Wakamiya may just be entering magnificent bastard territory.
Though some of you are surely tired of my repeating it by now, Karasu wa Aruji o Erabanai is really great. It’s great because it doesn’t just do one thing well, but a bunch – and exceptionally, too. It’s clear that Abe Chisato’s writing is spectacular – the mysteries make sense, the reveals happen neither too fast or too slow, the characters are three-dimensional and fascinating. And Pierrot is just doing Pierrot things here. They know how to adapt, period – but this sort of historical fantasy just seems to be their absolute sweet spot (see: Yona, Akatsuki no). And without a huge budget Kyougoku Yoshiaki and the design team are delivering a gorgeous end product (just as they did with Yona).
It’s all kind of a perfect storm. And then, having the sense to cast Miyu Irino – quite simply one of the best seiyuu of any generation – in this against-type role really seals the deal. Miyu doesn’t act in anime that much these days (I think this is mostly by choice) but clearly, he chooses carefully when he does. Nazukihiko is a force of nature – Kin’u indeed, he’s as if of another world. What kept running through my mind as I watched this tense and gripping episode play out is “what a charmer he is”. His bluntness is off the charts – a couple of times I just broke out laughing.
What Wakamiya also is, of course, is scary smart. He’s orchestrated all this like Seiji Ozawa, and this was the climactic passage of the first movement. He’s gathered his three remaining suitors together to break them down one by one – to reveal their secrets, to lay their natures bare for all to see. He starts with Shiratama, and in some ways her evisceration is the most straightforward because her sins are already mostly on the table. What I sense in Wakamiya’s grilling of Shiratama is a vein of sympathy, as the youngest candidate and one who’s clearly been manipulated at all turns (especially by Cha-n-Hana). He uses harsh words – he seems to know no other way – citing her lack of initiative as “laziness”. But he does it to force Shiratama to finally stand up for herself.
If the Prince came to this meeting truly intending to choose a consort (which I think he pretty clearly did not) Shiratama would in many ways have been the easiest choice. He has good relations with the North and a Northerner as his closest advisor, and they seem pretty sane as a group (by Yamauchi standards). That he did what he did suggests to me that Nazukihiko was putting Shiratama first – giving her a chance to be happy rather than sentencing her to a life of misery at age 14. That would be a pretty selfless act, but one which makes his own path forward much more complicated.
And then there were two. Masuho no Suseki has drawn the short straw plot-wise, but she emerged as my favorite. There’s been no obvious shockers with her, and indeed almost no exposition about her Western clan. Is that building to something later? Who’s to say. And indeed, especially given revelations later in the episode, absent some unknown reason it’s somewhat puzzling that Wakamiya didn’t choose her. Her grilling focuses on pride more than anything. And she clearly has plenty of it. Masuho user her platform to plead Hamayuu’s case, and not unconvincingly. Wamakaiya’s rebuttal that he can’t do anything for Hamayuu when she’s not present to make her own case is logical, but it’s as much for Masuho’s benefit as anyone.
I think Masuho would, as the Prince suggests, make a fine empress. I also think she doesn’t want the job, but still – he might have chosen her anyway. Knowing that he wasn’t going to Nazukihiko pushes her away, makes it easier for her to refuse him so that she doesn’t have the dishonor of having him refuse her. I feel there’s another shoe to drop with Masuho no Susuki and her clan – that slate is just too blank at this point. But with her out of the running that seemingly clears the stage for Asebi, which is certainly the direction the plot has suggested more than any other.
For a bit there, I was wondering if this was going to all end in that straightforward a fashion. That would have been uncharacteristic of Yatagarasu though, and I should have trusted my instincts. I’ve been wondering for a while if Asebi could possibly be as much the feckless naif she appears to be. And we got our answer – a thunderous “no”. Is she in love with Wakamiya? Unequivocally – and she’s the only candidate who is. She’s also the only one with whom he shares a history (which he of course remembers). But there’s far more to Asebi’s story than that.
Seriously, this show just has the juiciest twists – what a ride. And they make sense, and are always foreshadowed (though never obviously). What’s undeniable here is that Asebi directly caused the deaths of two people – Samomo and Kasuke. Who’s Kasuke? The Eastern manservant she summoned against all protocol to the Cherry Blossom Palace to deliver information about her mother he refused to put into writing because it was so dangerous. He was the raven killed by Takimoto (Kazumi was indeed the wounded one Sumio found – and that of his own doing).
Kasuke was also the raven Asebi apparently sent to rape her older sister Futaba – thus forcing her to concoct the disfiguring illness excuse and recuse herself from the derby. And what’s really striking here is Asebi’s detached response to Wakamiya’s revelations. Clearly it would never occur to her that she did anything wrong – a girl in her position should do everything in her power to get what she wants. It’s only her right, after all. She’s far, far scarier than Shiratama – basically a child lashing out with almost comical lack of subtlety. Asebi is cold as ice and seemingly devoid of any remorse or even sense of embarrassment at being caught out.
