Koukyuu no Karasu

Koukyuu no Karasu
(Raven of the Inner Palace)

https://i.imgur.com/udIuMYl.png

Shouxue (Jusetsu) is an imperial concubine who is never called to the emperor's bedchambers for night duties, and maintains a singularly unique life within the confines of the Imperial Palace. Seen by some as having the appearance of an old woman, and some others as a young lady, she is known to use mysterious magic that helps with everything from finding lost items to inflicting curses. When a circumstance makes the emperor call on her, their meeting will change history.

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Episodes 1 - 4 are out, and this has steadily become my favorite anime of the season thus far. It's generally a political mystery series, with some supernatural elements, and heavy amounts of Imperial Court drama and gossip. It is frequently episodic, while teasing out the big picture mystery surrounding Shouxue and her position.

Shouxue is charismatic, mysterious, and occasionally shows a different side to her as the episodes have progressed. She exudes a natural gravity that both the emperor and JiuJiu naturally fell into. It's also really impressive that her VA is basically a rookie and delivering this varied and nuanced of a performance. She's in one other series this season that's also in my favorites, but her performance here is the stronger of the two.

The humor of the series is given in a very dry wit that balances out the more serious stuff and social-political drama and horror stories of the deaths within the palace. I like that this series is balancing the brutality of court dramas with fluffy romance drama elements. There are also some softer, more touching mysteries.

The production is playing with animation styles and I'm all for it. The flashbacks done in Chinese Shadow Puppet style are very cool. There's some budget saving repeats of Shouxue using her powers, though overall the art serves its purpose. The costumes and jewelry look amazing when they need to, the lighting is nicely done, and it gives off the feel of Imperial Court live action series that China perpetually has airing or syndicated.

Episode 6 had more worldbuilding and story depth alone than many other series do their entire runs.

The ED is probably the best one this season as well.

In contrast, the only bad thing about this series is how terrible the OP is.