As a Mongolian, I really love this manga. In my opinion, it’s one of the first manga that genuinely tries to portray Mongolian history and culture as accurately and accessibly as possible. Of course, since it was created by a Japanese author, there are some minor inaccuracies here and there—but that’s okay. It’s truly a great manga.
Rlly proud of this anime !!! I’m Palestinian , not Iranian, but I can clearly tell this anime was made with pure respect for the culture. The visuals are all beautiful, mostly accurate, and the drawing style is soo cute!!!!!
For once, something non-problematic 😂
As a history enthusiast and someone with Mongol ancestry, I would say that this anime is 90% historically accurate. All the major events align with reality, and the author has merely filled in the connecting links and logical sequences with their own ideas. In a sense, it serves as a history textbook.
I would argue, had this manga gotten any normal drawing, the action would have been to much for my stomach to bear. The crayon-style, just like in ranking of kings, gives a warm to the images which contrasted dramatically with how cold the world can be.
The fact that stella means star and the protagonist’s name “Sitara” also meaning star AND in Japanese the pronounciation for stella would be “sutera” which sounds similar to sitara makes this word play so interesting.
Sitara taking up the name Fatima is so beautiful and strong since she’s taking up her mothers name and in a way both her and her mother are taking revenge together which I find amazing ❤❤❤ Also it’s crazy how Fatima’s life was taken over a book that woman could not even understand 💔💔💔
@ThomasHall-r5iいいね 8
ヴィンランド・サガ2期のトルフィン「俺には敵はいない」
ジャードゥーガルのシタラ「全員が敵だ」
Thorfinn from Vinland Saga Season 2: I have no enemies.
Sitara from Jaadugar: Everyone's my enemy.
@BrewerFiremindいいね 32
こんなに良い作品、毎年どころか毎クールお目にかかれるもんじゃない。この夏は毎週が楽しみだ
You don't get a show this good every year, let alone each season. Excited each week this summer
its crazy how this anime is going so far, i am really hyped for this anime and would love for the episodes to release faster because a week feels like a month atp
@deltahalo241いいね 11
「本気で俺を殺しに来るタイプの女、大好きなんだよね」
――オゴデイ(たぶん)
"I love the kind of woman who will actually just kill me"
- Ogedai, probably
It's clear that Ögodei is pushing for more trade and safety for merchants, which works well as a juxtaposition to Tului's brutal plan to starve an entire population. It really shows that the Mongol Empire brought both destruction and stability.
I have to wonder if the bath scene comes from the Japanese understanding of a bathhouse, and not an Orientalist one. A lot of this series is well researched, but, public bathhouses are so ingrained into Japanese culture and history, it might have been a blind spot for the author when coming across the Orientalist depictions of them. I believe it'd been better to be without that depiction at all, but I can at least see it as less of malicious mistake, and more of a genuine one. At least, that's what I HOPE.
13:16 woman from a muslim country here. I think this depends on the country. Where I'm from, it's very common to be topless even in the public area of the hammam. Sometimes you wear a sort of thin underdress, but it isn't necessary. None of it is sexual of course, and you just "don't look". The only thing that strikes me as inaccurate in the scene though is that they're all smiling and dilly-dallying about when in reality you're either fighting for buckets or playing "I was here before you for the scrubbing" politics.
I just want to point out that in this clip, the issue goes beyond religion. The girl is very cute and adorable, but her options in the future are very, very limited if that's all she is. This is a problem no matter what culture she's in
Its a historical show that starts in the middl east and then travels to 13th century Mongolia. Of course its not exactly going to be PC for modern sensibilities but so would 13th century Europe they didn’t treat women and young girls that well either. Just like in Europe Religion and Culture are deeply intertwined so hearing a prayer isn’t a shock I don’t know what the problem is
The face is the same as his real name this episode, in that I already forgot it. The legend of Genghis Khan supersedes anything flesh and bone about him. He's not a person, he is a symbol of pure power and conquest. He doesn't need a face.
Sitara might be the dumbest woman in the series.
