Well, aren’t I the blind squirrel who found the acorn.
It doesn’t happen often, so when I nail a hunch you can bet I’m going to crow about it (pun very much intended). It always seemed odd to me, this adversarial relationship between Natsuka and Nazukihiko (if I’m not mistaken, this is the first time we’ve heard Wakamiya’s real name). There wasn’t much hard evidence to back it, but my gut was telling me that was a ruse (as stated in earlier posts). I could hardly ask for the reveal to come out in a more satisfying manner, especially the way it ingeniously goosed Yukiya’s character arc.
Not since Shin Sekai Yori, maybe, can I remember a show where the episodes seem to fly by so fast. To have everything mean something yet not have things feel rushed is a mark of great pacing, and Karasu wa Aruji o Erabanai has it. First, we have Atsufusa seemingly pleading with Natsuka to to fire Rokon as an enemy of peace. Then Rokon attacks Atsufusa in a rainstorm, seriously wounds him, and is about to finish him when a lightning strike on an adjacent tree allows Atsufusa to escape. All seemingly straightforward – though I did wonder if it was Kin’u juju that engineered that strike at that place and time, to save Atsufusa.
Atsufusa winds up in a brothel in the red light district, Nazukihiko is told, getting his wounds treated and pleading to deliver vital information to the crown prince. Sumio is cautious – indeed, both he and Nazukihiko have always considered the possibility that Atsufusa was playing them. But the Prince agrees to go – accompanied by his only two real aides. And this is really the first time we’ve seen Wakamiya genuinely caught out. This was no scam, no triple bluff on his part – Atsufusa snookered him, and if it wasn’t for Yukiya it would probably have been the end for him.
Atsufusa never tells Nazukihiko who his “true foe” is, obviously. But that question is relevant given that Natsuka is not. Occam’s Razor suggests that it’s the Empress behind Atsufusa’s scheme, and that she believes Natsuka’s cover story, so that’s a decent working assumption for now. Yukiya, fortunately, is clever enough to hide when the assassins show up – and to flee for help rather than suicidally rush in and try to rescue his master himself. But help from who? He had his chance (a Chekov’s gun moment in hindsight) to learn who Wakamiya’s other allies were and chose for his own sake not to know. But now he has to figure it out on his own, with every second crucial.
Yukiya is very, very smart – that’s been clear from the beginning. There was also irrefutable evidence, as noted earlier in this space, that Natsuka engineered Yukiya going into his younger brother’s service. That as much as anything signaled the truth of the matter, as that didn’t make sense if Natsuka was Wakamiya’s enemy. The boy’s resourcefulness has already proved massively useful for the Crown Prince, but here it actually saves his life (Wakamiya’s own resourcefulness and constitution help too). He figures out (though it’s an all-in gamble he’s wagering everything on, including his own life) the truth and Rokon arrives just in the nick of time (though Atsufusa escapes, having left the dirty work to his hired hands).
Natsuka covertly working on his brother’s behalf is a smart strategy, no question about it. He gathers Nazukihiko’s potential foes around him, both identifying and monitoring them. He can subtly influence events to try and forestall any dire threats to his brother’s welfare. It’s Natsuka doing this that allows Nazukihiko to operate almost entirely under the radar, and it distracts his mother from directly attacking the Crown Prince (most of the time). And it allows Wakamiya to stay in a circle of absolute trust with the tiny retinue he does gather.
The problem for Yukiya is that, in fact, the brothers have known the truth of his ancestry all along. He’s the grandson of the Lord of the North – that makes him a very important figurehead in Wakamiya’s camp. Yukiya has been under the impression that his value to Wakamiya lay in his personal qualities – intelligence, courage, loyalty. And Yukiya is a child, let’s not forget – he craves acceptance and affection as any child would. He left his family (which he left his birth mother to join in the first place) to join the Azukihiko entourage, and now he’s discovered that he’s there for political reasons. There’s more to it of course – The Crown Prince very much does, in fact, value Yukiya for his character, But having seen the nature of this world he now inhabits, why would Yukiya believe that?
The post Karasu wa Aruji o Erabanai (YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master) – 10 appeared first on Lost in Anime.
