Koukyuu no Karasu

Among the royal court, there is an individual feared as much as revered: the Raven Consort Ryuu Jusetsu. Residing in her jet-black palace and isolated from the emperor, she is the subject of countless rumors. Claimed to possess mystic abilities, she is said to take on any request—from finding lost items to inflicting curses. While some call her an immortal sage, others believe her to be a terrifying revenant. But such comments fail to faze Jusetsu, who prefers to spend her days in quiet solitude. That is, until the emperor, Ka Koushun, barges into her court and asks for her assistance with a mysterious case.

The young emperor's request requires Jusetsu to step out of her palace for the first time. Despite Ka Koushun's frequent visits annoying her to no end, she cannot bring herself to turn him away. Her predecessor's teachings echo in her ears: the Raven Consort is destined to remain forever alone and never desire anything. Yet Jusetsu finds herself making the first of several bonds when she asks Jiujiu, an innocently inquisitive court girl, to be her sole attendant.

Together, they begin fulfilling requests from the people of the palace. However, unknown perils lurk in the outside world, and drawing attention to herself may bring Jusetsu face-to-face with a past that is better left undisturbed.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ryuu, Jusetsu Main

Mizuno, Saku Japanese

Ka, Koushun Main

Mizunaka, Masaaki Japanese

Ei, Sei Supporting

Yashiro, Taku Japanese

On, Kei Supporting

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Tan, Kai Supporting

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Jiujiu Supporting

Kouno, Marika Japanese

Ishiha Supporting

Hirata, Mana Japanese

Sai, Enrin Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

An, Keiran Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Hou, Ichigyou Supporting

Ogata, Mitsuru Japanese

Inoue, Megumi Producer

Saitou, Souichirou Producer

Miyawaki, Chizuru Director, Setting

Aketagawa, Jin Sound Director

Reviews

Dec 24, 2022

KANLen09

Recommended

"Deep in the inner palace, there lives a consort known as the Raven Consort.
She holds a special position, and despite her "consort" title, she does not perform night-time duties.
Though she lives there, it is said that she can perform mysterious arts and even gain some friends along the way, but she has no contact with the emperor, nor kneels before him.
Such is the Raven Consort."

The Fall 2022 season has seen quite a diversity of shows, but one show that I really AM desperate to talk about is Koukyuu no Karasu a.k.a Raven of the Inner Palace, novelist Kouko Shirakawa's only work (barring her 2 one-shot ... LNs released in 2015 and 2016), because this show isn't really that much discussed about outside of the anime and seems to have flown under the radar for such a hyped season as this. If I can really esteem what it means to be a standout show, this anime would be one in the most stereotypical, but MYSTERIOUS way possible that it can only really pull off.

The original LN that spans 7 volumes and serialized from April 2018 to April 2022 under Shueisha's Orange Bunko imprint that targets the Shoujo demographic, that I can say that no matter the Shonen or Shoujo reading the LN or watching the anime, it's really very intriguing to say the least. For one, the setting is in Ancient China, a very large contrast to the generic Isekai where every town looks the same no matter the layout, and even the characters are Chinese-ified with their Kanji-like names, which is also a standout that usually with translations, the romaji is often generally used. But in this show, staying true to the Chinese names literally amps the setting that it's based upon, creating a work that's detracts from what we are so used to towards the Japanese context. And as an Asian Chinese myself, it's definitely a welcome surprise given that Chinese historical dramas were somewhat of an influence in my growing-up years, and in trying to respect the source material that it's based upon, this just brings a smile onto my face. You don't really see such dedication in drawing the line between Japanese media and dutiful Chinese cultures and customs, and its kudos to whoever in Crunchyroll was doing the translations for the show.

In the context of Chinese literature, the source material's setting is very similar to that of the Qing Dynasty, where there're classes of people separate by the positions/ranks that they are held to, and this is most certain for the Raven Consort Liu Shouxue a.k.a Ryuu Juusetsu herself because of the rule that emperors could not even contact her. Despite the entire system being somewhat of a harem-ish context, that is not the highlight for both the source material and the anime, though the emperor Xia Gaojun a.k.a Ka Koushun is somewhat of an oddity, almost as if like he's intentionally trying to break the Consort's customs by leaning onto a semi-cordial relationship with the latest 16-year-old successor. The Raven Consort can perform mysterious arts, such as calling forth spirits of the deceased and exorcising and purifying them peacefully, accompanied by a yellow chicken (the "Watchman of the very first Raven Consort Niao Lian"), a lady-in-waiting (Jiu-jiu) and a few servants (Gaojun's Wei Qing a.k.a Ei Sei and Shouxue's Wen Ying a.k.a On Kei) inside her residence, and despite her tsundere attitude, she cannot resist when being served her favorite food, baozi.

