Yatagarasu Series
Volume 10:
The Raven's Autumn Full Moon
Author: Abe Chisato
Commentary
I feel fortunate to be given the opportunity to speak at length about my love for the Yatagarasu series, but I’m concerned about the word limit. I have decided to record my initial impressions of this book, The Raven’s Autumn Full Moon.
We have come an awfully long way.
I first met Abe Chisato about ten years ago, when she visited the Ōsaka store where I was working at the time as part of a bookstore tour timed to coincide with the release of The Raven of the Empty Coffin. After the duology of Ravens Shouldn’t Wear Kimono and A Raven Does Not Choose Its Master, the story takes a sharp turn in the subsequent books; this is a point that I wish to address in greater depth later. The protagonists are attacked by a new enemy uniquely capable of harming them: the Kuisaru. The true Golden Raven’s powers are also revealed to readers in The Golden Raven. And then, after that, we get a mundane sort of story set in a military academy. Just what is going on here?
Yukiya, one of the main characters in the Yatagarasu series, was also at a stage of growing from an unlikable (though, looking back, sufficiently lovable) boy into a sturdy young man. Seeing him develop alongside other Yatagarasu of his own generation was tremendously exciting.
My conversation with Abe Chisato while she signed copies for the store was very lively. I told her that I was eager to read the next installment.
Readers who have loved the series until this most recent book, The Raven’s Autumn Full Moon, will likely understand me when I say that this is a new start for the Yatagarasu series. This volume does not just give us a sharp turn in the road. We are heading in a different direction entirely.
With each new volume, I sent letters to the editor. I regret that I wrote things like, “Ms. Abe is a demon!” and “this is heartless and cruel.” I didn’t really mean that. I love these books. The shock I feel when utterly unpredictable events occur is real and exciting.
To return to the first series for a moment, Princess Tamayori comes after The Raven of the Empty Coffin, and it fleshes out the world of Yamauchi and informs readers of its origin. The story surges onward to the conclusion of the first series, The Raven’s Flourishing.
At that time, bookstore owners were encouraged to create reviews commemorating the completion of the first series. I wrote, “What I felt after finishing it was not that I had read an ending. The end of this story feels like the beginning of another.” Those feelings were correct, as it turns out.
The second series differs in scope and scale from the first series so much that at times they are scarcely recognizable as the same story. The setting of The Raven’s Paradise shifts abruptly to modern-day Japan, twenty years after the events of the first series. Who is Yasuhara Hajime, and why was he dropped into this story out of nowhere? It was a new chapter of a story that was almost unfamiliar. What has happened in the twenty years since The Raven’s Flourishing? The Raven’s Paradise reveals little of what happened in the past.
The Raven’s Reminiscence and The Raven’s Loyalty flesh out the missing years between The Raven’s Flourishing and The Raven’s Paradise. The Raven’s Autumn Full Moon overlaps with the events of The Raven’s Paradise, creating a circular structure that begins with that book, spends two books in an extended flashback, and then spends one book catching up to The Raven’s Paradise at top speed.
I cannot bring myself to say much about The Raven’s Reminiscence. It overturns everything that has come so far in the series. The story of that terrible night and everything that comes after was shown to us with unparalleled skill. It was so overwhelming that I sometimes forgot to breathe.
The Raven’s Loyalty gives us another sharp turn by focusing on a character that hadn’t been given much attention until that point. I enjoyed that book very much.
In the Yatagarasu series, there are many moments when one is startled to realize that a beloved character has many facets. Events occur largely in sequence, but from the beginning I felt like the stories were being told from specific perspectives, and that the story we were reading might change drastically if a different character was the narrator. Characters have rich histories and memories that might never touch on the story at all.
The short story collection The Ravens’ Hundred Flowers: Firefly Chapters reveals more perspectives of the story told in the first series, allowing readers to savor that story and the characters more deeply. The author herself doesn’t esteem these short stories highly, but authors are not always the best judge of their own work. The stories are all quite short, but their quick length serves to emphasize the narrator’s perspective. The stories never interact with the main plot of the first series, but that adds to the perception of the characters having well-rounded lives. Characters in the Yatagarasu series belong to more than one story.
Now we come to The Raven’s Autumn Full Moon. The main draw of this volume is the return to the setting and plot of Ravens Shouldn’t Wear Kimono. The Rite of Ascension depicted in this book is much different from the one we saw in the first book of the series. Expectations inevitably rise as to what the new duchesses are like and what upheavals await them. The presence of a new pseudo-duchess, a rakujō, throws a wrench (or a bomb) into the familiar plot almost immediately. Sumio the rakujō throws the world around her into disorder. She does whatever she wants, regardless of the consequences. Her character made me think that something in Yamauchi was changing—or perhaps that it must change.
Sumio, the purported daughter of Masuho no Susuki, has given up her status as a woman so that she will be allowed to serve as a government official. She looks like Nazukihiko, the assassinated emperor. Surely this means what we think it means, right? Abe Chisato does nothing to discourage readers from speculating.
The scene where Sumio confronts Sessai, the Yellow Raven, is so fiercely charged that one cannot help but wonder why. Sparks fly everywhere, leaving the reader anxious, tense, and unsettled. This book is called The Raven’s Autumn Full Moon, so the presumption is that the Yamauchi we see is the Yamauchi that the Yellow Raven has shaped to be prosperous or fruitful (fields are harvested in autumn). We don’t see prosperity, though. The narrative has more of a “you reap what you sow” message.
Compared with how Sumio rampages, the four new duchesses are comparatively subdued, but they all undergo some kind of change. There were moments when I thought, “Oh! I never thought this person had that kind of personality,” or “I never thought this person would act that way!” For readers who have followed the Yatagarasu series thus far, these moments must have been surprising and gratifying.
Two scenes stand out to me in particular. In the scene where Sumio’s parents appear, there is a nostalgic episode concerning Nazukihiko. It felt very natural, and it demonstrated that his presence still remains in the hearts of the characters. The Yatagarasu who remain after Nazukihiko’s death are still affected by his actions, and by his absence.
The other scene depicts the Yellow Raven, who has fully settled into his villainous role. He lets a trace of his true feelings show in just a single line of dialogue. When I read that, I felt like no time at all had passed for Yukiya since the night of the assassination. He remembers a time when he was happy and when people mattered to him.
That is why my first impression of this novel was that we have come a long way since the first series’ happy ending.
The Raven’s Autumn Full Moon depicts political upheaval that must have consequences later. Now that the moon has waxed full, it must wane, as Yukiya said in the epilogue of the novel. I also see this as a signal that we are approaching the end of the second series.
The next volume, The Raven’s Specter, is already out and available to read. The twelfth volume will be the last one in the series. What will happen? People’s ways of thinking change when their status or position changes. I cannot begin to imagine what ending the series is heading toward, even though I’ve read everything thus far. Is it really going to end? There are still so many mysteries that concern me. Will those mysteries be solved or not?
I reread the entire series while preparing to write this commentary, and I fell in love with it all over again. These ravens are very dear to me.
I almost forgot the most important thing. Thank you so much for creating a story that draws us in so deeply and makes us so passionately invested, Abe Chisato! I have never felt so much joy, shock, and surprise as I have reading this series. I shall loudly and continually proclaim my love for the Yatagarasu series to everyone who will listen. As a bookseller, I’m placed to sell as many copies of these books as possible.
As a reader and a fan, I’ll be sad to see the Yatagarasu series end, but I will read that ending happily, no matter what. Ms. Abe, I adore your stories.
Okuno Naoko
Kinokuniya Bookstore, Umeda Main Store, Purchasing Manager
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