Koukyuu no Karasu

Lies built on lies?
I’d thought that the Urennyannyan was the one binding Uhi to the inner palace, but it turns out that it was the other way round.

So there’s a land of the gods somewhere in this world and the island where the characters live is sort of like a prison for exiles. That’s like the exile of Adam and Eve from Eden.

I still don’t understand why the first Uhi had to to trap Urennyannyan inside of herself and her successors.

“Brother and sister” is such a fitting title. I am glad Uhi wasn’t killed by her brother like the Magpie princess was killed by her clay brother.
This needs a second season T.T
 
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That episode was incredible. I need a season 2 (at least I'll have the light novels).

I've had a suspicion for a while Xingxing is way more crucial to her than I imagined, but I was not ready for the plot reveal of the flowers poisoning Niao Lian, nor for why the Owl wants to kill her. Also, I've got a hunch that the previous consorts warning Shouxue not to have ties to others is not for her sake, but to try to prevent freeing her from the Raven itself. I want morrreee.
 
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All thanks to a fat golden chicken, everyone is saved from MJ creepo. However it’s sad enough that the brother and sister didn’t make it like I felt for the girl who really wanted her brother risen from the death but went into a dark direction
 
Episode 12.
This episode went from 0 to 100 there, didn't it?
Between the blood sucking clay zombie, the evil brother and the whole "You've been poisoning your magic bird" reveal, it went a little hard there.
 
Ep. 12
This is the episode where I have lost my understanding of what is going on.

First, that scene with the bloodsucking zombie felt out of place. So far, this anime has featured creepy characters and situations, but showing a zombie sucking the blood from a woman's body while making slurping sounds was disgusting. I started feeling sick because it was disturbing, and not in a good way.
That scene aside, the amount of information presented through this episode was overwhelming. I did not really understand the Summer King/Winter King story, and now we have other spirits coming to the court and saying the Raven is insane?
What is all this? I feel like I need the notes from a textbook to understand all that is going on. Can someone make a chart explaining this?

This has been a unique anime for this season. I have liked the cast, some of the lore is interesting, the comedy can be clever, and some of the court stories are realistically harsh. But now, I do not know what to expect for the finale. I hope it is satisfying. I am not sure that I want to continue watching if there is not some explaining going on.
 
zala said:
Ep. 12
This is the episode where I have lost my understanding of what is going on.

First, that scene with the bloodsucking zombie felt out of place. So far, this anime has featured creepy characters and situations, but showing a zombie sucking the blood from a woman's body while making slurping sounds was disgusting. I started feeling sick because it was disturbing, and not in a good way.
That scene aside, the amount of information presented through this episode was overwhelming. I did not really understand the Summer King/Winter King story, and now we have other spirits coming to the court and saying the Raven is insane?
What is all this? I feel like I need the notes from a textbook to understand all that is going on. Can someone make a chart explaining this?

This has been a unique anime for this season. I have liked the cast, some of the lore is interesting, the comedy can be clever, and some of the court stories are realistically harsh. But now, I do not know what to expect for the finale. I hope it is satisfying. I am not sure that I want to continue watching if there is not some explaining going on.
Click to expand...

First off, yeah, the pacing's a bit off. It took me a bit to notice but as I was reading the light novels it became clearer that there was too much being presented too quickly which became more obviously later in the series... So basically....

There's a Summer and Winter King, who used to live in harmony. Both of their powers were derived from each other, and together they stabilized the kingdom. Both were chosen by the Raven (also known as Wulian Niangniang or Niao Lian). The Winter King's spiritual power derived from the Raven, making her a powerful shaman, and the next Winter King was found by oracles who determined the next girl chosen. The Summer King was always a male heir and in charge of running the government. Until one day, the Summer King murdered the Winter King because she did not reciprocate his feelings. The kingdom devolved into chaos, and remained so until the Lan dynasty rode in with the "Winter King", the leader ascended to Emperor (these were the people from the north with white hair), and by reuniting the Summer and Winter Kings, the dynasty was stable. This was because the slave he freed, Koushou, was chosen as the new Winter King. Now, the Winter King was the Raven Consort, and her lineage was similarly passed down: Xingxing, the bird, would find the next girl who would be the future Raven Consort. Both the Summer and Winter Kings together are required to maintain the stability of the Imperial dynasty.