That being said, this show feels like your typical historical fantasy show with hints of mystery and the supernatural with the "mystery of the week" segments as we see the locked-up Raven Consort converge with the other palace ministers and servants around her to solve the mysteries surrounding the Ye Ming Palace, growing as the stories grow and tally along with character development to boot. I especially like how the stories are being told here: if you're an Asian like me, you would've noticed that the stories are shown akin to a wayang kulit style, which is a traditional form of puppet-shadow play that's originally found in the Java and Bali cultures in Indonesia. It really gives the stories the feel of a rich, but tainted history, and most importantly, adjective into the historical context that the series is based upon. Stories ranging from the daily mundaneness of life filled with the occult (e.g. ghosts) to the Raven Consort's past of generations alike, it's really that engaging. Though the one weakness that it has is its case use of repetitiveness to showcase ghost sightings but in different layered forms from murder to suicide, it can wear down the viewer when the "plot" feels disconnected at times.

Aside from the production looking a bit low-budget, BN Pictures did their best at adapting the source material, and this is due in part to the long-time veteran director Chizuru Miyawaki, whom you might know her as the director of the GOAT comedy anime of all time: Gintama. Being a director in this kind of setting takes a much more superlative ideal since Kouko Shirakawa's novel is actually quite unique by Japanese standards, so having to imagine all that and working to the best through translation, is a tough job, but nothing too short of the acclaimed director herself being not just a director knowing comedy, but in resourcefulness and stylishness. It may not win awards in the production department, but for how the anime turned out, it was style over substance, and I'm acceptable with that if it was intended to be shown this way.

For a unique series, you gotta have a unique OST, and what we got here was truly something else. Ziyoou-vachi, or Queen Bee as the rock band is called, has definitely brought its "fashion punk" song into the series, and if you know any better, their Anisongs featured in Tokyo Ghoul:re and the 2019 remake of Dororo will get you up to speed. I LOVE the heck of how ancient, mythical-feeling Queen Bee's OP is, and with the sense of allure that's the gift that keeps on giving, with Avu-chan's MYSTEEEEEEEERIOUS~~~ singing vibe of majestic beauty. Definitely one of the better surprising OPs of the season. This is the same for krage's ED being just what I expected if you have to have J-Pop soul invicted into the typical Chinese drama. It's a very different feeling of having a triple-layered song of Japanese, Chinese and English lyrics infused to what should a solemn song, but just like Queen Bee's OP, it's just mesmeriziing in the most magisterial way possible, and it's powerful enough to convey emotions. What an OST that I'm worthy to put this above all else as one of the absolute best of the season.

I can understand why a show like this is very hard to recommend, especially if you're the type that doesn't care for surface-level drama but make no mistake that this is as close to a typical Ancient Chinese-ified drama as it can if it were made in a Japanese dub kind of way. And that to me, is a win in experiencing the same thing but in a different medium, that it feels better than watching the typical Chinese drama that I'm so bored with over the years being so devoid of creativeness.

I honestly don't know...try this show for yourself and see how it does to you. But I can definitely say that I've enjoyed the show much more than I initially did.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Dec 28, 2022

AkiraChinami

Mixed Feelings

Change isn't easy. It's even less so when the subject of that change is an institution that has been in place for centuries. The role of the Raven Consort has been entrenched within the inner palace for at least a thousand years, and it is going to take more than one creepy guy embodying a god of death to undo it. But everything that has happened to Shouxue and Gaojun in this season has been in service of changing the role of the Raven Consort; from his unseemly interest in her (at least as far as others are concerned) to the slow reveal of her ... true purpose, the stage has been set for them to make meaningful changes.

