Ginga is a simple—yet energetic—country girl, living with her father far from the capital city of the empire in ancient China. When she learns of an opportunity to become a concubine of the young new Emperor, with the possibility of getting a regular food supply in the bargain, Ginga convinces her father to let her go. Once there, she meets all of the other potential head wives, each of whom have various reasons for being there. All of them must learn to read and write, learn the history of their country, and learn the proper mannerisms for being in the royal court.
Ginga's enthusiasm tends to get her in trouble more often than not, but it works to her advantage when they learn that the former emperor's head wife, who is not the mother of the current emperor, is plotting treachery against the new emperor, and that a rebellion is headed toward the capital.
"Like the Clouds, Like the Wind'' has examples of:
- Action Girl:
- Tamyūn uses twin blades to fight.
- While undisciplined, Ginga has no problem grabbing a couple of bricks to hit assassins.
- The other wives become this in the climax to defend against Iryūda and his rebels.
- Amazon Chaser: Implied. Koryūn compliments Ginga on how strong she is and falls for her later on.
- Babies Ever After: After Their First Time, Ginga became pregnant with her and Koryūn's son.
- Big Sister Instinct: The reason Tamyūn pretended to be a candidate for Koryūn's bride is to see who will assassinate him
- Bittersweet Ending: Tamyūn and the rest of the royal family were killed, including Koryūn who was committed suicide to help Ginga and the other wives be spared, and they are. And for a short while the tyrannical Iryūda is emperor, but overthrown due to his tyrant nature. And after a while, Ginga gives birth to her and Koryūn's son, the future Emperor, Kokuyoujuu. And many of Ginga's friends remembered her as still having a smile on her face, implying she was able to accept and move on from the trauma.
- Character Development:
- The flighty and childish Ginga matures throughout the movie as she has to face the dangers to the new Emperor's life, becoming more serious and grounded.
- Seshaamin starts off as an Alpha Bitch who thinks she's better than everyone. Come the climax, she stops thinking about who's better than who and become nicer.
- Driven to Suicide: Koryūn kills himself so that Iryūda and his army will spare the Ginga and the others.
- Also the Empress Dowager poisons herself and her son once Iryuda breaches the palace
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Ginga even outright confuses Koryūn for a girl the first time they meet.
- Elective Mute: Ginga tries to get the old woman who holds her hand through the Weeping Gate passage to talk to her, but she refuses even when Ginga tries to force her to talk by crushing her hand. Once they get out of the Weeping Gate passage, however...
- Even Evil Has Standards: Konton has the traitorous Kikyo (who had come to him and Iryuda as a messenger from the Empress Dowager to ally with them against Koryun) executed when he learns he participated in the assassination of General Osaibi, which allowed the rebellion to proceed. Turns out Konton admired Osaibi and considered him an upright and competent opponent, plus as he points out to Iryuda they can't trust people who have already betrayed their supposed allies like that.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Iryūda only decided to start a rebellion out of boredom, but his actions became so great that he decided to really take on the kingdom and become emperor himself.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Konton and Iryuda go from affable mercenaries hired to protect Ginga from bandits, to defeating said bandits and becoming bureaucrats working for the local governor, to vicious rebels because they were bored with being bureacrats, and then Konton performs one final turn to becoming a Face at the end when he starts having regrets just as Iryuda is about to succeed, assisting Ginga and the rest of the Inner Palace to escape. Given that Iryuda was able to Spot the Thread and noticed that Ginga's gun's hammer was already down and therefore it wasn't loaded, he also performed a little bit of a Heel–Face Turn at the end, although the final narration does say he was a tyrant for the three years he actually served as emperor
- Her Heart Will Go On: Implied. Despite Koryūn's suicide and what happened to the palace, Ginga's friends and other witnesses commented on how energetic and lively she was whenever they saw her.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Koryūn has extremely long hair and is a major Pretty Boy.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Ginga and Koryūn make love in the stable where the latter was being held prisoner. This incident led to Ginga becoming pregnant with their son and future Emperor of the Kan Kingdom, Kokuyoujuu.
- Missing Mom: Ginga's mother died when she was two.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Konton has this reaction when Iryūda states he is serious about overthrowing Koryūn and laments over how he and his friend have unknowingly caused trouble for Ginga.
- Pet the Dog: Despite knowing that gun at Konton's head wasn't loaded, Iryūda lets Ginga, Konton, and the other wives go.
- Rags to Riches: Ginga transforms from a "dirt-covered, radish girl" to the Emperor's seishi (head wife).
- Sexy Discretion Shot: Ginga and Koryūn's sexual encounter in the stable after embracing one another is cut to a scene of Konton waiting outside regretting how he was a part of Iryūda's tyranny, then cutting back to the couple.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Even after being chosen as the seishi, Ginga didn't know if she should be happy given the fact that she doesn't what the Emperor is like and may wind up miserable. However, after actually meeting Koryūn, she starts to enjoy his company and fall for him.
- Sleepyhead: Koyo is from a culture that can only enter a room when the door has been opened for them, so when Ginga takes a few minutes to open the door to their room for her, she promptly lies down and falls asleep. She later can been seen dozing off during the professor's lessons.
- Someone to Remember Him By: Ginga ends up pregnant with Koryūn's child not long before he commits suicide.
- Spot the Thread: Iryuda notices that the hammer on the gun Ginga was pointing at Konton's head was down, and therefore the gun was unloaded but he ignores it to let the Inner Palace staff and concubines escape
- Strong Family Resemblance: Ginga notes that Tamyūn looks a lot like Koryūn. Not surprising, considering they're brother and sister.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: While Iryūda was a bandit when introduced, he was still a pretty friendly guy. However, when Konton has the idea to start a rebellion to alleviate some boredom, Iryūda loses all affability, becoming consumed with being the Emperor and having as many pretty girls as he can.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Seshaamin becomes more willing to work with others she once considered beneath her.
- Uptown Guy: Koryūn (the Emperor) falls in love with Ginga (a commoner).
- What Happened to the Mouse?: What became of Ginga's father is a mystery.
- Would Hurt a Child: The assassin who killed Koryūn's baby brother.
