Fantasy palace intrigue anime focusing on the eccentric servant of an aristocratic prince
NHK announced on Tuesday that it is producing an anime television adaptation of Chisato Abe’s Karasu wa Aruji o Erabanai (The Crow Does Not Choose Its Owner), the second novel in her Yatagarasu novel series. . The anime will premiere on NHK in April 2024.
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The book focuses on the world of the yatagarasu (the Japanese name for a variant of the mythical crow that appears in East Asian folk mythology). The yatagarasu can shapeshift between human and crow forms, and live in the Yamauchi world, a parallel world created by the yatagarasu god Yamagami. In Yamauchi, the yatagarasu live in a society reminiscent of Heian period Japan and a parallel world still connected to our human world.
Karasu wa Aruji o Erabanai focuses on a beautiful but eccentric yatagarasu boy named Yukiya, who is chosen to become a retainer of the prince. The story unfolds as Yukiya and the prince become embroiled in the intrigues and plots of the court.
Abe launched the novel series with the first novel Karasu ni Hitoe wa Niawanai in 2012. The first part of the novel series contains six novels (of which Karasu wa Aruji o Erabanai is the second novel, released in 2013) and a spin-off novel. The second part of the novel series has so far inspired three novels (the latest released in October 2022) and one spin-off novel.
The first two novels in the series inspired manga adaptations. Mitsumi Matsuzaki drew the manga adaptation of Karasu ni Hitoe wa Niawanai, which ran on Kodansha’s Comic Days app from June 2018 to April 2020. Kodansha is releasing the manga in English on the K MANGA service under the title A Raven for All Seasons. Matsuzaki launched the Karasu wa Aruji o Erabanai manga in Kodansha’s Evening magazine in May 2020 and moved it to Comic Days in December 2021, where the series is ongoing.
Source: website, Natalie Comics