You know ... there are shows I wish more people would watch, and then there are shows which need more people watching them. Saiunkoku Monogatari definitely falls into the latter category. I'm shamelessly pimping this show to every anime fan, animation fan, and artist I know, plus SF fans in general. Because it's That Good.

I found this anime purely by accident; I was on Deviant Art looking for an artist for a project and spotted a character I didn't recognize, from a show I'd never heard of. After working on Firefox News for the last year I've gotten pretty familiar with "popular" animes like RuroKen, Inuyasha or Fullmetal Alchemist, and I have a working familiarity -- at least of name and character recognition -- of a whole bunch more.

And I'd never even heard of Saiunkoku Monogatari.

The pic in question is the lovely work of Hika-yagami and is of the character Seiran; it can be seen here. The pic prompted a google search, and I quickly determined that this was a series which is quite obscure in the Western world -- but which was getting rave reviews from the few fans aware of it, excluding a few people going, Eww, Bishies! (More on that, in a second.)

It's not licensed in the US, so that means it's only available as fan subs that have been uploaded to various sites. (As a note, this is technically a copyright violation, but most of the studios will tolerate it because it's good publicity for the show. It's available with English sub titles no other way.)

Curious, I headed off to Youtube.com and found it online. Here's some links to the first episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsPbpTO7XOQ Ep 1 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBHLlex29oI Ep 1 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3nFcQ9BAhY Ep 1 3/3

Note that better quality downloads can be found as AVI format in various places on the net, but Youtube is easy to use. A google search for "Saiunkoku Monogatari fansub" turns up some links.

The show centers around Shuurei, a highborn lady in a mythical Chinese kingdom. Shuurei's family is dirt poor but very respectable, and she has powerful relatives. For a variety of plausible reasons, she is chosen to be consort to the teenage Emperor, Ryuuki. Ryuuki's something of an idiot, known for shirking his duties, and they're trying to inspire him to do his job. They pay her to play the part of consort, and she's poor and hungry enough to accept the offer.

Wait! It's not hentai! LOL. (Actually, this show is relatively clean and wholesome. So far, I don't think we've even had the seemingly obligatory scene where a character of one sex accidently sees a character of the opposite sex nekkid while bathing. Har, har, har. After the fiftieth series pulls the same joke it gets old, and while Saiunkoku Monogatari definitely has some funny moments, the humor is generally a bit more creative than that and it's refreshing to see that they haven't felt the need to stoop to that level.)

Ryuuki turns out to be a pretty decent guy -- if a bit of an idiot in fairly plausible ways. Given both his station and his upbringing (as an unwanted fourth son who was made to feel unneeded and unloved -- and who ended up in power by default when his siblings were exiled or killed) he's 100% plausible as an odd mix of very naive and sharply perceptive. And he works very hard at appearing even more clueless than he really is, in the beginning. It doesn't take Shuurei very long to see through his clueless act, though she doesn't figure out he's straight until he clues her in. (Among other things, he kept watching Seiran -- but this was for reasons other than what she assumed. )

He plays the pretty playboy quite well -- and the mildly bishounen character design is appropriate for this. It works in this context, and he's supposed to look a little effeminate. He's trying, for reasons that make sense in the context of the character and the political scheme.

Shuurei (and her retainer, Seiran) do manage to inspire Ryuuki to assume his duties -- and in the process, simply by being his friend, she wins his heart. With less skilled writers, they would have spent years getting to this point and then concluded with a happily ever after ... And I could have walked away pleased, thinking it a minor but pleasant short series ...

But because this show is so well thought out, this is only the beginning. Ryuuki now has someone he can trust and rely upon in Shuurei -- and Shuurei has dreams of her own that don't involve being wife to the emperor. She wants to be a government official, in a country where women cannot take the required test to hold office. However, Ryuuki -- who is not all-powerful -- manages to get the law changed because he believes in her and truly cares about her.

And she passes the test, despite challenges and cruelty from many different factions. And from there, things start getting even more interesting ...

Besides Ryuuki and Shuurei, this anime has a whole host of characters that are worth falling in love with -- Seiran, Shuurei's loyal family retainer who has secrets of his own; the teenage genius Eigetsu, who manages to not be annoying; Shuurei's father and other family members; Ryuuki's loyal advisors, and more. They're all mostly plausible -- only one character grates on me at all, and he irritates the other characters as well, so I suppose it's deliberate.

From a historic standpoint, this is set in a fictional kingdom. However, I suspect this show will appeal to non-anime fans who love history as I do. Some of the political scenarios, and the way the characters have to react, are quite plausible and are universal to any royal court. Ryuuki isn't all-powerful and he has to be careful of etiquette and others who have political power.

When there are attempts to poison Shuurei, he can't make a big stink about it without causing even more trouble. And he has to really work to get the law passed that allows her to become a government official -- and then she has to deal with quite a bit of real cruelty, without whining, and without much help from him, to succeed in her dreams. When she does make it as an official ... he takes full advantage of her new station (as one of the few people who is both competant and fully trustworthy in his world) and reluctantly sends her off into real danger to solve some problems for him.

Besides the plot and the characters, the animation on this show is absolutely gorgeous. The characters are beautifully drawn with luxuriously detailed clothing and a decent frame rate. Beautiful backgrounds, too. This is a show artists will love, as will anyone who appreciates great costumes.

And there's not a chibi in sight! No stretchy faces or googly eyeballs, either. Yay! That makes this fangirl very happy. I hate chibis in a serious show!

Saiunkoku Monogatari has been picked up for another 39 episode season in Japan. A current season of 39 episodes is airing; it's close to completion. With 78 episodes total, I suspect it has a decent chance of eventually being licensed outside of Japan.

However, it's definitely not your typical anime. It's going to appeal women and the bishi-loving crowd (male or female, LOL) more than the fanboys who want hack and slash action and snarky humor. This may make marketing it a challenge, so I don't think it's guaranteed to make it here. This is why I'm vigorously encouraging anime fans to check it out. And if you like the show, please tell your friends and make your voice known on your blogs and Web sites and in the various anime forums.

It's That Good of a show. It deserves more publicity.