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neo_ultraOk, this was actually really good. I wanted to dislike it because it is popular, but sometimes popular things are actually not bad.
I have not seen such convoluted plot since Golden Kamuy probably. Only the strong presence of romance in the story didn't let me rate this anime higher. But even the romance was not actually so bad because the heroine was not super invested in it and the most beautiful man in the country was left hopelessly pining for her. Romance aside, the story was really well done. I really liked how seemingly unconnected incidents turned out to be significant in the end and all loose threads came together in a bigger conspiracy plot.
The setting was interesting. It was not historical China, the author deliberately added many anachronistic details to make it more fantasy land than actual China. But the setting was still heavily inspired by Chinese history and traditions. I usually don't consume such media, so the imperial harem with concubines, eunuchs and indentured servants felt like quite a fresh setting.
Although it did leave a bad taste how so much of the plot revolved around prostitution and concubines that are just a higher class of prostitutes really. All the disrespect and violence those women encountered, and all the gross diseases one can get in that line of work... Sad how women couldn't just get normal jobs in the olden days.
The main heroine is a bit of an outlier in that respect. Honestly she felt like a bit of mary sue sometimes - she knows everything about plants and poisons, and for some reason also engineering and physics, and she can teach concubines how to fuck even though their entire reason for existence is to fuck, what have they even been doing without our heroine to teach them how tab A goes in slot B.
But I absolutely respect her determination to keep out of trouble. The hot eunuch actually has a dick - don't know, don't care, not my problem. Unfortunately she just can't help but get involved in various more or less criminal goings on. Sometimes I really asked myself how the palace even functioned before her, when they didn't even have a medical professional on hand. All in all I quite liked her though, she definitely was not the average timid blushing shoujo heroine.
Now that I think about it, pretty much none of the women were. In the end, the story was about a confrontation of two female masterminds and the hot not-truly-eunuch was mostly there for eye-candy and fanservice. So in that aspect this is in a way an empowering anime about how women try to get a better life in a patriarchal society that only values their genitals. I actually wanted them to show an episode or two where the characters did get a better life, I wanted some more everyday stuff to balance all those wars and treachery. Show me concubine Ah-Duo and her adopted children!
Anyhow, there will apparently be a third season and I will definitely be watching that!
I have not seen such convoluted plot since Golden Kamuy probably. Only the strong presence of romance in the story didn't let me rate this anime higher. But even the romance was not actually so bad because the heroine was not super invested in it and the most beautiful man in the country was left hopelessly pining for her. Romance aside, the story was really well done. I really liked how seemingly unconnected incidents turned out to be significant in the end and all loose threads came together in a bigger conspiracy plot.
The setting was interesting. It was not historical China, the author deliberately added many anachronistic details to make it more fantasy land than actual China. But the setting was still heavily inspired by Chinese history and traditions. I usually don't consume such media, so the imperial harem with concubines, eunuchs and indentured servants felt like quite a fresh setting.
Although it did leave a bad taste how so much of the plot revolved around prostitution and concubines that are just a higher class of prostitutes really. All the disrespect and violence those women encountered, and all the gross diseases one can get in that line of work... Sad how women couldn't just get normal jobs in the olden days.
The main heroine is a bit of an outlier in that respect. Honestly she felt like a bit of mary sue sometimes - she knows everything about plants and poisons, and for some reason also engineering and physics, and she can teach concubines how to fuck even though their entire reason for existence is to fuck, what have they even been doing without our heroine to teach them how tab A goes in slot B.
But I absolutely respect her determination to keep out of trouble. The hot eunuch actually has a dick - don't know, don't care, not my problem. Unfortunately she just can't help but get involved in various more or less criminal goings on. Sometimes I really asked myself how the palace even functioned before her, when they didn't even have a medical professional on hand. All in all I quite liked her though, she definitely was not the average timid blushing shoujo heroine.
Now that I think about it, pretty much none of the women were. In the end, the story was about a confrontation of two female masterminds and the hot not-truly-eunuch was mostly there for eye-candy and fanservice. So in that aspect this is in a way an empowering anime about how women try to get a better life in a patriarchal society that only values their genitals. I actually wanted them to show an episode or two where the characters did get a better life, I wanted some more everyday stuff to balance all those wars and treachery. Show me concubine Ah-Duo and her adopted children!
Anyhow, there will apparently be a third season and I will definitely be watching that!
