And I am now an avid fan of yours. Thank you for the reviews! THANK YOU THANK YOU! *showers you in Kourin x Eigetsu goodness*

Heh, Eigetsu. Everytime I hear his voice, I think of Fye from Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles. XD

Oh, and, if you don’t mind me asking, what -did- happen to Eigetsu when the time came for him to die? Did he survive? (I couldn’t get at the ‘read more’ parts, for some reason…)

I’m a Ryuuki fan (not a die-hard but yes, I like him)… And I like him because he’s a failure for the most part. And yes, I agree, he still has a LONG way to go to be the right Emperor for Saiunkoku Monogatari. On the other hand, we have seen him move from “not caring about his position” to “caring about his position for Shuurei’s sake”… and hopefully this journey will cement the next step which is “caring about his position for his own sake”. I think there is a fine distinction between those 3 phases.

On the other hand, I do agree that the show does drag along – and that Ryuuki hasn’t grown alot – but then… who has? Other than people dying (like Eigetsu), or disappearing (Sakujun) or whatever… the only person who seems to be steadily evolving is Shuurei. I feel that alot of this show is really focussed on her – so that is probably why the directors had an episode like this… you know, to be like, “oh remember THIS guy? Yeah, this guy who likes Shuurei… and remember how, like, 50 episodes ago, he was basically useless and unmotivated? so yeah, lets look at him now…” And so on.

I hope there’s gonna be a 3rd season. Otherwise, this show will have a really hurried end… or even worse, like Tsubasa have to rely on OVAs to get by… >>;;;

i feel that the development of ou ki as a character is not being done rather well, whether it be novels or anime. whether he is among the antagonists or the protagonists, he has gained respect from among the nobles that are basically sole heirs to their names and those who belong to the 8 color-clans.

@sumomo… true that not all who watch belong to the 13-yr old group, but, you can not ignore the fact that the anime is packaged to be attractive to a very wide range of audience. i personally like it this way. you can at least breathe a little bit from the very dark setting of the novel. i just hope that the author would start disentangling the subplots that she got her characters into, lest it would drag the story too much. i wouldn’t want to see another good story having two different endings like rourouni kenshin.

on season 3, I am so hoping that i’d get to see the mystery of the Hyou clan explained.

@Etineski: I think that the core thing that causes him to be weak is not only his age, but his lack of interest over the throne. He is always lax, and does not care about anyone except himself. As an emperor, he has to live for the people if he is going to be a good emperor and it’s a drastic change from how he is, so I give him that at least.

@JC: Well, I have to disagree with your opinion. He does know how things work, which sounds that he is knowledgable. However, he is still pretty much gullible and does not think of darker approaches or more critical thinking over the morality of officers. When he does allow Shuurei to venture alone with the cult, it is a decent attempt but he is allowing a future decision to shoot him down if Shuurei fails. She already did with her rash actions, despite being effective. She causes a whole lot of entrenching nobles in the capital to be dissatsified with the Ryuuki regime. That is how I see him as naive in treating the other forces in the capital.

@Liesel: Ya, the pandas are cute. I did not want to literally just ignore this episode completely despite being a recap. It will be a waste if I do not showcase the pandas at least. No one is fated to be a king, but it’s merely nurture and training. Ryuuki clearly needs more than training to survive the ordeal.

@SeaMaiden: Ya! My post-graduate friend in my university tells me about her trip to Jiuzhaigou, since her residence back in China is decently near to that scenic place. It’s so beautiful. I personally do not think it is getting to the place that is hard, but going inside that will dictate whether he will survive or not.

I think that it feels like he does not truly immerse himself in the emperor role. He realizes that he has been running away and being immature when he is causing huge trouble and physical harm to a person who is trying so hard to protect him. Yuushun must have known that there is something special in Ryukki that can be trained. Despite the recap, it is a decent recap that reflects the key decisions of Ryuuki as an emperor.

@Gypsy: No one disagreeing with me? Where are the valiant Ryuuki fans that will fight me! That said, I think that the motivation of him wanting to be king has to come from him. I think that he is living as an emperor because he does not want to disappoint Shuurei. However, now, he is starting to realize that he has a responsibility to be emperor. He still does not want to disappoint Shuurei but it is no longer his primary concern. I feel that the trip and the realization that he is running away gave him this realization that he no longer has the right to be emperor unless he himself wants to be ruling the world.

@Aka: Ya, i wonder how they are going to clear with 3 episodes left.

@Briar: hehehe.

@Peggy: I think that even in real life, he will probably survive. The truth is that despite his screw ups, they are not that crazily major. It is probably accurate to say that there are dissidents, but he makes this final mistake to run away. I doubt he will be ousted from his post because there are hardly any controversial decisions except with Shuurei that he has to deal with. He can do much MUCH better, but not that complete screwed up too.

@Sumomo: I think that there’s quite a bit of darkness in the series, but at least there is hardly any huge sexual references. It’s a morning show nevertheless, which means children might be watching it. I never doubt Ryuuki’s intelligence, but I feel he lacks wisdom to think of stuff long term. As I argued earlier with JC (read comment above), he has to be less dependent. Yuushun cannot be relied every single time to give him the right answer. He needs experience, and his personal naivety can affect him sometimes.

Ryuuki definitely needs to suffer now in order to change him to a responsible emperor. I am sure something big will happen.

i’m hoping that they’re setting us up for a season 3 that would focus this time on how Ryuuki grows as an emperor. They can always mix in the development of all other characters there somehow.

On the naivete part, I don’t think Ryuuki’s naive. Many times in the story, you can actually see that he’s highly perceptive and actually knows what’s going on. And there were times before Yuushun came along that he made very good decisions. But he has yet to become the statesman that he needs to be.

I think Ryuuki really needs this to happen to him so he’ll be forced to confront the reality of who he really is now. He has to learn to accept that he is now the emperor and, even though his aniue is still very much alive, things have changed so much that it’s no longer feasible to make Seien/Seiran take up the throne.

Which is why I’m so looking forward to the next season if this episode is any indication of where the story is heading. Oh joy!!! ^_^

Thanks, Impz!

let’s just wait and see what happens next.

hey, impzie, thanks for the blog, by the way.

it was shown in the novel that he also thought about his direction rather well.

i guess the anime just delved deeper into how he really considers things lately.

those pandas are in the novel, too. it has been discussed as to why they are there, whether they symbolize anything at all or not…

anyhoo, with all these things in there, i guess it can’t be helped to conclude that season 2 will end leaving everything hanging up in the air just as how book 12 was ended.

don’t worry, i believe they will come back after the novel has ended in a few year’s time and the anime will still be faithful to it, making it a little more suitable for 13 y/o’s and up. ehehehe

there are some things in the novel that are practically too dark for kids. the anime has a lighter atmosphere.

let’s wait for the last episodes, and learn to wait more patiently for all the rest, ladies.

Suffice to say that I’m disappointed in this season’s Ryuuki but am still desperately hoping that he will grow into his infinite potential… soon.

I’m looking forward for the next episodes.