It’s not her fault, she’s one of the smartest main characters I’ve seen in a while. But she’s like that three year old chess prodigy who got fucking Kasparov dropped on him on TV.
And there’s only one Queen in chess, here? Here she’s against four at the same time.
I do like how this show has handled Sitara’s revenge quest so far, in that it’s been basically a complete failure from the start. Genghis Khan, the one most responsible for her suffering, died from natural causes with her unable to do anything, and now Tolui, the person who most directly harmed her, also died from circumstances completely unrelated to her and her plans. Meanwhile the empire is stronger than ever.
I think Guyuk might actually have a decent relationship with his mother. He did task Qadaq with looking out for her and now trying to save her life.
So it turns out Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia was about Boraqchin all along, not Sitara, lol. Her experience as a witch is just on a whole different level.
Sorghaghtani calling off the engagement is definitely going to deepen the conflict with Ögedei's faction, which works perfectly in Sitara's favor. I can't wait to see Sitara's scheming phase from here on out.
If science saru doesn’t green light this for a second season or even just a movie, I will riot!!!!!
This has been so freaking good, to the point it’s a strong contender for my top 10 anime ever!!!!
The story Ogedei was taught concerns the stars rotating around the North Star. He suggests that they themselves might be on a rotating horse, which is, in a way, more correct than Sitara's own knowledge.
Of course, in the story, this just serves as a way to mess with Sitara and to present Ogedei to the viewers as open-minded through what is essentially meta-knowledge.
in some ways closer to the truth
Not really tho. Even if your guess is more accurate, the fact that the other side is attempting to figure it out via observation/study gives them a chance to actually get it right over time and the Mongols are not in that game yet.
The religious part of her indignation aside, she'd still be right to be upset that the two are presented as the same. I guess that does kinda make it the perfect bait for her to show her anger.
The rationale as to the "why" was religious superstition, but she was frustrated because he was trying to argue against the mathematics and the predictability of said maths. To her, the science and knowledge she was taught and loved is the last thing she has of her family and for him to challenge it in any way, even as gently as he did, reveals just how much she still hates what the mongols did to her. Needless to say, he's got his work cut out for him if he's gonna win that wager he proposed.
he doesn’t seem or feel like he has any hidden agenda. He just genuinely wants the people under him to be happy and to have a peaceful empire. He just seems like a leader who is kinder and better than pretty much all the world leaders irl.
The story takes a risky move with that because by making him like this it makes a case where some people (and I think I fall into this) will see Toregene and Fatima not accepting his offer and fighting against his dream as them becoming the villains of the story. In the end after being offered kindness and understanding they chose to reject peace and happiness and continue their quest for revenge.
We got to see a unexpected side of Töregene in this finale episode: the doting mother. It was pretty cute to see her fawning over Güyük all of a sudden.
Yet she choose not to join her darling son but stick with Sitara/Fatima instead. I was a little moved by their reunion. They really do share a special bond.
Ögedei is definitely a clever man. He understands that the lingering resentment of all these conquered peoples could one day be the downfall of his empire. Therefore he must assure their happiness.
this needs a season 2
This. Everything this season just feels like the prologue of Sitara's story, from her backstory to her making her first steps in Mongol politics and failing pretty hard due to overconfidence. But now, everything is set and all the players are ready to start making their move.
I’m one of those people who knows a lot of Mongolian history from this period (got obsessed with it for a while and read a bunch of books about it), and while the characters themselves and their interactions are more narrative inventions (we don’t know a lot of that granular intrigue), the details about the structure of Mongolian society and even the layout of their camps are pristine. You can tell the showrunners did their homework and then some. And yes, I’m absolutely in love with how this production came together as well. I can hardly wait to see where this would go with a S2.
In terms of tone, I would frame it as a cross between Apothecary Diaries and Now And Then, Here and There. The first captures the court intrigue and the witty MC trying to navigate it, the second captures the trauma of war, its impact on civilian populations, and the MC who is forced to roll with the tides. Either way, a brilliant show - many thanks for reviewing!
