Raven of the Inner Palace, or Raven, as I've nicknamed it, has a historical Chinese setting but was produced by Japanese.... Studio? Company? Not sure which word best fills the blank, but you get the point. I was surprised at first, as I didn't know that when I started it. It's episodic, with each mystery unfolding over a few eps as Shouxue (MC) investigates and cracks the case. As my mom and I watched, we agreed that this show was very similar to The Story of Saiunkoku . If you've seen that one, you'll know what to expect from Raven.
#The Good/Positive
It's been super long since my mom watched anime (She retired from anime watching years ago sadly), so when I showed her Raven, I was happy that she was interested in it. I enjoyed watching this together with her, and that was the main reason why I stuck with this show. Otherwise I might've just watched ep 1 and run. The art style is pretty good. Seeing a historical Chinese setting was refreshing as I'm mostly used to Japanese ones or fantasy world settings. Everything looks like it definitely belongs in the setting. No "oops out of character" issues here! And when they tell the backstories of each case, it looks very folk tale -y. Really suits the mood. Points added. There are bits of humor here and there, lightly sprinkled throughout, so it wasn't too serious. And imo? Super serious shows aren't as fun as one with laughs. At some parts it(the stories in the mysteries) felt deep and connected, but I'm not dwelling to heavily on that feeling because idk if I felt that way because of the show or the bonding time. But it does get a bit touchy touchy, moving, etc at some bits. Wholesome? Perhaps but not really. This show has good character development. Shouxue from ep 13 is a totally different person from Shouxue from ep 1. In a good way. It's nice to see that things have changed, and it's not like a "no different from when the show first started" kind of thing. Points added.
#The Bad/Negative
As I might’ve mentioned already, the main reason why I stuck with this show was that I wanted to watch it with my mom. I only watched the first ep out of curiosity, and because I was bored at the time. I literally wouldn’t have finished the show or gone past ep 2 if she didn’t care for it, if I didn’t persuade her to watch it with me. From a glance, I thought that this show wouldn’t turn out to be my thing. And I wasn’t totally wrong. Raven was mild. I stuck with it just to increase my anime count, and for the bonding time. It’s not something that would stand out too much, other than being a little more interesting than the Story of Saiunkoku. And interesting my mom, but her taste is pretty different from most people here. (After all, her favorite anime of all time is Vampire Knights. shudders) I will admit that I did want to watch of my own volition a few eps in, so it did interest me, but the first impression wasn’t impressive enough. And if you’re like me, testing out the first eps of anime to see if you’ll watch it or not, you know that first impressions are important. Points deducted for unimpressive first impression. My main issue with this series? The romance. Now, I understand that this show doesn’t have any romance tags in it, but my mom and I were kind of expecting it. What is the point of hinting at love between Shouxue and Gaojun, if they don’t even feel it? They dropped quite a few hints, but the two never got any further than friends. Or really close friends. Very disappointing. Points deducted.
#Do I Recommend? Not so much. There are better historical animes out there. But if you happen to be fond of - Episodic shows - Mysteries - Supernatural stuff - Chinese settings - Sorcery
You just might like it. (And sorry for bringing up my mom so much instead of talking about my opinion, but it was a big deal to me. She hasn't seen a single anime in years. It's only natural that I try to bring her back to anime)
