Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023

NakamiJun

@Lisast I think most of the issues you have with it, is that they take a much lighter tone in the anime. The LN's are typically more serious. Or at least they come off that way. I think the manga lightens that tone a good bit (ie introducing cat ears, etc). Even the opening simply strikes me as typical anime opening where the MC dances to the music, though I didn't even realize it was Maomao the first time I saw it since it's such non-Maomao like activity (even if we know she did learn dances).

kuali

@NakamiJun Definitely the anime seems closer in tone to the manga. Its got the animal transformations, the more expressive faces, even the occasional happy/cursed dance...

arghc

@cauthangviet said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

I feel like the anime doesn't bring out Jinshi's beauty like in the light novel, don't you think

I'm OK with Jinshi's purple hair and eyes, as he's supposed to have ethereal unworldly beauty. Sure, the artists have not been able to render him as pretty as you'd expect (for some reason I am reminded of ... g-force/battle of the planets where they never showed Zoltar's female face)?

@NakamiJun said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

The first 3 episodes have actually aired now! Maomao is such a cutie! <3

MM's green hair I'm ok with because it's relatively subtle, but the bright blue eyes make me sad. This is supposed to be alt-China so it should be all brown eyes (excepting the red heads).

MM's shiver of disgust when Jinshi tries to glimmer at her is extra fun. His "I must get a rise out of this curiosity" is far more foregrounded from the LN. Her neuro-atypicalness should have triggered recognition of her lineage sooner for Jinshi, you'd think.

arghc

@NakamiJun said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

Even the opening simply strikes me as typical anime opening where the MC dances to the music, though I didn't even realize it was Maomao the first time I saw it since it's such non-Maomao like activity (even if we know she did learn dances).

From the opening, is the floaty silk version also Maomao or is it one of the Verdigris princesses or a guardian goddess?

The music rocks a bit more than I was expecting. 8-)

Angelus

@arghc said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

MM's green hair I'm ok with because it's relatively subtle, but the bright blue eyes make me sad.

At least it's sort of like the LN cover illustrations - dark hair with a green sheen and violet eyes.

kuali

So we've got some more early introductions - this time, for Basen and Suiren. Suiren seems older than I imagined her - I always thought of her as more greying than white.

Nice to see the Maomao-Quack working relationship taking off. I think we should do this. / Yes, of course. / I'll get right on that, then. If not for Mia, I'd call him the most accomplished yes-man in all this season's anime...

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It may just be me, but doesn't Lishu's portrayal seem a little too young? She's meant to be 14, but she looks (and sounds) more like a little girl than a teenager.

Looks like I was a little off in my guess for episode 5 - I'd guessed that 5 would finish with Covert Operations, and it goes a chapter further to include The Garden Party (Part One).

kuali

And after all the fun we shared at the Crystal Pavilion, too...

Yes... 'fun'...

Yinghua: "I said, there's a hidden meaning! Interrogate me, damnit!"

I guess I'm the only one who enjoys eating poison.

That one's a pretty safe bet, yes.

Though I'm kinda sad we lost the bit from the novels of the other food tasters sneaking peeks at Maomao to check each course was safe to try :(

Travis Butler

@kuali said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

Though I'm kinda sad we lost the bit from the novels of the other food tasters sneaking peeks at Maomao to check each course was safe to try :(

I think we did get it, it was just a blink-and-you'd-miss-it moment, and not presented as well as it should have been.

Right after Maomao says she's rinsing out her mouth with water, she has a surprised reaction and looks up, and then we cut away to a still picture of the court. I think that's supposed to be everyone watching her test.

I wish we'd gotten something closer to the extended sequence in the LN, but they might not have had the running time for it. :(

kuali

Alright, progress check! By the end of episode 7, we've completed every chapter up to Homecoming. That's slightly slower than my original guess (I thought we'd be a chapter further ahead), There's 10 chapters left in the first Light Novel, and at the rate the last few episodes have run, that's probably 4 more episodes to complete that first novel.

Updated predictions

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MiniMaoMao! ...Well, even more mini than the usual one.

...Is it just me, or does the hairpin look like a match when the camera zooms out from it?

Xiaolan: "Now you can get out of the rear palace!"
Maomao: "DETAILS."
Yinghua: "Oh, now she's interested in the hairpins!"

Lihaku: "...You have bested me at my own game."
Maomao: "Don't flatter yourself - you were never even a player."

Guyokuyo: "Maomao took off with someone." laughter
Guyokuyo, ladies and gentleman: Upper Concubine and High-Class Troll!

Wow, Grams has an arm on her! I know Maomao's pretty light, but that's still some impressive distance from a single blow!

TheGrimLich

@kuali Grams brought the Verdegris House from a low-class joint to the jewel of the pleasure district — you'd best believe she'd retain the skills she had from when she was a bit player, and that means an arm strong enough to literally throw a misbehaving cretin onto the street.

kuali

Luomen: Oh, no, we can't possibly accept -
Maomao: Can you afford rent this month?
Luomen: Ah, in that case...