That's what this last episode is largely in service of. We can see the small cracks beginning in the prison that holds the Raven Consort, namely the preconceptions and misconceptions everybody has about who she is and what she is supposed to be. The old priest who was in love with Shouxue's predecessor is perhaps the person with the most reason to resent the rules that seem unable to be broken. He saw being chosen by the goddess Niao Lian as forcing her into a prison, one which precluded her having any relationship with anyone at all. He resents Shouxue for proving that that is not true; she has ladies in waiting, eunuchs, and above all the emperor. Even if she did not set out to form these bonds, they have changed her, and that means that the role of the Raven Consort is not nearly as immutable as he and others before him believed it to be. It's the disconnect between Winter King and Raven Consort, and an example of how these women have had their power curtailed. They were allowed to maintain it, but only at the cost of being human.

Even if she hasn't made a conscious decision to change this, Shouxue is well on her way to disproving the idea that the Raven Consort is Other. She has stopped rebuffing Gaojun and begun to seek out friendships among the other women of the inner palace. It's a slow process, and it won't be an easy one; she has spent too long believing what the former Raven Consort told her. But as the conclusion of the episode seems to imply, the change from Raven Consort to Winter King is within her grasp, waiting for her somewhere beneath the sea.

Whether that is a metaphor for the hidden depths within Shouxue or a more literal statement of where the power of the Winter King took up residence is unclear; perhaps even the sanity of the banished goddess is what is waiting for her to find. It's also clear that the story is far from over – the talon marks that have appeared near the wound Gaojun received from the owl are very worrying, especially since we saw that image of an owl's wing appearing from his arm. There are too many centuries of ill will and sorrow for anything to resolve as quickly as we might like, but I still think that this is more of a hopeful ending than anything we otherwise might have expected. Even if further tragedy awaits, Shouxue now has the tools and the inner strength to move forward, to say nothing of the backing of those she has realized she may rely on. Once again, that is what the swapping of the opening and ending themes for each other shows us: one part of the tale has ended, and a new one is just beginning. While we can hope that we will get to see it unfold on the screen, at least we have the assurance that we can read the novels, which have been licensed for English release by Seven Seas.

The world is undoubtedly mysterious, and full of things we cannot fully understand. But when we start to learn what lies behind what we have always considered truths, we begin to find our own strength to change what others believe is firmly established. Shouxue has begun that journey. I wish her the best of it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jan 10, 2025

Valentine07

Not Recommended

(Spanish review below)

It feels... soulless?

If you've already seen 'The Apothecary Diaries' or 'Yatagarasu', 'Raven of the inner palace' has more or less the same essence, setting, power games in palaces, and a detective context. BUT 'Raven of the inner palace' doesn't have a soul like the others.

It's repetitive. Each chapter is the same as the previous one and the situations are resolved in exactly the same way (it even has the same animation).

The animation isn't as good as in 'Yatagarasu' and 'The Apothecary Diaries'. It's average, as is the character design.

It was really boring to watch. At first I had hopes because it seemed interesting, ... but it's not or at least the repetitive aspect kills the entertaining part.

The characters are stereotypes without much more to offer. I don't have a problem with stereotypes if the characters develop throughout the chapters and offer something more. This is not the case.

I don't recommend it

...

Se siente... ¿sin alma?

Si ya has visto ‘The Apothecary Diaries’ o ‘Yatagarasu’, ‘Raven of the inner palace’ tiene más o menos la misma esencia, ambientación, juegos de poder en palacios, y un contexto detectivesco. PERO 'Raven of the inner palace' no tiene alma como las demás.

Es repetitiva. Cada capítulo es igual que el anterior y las situaciones se resuelven exactamente de la misma forma (incluso tiene la misma animación).

La animación no es tan buena como en 'Yatagarasu' y 'The Apothecary Diaries'. Es normalita, al igual que el diseño de los personajes.

Fue realmente aburrida de ver. Al principio tenía esperanzas porque parecía interesante, pero no lo es o al menos el aspecto repetitivo mata la parte entretenida.

Los personajes son estereotipos sin mucho más que ofrecer. No tengo problema con los estereotipos si los personajes se desarrollan a lo largo de los capítulos y ofrecen algo más. No es el caso.

No lo recomiendo.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Not to be offensive but I consider this the Walmart version of apothecary diaries Charleeiza - Mar 11	11 replies	by peonyk2416 »» Mar 13, 8:41 PM
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