(CR) Kōkyū no Karasu (A Raven in the Harem)

[Huh...?]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

Found conclusion bit weak tbh. Investigation of death Lady in waiting itself was fine, but that her fiance also accidentaly overheard grand ploy and everything concernig it got instantly resolved felt bit anti-climatic.

Think that whatever Empress Dowager said before getting beheaded would come to play later on in the story.
Considering that the Series is Supernatural based, so i wouldn't be surprised to see Empress Dowager come back later on somehow.
Or maybe she had even placed a curse on the new Emperor and it would be Shouxue/Jusetsu to save him later on.

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On a side note, i hoped that the Sub i saw atleast used Furigana style text so as to use both the Chinese & Japanese name together.
I am getting confused on trying to keep track on the names of the characters, because i hear their name in Japanese but the Sub shows Chinese name.

[nojay]

Originally Posted by ryllharu

Episode 2:In her haste for answers though, Jiujiu was made Shouxue's lady-in-waiting, and she's unlikely to be rid of her as easily as she originally planned.

I niggle at story setups like this -- the Raven Consort lives alone yet she eats food someone prepares for her and wears quite elaborate outfits while lounging around doing nothing all day every day. Her hair alone must take a skilled hairdresser an hour to arrange and ornament each day. Someone of her status, a Consort, she would have a household of a dozen maids and ladies-in-waiting minimum. Instead she has a comedy-relief attack chicken. Riiiiight.

Oh, and that Emperor, wandering around the court accompanied with, at best, a single assistant? Riiiight. Someone of his rank would be surrounded by dozens of officials and guards every time he stepped out of his personal offices.

Still a lovely show although the second episode was weaker than the first, probably because the big reveals had been made beforehand. The coincidences that stacked up to solve the "mystery" didn't help. I did expect the Empress Dowager to last a bit longer as the Big Bad but we might see more of her in the future given the supernatural and magical themes of this show.

[ryllharu]

It's not the Empress Dowager who was executed. It was one of her ladies-in-waiting, Xingshi, who tormented the current emperor's mother to dance on the Empress Dowager's suggestion and was still serving the Empress Dowager after the Emperor took over and had her imprisoned.

Xingshi was the one acting on a plot to poison him. He has hearsay on the Empress Dowager giving the order to do it.

EDIT:
Nevermind, I'm wrong.

[Kanon]

Previous Raven consort wasn't Shouxue's mother, after all. I'm interested in finding out how she got taken in by her. I'm guessing having "magic potential" is the requirement to become the Raven's successor. It doesn't seem like her bloodline has anything to do with it.

The resolution to the current case was very convenient, I'm hoping future ones will be better. Shouxue alone has already completely sold me on the show anyway.

[Tenzen12]

That previous Raven consort wasn't Jusetsu mother is something we knew since first 30 seconds of 1st episode though...

[scififan]

Originally Posted by nojay

I niggle at story setups like this -- the Raven Consort lives alone yet she eats food someone prepares for her and wears quite elaborate outfits while lounging around doing nothing all day every day. Her hair alone must take a skilled hairdresser an hour to arrange and ornament each day. Someone of her status, a Consort, she would have a household of a dozen maids and ladies-in-waiting minimum. Instead she has a comedy-relief attack chicken. Riiiiight.

Can't stop thinking she has App for some motorist(Uber Eat ect.) Nevertheless, the supernatural/magic is useful tool for logistic.

It turns out Do It Yourself hairdo is possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMIiMRxQWa0
It turns out Do It Yourself dressing is possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hqZzf3A0lk

[FlareKnight]

They took care of business pretty quickly here. The mystery is resolved, ghost put to rest, and the evil woman got her head chopped off. All worked out fine . What a twisted piece of work though. Of course her plan to kill the Emperor was to both use poison and use the same poison she used to kill his mother.

Fair enough to also acknowledge that no matter how he killed that woman he wouldn't feel better after it. His mother still died and even the woman who consoled him after his mother's death will remain dead. There's no undoing that. All about what happens as they go forward.

Well the topic of Shouxue becoming his consort remains dodged for the moment. But I doubt he's going to stop asking. Nice move to use a bit of magic to make sure he gets a good nights sleep at least .

[Tak]

There is nothing wrong seeking relative realism in a work of fiction.

Originally Posted by scififan

It turns out Do It Yourself hairdo is possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMIiMRxQWa0
It turns out Do It Yourself dressing is possible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hqZzf3A0lk

That's all fine and dandy, except court ladies weren't expected to perform any of those by themselves. I do not know if you ever watched the movie, The Last Emperor, but there was a scene when the titular character, the last Emperor of China, Pu-Yi, failed to tie his own shoelaces because he didn't know how. That was actually factual.

Originally Posted by nojay

I niggle at story setups like this -- the Raven Consort lives alone yet she eats food someone prepares for her and wears quite elaborate outfits while lounging around doing nothing all day every day. Her hair alone must take a skilled hairdresser an hour to arrange and ornament each day. Someone of her status, a Consort, she would have a household of a dozen maids and ladies-in-waiting minimum. Instead she has a comedy-relief attack chicken. Riiiiight.

Oh, and that Emperor, wandering around the court accompanied with, at best, a single assistant? Riiiight. Someone of his rank would be surrounded by dozens of officials and guards every time he stepped out of his personal offices.

I attribute this to the lack of budget for the anime.

Also, the Emperor would not be wandering around the palace walking. Most of the time, he would have been on a carriage, because his palace was that big. Since this is based on the Daming Palace, we are talking about an approximate 623 acres of land.

