I've definitely enjoyed what we've got so far, seeing everyone up and moving around. I liked some of the smaller details they included (ex. the quack having plenty of paper) and I'm looking forward to the rest of the 2 cour season.
But I'm mainly coming away thinking that the whole... vibe (?) seems a bit off?
I reread the first half of volume 1 to get a better idea of what I was feeling and I think it's that the anime characters are a bit too talkative and expressive, particularly Maomao. She always tries to be reticent in the novels, and while she doesn't always succeed, I never got the same energetic vibe from her as she has in the anime.
Take the bit where she's asked to make an aphrodisiac (emphasis mine):
âPerhaps you could make a love potion.â
For just an instant, Maomaoâs eyes lit up with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. Whatâs that supposed to mean?
She couldnât imagine what they wanted with such a thing, but the subject was one she would be more than happy to entertain. Forcing herself not to smile, she replied, âI need three things: tools, materials, and time.â
Could she make a love potion? Oh, yes. Yes, she could.
Meanwhile in the anime, she gets the cat ears, does a little dance in place that confuses/annoys Jinshi, and then is clearly smiling as she accepts. It's not exactly a huge change, but I think it detracts from the seriousness of the setting. A big part of it is that Maomao isn't really free to express herself given her stationâthough maybe this is more an intentional long-term change to balance out the power dynamics between her and Jinshi somewhat? (An impossible task if ever there was one, but it could help alleviate my biggest problem with the series.)
People certainly make jokes, but not in the kind of manga/anime style that's happening here. Jinshi doesn't, say, test his charms for a second on the three ladies-in-waiting mid-conversation after saying out loud "Why won't this work on her?" with a confused face. Everyone here, especially Jinshi, is perfectly capable of putting up a front and acting unaffected by anything that comes their way, and can easily just think things instead of saying them out loud (Maomao in particular being hurt by this need to always be talking to herself). When everyone's ignoring Gyokuyou's muttering about "three times," they don't say "I'm going to ignore that" first, they just ignore her, which I feel could have been conveyed perfectly fine without Maomao spelling it out.
This mostly seems to come down to not being able to use the narration, so a lot more has to be explained by the characters. They do this by having one character tell another the exposition, even if they would already know that. Jimshi explaining why poison testing is necessary and Gaoshun explaining to Jinshi that his role is to test the consorts' loyalty are both examples of this. A lot of this is necessary to get all the exposition across, and of course much of the narration will make the most sense as Maonao's internal monologue, but much of it is delivered quite awkwardly.
It felt better in episode three, focused as it was on a single story with less exposition to get through. The atmosphere was just right for Fuyou's story. Especially the ending sequence, with the music from the MT OPs' artist. What are the chances of them adapting the story long enough to see her again?
While I'm nitpicking, it's not really the anime's fault, but the translation called Gyokuyou a princess. I think since the Bookworm incident this is the Japanese word I most keep an ear out for in anime, but she's only a hime, not an actual princessâthough Fuyou, actually a princess is also a hime. I don't really blame the translator given the lack of context to tell the difference but at least some people on Reddit have already gotten the wrong idea.
Finally, what's up with the OP? The music and animation are great, sure, but what's actually going on here? Why is Maomao dancing for most of it? Maybe it's evidence the season will cover up to the end of volume 2, or they though anything else would spoil the mysteries? It just feels like a waste to include basically nothing from the series outside of Maomao. Heck, even Jinshi's only in the thing for two small shots at the end!
Despite all this, I did really enjoy it. This is one of my favorite JNC series, and I'm glad to see it animated. I hope my problems with it never grow to the point I'm not as hyped for the show.