The Story of Saiunkoku (also known as Saiunkoku Monogatari, Tale of the Land of Colored Clouds, and the Tale of Saiunkoku 彩雲国物語) is a 39 episode anime that has a heavy Chinese influence and is a flowing drama the likes of which is rarely seen. Often we get a mix of Fantasy and Comedy as Genres or Fantasy and Drama, but rarely do we see a mix of Fantasy, Drama, Comedy, and Romance that is able to stick to all four genres perfectly. Saiunkoku Monogatari is one of the best drama animes to come out of Japan in awhile.
The story is very simplistic. Based on a rough Chinese style of government and architecture, all of the events in the anime happen in a fictional empire known as “Saikunkoku”. Although, you might as well call it Japan and China’s love child. It’s basically ancient China with Japanese influence mixed in. It has a governor, provinces, “great families”, ministers, and the rest of whole stereotypical Chinese Japanese government from long ago.
