For some reason I thought you'd watched it already. XD It is really excellent, likely one of the best series of the year (not that I've seen many).

I liked the Saiunkoku anime okay. It was just too leisurely to hold my attention - like, you could tell the storyline was a looong build from simple to involved, in the manner of many shounen series, and I don't have the patience to sit there and watch and watch these days. ^^; I would have to start by reading the books. But I have a backlog in Japanese novels too. XD;