I feel so sad for Sitara here, its like the home she knows and loves so much is always there only in her memories, and only she is there, no one else, her home is empty. Everyone else her family, her mistress, the scholar guy, her home does not exists now. Alone in the vast steppes of mongolia she can only remember her past with no where to return back to.
The Jin Dynasty was a ethnically Jurchen dynasty that conquered Northern China. What they conquered were part of the Song Dynasty of the Han Chinese who were pushed to become only the Southern Song. The Jin would be conquered by the Mongols, and the Southern Song would follow shortly after during Kublai Khan’s (Tolui’s son) conquest.
I would argue, had this manga gotten any normal drawing, the action would have been to much for my stomach to bear. The crayon-style, just like in ranking of kings, gives a warm to the images which contrasted dramatically with how cold the world can be.
Actually, Genghis Khan designated Ogedei as his successor during the autumn Khuruldai (council) of 1219, which was two years before the main story begins. Here is the real reason why Ogedei was chosen:
Originally, Genghis Khan intended to pass the throne to Jochi. However, Chagatai and several high-ranking nobles fiercely opposed this, so he backed down to prevent a civil war. (Jochi wasn't at the 1229 Khuruldai because he had already passed away before his father).
As for Chagatai, he was ruled out because he was too rigidly obsessed with the law (Yassa) and lacked diplomatic flexibility.
Tolui was considered too young, and despite being incredibly smart and cautious in his strategy (unlike hisdepiction in the anime, the historical Tolui was highly intelligent and calculated), he wasn't chosen.
In contrast, Ogedei was chosen because he possessed exceptional leadership, high emotional intelligence, and great diplomatic skills, making him the perfect ruler to keep the empire united.
the blue dress kid is Nasir al-din al-tusi he's one of the most important figures in Islamic intellectual history, often considered the "third teacher" after Aristotle and al-Farabi, He's also one of the most important scholars of shia islam.
Rlly proud of this anime !!! I’m Palestinian , not Iranian, but I can clearly tell this anime was made with pure respect for the culture. The visuals are all beautiful, mostly accurate, and the drawing style is soo cute!!!!!
For once, something non-problematic 😂
I did a catch-up marathon in advance of the final episode dropping and wow, what an experience. Among the many great points (including the ones you covered), I love that there's a running thread of tension between belief systems. We start in a "golden age" of Persian math-and-science study and end up in a world of intense mysticism... but at no point does the show point-and-laugh. "Is that how it happened? Who's to say?" Like... we the viewers "know" that the spirit world stuff "isn't real," but the characters in the show treat it as reality and for them, it is. And the show never mocks that. (An added layer? We get a speech about how Aristotle's view of the cosmos is the "right" one, and here we are in 202x going "Um, actually.")
Also: You get to the end and realize, oh, this whole season was her Villain Origin Story. NOW she's ready to start making a mess of things ON PURPOSE. Bring on a S2, when the source material is ready to provide the base for it anyway...
The story Ogedei was taught concerns the stars rotating around the North Star. He suggests that they themselves might be on a rotating horse, which is, in a way, more correct than Sitara's own knowledge.
Of course, in the story, this just serves as a way to mess with Sitara and to present Ogedei to the viewers as open-minded through what is essentially meta-knowledge.
That is something I am really liking about this show so far. Sitara as our MC is very smart but so are her biggest adversaries in Boraqchin and Sorgaghtani. Currently Sitara’s main flaw is assuming she’s the only smart schemer in the Mongol court.
aw man, fatima is still new to this despite her intellgence, and boraqchin has been doing policking for longer than she's been alive. "She was surprisingly easy to handle" you know you fell for a trap if you say this lmaoo
The word Jaadugar (جادوگر) mainly refers to a magician which fits Sitara
Where as the Witch part is more in line with what Borqachin has done so far so this got me thinking
From a quick google search, Genghis Khan didn’t allow anyone to depict him a painting or sculpture in his lifetime until his grandson commisioned one
In a way it kind of makes sense because we don’t really know what this man actually looked like apart from hearsay so it adds to the mystery of who this man actually was