Raven of the Inner Palace Episode 1 Review: The Jade Earring Part 1

Koukyuu no Karasu is a fantasy-mystery historical anime of this fall. Raven of the Inner Palace episode 1 aired on October 1, 2022. Here’s the explanation and review of the first episode. This review contains Spoilers.

Raven of the Inner Place Episode 1 Synopsis

Deep in the inner palace, a consort lives there alone, She is known as Raven Consort. Despite being a consort, she holds a unique position in the kingdom and doesn’t have to perform nighttime duties like other regular consorts in the palace. The consort also has no direct contact with the emperor and is rumoured to have mysterious powers.

Episode 1 Main Character

• Xia Gaojin (Emperor & Main Lead)
• Shouxue (Raven Consort)
• Xing Xing (Monster Bird of Raven Consort)
• Jiu Jiu (Caretaker of Raven Consort)
• Wei Qing (Emperor’s Attendant)

Raven of the Inner Palace Episode 1 Review

The episode starts by showing a group of people led by a mysterious leader, attacking the palace of a kingdom. We got to know about that leader’s identity when he went to attack the ruler (an old queen) of that kingdom. His name is Xia Gaojin.

The old queen already knew that leader’s identity and called him a guy with lower status and warned him to leave the palace and beg for forgiveness. But upon seeing none on her side, when she ordered to capture the leader and her men, she got terrified as all the soldiers, and guards sided with that leader.

And finally, the leader who is the original Prince and now the real Emperor of that Kingdom captured the former old queen. The old queen who got to rule the kingdom by betraying others also killed the prince’s real mother with poison and made him live like a lower rank person in the kingdom.

Now, we got to know some details about who is Raven Consort and Where she lives. Raven Consort lives in Ye Ming Palace, which is situated innermost of the main palace in the Kingdom. Everyone is scared of going near Ye Ming Palace, as it’s rumoured there’s a monster bird that has a golden glow and attacks whoever goes near that palace.

The Emperor, with his attendant, went to Ye Ming Palace to meet with Raven Consort. When they’re about to open the gate of that palace, that monster bird which looks like a chicken tried to attack them. The attendant quickly stopped it b grabbing it.

Then suddenly a voice inside the palace warned them to put down the bird whose name is Xing Xing. And then the gate of the palace opened, and we got to see Raven Consort first time, who is a young girl with gorgeous beauty.

After seeing the Raven Consort, the emperor handed over a Jade ring and asked if she can find the owner of that Raven, as the Raven Consort has the power to summon souls from paradise. The Raven Consort became very annoyed and denied any kind of help and warned them to leave her alone. But, the emperor was not easygoing.

He tried to talk with the consort gently and asked if she is a female hermit or a ghost, or really a human. And suddenly grab her hand which startled the consort. Then, The emperor asked what her name is. She told him, her name is Shouxue. Suddenly, the cloth of her hand slipped a little mark visible on her hand which make Raven Consort very angry, and she forcibly got both the emperor and the attendant out of the gate.

The next morning, in the Ningguang Palace, while having tea the attendant asked the emperor who the Raven Consort really is. The Emperor replied from a history book that Raven Consort is the descendant of the priestess who served the goddess Wulian Niang-Niang.

And the previous emperors also deeply admired the raven consort’s unique art and always hide her within the inner palace so that they can monopolize her power. Even Raven Consort was given the rank of Empress as a special exception.

On that day, the emperor with his attendant again went to Raven Consort’s place and told her he got a gift for her. The consort said she doesn’t need any money or ornament and told them to leave her alone. But, when she saw the emperor got ‘Baozi’ filled with red bean paste and lotus seeds, which is the favourite dish of the consort she couldn’t hold her any more.

So, while having the food the King asked her about that Green Jade ring again. He said one watchman found that ring recently while patrolling at the palace. The king asked her if she can tell him who is the real owner of the ring as the king saw a ghost woman with a red ruqun wearing that ring in her left ear. Then, we got to see the power of Raven Consort for the first time.

She took the flower plucked from her hair and blew its petals on that earring. And suddenly that described ghost by the king appeared there. But it couldn’t speak as her neck is choked with something, said the consort.

And there’s a symbol of 3 stars on that ghost’s wrist which means she is a court lady of the previous dynasty where she could be a consort of the current king’s grandfather or his fathers’ inner palace. The consort said the court lady could be strangled, or she did suicide by hanging herself. The people after death go to paradise but those who are ghosts can’t go there and suffer eternally. After hearing this, the emperor requested the raven consort to help that court lady so that she can go to paradise.

To fulfil the King’s request, Raven Consort went into the feiyan palace in disguise. At the entrance, she found two court ladies are arguing over something while a senior country lady screaming at a much younger rookie court lady.

Raven Consort who was disguised as a court lady too, somehow managed to make that senior court lady go by saying she is the court lady of raven consort. As she knew most of the people in the palace fear the raven consort. The younger rookie thanked the Raven Consort for helping her and introduced herself as Jiu Jiu and also asked for the Raven Consort’s identity.

She told Jiu that she is just serving Raven Consort which made Jiu scared as she heard no one serve Raven Consort. After talking about various things, Raven Consort got to know how the previous old empress whose name was Do Wager killed the current emperor’s birth mother and disinherited the prince for ears. Then, the Raven Consort asked her if there was any court lady died by suicide since her coming to this palace.

Jiu Jiu told her there was one consort ‘Ban Yingnu’ who was poised by eating a fish broth and later in her court lady’s room critical evidence was found so to save herself, that court lady hanged herself.

Raven Consort, now understood that the jade ring will most probably be that Court Lady’s earring. Raven Consort also got to know how the present emperor’s grandfather Yandi got terrified till his death by getting haunted daily, since the day mass killing of the previous Luan Dynasty’s people.

Meanwhile, in the other palace we got to see the King’s attendant ask the King why during the attack on Dowager, he didn’t kill her but rather imprisoned her. The king told he needs strong evidence of her wrong deeds then based on the law he will give her punishment, he will not use his position to wrong way no matter how filthy the enemy is.

Conclusion

Raven of the Inner Palace Episode 1 shows surprisingly a unique story full of mystery, fantasy & History. The animation was top-notch with details of each character and other things. With an interesting & engaging storyline, overall we give this episode 4.8 out of 5.