The Story of Saiunkoku Vol. 1 (Manga)
Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: November 2010
Price: $9.99
Creator(s): Sai Yukino (Story) and Kairi Yura (Art)
Format: 172 pgs.; B&W; Trade Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3834-1
Age Rating: Teen
ICv2 Rating: 3 Stars out of 5

Shurei Hong is from a noble, but impoverished, family.  She longs to become a civil servant, but cannot because she is female.  Instead she accepts an offer to become the reticent young emperor’s consort, charged with convincing him to taking up the reins of government which have been dumped in his lap.

Yura’s manga adaptation of Yukino’s novel series (also available as an anime from FUNimation) at first seems a typical shojo romance.  But Shurei lifts the story--and ultimately the emperor--beyond mere appearances.  She’s worked hard to become an accomplished and intelligent woman and she’s determined to keep her countrymen from further suffering.  The emperor, for his part, is less a spoiled brat and more a neglected and hurt child.  Even his dalliances with his guards (which are mentioned but not shown) occur because of his desperate need for companionship.  Watching the two teens pull themselves together is touching.  Yura’s art acknowledges the attractiveness of the many men who surround Shurei, but she is careful to keep them from seeming like caricatures, as can happen in harem-style stories.  This is a good, if not flashy, beginning to a series that appreciates the value of a woman’s mind.

--Snow Wildsmith: Writer and former teen librarian and ALA/YALSA committee member.