Raven of the Inner Palace

After watching this show, I can confidently say these aesthetics were among my favourites of the year. The character designs were amazing, especially for Shouxue/Jusetsu, but for most of the characters as well. It captured the spirit of a period drama quite well, though I’m not sure the episodic nature of the show really helped it. While the world-building was really quite superb, there could have been more that could have been done to make this even better, perhaps more episodes would have flesh this world out even more.

STORY:

In a way, it felt like a “mystery of the week” type of series, with a new conflict being introduced almost every episode, and the episode ending off in the conflict being resolved. With many mysteries packed in one show, the quality of each mystery ended up being quite hit or miss, as some stories were very engaging, while some did not interest me at all. There simply felt like there was a lack of time to flesh out each story to make it memorable, so it felt rather rushed at points, with the more lore-heavy stories. If you’re a fan of period dramas though, you’ll probably like this quite a bit.

ART:

I loved the art style, and it was probably the most beautiful work I’ve seen from Bandai Namco Pictures, although the animation itself wasn’t all that standout with the limited movement at times.

MUSIC:

The music was quite nice, especially the OP and ED, which both were very memorable. The soundtrack itself is decent, fitting for the style of the show.

CHARACTERS:

While I admired the character designs, the characters themselves for the most part did not feel very intriguing to care about to a high degree. Shouxue was probably the most standout of the bunch, as she explored the meaning of what the Raven Consort is and her past, while needing to help others with their problems. The emperor, Gaojun, just doesn’t feel like an emperor you’d often see in period dramas, but he was a fine character, although I wish we knew even more about him after the first few episodes. The side characters have their moments in the story, but other than a select few, there weren’t many memorable things to take away from them.

ENJOYMENT:

Bit of an up and down series for me. I wish I could have liked this more.

THEMATIC EXECUTION:

Once again, the execution is a hit or miss as well. Some of the stories were executed beautifully, while some went by too quick for me to care. The emotional weight is good at times, and meaningless at others. I wish it was a bit more consistent.

OVERALL:

I did like enough of this show to give it a light recommendation, and if you enjoy Chinese period dramas, you might enjoy this show as well. Overall, just too much crammed into a show to make it meaningful, so it had its ups and downs, but in terms of how it looks, it looks very nice. It’s perhaps a hidden gem worth your time if you enjoy this genre.