terms of personality (or even more, seeing that Shuuran seems to be of younger age than Shuurei was that time ten years ago). We can already see the makings of a leader in this little girl, as we see her compassion for people (brought about by the experience she had, similar to both Shuurei and Eigetsu as well) and the courage to stand up for what she believes in.

Ever since the last couple of episodes, I’ve come to love Ensei much much more. All I can say is, Ensei FTW! :p He showed just how he can kick-ass with these situations, either mentally (with the sound arguments and decisions he make) or physically (as he shows how competent he is as a fighter). He remains calm and collected despite the intense situation, and even lets out some jokes in the process (like the ‘constpitation’ joke) Ensei really knows how to ‘break the tension’ in these kinds of situations, and all these traits he has shown simply proves how he is indeed the rightful man to be Shuurei’s aide (though I’m still not rooting for Shuurei x Ensei, despite how ‘possible’ it is at this point given the circumstance they’re in ><)

Little Riou made a little appearance in this episode, but the line where he said “So that’s Shuurei” is enough to prove that what Hyou Riou told him to do is in relation to Shuurei, either to simply observe her, or do something even more ‘serious’ in the course of their stay in Koringun. His lack of action with regards to helping out Shuuran simply shows how he is indifferent to the plight of her as well as the other people there, cold and emotionless as he is, which adds even more of a mystery and intrigue to his character overall.

From the preview of the next episode, it seems that the doctors are going to have a hard time treating the patients as fear suddenly comes to them right when they are already going to undergo the surgery. This is what You-sensei was fearing in the last episode, the ‘resolve’ of the apprentices he was referring to, which they should overcome for them to treat the patients successfully. This might be a sad news, but there’s no Saiunkoku airing this Saturday, a guest special will be airing instead (though I don’t know who’s the guest this time) and Saiunkoku will once again resume airing next week, June 30 (c/o Newtype) :3 [end of announcement… hehe]

P.S. By the way, it seems that the anime’s slowing its pace from what I’ve seen… it only covered about 30 pages of the novel this time (which made things easier for me as well :p). But given that, it’s no doubt that they could stretch this for about 30 or more episodes :3

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