Dec 29, 2025
The Story of Saiunkoku Opening
Hajimari no Kaze by Ayaka Hirahara
seen from Italy
seen from Spain
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Malaysia
seen from Israel
seen from France
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from Türkiye
seen from Spain
seen from Maldives
seen from United States
seen from Latvia
seen from China
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from China
The Story of Saiunkoku Opening
Hajimari no Kaze by Ayaka Hirahara
Good Soil Makes a Good Crop: The Story of Saiunkoku and the myth of meritocracy
Content Considerations: Discussion and depictions of sexism/misogyny and classism.
Spoilers for The Story of Saiunkoku manga, particularly volumes 6-8 (roughly episodes 10-19 of the anime).
“You can’t expect young saplings to take root if you toss them off the land and into rushing water. They would simply wither and die, regardless of whatever promise they might have shown.”
Once upon a time, a poor little girl named Hong Shurei did not dream of marrying a prince. Instead, Shurei saw the struggles of the people around her and dreamed of becoming a civil servant—an impossible dream, for women were banned from public office. Yet when the law changed to allow her entry, Shurei soon learned her dream was not without its nightmares, for deep-seated prejudices loomed everywhere she looked, and these were not the sort of monsters one could draw a sword and slay.
Despite its fantastical shoujo setting, The Story of Saiunkoku is no traditional fairy tale, and Shurei’s journey is much closer to unjust reality than escapist fiction. This allows the series to explore systemic oppression, workplace harassment, and the importance of structural support, especially in systems that claim to be merit-based. Through its young, marginalized civil servants, Saiunkoku provides an intersectional critique of the “bootstrap” mentality, highlighting how oppression creates hurdles that often require more than just “hard work” to clear.
Read it at Anime Feminist!
why is there no fanfics for "The story of Saiunkoku?!
Ugh Saiunkoku s2 does not have English captions!
Surei serving him hot water instead of Gan Lu tea.
So colourcloud palace had a second season that is available nowhere apparently.
(Dudes talking shit about his daughter taking the exam)
(Flicks hand and cuts everything to bits with invisible wire)
(Table collapses into fragments on top of dudes)
“What just happened?!”
“Hmmm… I wonder, very mysterious. (Changes subject)”
“Since people were always calling him a weirdo he figured he might as well make that his name.”