beranda wrote:But! I think this is just shows us his humanity and vulnerability which are still there even after 500 years rule. I believe, personally, that they are part of the reason he's such a great ruler after all. Unlike Kou-ou or Hou-ou he never lets himself to forget he isn't perfect. He knows he's capable of mistakes and still continues to doubt himself. And his story about Atsyuu is one of the examples of that self-doubt. He conveys this thought to Youko very well and that's why you hear her declaring at the beginning of the ep.45 - "I'm the queen, chosen by heavens. But that doesn't mean i can't make a mistake!"
He never let's himself to forget his "other self" and that he can be foolish.
And Youko finally understands it herself as well.
A good emperor has to be decisive, but can't be arrogant about it. He has to recognize his own fallibility without letting concern over that fallibility make him doubt his own judgment. It's a difficult combination, and one Shouryuu appears to have struggled with many times. But he's aware enough of it to succeed in that struggle, and not let himself give in to either indecisiveness or arrogance. That ability makes for a truly great emperor, and I think it's a good sign for Kei that Youko is taking him as a role-model in many ways. Early on, he was the one who explained how important it was for her to be decisive (which she had a very difficult time with but eventually managed). Then later on he's the one explaining how a ruler can never allow himself to forget that he can make mistakes, and she appears to take that lesson to heart as well. If she can manage to balance those two lessons as well as Shouryuu has, she should have a prosperous reign, and I think she has the strength of will and spirit to do it.
beranda wrote:So, sorry, but i think that Enki was quite wrong about him at first.
One thing to keep in mind is that his idea that kings will only destroy a kingdom is something he came up with before ever meeting Shouryuu. It was the reason he didn't want to go looking for a king in the first place. So that's not really his impression of Shouryuu himself, it was simply that meeting him didn't immediately eliminate a concern he'd already had.
beranda wrote:And they absolutely adore to tease each other, just as i said, they've been able to build a wonderful bond between them. I don't know how about you, but i felt that those two have a great relationship and sincere friendship.
I really love seeing the interaction between those two.
They've developed a great relationship. I suppose if you're going to work with someone for 500 years or more, it would sure help to develop a strong friendship there.
beranda wrote:Ok...Let's agree to disagree.
While i surely can't claim he doesn't feel her potential after she frees him in ep.13, but ep.1...
Of course. It's another of those intriguing topics that's shown but not fully explained, so there's no clearly right or wrong answer, but it can lead to fascinating discussions.
beranda wrote:He doesn't seem to grasp the fact that she's absolutely unaware of the fact that she's taika from Kei, that he's a kirin and that she's a chosen ruler of Kei, she has no idea whatsoever what he's talking about
...
I still don't get the fact why he pushes the Suiguu in her arms and demands her to use it, without even giving it a thought that she's not able to use the sword at all! ... being the chosen ruler of the kingdom and having a great potential has nothing to do with the fact that 16-year old girl from Hourai has no chance to be a professional sword fighter, whatever her potential is.
I think these are actually a similar problem of his. He doesn't grasp the fact that she needs to be told what's going on before she can know it (just as he hadn't understood that Taiki needed the ouki explained before he could know it). Now here he doesn't at first realize that of course she would have to learn how to use a sword before she could do anything useful with it. It's as though the process necessary for acquiring skills or knowledge just doesn't seem to occur to him.
Of course Keiki himself would probably not know anything of swordsmanship. He knows this sword is a powerful weapon that only the chosen ruler of Kei can wield, so once he chooses her he expects her to be able to wield it. That she lacks the skills for wielding a sword hadn't occured to him just as it hadn't occured to him that she would lack any knowledge of what being chosen by a kirin means.
beranda wrote:It's all in the perception, then, i guess.
Just as i said, i don't believe that any kirin has THAT kind of perception, never found it, not in anime and not in the novels (that i could read, that is).
As I said, it's just an idea I came up with. It stemed from wondering about that line where he said he knew from the first moment he saw her that Jokaku lacked qualites necessary to run a kingdom. I couldn't understand how he could know something like that just by seeing someone, so I began to wonder whether that's just something kirin are able to do. I haven't found anything else in the anime to clearly support it other than that one line that made me think of it in the first place. But I liked the idea because I think it fits well with their role and their other abilities, there didn't seem to be anything too directly against it, and I still haven't thought of anything else that makes that line make sense. (He's too direct and honest to say he knew she lacked qualities if what he meant was that he'd wondered whether she would have those qualites.)
Or at the very least, it makes for another of those vague possibilities that can lead to interesting discussions.
beranda wrote:Acting on the idea that she's got to prevent those visions from coming true is exactly the wrong reaction to them.
He-e-ey! I didn't say that "doing something about it" is to run and prevent them!
You're right, it'll be a great mistake to act in such a manner. But the person has to deal with those anxieties, not to hide them under the scabbard, that's all. Learning to deal with them is altogether another task and Youko's learning to do that as well, of course.
The part about needing to deal with her anxieties rather than just hide them I agree with you on. The only part I disagreed with was that these visions were things that might happen and that "if the owner won't do anything about them - they'll become his true reality." The visions as she saw them weren't going to become reality in any case. She needs to deal with her anxiety, but she also needs to recognize that it's
just her anxiety and not a warning of things to come.
whew...it's been a very great discussion...but i think i am late? 
well...my opinion on why keiki is older than the other kirins who are sociable....i think it depends on the kirin on when he'she will decide that they have the enough mind...just like us...it is we wo decide when can we say we have the enough capabilities, when we think we are mature enuff...in the case of keiki, he wanted it all to be perfect...so he decided he is mature enuff when i think he is mid or late 20's.....that's why he is older....he only wanted to be a good kirin so he was not sociable at all...his mind is only on what is ryt....
