Overall this was pretty good. I was surprised there would only be 20 episodes. There are pretty much three points I want to cover: the animation the characters and the storyline. Regarding the animation... its pretty bland. The animation as a whole has a bit of its own style especially in the characters possibly trying to replicate the stylization of people in the manga but the action scenes are not particularly fluid or impressive and there isnt any particularly beautiful scenery etc. either. Which like is totally fine this is not an action show and doesnt require super fluid and gorgeous animation. But is something to note if thats what youre looking for. Regarding the characters theyre not bad. I cant say that any of them are particularly deep with the exception of maybe one of the concubines in the first cour but thats mostly by virtue of being complicated which is not the same as deep. For each of the characters you could summarize them pretty easily in a phrase or two and itll hold for the 20 episodes. Thats not to say however they arent endearing I pretty quickly grew to like the main character and am rooting for him to succeed and be a bit more appreciated by the other members of the cast haha. I dont think theres any character that annoys me per se. There are few characters that I want to delve a little deeper into aside from the MC mostly the Princes older brother and his retainer/bodyguard ? not sure his position the red haired guy. The red haired guys character design stands out pretty strongly and we havent gotten an explanation into that which Im hoping we will and in the last few episodes the Princes older brothers actions have been a little perpendicular to the direction of the narrative for his supposed role in the story. If anyone is to get character development and become a little more complex I really hope it is him. There are some pretty cliche approaches to the characters/their development e.g. the red haired concubine and the Princes shtick with emotions but it hadnt really bothered me too much. Also to some degree the design decisions around the Prince like makes sense within the context of the world so I get it. Regarding the story line and the worldbuilding: I think this is where the story shines. The story is pretty slow but I enjoyed the way all the pieces are slowly being put together through the various mysteries/events that go on. Spoiling a little but not too much the way the yatagarasu connect to the real world is really interesting and not something Ive seen a lot of in similar fantasy anime. Were also brought to attention to a few societal issues/behaviours within the yatagarasu themselves e.g. whats essentially crowslavecriminals for transport and inequality. Its only briefly touched upon but with the way the Prince is meant to save the yatagarasu Im tentatively hopeful theyll come around to it. As I mentioned I felt the ending of the season was a bit abrupt but it wrapped things up well enough and left enough to want for more. There are some smaller story/world points that I like less and others that I like more so overall Ill leave it here and say that for a first season I think it did a good job in convincing me to continue along with the story. Ill be reading the manga once it catches up and with a second season if they make one. Im under the impression that the source was a light novel I think you can tell that the anime perhaps doesnt always make the most of its medium but I can see it working a lot better with a novel or manga.