Karasu wa Aruji wo Erabanai Episode 13 Discussion

Fujinami had romantic feelings for Asebi, or was she just obsessed with having a sister?

It was a surprise to see Hamayu pretending to be one of the Western House's servants. I thought the Prince had feelings for Hamayu, but his proposal indicated otherwise. Wonder if those proposal lines were standard lines he prepared to ensure his consort married him in knowingly and willingly of the risks.

Who's the new woman featured at the end?

@dragynfaerie Asebi has only her adoptive father Lord Haruhito (she is a daughter of his concubine Ukigumo from another man). And Haruhito is as guilty as she is, because he raised Asebi that way...
She will disappear from the story and won't even be mentioned further.
"Sumi" is Hamayuu's name given at birth, "Sumiko", only shortened when she was crosdressing as a boy, "crawling in the dirt" in exile after her parents were executed.

Really cute endcard. I'm excited to see how Nazukihiko and Sumi (Hamayuu) will get along in the middle of all this. We haven't seen too much cooperation between them so far, and Hamayuu will now possibly be playing more of a major role in his schemes.

Really cute endcard. I'm excited to see how Nazukihiko and Sumi (Hamayuu) will get along in the middle of all this. We haven't seen too much cooperation between them so far, and Hamayuu will now possibly be playing more of a major role in his schemes.

It looks like his queen is a Queen. Sumi was a boy. So, Hamayu was cross dressing as an assassin and now is stuck as a female? Did he dress as a woman anyway? Was he hiding? Or was Sumi just a tomboy? I'm really curious if all the heirs will be from concubines (or prostitutes cuz let's face it the Prince has his preferences).

I was truly hoping to see Asebi's parents hearing what happened and what she did to her sister. I want her disowned.

@dragynfaerie Asebi has only her adoptive father Lord Haruhito (she is a daughter of his concubine Ukigumo from another man). And Haruhito is as guilty as she is, because he raised Asebi that way...
She will disappear from the story and won't even be mentioned further.
"Sumi" is Hamayuu's name given at birth, "Sumiko", only shortened when she was crosdressing as a boy, "crawling in the dirt" in exile after her parents were executed.

So, I was right and Hamayuu really is Golden Crow's real love interest? I'm not against her, she's a good match for him. But it's striking that she got the least screen time of the brides, while the apparent lead turned out to be an unreliable narrator. Also, the next arc will be cannibal crows gone crazy?

@KisMaczka Wait, Asebi won't play a role in the plot anymore after we were shown that she's literally Littlefinger in a dress?

@BlueMoonTornado Special feelings can also denote passionate friendship, especially if they allude to the famous plot of friendship between two lonely women from the The Tale of the Heike. Which, along with Genji, serves as the inspiration for most fiction about this period. Not to mention that the motif of a girl possessed by onee-sama making her her brother's wife is quite a popular motif in Japanese fiction (because a brother's wife is considered a sister to his siblings). You may also notice how they mirror Big Brother/Big Sister during her meltdown. But I haven't read the original novel, maybe it explains it in more detail.

@RobertBobert In the novel Fujinami asked Nazukihiko after her confession if her dear brother will still love her as she loves him...
No, no more Asebi or even Shiratama in the story. Vols.1+2 of the novels are ended. They were dealing mostly with yatagarasu aristocracy and court, teĺling the same story from women's (vol.1) and men's (vol. 2) points of view. Vol.3 is about commoners and lowlife people in yatagarasu land, depicted through investigation of gory killings and drug traffic connected to them. Vol.4 is more about yatagarasu army and military training, also continuing commoners/aristocrats relations theme. Vols.5-6 are also one and same story told from human and yatagarasu points of view and dealing with yatagarasu people and True Golden Raven relations with their god Yamagami and with invasion of their land by enemies.

@KisMaczka So, Asebi was able to manipulate her due to the fact that she was also twisted deep in the soul?

So, what was Asebi's end plan actually? And someone please explain all the matters about the letter?

Marry the Prince, of course, in these 4 easy steps:

1. Play the clueless, innocent girl
2. Manipulate the Prince's sister
3. Sabotage the other candidates, specifically Masuho
4. Play up her devotion to the Prince

Asebi knew that she had a lot of influence on Fujinami, the Prince's sister, who has been calling her "big sister" and outright told her that she wants Asebi to marry the Prince. Manipulating Fujinami was central to her plan, and Asebi was mostly successful.

Fujinami was the one that swiped the letters of every candidate except for Asebi's, so that only Asebi would get to converse with the Prince. It seems Asebi did not even have to ask Fujinami to do that. Even with Samomo, all Asebi had to do was to suggest that Samomo had to be "dealt with," and Fujinami "took care of it" (even if half-accidentally).

Asebi also "invited" her manservant Kasuke to the palace. She used Samomo to deliver her letter to Kasuke in secret and come back with his reply. Unfortunately for Asebi, Samomo ended up reading both Asebi's letter and Kasuke's letter, because Kasuke couldn't read or write. Worse, the Prince managed to get ahold of Asebi's letter later.

Asebi meant to have Kasuke end up in Masuho's bedroom and (likely) assault Masuho, similar to what she did to her own sister. This plan failed, but if it had succeeded, Asebi would have been the only viable candidate; Hamayu ran off, Shiratama was already mentally unstable, and Masuho would have been disgraced and forced to withdraw.

Still, Asebi had her other weapons at her disposal, and she still had a good chance with the Prince. She probably would've only needed to beat Masuho; but on paper she was an almost-victim of an attack, and she never wrote to the Prince.

And no one suspected anything. Fujinami (and the royal guard) was busy covering up her own participation in them, both Samomo and Kasuke were dead, and Asebi has not been linked to any of these unsavory events.

But Asebi likely did not predict the Prince to do the homework, by visiting her sister, investigating the murders, tracking down her letter to Kasuke, and exposing Fujinami.

Even after the Prince caught on to her, there was no definitive proof, so in a last ditch effort Asebi again claimed ignorance. But all the Prince had to do was to say "no."

(Kind of got carried away writing, but I realized how well everything fits together and was having too much fun...)

What an intriguing episode, didn't expect the girl that have the least chance will win the Rite of ascension, i say Hamayu as she the best woman before but it didn't cross my mind as Asebi or Masuhoi have better chances.

I like Asebi more as she become more complicated character and Masuho is clearly the warrior princess here. The real winner gonna be Shiratama, to reunite with her lost love. It unfortunate that Prince don't like Yandere type of girl, when he say he loath her i can genuinely feel Asebi heartbreak.

Can see how each girl are faithful to their houses now. Next is new arc where pandemic? is happening in the village. I say it again that this anime is aesthetically pleasing and have unique artstyle, the ending is simply gorgeous.

new ep., which is start of new arc, begins July 20, 2024 (taking two weeks, except next week is recap w. cast audio commentary).
https://natalie.mu/comic/news/580042

Not sure if it's for 2nd cours, but ED for this ep. has different version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8rwPxAca_o

@BlueMoonTornado She will even cross-dress and play the prince's role at the palace, handling state affairs while Nazukihiko is away investigating.