Manga Review: The Story of Saiunkoku, Volume 2, by Kairi Yura and Sai Yukino

Rating (Out of 5): 3

Publisher: VIZ Media

Volumes: 18

Goodreads Synopsis:

Shurei Hong, destitute but of noble birth, has always dreamed of working as a civil servant in the imperial court of Saiunkoku, but women are barred from holding office. The emperor Ryuki, however, refuses to take command, leaving everything to his advisors. Shurei is asked to become a consort to the emperor to persuade the ne’er-do-well ruler to govern.

Review:

For some reason, I'm having a hard time getting into this series. It's just a little too slow, or something. I'm starting to like the characters, but the story moves slowly. But it's also a historical story, and I'm not too big a fan of history, even if it is fiction.

In this volume, Shurei finds out that Ryuki actually know more about what she's been teaching him than she thinks. When she demands to leave, Ryuki locks her up in his room. Even though this is really a terrible thing to do, it's actually quite funny. And Ryuki didn't know that she was a stand-in and was only staying there temporary. It's adorable how much Ryuki likes her.

And then Shurei's poisoned and kidnapped, and Ryuki has to rescue her. Ryuki has to make a deal in order to get the antidote for her. After she wakes up, they talk some, and when Shurei is saying goodbye to everyone, Ryuki kisses her and confesses that he likes men and women, (because Shurei was under the impression that he only slept with men,) to which Shurei is outraged.

And then there's a small side story about Shurei, her father, Seiran, and food. It's about when Shurei and her father first take in Seiran and Shurei's mother has just recently died. It's a cute, sweet little thing.

There were other parts in the volume with the other characters, more serious parts that I'm having a hard time with. I can't seem to remember who's who, or what's going on with all of them, why they're doing what they're doing. And some of them seem interesting, I just don't seem to remember them, and I don't think I've seen enough from several of them. I'm starting to like Shurei a bit more, and Seiran is interesting, but I haven't seen enough of him, gotten enough of his character yet, either. But I do really like Ryuki. He's adorable, and fun, and he likes Shurei and it's cute how they always argue with each other, and he refers to himself (sometimes, not always) as 'we', and he actually knows what he's doing and can fight. I like him most. But all of the other characters, and the history, is making it hard for me to read.

I'm going to continue the series, but I hope that it gets more exciting, and lets up a little on the history and background parts. I just don't enjoy them, and I do want to get into this series. But for now, it's just alright (aside from Ryuki, because I kind of love him).