By 
The Emperor’s Caretaker manga is rather unique as even though it acts like The Apothecary Diaries as a window into the inside of a Chinese empire, its focus tends to be on the training of a young emperor and affairs of higher level officials and royalty. There’s romance as well, of course, with Linhua of the Li family engaged to the Guangyan regent Souren as of recent volumes. But with the seventh volume of the series, the focus shifts off of the more political and insightful elements into the more standard shojo trope of rival love interests and plots getting in the way of the established couple.
Editor’s Note: There will be spoilers for volume seven of The Emperor’s Caretaker manga below.
What’s happening in The Emperor’s Caretaker as volume seven of the manga begins is essentially what happens in many shojo series once we get a situation where the couple is happy and all is well. Which is also something that’s a pet peeve of mine and I hate. Instead of just allowing them to be happy, focusing on the growing and developing dynamic between them, and continuing the interesting insights into court life and young emperor training, instead we get Ichiha Hiiragi, Aya Shouoto and Haruki Yoshimura choosing chaos by introducing unnecessary drama with romantic rivals.
It’s a shame, since this volume begins with what could be fascinating and interesting further insights into court life and royal protocol in Guangyan. Things start with young Emperor Zhiyou engaging in sword dancing training with a potential personal attendant and fellow child named Gao Jian.
It’s great seeing the kids get along! We see what the training can look like for the youngster as Linhua and his teachers prepare him for his role. It is offering insight into a possible friendship for him. It also acts as an introduction to another member of the royal family, his half-sister Princess Liya. As narrator, Linhua even teases that Liya is part of the “damaged goods” women living there like Baohua and Cailin. As I’m reading all this, I was thinking to myself that this is why I love The Emperor’s Caretaker so much as a series, since it does fall into shojo and josei categories while still offering those sorts of insights.
But then it immediately shifts to the royal visit from members of the Rui kingdom, with the teaser that Prince Xifeng and government official Hu Hao brought Xifeng’s sister Bixia with in the hopes of setting up a marriage plot between her and Regent Souren.
I understand why it happens. It’s for the same reason this comes up in many shojo and josei manga. Especially since, for the volumes of The Emperor’s Caretaker manga so far, Linhua and Souren are established as an extremely happy couple. They love each other. They’re (secretly) engaged. And, as the regent, these sort of situations would come up.
The thing is that the set up from Ichiha Hiiragi, Aya Shouoto and Haruki Yoshimura comes across as incredibly formulaic and typical. There’s a bit of an edge, since Prince Xifeng and Rui’s emperor essentially want to create or force a situation where Souren, who has only supported Zhiyou as emperor, would suddenly take the role for himself, marry Bixia, and immediately get to making an heir. There’s even a situation that pits Xifeng trying to force himself as a rival for Souren as well with Linhua.
However, as a result of the storytelling so far and everything we know about The Emperor’s Caretaker characters so far, I feel it falls flat. We know where Souren’s loyalties lie. While Linhua makes terrible decisions instead of just communicating like an adult, there’s bound to be an issue there too. Given that not only most of this volume is dedicated to this whole visit and escapade and leaves off on cliffhangers that suggest much of the eighth volume will too, it dulls my excitement for this current plotline and leaves me hoping everything’s over with before volume 9 starts.
The Emperor’s Caretaker is at its best when the manga covers court life and the training of a young emperor, but it looks like we have to deal with a romantic rivals plot for now. Given the course of the series so far, it feels a little awkward. The creators did such a good job of establishing Linhua and Souren as individuals and a couple that the idea of folks getting in the way of that and their support for Emperor Zhiyou is very difficult to believe. But hopefully, this goes by quickly and maybe leads to some unexpected resolutions in the eighth volume.
Volumes 1-7 of The Emperor’s Caretaker manga are available now, and Square Enix will release volume 8 on February 2, 2027.
We may earn a commission if you purchase from certain links. Learn more here.