It should also be noted that Nazukihiko is extremely smart, well-informed, or most likely both to have lamped out all this. But with all that now on the table, where does he go from here? Karasu wa Aruji o Erabanai has obviously surprised me more than once, but it’s hard to concoct a scenario where Wakamiya can marry Asebi now. But even with this contest imploded as only he can implode it, he still does need to choose a consort at some point. Is that Hamayuu come back into the picture, the South chosen against the run of play? Futaba, the Eastern princess who should have been at the rite? Or someone else whose entry into the narrative hasn’t even occurred yet? As with everything about this series, it’s fascinating to ponder and should be exciting to find out.
Vance
June 24, 2024 at 8:23 amYeah, I didn’t catch that Asebi is evil, but the foreshadowing was definitely there with how Wakamiya chose to visit the Eastern House and how when Sumio visited Cherry Blossom Palace and asked that if they remember anything that might help solve the Samomo case to share it Asebi didn’t divulge that there was an intruder who had been decapitated. My brother and I thought, “WTF, Asebi, Why did you not tell him?” Well, the show quite pointedly answered with this episode why she didn’t tell him.
Guardian Enzo
June 24, 2024 at 9:30 amThere were definitely hints there. And having something (or someone) be exactly as they appear (or strive to appear) is clearly not Abe’s M.O..
What’s really striking about Asebi is her reaction. I think she has no remorse because to her, everything she did (two deaths and getting her sister sexually assaulted) was justified because she was acting out of true love and the glory of her clan. She now looks like the classic sheltered and pampered princess who was told everything was about her so often she came to believe it.
Vance
June 24, 2024 at 12:50 pmShe also has no regard for hill ravens, so she looks down on those who don’t have high status, so yeah, she definitely has some problematic views, most likely ’cause of her upbringing.
Jindujun93
June 24, 2024 at 12:59 pmThe solution to the entire consort situation is extremely simple – Yukiya, time to put on the dress!
… in all seriousness though, at this point I fully expect Hamayu to be back. What an episode this has been. Well. honestly, I’ve kept saying this for the last few episodes, but it still keeps on being so true. What a great show this has been so far.
animealex
June 24, 2024 at 1:33 pmRegarding the Asebi reveal: After all my suspicions, when the prince went to talk with her, I was saying out loud: “no, no, please no”, because for a while I was afraid, the princess classic trope would be plaid straight and he would choose her. I always sought a political angle in my Asebi theories, but I never thought she could be such a delusional, stone cold yandere. Wow! Even though I was suspecting her, that caught me off-guard! I can’t wait to get the full picture next episode!
Scampi
June 24, 2024 at 6:10 pmMasuho did shine the most this episode. I get that her talking about improving themselves in the palace gets old fast, but I think that’s just because she’s an optimist, while the Prince is as pessimistic about the court life as can be. I find the way he treats Shiratama still continues to be distasteful as ever. I don’t think he’s particularly favoring the North either, because no matter how much the North House may treat Shiratama as a tool, no one is going to thank him for spreading false slander about her pregnancy in front of a crowd. I thought Japan was sensitive about those health related things, but he just intruded upon her privacy and ruined her reputation irreparably. Even nowadays you can see people spreading sexual rumors and ruining women’s lives all the time, and the damage would probably be many times worse in feudal ages. I know he doesn’t care what the others think of him but that doesn’t mean everyone else have to be like him. What a scum, wish Yukiya could have hit him when he said “the odds weren’t bad.”
I completely forgot about the part where Asebi asked a servant to sneak into the palace to talk. (It was so below the radar I went back to check whether the servant’s gender was even mentioned). I mean, Masuho already told Asebi the story behind her mother, so any sane person in Asebi’s place should have tried to tell the Kasuke to stop coming because it’s dangerous. Especially 1) after Masuho flat out told her it’s forbidden, and 2) she witnessed how the guards manhandled Yukiya as an intruder. And the way she returned Samomo’s and Masuho’s favor was getting one killed and the other unsuccessfully raped, over a backstory that gets handed to her when she asked nicely, what a psycho.
Swelter
June 26, 2024 at 11:17 pmWhat I got from how Wakamiya dealt with Shiratama was very different. He was giving her the push she needed to follow her heart and set her free. I thought it was pretty clear that she wasn’t going to have much of a life at court either way and her mental health was obviously in tatters, and that it would take something drastic to overcome her sense of obligation. He might not care about how other people see him, but I think he cares deeply about others who are suffering under the current system. His story about the ravens who had only each other but were happy says it all. That’s my take anyway.
Will be very sad to see this series end; it’s been fantastic.
Mari
June 28, 2024 at 12:29 amAs much as I was happy that Wakamiya’s push to Shiratama did end up happily, it could have gone so wrong. It is absolutely the right take to have to feel that how Wakamiya went about it by making shit up that she was pregnant was actually completely foul, I was watching it live with a friend and texting her and we both agreed it was an extremely messed up thing to do to a young girl of her position. He most certainly did ruin her reputation, it’s just that at this point she didn’t care anymore and they fortunately had a plot mechanism of Kazumi there to be with her.
Don’t get me wrong though— Wakamiya being a Magnificent Bastard makes him (and the show) far more interesting than your standard political drama with a prince that’s wearing a gold moral halo.
