#shuurei

[toxxcyiic]

Kou Shuurei from Saiunkoku Monogatari~

This one took me quite some time to finish.. (mostly because I was slacking off brah/) anyways enjoy? I guess. ignore the abominated background lmao.

[minsarasarahair]

Kou Shuurei and Maomao having popular beautiful courtesan as their big sister figure

[shoujoseii]

[vestal-spirit]

Colour 14

V17 Amethyst

[maomao9jinshi]

Just a couple being cute on their date

Saiunkoku Monogatari

[strea-ultimea]

Top 10 Chinese Girls in Anime: INPO

10. Lynn Minmay - Macross

9. Wang Liu Mei - Gundam 00

8. Kou Shuurei - The Story of Saiunkoku

7. Shampoo - Ranma 1/2

6. Lan Fan - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

5. Ran-Mao - Black Butler

4. Meiling Li - Cardcaptor Sakura

3. Princess Aska - Magic Knight Rayearth

2. Li Kohran - Sakura Wars

1. Chi-Chi - Dragon Ball

[5h1k0]

[curewimdy]

watching The Apothecary Diaries makes me *so* nostalgic for Saiunkoku Monogatari... i don't know if it would hold up all that well in 2023 but i remember feeling like it was one of the most overtly, unabashedly feminist pieces of media i'd ever seen back in like 2006. Shuurei was such a good protagonist and a stand-out Houko Kuwashima role too <3

[coffeeviolinist]

AkAm/ShuuRei: the couple that doesn’t make each other better, sometimes makes each other worse, but also they make each other genuinely happy and that’s really all that counts

[historicalasiandramas]

OH MY GODS IT'S REAL?! SaiMono is a criminally underrated anime and I can still sing the OP song to this day.

Shuurei is also one of my fave anime heroines of all time! We love a woman in politics! We also love a canonically bisexual emperor, but I'm skeptical about how they're going to approach that. Ryuuki was known for two things: being lazy and loving men.

Are they going to touch on this at all or just completely get rid of that part of his character? Also who is going to play my fave villain: Sa Sakujun?

[minsarasarahair]

Tall purple royalties and their brainy smol wife Love that both of their 1st season ended with romantic scene that became a comedy instantly lol Jinshi headbutt Maomao and Shuurei start scolding Ryuuki.

[dameamaryllis]

There is an ongoing fan translation of the Saiunkoku Monogatari novels and I am so very excited about it!

[sqewed0722]

THE LEGEND OF ZHUOHUA

I think I've fallen in love with this CDrama. It reminds me so much of "Saiunkoku Monogatari", especially the heroine, Mu Zhuohua (played by Jing Tian), whose personality is very much like Kuo Shuurei.

Mu Zhuohua (whose real name is Mu Qi) is the daughter of a rich merchant from the province. Her mother was a former courtesan and one of the lower-ranked concubines of her father so she's treated with disdain by most of her family. Qi is intelligent and decides to escape a promised marriage between her and one of the provincial officials so she can pursue her dreams of becoming an imperial court official.

She travels to the capital and lives among the courtesans, serving as their physician due to the medical skills she had acquired growing up. In one of her errands to see to the medical needs of some courtesans, she encounters Lord Ding, Liu Yan (Feng Shao Feng).

Lord Ding is the younger brother of the Emperor and known as the War God of Southern Chen due to his prowess on the battlefield. However, the last battle that he led had ended in a devastating loss of 30,000 men, which he suspects is due to someone leaking highly confidential battle strategies to the enemy. Lord Ding is trying to investigate the matter even as he supports his brother, the Emperor, in ruling the nation.

Their chance encounter somehow leads to them being entangled in each other's affairs, despite their reluctance. Lord Ding's enemies try to use Zhuohua against him and he's left with no choice but to protect her. For her part, Zhuohua sees in Lord Ding a patron who can help improve her chances of getting into the imperial civil service exam and realizing her dreams. They somehow end up supporting each other along the way, and in the process find themselves unexpectedly falling in love.

What I like about this drama is that the heroine isn't some damsel in distress, she isn't a warrior, nor does she have supernatural powers. She's just an ordinary young woman with big dreams and she uses her intelligence and talents to achieve her goals. The hero, on the other hand, isn't some mighty warrior-god who slays his enemies but a man who has suffered defeat and betrayal at the hands of those whom he trusted most. For all intents and purposes, they are regular people living in ancient China.

It's quite refreshing to watch a xanxia that doesn't have heroes and heroines and immortals flying all over the place. And I must say the actor and actress portraying the roles of Zhuohua and Lord Ding are just lovely to watch and have great chemistry together.

Lord Ding took some time to grow on me because he first came off as very stern and cold, which made the difference in their ages more apparent. But the gradual softening of his character and personality as he slowly falls for Zhuohua changes his overall demeanor, so that when you finally see him smile, you realize that he is actually a handsome man.

Zhuohua, on the other hand, has a look that's both charming and witty yet intelligent and resourceful. She's quite beautiful but she isn't fully aware of her own physical beauty, because she's more concerned about developing her abilities and talents and achieving her dreams. And her emotional maturity is very apparent so that you don't question why she ends up choosing someone like Lord Ding, who's far older than her, over all the young men around her.

I hope I can find more CDramas similar to this one. I'm not averse to fantasy xanxias but it's quite refreshing to watch characters who are ordinary people.

[maomao9jinshi]

Shuurei is a rare bird in the world of Saiunkoku Monogatari

[kuschelkissen]

So I'm really curious about your opinion on Shuichi now

ok, let's go!

Sexuality Headcanon: bi

Gender Headcanon: male

A ship I have with said character: RyeBourbon/ShuuRei/OkiAmu/AkAm

A BROTP I have with said character: In canon? none. Sadly canon Shuu doesn't give that much in points of relationships. In my head though? He was really close with Hiro/Scotch, which makes him not being able to save him even more tragic.

A NOTP I have with said character: with Shiho. even without them being cousins, her being the sister of his dead ex is just... icky. Not a big fan of other ships involving him, mostly because I'm no multishipper, but can deal with them because I usually can see where they get from. Present!RedStarling. I like them as a past couple, but I don't want to see them back together. Jodie deserves better than being second in line.

A random headcanon: He is having the time of his life as Okiya. Cooking, watering the flowers, he loves that shit. He only hates that tiny Subaru. He wants his big/fast american car back

General Opinion over said character: love him, but he's too cool to be true, wish he could be a bit more obviously flawed like his bf, get a bit more personality beyong "he's the cool, silent sniper", please.

[rnufharose]

Inspo chart for Nufy

Belle - Beauty and the Beast

Shuurei Hong - Saiunkoku Monogatari

Shen Qiao - Thousand Autumns

Rosa Joanna Farrell - Final Fantasy IV

Jiang Yanli - Mo Dao Zu Shi

Kim Miso - What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim?!