Political dramas are hard to make, I’ve seen enough series be completely unable to have the gravitas needed for such storylines, so the fact that Karasu wa Aruji wo Erabanai actually managed to pull it off was a pleasant surprise to me. The series tackles webs of conspiracies ingrained in the royal family, in the royal court and even in the common populace, taking it all with the seriousness these plots need, but also the complexity needed to be engaged in them. A character chart to keep track of every character, their relations and alliances is practically a must if you want to follow all the twists the mysteries provide, being a rare example of a modern anime that rewards you for paying close attention to everything happening, something I never expected to see when I picked this show purely because of finding the premise intriguing.

Character wise, our standouts are the main duo of Prince Nazuhiko and Yukiya, the future ruler of the land of Yamauchi and his young bodyguard. The Prince is the one fated to become the Kin’u, a mythical Messianic figure who’s said to keep the land of Yamauchi afloat for reasons the show eventually delves on, so he can come across as being a bit too perfect at times, but this is no Mao Mao, he actually has flaws and self-doubts that he needs to confront over the course of the story. Yukiya has the more interesting character arc, being forced by his family to serve as the Prince’s bodyguard due to his status as a rebel but laid back bum, and the circumstances where he has to put his life on the line for the service of a man he barely knows leads to his growth as he discovers more about the actual state of affairs in the government. Other notable characters like Sumio (the Prince’s older bodyguard), Rokon (first prince Natsuka’s bodyguard with his own agenda), and the Prince’s mistresses (a bunch of slimy women who want power no matter the way they have to get it), round out a memorable cast living in this palace of conspiracies.

Superficially, the lore of the show looks like a fairly standard Feudal Japan but with fantasy elements, with the fact the main characters are not humans but shapeshifting birds called yatagarasu coming across as its only twist, but the show also addresses on its latter half where we see more of the situation surrounding Yamauchi, so the world building is actually richer that it may seem at first glance. The show is a bit lacking animation wise, being very average with its many long shots, even if the art direction provided by the former Yuru Camp staff involved at least manages to make it nice on the eyes, while the OST is very fitting for the kind of setting this has.

Overall, I enjoyed seeing a series that succeeded where Kusuriya no Hitorigoto failed, providing a proper political drama that takes itself seriously and has flawed main characters with obstacles to face, so I’ll gladly wait for another season to see if the duty of the true Kin’u is fulfilled.

Thank you for reading