What the new reveal is saying is that the Raven Consort is not exactly the true continuation of the Winter King. Rather than having the Raven underneath Yanmei Palace (where the Raven Consort lives), Koushou actually bound the Raven inside of her, sealing their fate and causing the suffering of the consorts. Lan Yuu, the first emperor of the Lan dynasty, knew he needed the Winter King by him at all times, and she could not leave. So he convinced Koushou, the Winter King, to trap the Raven inside her, making her the Raven Consort and imprisoning her inside Yanmei Palace. The Raven Consort is not trapped in the Inner Palace to prevent the Raven from escaping from underneath Yanmei Palace: she cannot leave because she is bound by the Raven.

This is why after Xingxing chooses a successor, the current Raven Consort only has 8 years to live. The Raven is both required for the Summer King to retain his power, and the Raven Consort has both trapped the Raven within her, but is also bound to the Raven and cannot betray her. She takes on a monstrous form, her true form, when trying to escape the body of the Raven Consort on nights without a moon. We also learn the Raven committed a great sin, and resurrected the dead, which is why the Owl aims to kill her. Similar to the Summer and Winter King, the Owl and the Raven were born connected, but now it is the Owl's job to kill her so she atones for that sin.

Does that make sense? Raven used to choose both Summer and Winter King, Summer King betrayed the Raven by killing the Winter King, so the kingdom plunged into chaos until the Raven chose a slave as the next reincarnation of the Winter King, the birth of the Lan dynasty. Only, that girl enslaved the Raven within her, and all Raven Consorts were then enslaved to the Inner Palace. The Raven seeks to escape, and also committed a great sin. The Owl has an ancient bond with the Raven, and needs to kill her so she can atone for that sin.

Also, Shouxue is the only living descendant of the Lan clan, which um, makes the romantic subtext between her and Gaoshun a bit spicy (his grandfather murdered her entire extended family, the entire Lan clan).

Does that make sense?

So basically, we've learned that the history of the Raven Consort is a fabrication, and that the Raven has a fairly questionable past, and the suffering that the Raven Consorts undergo is the fault of the first Raven Consort, Koushou. This gets even worse when you remember Lan Yuu was the one who convinced Koushou to do so. Effectively, the Emperor has imprisoned the Raven Consort within the Imperial Palace. She is a prisoner, destined to die once the successor is chosen, to live separate from all others and undergo excruciating pain once a month. Shouxue knew she was a prisoner, she didn't know why though. And Gaoshu's not exactly fond of the situation either, since he cares for (and romantically likes) Shouxue.
 
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Ep 12

Nooope.
giphy.gif

Noooo nonono. As soon as she started feeding that zombie her blood, she was a lost cause. That's when you burn the entire building to the ground.

What a shockingly creepy episode of a show that has been until this point largely non-confrontational and danger wasn't so present. But i guess that was bound to happen when the owl got involved. Creep.
 
ialex32 said:
So he convinced Koushou, the Winter King, to trap the Raven inside her, making her the Raven Consort and imprisoning her inside Yanmei Palace.
Click to expand...

I don’t think this was explained yet in the anime but I can totally imagine that being the cause.

ialex32 said:
The Raven Consort is not trapped in the Inner Palace to prevent the Raven from escaping from underneath Yanmei Palace: she cannot leave because she is bound by the Raven.
Click to expand...

Not sure if it’s also a myth forged by the Summer King to keep the raven consorts from escaping. I don’t think anyone has tried out escaping the Yanmei palace so it hasn’t been tested out whether they would actually die as the myth says.
 
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knoxyal said:
I don’t think this was explained yet in the anime but I can totally imagine that being the cause.



Not sure if it’s also a myth forged by the Summer King to keep the raven consorts from escaping. I don’t think anyone has tried out escaping the Yanmei palace so it hasn’t been tested out whether they would actually die as the myth says.
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I'm increasingly thinking that and preventing the Raven Consorts from having attachments, friends, servants, and a relationship (platonic or romantic) with the Emperor are all meant for this reason: to cause her to believe she has nothing outside the palace, and prevent her from trying to leave or looking to free herself of the curse. We've already learned that history was made up conveniently by the past emperors, what's one more?
 
@ialex32
Thank you for the summery, that was helpful for remembering the information given before.

