Raven of the Inner Palace

“Raven of the Inner Palace” was definitely one of the most surprising animes of the season. I went in with low expectations and a negative outlook but left feeling like I had an exhilarating trip through Chinese folklore. This is especially shocking considering I have a personal dislike of all things historical. Although I wouldn’t give “Raven of the Inner Palace” anime of the year or even the season, it ended up outclassing the majority of shows I’ve binged (and forgotten about) throughout 2022. So today, I want to talk about the 3 biggest features that make “Raven of the Inner Palace” stand out, andhow these features come together to create a wonderful and unique historical experience that anyone can enjoy. MYSTERIES AND SECRETS - A fantastic balance between the mystery of the Raven Consort and Shouxue. One of my favorite aspects of this anime is how well-written the mystery behind the main character is. Shouxue, also known as the Raven Consort, is in a constant struggle between the responsibilities of her position and her human desire to live a fulfilling life. The thing is, we don’t initially know what the Raven Consort’s job really is and why it exists. Likewise, no one, not even Shouxue herself, is sure what her fulfilling life looks like since she never sought human desires until now. In order to answer these questions, the show gives Shouxue a personal journey in the form of helping people around the inner palace. Whenever some new magical case or request is made, we see Shouxue learn more about others, establish relationships, engage in new activities, and, most importantly, make character-revealing choices. Her stance on important human aspects like love, death, friendship, and other topics is not just stated out loud in boring dialogue, but shown in tense, action-filled moments. This manner of character development lets us strongly connect with Shouxue and understand who she is, fundamentally, as a person. Likewise, these moments also develop, in a compelling manner, the mystery behind the Raven Consort. In particular, this mystery is built off Shouxue’s character development, allowing us to see how the two sides of her life clash and cause inner conflict. So each week I would find myself tuning in to answer some of my burning questions. Who is Shouxue as a person? What exactly is the Raven Consort title and where did it come from? Why is Shouxue trapped by this role? Can she ever find a happy balance between her duties and her desires? And with each week, I was never disappointed in how I got those answers. PLOTLINES - Interesting, but lacking ambition in key moments. As stated before, “Raven of the Inner Palace” uses the day-to-day duties of the Raven Consort to explore the mystery surrounding Shouxue. These duties usually entail smaller mysteries and short stories that push the characters forward in their development. Although the stories around ancient Chinese folklore were interesting and well-told, I sometimes found myself disappointed by the lack of ambition in major plotlines. Occasionally, Shouxue would be forced to deal with a problem that directly connects to her past or to her responsibilities as the Raven Consort. These personal stories have great potential to push the anime to grim places, exploring more controversial events seen in the darker side of humanity’s history. However, right before this push is made, we get our resolution too soon and avoid the real depth of the topic. In particular, I was disheartened by how quickly we “finished” the arc that had an antagonist directly related to Shouxue’s past, which had some serious morally dark topics. While I don’t think this lack of ambition ruins or takes away from the show as a whole, I often found myself wondering what could have been if we had an extra episode or two dedicated to these personal plotlines. Maybe we will see these things brought up again if the anime gets a Season 2, but for now, I’m going to have to be satisfied with what was given. ARTISTIC EXPRESSION - It goes to show that budget is always beaten by creativity. Now I’m not 100% certain on this, but I’ve heard here and there that “Raven of the Inner Palace” had a lower budget than most animes of this year. If this is the case, then I applaud Bandai Namco for such an excellent visual and auditory adaption. Even if the budget was infinite, the creative choices made during adaption beat out any flashy and showy style that you just throw money at. When telling the folklore and mini-stories, “Raven of the Inner Palace” employs historical theatrics that feels fitting for the era and tone. These theatrics do a better job of engrossing the audience in the story and time period than the standard filter screen flashback. Likewise, the color palette and musical choices give me the feeling of walking in a museum and learning about the history behind each display. It’s all so thematically appropriate that I could immerse and interest myself in a time period hundreds of years before my birth, something I never expected considering my rather negative bias towards media involving history. But when it’s time for significant action and magic, I feel like I’m watching a show of high budget and quality. The visuals for Shouxue’s magic or a eunuch's swordplay are fluid and well-made. The music does an excellent job of amplifying the emotion of the scene. And finally, the show is not afraid to show blood as a way of reaching through the magic and grounding the audience back in the harsh reality. FINAL VERDICT - “Raven of the Inner Palace” is seemingly niche and unappealing, but it turns out to be surprisingly well-made and definitely worth the 3-4 hour watch. Don’t make the same mistake I almost made! Put aside your preconceptions of historical shows and ancient storytelling so that you can give this anime a fair shot. It has such an enticing mystery with one of the most interesting main characters I’ve watched this season. It’s also a refreshing change from the overabundance of Isakeis and RomComs seen in the market, which I think should already be enough to convince most anime enjoyers to give it a shot.