And we finally get to see Maomao's astonishing martial arts skills in action: Eeking out a narrow victory against an angry little girl! (Admittedly, the girl did have a knife at the start of the fight, but she wasn't exactly trying to kill Maomao with it...)

That servant girl is scarier than she looks.

Funnily, that applies just as well to Maomao herself...

Ooh, something new! I don't think Meimei ever had a bathing scene in the LN, and we're still well before her first speaking part. Plus we get a look at how well Pairin has succeeded at wrapping Lihaku around her finger!

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Jinshi probably needs to learn to grill Maomao with his hands empty next time. She does have a habit of saying things he doesn't expect...

Anyway, I think this is a first for the series - we've gotten an episode cut part way through a chapter! Specifically, the last scene of A Misunderstanding seems to have been sliced off. I assume it'll be used as the lead-in for the plot of the next episode...

pcj

I love Gokyuyou's laugh when she can't contain herself out of the idea that Maomao trolled Jinshi about 20 times worse than Gyoukuyou did the previous week and Maomao doesn't even realize it.

rsog412

@pcj - I'm not convinced that Maomao doesn't realize it. No one is that good of a troll by accident.

endoftheline

@rsog412 @pcj She also grew up in a very worldly neighborhood. It'd be hard to remain ignorant for long when people are using euphemisms like that all the time.

kuali

@endoftheline Though, as a counterpoint, I'll add that Maomao doesn't actually know what the significance of the hairsticks is. ~~Xiaolan didn't know the full story~~ Actually, checking the episode again, Xiaolan clearly did know it was meant to be a romantic thing - but failed to mention it directly to Maomao; Yinghua did try, but Maomao didn't bother listening to her. Remember Guyokuyo and Hongniang working out that Maomao didn't know what she was getting into as she left, but not bothering to tell her (mainly, it seems, because Guyokuyo thought the results would be funny... and they were).

Her neighbourhood may be worldly, but it doesn't mean all that knowledge translates to life in the palace...

Hongniang: "I'm pretty sure she has no idea what the hairpin means."
Guyokuyo: "Yes, I'm sure of it. I feel so sorry for a certain someone."
Jinshi: Cutaway sneeze
Guyokuyo: "This is so amusing. laugh I wonder what kind of face he'll make..."
Hongniang: "I suspect some turmoil in the future..."

endoftheline

@kuali I only meant the euphemisms she used when reporting her outing, not the significance of the hairsticks (e.g., working hard all night). While I can't speak for what it's like in Japanese, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a way to communicate it with less of a chance to cause misunderstandings.

I'll concede that it just might be the translator emphasizing a more lurid encounter between the two to help sell the misunderstanding better.

That said, I agree, Maomao's lack of understanding the significance of the hairpins and the subsequent Jinshi grilling, altered the context in a way that goes way over her head.

holatuwol

@endoftheline said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

While I can't speak for what it's like in Japanese, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a way to communicate it with less of a chance to cause misunderstandings.

Well, Hongniang did smack Maomao in the head for it, so I'd say that the in-story characters agree with you on the idea that Maomao could have phrased it better.

In case you're curious or want to use ChatGPT to dissect it, this is what Maomao says in the original Japanese (taken from the light novel, but it matches the anime):

「申し訳ありません。壬氏さまにご満足いただける対価など、思いつかなかったもので」

「ええ、一夜の夢に喜んでおりました」

「大変ご満足いただけたようで、こちらとしても頑張ったかいがありました」

kuali

Huh, we actually got to see Kounen's murder in the cold opening? That's more Columbo than the usual episode...

It took considerable effort to get Gyokuyou to stop laughing uncontrollably and explain

I can only assume that her title being Precious Consort was a translation error: They clearly meant Trollish Consort.

Stop spoiling my nostalgia with reality!

Jinshi finally found Maomao's weakness: Drinking age laws!

Maomao: "I'd hate to die. Death means no more opportunities to poison myself!"

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Alright, progress check! Looks like we're up to the end of Two 'Cides to Every Story. And going by the preview, the next episode is going to cover the next four chapters... which makes it look like the first book will finish at episode 11. Though I guess after previously predicting 10 and 12 episodes to adapt the first volume, I had to get the right number eventually...

rsog412

Given the events of volumes 9 and 10, I think Jinshi's line at 14:11 in episode 9...

「先生、ちゃんと見てもらいないだろうか?」
「sensei, chanto mite morainai darou ka?」
"Doctor, could you please do a proper autopsy?"

Should probably say "examination" instead of "autopsy." It's probably technically correct (autopsies don't have to involve dissection afaict), but I think most people would get the wrong impression of what Jinshi actually asked there.

Not that anyone on these forums has the power to make corrections to whomever is doing the Crunchyroll subtitles.

NakamiJun

I still keep laughing at Jinshi's reaction where Maomao clearly broke him...

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I still love the animation work and I'm happy the series has continued to be very close to the LN. Especially compared to some series' which seem to be squished time-wise so they fit into single episode blocks or even gloss over chapters the Animation team thought were not required... It also continues to look beautiful.