I actually never understood all the historical stuff from the anime (again, maybe because it was in Cantonese). I just watched the fight scenes without having a clue who was on which side fighting for what. :/

Good for you! Mandarin is probably the one language that I really should learn, but I just remember hating it so much in Saturday school when I was younger. So if I was going to study another language, I think I'd try Spanish.