After reading all of this, I have a question: what is this anime about?
A long [time period] ago, there was a lonely teenager with magic powers who investigated supernatural occurrences in the inner palace. She met the emperor, victorious from a palace coup, who became interested in her history and her suffering, and a friendship/romance started. The magical teenager met other outcasts and invited them to become her private household. The magical teenager started uncovering the many secrets and dangers of the inner palace, righting wrongs she found. Meanwhile, the origins of the Raven Consort were buried under mystery and false history.
Now, we have learned that the Raven Consort is a cursed human who carries an insane spirit inside her that will kill her after a period of time, and the other spirits are waiting to kill the Raven Consort as punishment for a mortal crime the Consorts are never told about.

This anime has: supernatural investigation; comedic romance between a magical teenager and an emperor; palace politics including murder, rape, enslavement, and deception; and cosmic drama.
That is so much to try including in one season of an anime. No wonder I did not understand the history of the Summer/Winter King!
Now, I am not sure what to think about this anime. There are good parts like the comedy and romance, but the overwhelming history of the Raven is threatening to topple the story.
Too bad.

@Rascal I thought the same thing. We have seen a lot in this anime, did anyone want to see that particular scene?
 
well it ended slow and setting up to the next season. I'll be really pissed if we dont get one btw. Even with the end that was mostly a hook for the next season i liked it much.

on a side note, im reallt bafled on how much of a crybaby i'm turning as i get older... here i was almost crying together with gaojun and Hyaou father... II used not to care a pound about anything emotional in any media when i was younger
 
Ep 13

Welp. I kind of wanted this ep to be more climactic but I guess theres a lot more to adapt huh?
I always knew that old guy would try something messed up. Smh. obviously sketchy old man is obviously sketchy.
I hope if this gets a s2 it will be better paced. It was still pretty good and I loved the OP song. which by the way, if you watch the actual music video for, is pretty epic

7/10
 
Wow its interesting that the Ed is the op and the op is the ed lol!! As it suggests, it’s such a mysterious show with Chinese and Japanese old era elements that are just so intriguing! I didn’t think I would like the show giving the fact it is slow paced and the animation isn’t out there but wow I was wrong. It’s actually really really decent!
 
I loved the soundtrack and just this show in general, such a hidden gem and I'm glad it got a chance to shine.

I did like the slower pace of the last episode, since we're about halfway through the light novels, so there's a lot to adapt and having to adapt trying to free her from the Raven or more with the Owl or more mysteries would be completely rushed. Tying in how the Owl got into the Inner Palace, the Magpie Consort's death, the pain between Gaojun and her father, and setting the stage for another season really felt like a nice ending to the season. Imperfect, I think this needed ~18 episodes to realize its full potential, but I still loved it and I'm dying for another season.

Someone else who loves the light novels basically had the same take as me: the creators took a story that's not easily adapted to a seasonal anime format, and did a very good job with it. Is it perfect? No. But it was good.
 
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Jusetsu needs Koushun just as much as Koushun needs Jusetsu. I like how their relationship is platonic but beyond mere romance.

The show leaves many points ambiguous (on purpose i think), such as whether the Summer king had a part in Koushou’s decision to trap the raven inside herself (I agree with the idea that he was the one who planted Koushou with the idea, and Koushou must’ve followed this blindly out of love), or whether the Summer king rewrote history to become the sole ruler (I’m sure he did, and I’m sure he is the culprit for forging the fake legend that Uhi and the emperor should not become husband and wife), or where the white haired Lan family come from.

It’s not explained directly but it is strongly implied that the priest loved the former Uhi and was envious of the current relationship between Jusetsu and the emperor.

It seems like the owl lives inside Koushun now, and based on Jusetsu’s narrative at the end, her “other half” remains in the distant island of the gods. There’s definitely more to the background of Uhi that hasn’t been told to us yet, and the final ep didn’t seem to be an anime-original ending either, so there’s definitely space for a second season with content that is loyal to the light novel. Pity that the show probably isn’t popular enough for a second season though.

This is one of those shows that isn’t 8/10 material… but the show has its own charm and it’s interesting in its own way. In other words, it’s a gem. I’d give it a 7/10, but it’s the type of show that I will always remember.


Curiousmadra said:
it’s such a mysterious show with Chinese and Japanese old era elements
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It’s fully chinese as far as I know (at least for the historical setting).

—
The show might not be popular enough to get a second season, but the light novel is getting popular enough to get an anime adaptation of a second season ('tis a million seller and the numbers are increasing). Fingers crossed.
 
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