Though the 'Raven's' lack of attendants is not completely out of the ordinary. They may have been kept deliberately away, especially considering her 'supernatural' nature.

- Tak

[Tenzen12]

I think it's obvious Jusetsu lack of attendants is indeed intentional in universe. As for Emperor I just assumed he wanted keep Low profile, which is why he went with single trusted aide.

[Anh_Minh]

So what did the dowager use her last breath for? A curse?

Originally Posted by nojay

I niggle at story setups like this -- the Raven Consort lives alone yet she eats food someone prepares for her and wears quite elaborate outfits while lounging around doing nothing all day every day. Her hair alone must take a skilled hairdresser an hour to arrange and ornament each day. Someone of her status, a Consort, she would have a household of a dozen maids and ladies-in-waiting minimum. Instead she has a comedy-relief attack chicken. Riiiiight.

That chicken is perpetually pissed because it does everything around the RC's palace.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Tenzen12

I think it's obvious Jusetsu lack of attendants is indeed intentional in universe. As for Emperor I just assumed he wanted keep Low profile, which is why he went with single trusted aide.

Yep, it makes sense to me. The Raven consort is supposed to be a mystery to everyone, so it's not surprising she doesn't have ladies-in-waiting. Regarding her hair and dress, she can do it herself, maybe even with magic. As for her food, I'm guessing there is someone who leaves her meals at her door every day.

And yes, the Emperor was obviously trying to keep a low profile. Not to mention he isn't a typical Emperor, given how he was raised. I think his attendant even complained about him doing that.

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

So what did the dowager use her last breath for? A curse?

Probably.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Yep, it makes sense to me. The Raven consort is supposed to be a mystery to everyone, so it's not surprising she doesn't have ladies-in-waiting. Regarding her hair and dress, she can do it herself, maybe even with magic. As for her food, I'm guessing there is someone who leaves her meals at her door every day.

And yes, the Emperor was obviously trying to keep a low profile. Not to mention he isn't a typical Emperor, given how he was raised. I think his attendant even complained about him doing that.



Probably.

The fact that she's also hiding who she is, also makes sense as to why she has no lady's in waiting. Even if they tried to give her some she may have just dismissed them. People gossip and all that, and considering what happened to her mother that's the last thing you want.

[FlareKnight]

That was a good little story there. And sets up a mystical antagonist that can spice things up in various future episodes.

So far there is definitely a gap being maintained between the leads, although I get it. There's some good fun to be had with the mystical mysteries and our main character steadily gaining friends and connections. Isolation does make sense for her position, but as a person it is good for her to have connections like that.

[Tenzen12]

Interesting. I assumed Crown consort is tool or kinda trump card on emperor disposal, but it might not be case?

[Kanon]

Shouxue doesn't (didn't) have ladies-in-waiting but she does have a servant who does the laundry and most likely the cooking. There you go.

I guess the Raven Consort sends an "arrow" when she feels like her life is near its end, and it chooses a girl with the highest magic potential around that she then educates to take over her duties. Who knows when that tradition started?

We've got what looks like an antagonist already, a sorcerer from the previous dynasty.

[ryllharu]

I'm quite pleased that the Raven Consort doesn't have a monopoly on sorcery within the series. It makes it more interesting.

The chicken is also quite a bit more than it seems as well.

Shouxue is very focused on the rules she was given, implying they are required lest she get torn apart by her own powers, but I like the ambiguity concerning it. Is it a ploy to keep the Emperor from attempting to void the agreements about leaving her alone? Is it real and she is risking losing control of the powers she commands? Or was it specifically crafted to keep Shouxue and others like her who inherit the position safe, because there are fewer people who could find out their original identities?

[scififan]

Originally Posted by ryllharu

Shouxue is very focused on the rules she was given, implying they are required lest she get torn apart by her own powers, but I like the ambiguity concerning it. Is it a ploy to keep the Emperor from attempting to void the agreements about leaving her alone? Is it real and she is risking losing control of the powers she commands? Or was it specifically crafted to keep Shouxue and others like her who inherit the position safe, because there are fewer people who could find out their original identities?

She is supposedly the miko who holds the ceremony for goddess of bird and night. Her magic is similar to alchemy. She cannot grab something out of nothing. To create something, she offers something similar in value.

[Kanon]

I looked up Shouxue's seiyuu since her voice reminds me of Kanae Ito's and I knew it couldn't be her. I was surprised she's a total newbie, she sounds pretty experienced.

[ryllharu]

This is steadily becoming my favorite show of the season.

This felt like a transition episode between major investigations, but it was still poignant and touching.

Shouxue learned from the lesson of the Skylark Princess' untimely death trying to get her own lady-in-waiting to forgive her over an equally frivolous argument, and made peace with JiuJiu while also getting closer to the Emperor (more than she wants, but the two do need each other).

I guess it is still a big mystery how powerful the Raven Consort is if the Minister of Works won't dare discuss her. It's not clear if the phrase means that Shouxue specifically is the heiress to the dynasty, or if it was in the context of her powers and if she desired such, she could kill everyone who crossed her, even the Emperor. Or is that a lie to keep Shouxue safe because she's a refugee of a purge, and a similar method was used for all prior Raven Consorts?

The Minister didn't seem nefarious about his lack of answers, he even suggested the Emperor continue growing closer to her in order to resolve his PTSD insomnia.

[FlareKnight]

Despite death being a pretty common part of most episodes, this is honestly a really comforting show. Can just relax and enjoy it. Shouxue's voice actress really does a great job.

Also yeah, Shouxue is learning that people aren't always fans of re-gifting .