agh mood whiplash
Jun. 11th, 2009 03:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
joiedecombatIn retrospect, finishing the first season of Saiunkoku Monogatari tonight was a bad idea.
I almost want to cry foul on the last two episodes; after some 37 episodes of fairly light shoujo fare - less like Ouran and Fruits Basket than I'd originally assessed and more like The Twelve Kingdoms Lite as the storyline moved from The Re-Education Of Ryuuki and into Shuurei's pursuit of government office - the series laughs in the face of my claims that it doesn't have much dramatic tension and goes straight for the heartstrings. And it's weird because I'm entirely sure it wasn't at all meant to be the emotional wrench that it turned out to be. Certainly the end of the last episode was intended to be mushy and sweet, but the last two episodes do far too good a job of illustrating Ryuuki's isolation, to the point that it's really more heartbreaking than heartwarming.
In particular, Shouka's little speech to Reishin:
"He is a man who is possessed by loneliness, from which he cannot escape. The more he behaves like an Emperor, the lonelier he becomes. ... From now on, just as he adds to his reputation as the Emperor, the people who see him as 'Ryuuki' start to vanish. ... That's why Shuurei is the only person who always did and always will call him by name. You were able to find Shuurei and Kouyuu-dono, as well as Chamberlain Ko. As for Seiran, if he had walked the path to becoming an emperor, then he wouldn't be over there, right? He wouldn't have met Ensei-dono. Right now, Seiran is able to take everything that he cherishes into his hands as much as his heart wishes. However, from now on, Ryuuki-sama will never be able to obtain anything any more in his lifetime. Since he knows that, he can't let go of the one dream he has left."
Coming off of Shuurei's triumphs and her return to all of her friends and family at home, it's almost as though Ryuuki isn't really much better off than he was before the series started; his interactions with everyone except Shuurei in that last scene are painfully restrained.
There's a whole second season, but after that first season finale, and knowing that his feelings for Shuurei still won't really be requited, I don't know if I can bring myself to watch it.
DAMMIT, SaiMono, you were supposed to be my breather series before I got into Princess Tutu!
I almost want to cry foul on the last two episodes; after some 37 episodes of fairly light shoujo fare - less like Ouran and Fruits Basket than I'd originally assessed and more like The Twelve Kingdoms Lite as the storyline moved from The Re-Education Of Ryuuki and into Shuurei's pursuit of government office - the series laughs in the face of my claims that it doesn't have much dramatic tension and goes straight for the heartstrings. And it's weird because I'm entirely sure it wasn't at all meant to be the emotional wrench that it turned out to be. Certainly the end of the last episode was intended to be mushy and sweet, but the last two episodes do far too good a job of illustrating Ryuuki's isolation, to the point that it's really more heartbreaking than heartwarming.
In particular, Shouka's little speech to Reishin:
"He is a man who is possessed by loneliness, from which he cannot escape. The more he behaves like an Emperor, the lonelier he becomes. ... From now on, just as he adds to his reputation as the Emperor, the people who see him as 'Ryuuki' start to vanish. ... That's why Shuurei is the only person who always did and always will call him by name. You were able to find Shuurei and Kouyuu-dono, as well as Chamberlain Ko. As for Seiran, if he had walked the path to becoming an emperor, then he wouldn't be over there, right? He wouldn't have met Ensei-dono. Right now, Seiran is able to take everything that he cherishes into his hands as much as his heart wishes. However, from now on, Ryuuki-sama will never be able to obtain anything any more in his lifetime. Since he knows that, he can't let go of the one dream he has left."
Coming off of Shuurei's triumphs and her return to all of her friends and family at home, it's almost as though Ryuuki isn't really much better off than he was before the series started; his interactions with everyone except Shuurei in that last scene are painfully restrained.
There's a whole second season, but after that first season finale, and knowing that his feelings for Shuurei still won't really be requited, I don't know if I can bring myself to watch it.
DAMMIT, SaiMono, you were supposed to be my breather series before I got into Princess Tutu!
