Throughout of the first volume of The Emperor’s Caretaker manga, we’re watching Linhua deal with familial obligations and a sudden opportunity to help raise a young emperor. Now that the second entry is here, there’s still some of that! However, what I also appreciate about this second volume of the manga is the focus on her new life at court. As she is the caretaker for the five-year-old Emperor Zhiyou, a larger part of her life revolves around him. And because of the execution of the Ichiha Hiiragi, Aya Shouoto, and Haruki Yoshimura story, there’s a fantastic focus on what this child deals with too.
Editor’s note: There are some light spoilers for volume 2 of The Emperor’s Caretaker manga below.
Emperor Zhiyou is in a rather unique situation in The Emperor’s Caretaker manga. His mother is no longer with him, as Empress Xuemei needed to return to her country of Quan to lead it. Because he’s completely alone, he’s reliant on caretakers like Linhua and people like the head of the court ladies Jingmei and his regent Lord Souren. As we learned in the first volume, Souren did take some actions to help protect him. That is, he’s still living safely in the inner palace instead of the main one while Souren handles things and Linhua was brought to to raise and care for him.
What I love about this volume is how much we get to see of Zhiyou. He’s clearly a charming, innocent child. People around him, like Souren, Jingmei, and the guard Lixiao already care from him, and it’s clear between the first and second manga that Linhua is charmed by him as well. (Well, him and all cute children.) So some of these moments really highlight his innocence. From him showing affection already for Linhua and wanting to keep this new adult he’s forming a bond with by his side for one. We’re also seeing more childlike traits as he attempts to connect with Souren and interact with people.
However, The Emperor’s Caretaker manga doesn’t shy away from the harsher realities of Zhiyou’s life, which we start to see in volume 1 and continue in 2. He has no parents, due to his father’s death and his mother being in Quan. In the first volume and as the second begins, there is a divide between him and Souren too. Because he’s so isolated, it makes him a far more sympathetic character. I also feel it helps explain why he latches on to and connects with Linhua so swiftly. He doesn’t really have anyone else. She’s becoming his comforting parental figure in their absence.
The manga is also striking, as it doesn’t hide away from darker sides of Zhiyou’s life as a young ruler in The Emperor’s Caretaker. We saw of the Li family attempting to manipulate him at the end of the first volume, and we get hints of that faction’s influence in the first chapter of the second too. That first chapter also brings up a “special diet” that he’ll have to go through in order to strengthen him against enemy attacks, which leaves Linhua concerned. Plus there’s the reminder that poison could be anywhere when it comes to him getting something as simple as a kind of candy.
I appreciate when manga about court life and dealing with royalty actually get into the realities of such things, and The Emperor’s Caretaker manga does a great job getting us invested in the life of not only Linhua, but her charge Emperor Zhiyou. Yes, this is clearly a shojo series. There’s absolutely some romance teased. But it’s also about her life and duties, and seeing how this child she’s coming to care for lives and grows is quite insightful.
The first and second volumes of The Emperor’s Caretaker manga are available now, and Square Enix will release volume 3 on July 8, 2025.
Published: May 10, 2025 09:00 am