Saiunkoku Monogatari/Tear Jerker


 * The season one finale of Saiunkoku Monogatari combines Shuurei's triumphant return to her home in the capital city with a series of painful illustrations of Ryuuki's growing estrangement from the people around him. It becomes particularly wrenching when Shuurei and her father throw an impromptu party in the palace archives and all of the friends and allies Shuurei has made over the course of the season drop in to have a good time... except Ryuuki, who we see still at his desk doing paperwork, while Shouka talks quietly to Reishin about how the people who see him as "Ryuuki" instead of "Emperor" are growing fewer and fewer, and how in order to be a good emperor, Ryuuki is no longer able to pursue his own desires. "Since he knows that, he can't let go of the one dream he has left."