YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master

Episode 19

The first arc of Yatagarasu did a masterful job of preparing us for the second. The shock of Asebi's betrayal has made us doubt Koume at nearly every turn, causing us to question her motives, her statements, and, finally whether or not she truly knows more than she's telling. This week's episode brings all of those to a head with the death of her father, Jihei, and his version of the truth about what happened in Taruhi.

Perhaps the most shocking piece of that is the fact that at least one of the wereapes can speak. Before this episode, the prevailing impression was that they were substantially less intelligent than the yatagarasu, and very likely largely nonverbal. But when Jihei discovers a monkey at the bottom of a well and agrees to help him (under the mistaken impression that he's a god), the lie is put to that statement: the monkey converses intelligently and fluently. That's how he's able to fool the erstwhile water merchant, craftily turning him into a drug peddler and murderer. It's possible that this monkey, who also seems to know a lot about kin'u and yatagarasu history, is simply the elder of his clan, and therefore substantially older than the others. It's also worth considering that the monkeys have been playing dumb to downplay the threat they represent, or simply to get closer to Natsukihiko and other ravens in power.

We also are given reason to doubt Jihei's version of events. He claims in his letter that his wife walked out on him, with the attendant implication that he never saw her again. Koume certainly never did but the tip that a woman with two moles under her left eye was selling sagecap at least opens the possibility that Jihei had contact with her and didn't tell his daughter. Was it deliberate, or did she show up when he showed signs of prosperity? Was she working with the weremonkeys all along without Jihei's knowledge? It looks like we might find out next week, but whatever the answer is, it isn't likely to be good for the yatagarasu in general.

It certainly feels like we're still missing some vital information—and not about the sagecap scheme or even the raven-eating monkeys. The revelation that our world exists beyond the boundaries of Yamauchi has opened the door to a lot of possibilities, not the least of which is that the monkeys are in contact with both sides. The yatagarasu may be just as unaware as the humans, something implied by the kin'u's conversation with Yukiya about how yatagarasu modeled themselves on humans and strengthened by the fact that Jihei assumed that there was a god in the bottom of his newly purchased well. Wells in several world mythologies, including Shinto, serve as passages to the land of the dead, and the presence of the monkeys there seems like a pretty good reason for the yatagarasu to continue to believe it. After all, the monkeys have sent more than one raven to their afterlife. Does that make them more credulous than humans? I'd say they're probably on the same level and the bigger question is what the monkeys know versus believe—and how that has shaped the way they act.

It's coming down to the wire now. Koume has found her mother, who is worse than her father. Yukiya is busy rethinking his assumptions. Natsukihiko may be about to learn that there's much more to being a golden raven than merely leading his people. When the feathers settle, who will remain standing?

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YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.