Swelter
June 28, 2024 at 10:06 amIn the context of reality, of course what he did was awful, but in the context of the story, I think we’re supposed to accept that that was the best solution he had for the situation: either she runs off with Kazumi and lives happily or he marries her, as he said, in which case he can just admit he was bullshitting about the pregnancy to “test her devotion” or whatever and her reputation is restored. Anyway, I won’t go on. Either way, it certainly is interesting.
Nadavu
June 25, 2024 at 3:02 amGreat episode. I loudly protested when it abruptly ended.
From the start I guessed Hamayu would eventually be chosen, because she appears last in the opening sequence and has the longest screen time in it. Not the most insightful prediction, but it is what it is.
I don’t buy into the idea of Asebi being a calculated evil mastermind. I don’t believe she faked nearly drowning in knee-high water, or being clueless about her own mother’s past. At the moment she seems to me genuinely oblivious to the suffering she’d caused.
Guardian Enzo
June 25, 2024 at 8:59 amThat’s my basic read. She’s a sociopath and completely disconnected from reality outside her pampered bubble, but I don’t think she’s some devious 5-D chess master manipulating all the pieces on the board.
Mari
June 28, 2024 at 12:35 amIf she was a yandere it would be one thing, but I agree she comes across more as a sociopath, but not a mastermind. What actually sent chills down my spine was when she said that Kasuke was ‘not a man’, he’s ‘just a hill raven’. She clearly has no regard for other human life, especially those that she regards as ‘lesser than’ her (a class thing). Absolutely chilling. I thought perhaps she might have poisoned her sister (especially because of her name) but the revelation that she sent Kasuke to rape Futaba actually also shocked me to my core. She also essentially sent Kasuke to rape Masuho. I was so initially appalled by Wakamiya accusing Shiratama of being pregnant because just like Asebi using rape to ruin both Futaba (and nearly ruining Masuho), the attacks on these women are so completely gendered, especially in this cloistered and patriarchal system that they are in (despite being in a fantasy world), and ESPECIALLY of their station.
Nicc
June 26, 2024 at 8:26 amWhew, what an episode. It felt like the detective gathering everybody into a room and to tell them he has solved the mystery. With the remaining three candidates, Wakamiya goes on to interview them one-by-one. It becomes apparent that he was very busy during that time skip. He starts with Shiratama. As we already saw ourselves, she’s ill-suited for the role. She could barely put up the façade as Wakamiya was addressing her. He does force her to stand up for herself after a lifetime of everybody telling her what to do. We also get the confirmation that Kazumi has been alive all along. Wakamiya lets her find her own happiness.
Next is Masuho no Suseki, which as you said who we still know little about or the Western faction. Perhaps that will be saved later on and I do agree that she probably would have made for a good empress, though I wonder if the life in the court may wear her down. His reason not picking her might be revealed along with more about the Western faction, but now it’s two down, one to go. I think that Hamayuu’s talk with Shiratama and Masuho no Suseki made an impression on them as they chose to find their own happiness.
It’s now down to Asebi. Even at face value, she’d be an uncharacteristic pick for Wakamiya. She’s just too naïve and would be an easy mark in the inner court. As it turns out, she is indeed far scarier than Shiratama. We learned why Asebi was in this competition in the first place. That’s because she sent her manservant, Kasuke, to rape her older sister. Kasuke was then in the Cherry Blossom Palace that night to do… something to Masuho no Suseki before he was caught and then executed by the Wisteria Guard. Kazumi was also there that night, which was why Shiratama thought he was the one who got killed. It makes me wonder if Asebi may have been in cahoots with the Wisteria Guard too. As others pointed out, it was strange for them to just summarily execute the intruder without capturing them and interrogating them first. Perhaps that was the price of failure (Kasuke was found out before he could do anything) and dead crows tell no tales or name names.
Right, the real kicker was the lack of any reaction from Asebi, as though that she didn’t do anything wrong. All’s fair in love and war, yes? But wait, there’s more… In the next episode, ooof. Indeed, where does Wakamiya go from there? I’m thinking that he’ll just delay picking somebody again and rent out an entire brothel again afterwards. A wildcard would be Hamayuu as he would’ve had plenty of time during that timeskip to track her down and bring her in and that kind of audacious move would be in character for him (Hamayuu has since been disowned and so he would be picking somebody who’s not from one of the four houses, a noble or affiliated with any faction). In any case, I’m expecting a whopper in the next episode.
Guardian Enzo
June 26, 2024 at 8:39 amGood point about Hamayuu. She’s now unaffiliated, which I could see having major advantages for Nazukihiko. On the other hand, he would likely be making flat-out enemies of the South by doing that (which, one can argue, is a nothingburger since they were trying to assassinate him already).
Nicc
June 28, 2024 at 7:32 amIndeed, making an enemy of the South likely doesn’t mean anything to him now since the Empress was already planning on getting rid from him since he was made the heir to the throne. It’s also a good way for him to give her the bird (Sorry… Not sorry). “You wanted somebody from the South? Well, here you go.”