Koukyuu no Karasu/Raven of the Inner Palace is based on the light novel series of the same name by Kouko Shirakawa, which was recently licenced by seven seas entertainment. Volume 1 is scheduled to be released in 2023, Theme of this series is based on ancient china, Raven of the Inner Palace is indeed a unique story filled of mystery, fantasy, and history. Deep within the inner palace lives a special consort who does not serve the emperor despite her position, known as the Raven Consort. Some claim she is an elderly woman, while others claim she is young and beautiful. So, Main Protagonist of thisseries is Liu Shouxue (Ryuu Jusetsu), the Raven Consort of the Inner Palace, She is young and beautiful, For a price, her dark arts have the ability to cast deadly curses, exorcise ghosts, and locate missing objects. I loved watching Shouxue ,her backstory is quite painful, It was said from the start that Raven consort has to live her life alone, and she can’t leave the inner palace. And our Male lead is the young emperor, Xia Gaojin, Raven consort has never met emperor before, Story starts when the emperor seeks out the Raven Consort to use that magic. The animation was beautiful and clean, especially the magical elements, it also contains some fantastic visuals with an interesting & engaging plot. I was excited for this series since the first PV came out, I loved this anime from the start and we don't get much josei shows, some say that this show also falls under the shoujo genre. Additionally, there is a teeny bit of romance between them, they are aware of one another. Sometimes, we saw Shouxue blush when she unintentionally touched the emperor, but most of the time, she was rude to him and it was fun watching her when she talks like this to the emperor XD. And I loved watching Shouxue when she used her hair ornament to cast magic, it was beautiful. The characters are unique, and you'll get to learn about their fascinating backstories filled with mystery, And all the side characters are also likeable. I also loved the opening and endings of this show. Raven of the inner palace is one of the underrated gem of this season, It was one of the seasons's best show for me. Hope you enjoy watching it.

In an era of repetitive battle shonen and wish fulfilment fantasises, it’s so nice to see that Josei stories are still alive and well. None have been better in recent memory than Kokyuu no Karasu. A wonderfully crafted tale of loss, grief, acceptance and friendship and my pick for anime of the season. Fall 2022 was packed. It was without a doubt one of the best seasons in the past few years, but despite all the big name titles this season, Kokyuu was without a doubt the best show for me. I knew it from episode one and even spoke about it at length in aYoutube video previewing the season. My initial attraction to the series was the setting. We don’t often see Japanese anime take place in ancient China with a focus on mythology. It’s a time period and location with so much rich history and it’s really cool to see that touched on in an anime. Even though the world of Kokyuu is fictionalised, it very clearly borrows a lot of things from ancient chinese mythology and I loved seeing those themes explored. The show does a good job of presenting us with an interesting mystery to solve every week. Shoxue, the MC is able to use her abilities to help the emperor solve murders, disappearances etc., and I enjoyed not only seeing those crimes solved, but also seeing how much Shoxue grew as a person over the course of the series. She’s been through so much in her life and at such a young age too. The friendship that she and the emperor formed through their mutual grief and experiences was really heartwarming. The fact that it stayed platonic as well is a huge plus. I think it’s actually way harder to write a good male/female friendship in fiction than it is to just ship characters because of their proximity to one another. The fact that we see a healthy friendly relationship between the two was really nice. Josei/Shoujo stories in general tend to be more mature and handle women better than in shonen and you see that on full display in this series with the complexities and multi-dimensionality of the characters. In terms of the cast, I am always of the opinion that quality is greater than quantity. The show doesn’t have too many characters to the point you’re overwhelmed or anything. Those that are in the story are really well written and add to the story. Shoxue is one of my fave MC’s of the past couple years. Cute design, funny, brutally honest, etc. The other characters like Jiu-Jiu, the Eunochs, Emperor, etc etc were all really fun and I could not help but get attached to them. The show honestly had a soap opera type of feel, which is pretty common in Josei and I mean that in the best way possible. In the same way you might tune into Days of Our Lives or a telenovela to see how your fave characters are doing, you have that same feeling here which is really the mark of fantastic writing. Kokyuu no Karasu may not get the attention that bigger name series will get, but it is without a doubt the best show for me in Fall 2022 thanks to its mature writing, loveable characters, unique setting and captivating story. It is a must watch for any josei/shoujo fan, anyone who values well written female characters and organic, realistic friendships. Or those looking for something new and different to watch.

If you are looking only for romance be prepared to be disappointed. Its not your typical romantic historic anime but it is worth watching. I am really glad to see the main female protagonist show so much strenght and wisdom troughout the episodes. I really like her powers and how she manages to maintain herselft as an independent character even if she has some weak moments, it makes her more natural. Love this type of each story episode and it was nice seeing such great animations moments and how they manage so create some beautiful scenes. F For 13 episodes its an easy going but enchanting anime toconsume.