Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023

GeorgeMTO

@Korppi it's JNC's translation, but they don't have anything directly to do with the rights here (and that's all the details Quarkboy felt like giving us), so it's likely just through the JP publisher. No connections to Kadokawa don't necessarily mean anything though, JNC has pre-existing deals with Seven Seas where they do the physicals using JNC's translation, and one of them was picked up after the Kadokawa buyout: https://j-novel.club/series?search=tag:"print by seven seas"

Of course since we don't exactly see contracts, we don't know all the details regarding how it might've gone down.

kuali

Interesting start, giving us a 3-minute introduction to the early series non-palace cast right at the start. I guess it saves them a lot of Maomao's narration to show her as an apothecary ahead of time?

I see the occasional super-deformed (and cat-eared) Maomao faces from the manga made it into the series as well :)

And wow, the anime does a much better job conveying a sense of the scale of the rear palace than either the novels or the manga did!

Next up in the moments the other versions didn't cover series: We actually get to see the warning that could have saved Lihua's son's life getting tossed aside, unread :(

Who is this arrogant looking woman? 🤣

Ahh, the tasting for poison face! She looks like a lecherous old man that just spotted Pairin in the bath! 😎

...And I wasn't expecting the pig-faced Maomao...

Heh. It was funny watching Jinshi creep Gaoshun out!

Is that some kind of cursed dance? Yup, that's the Eunuch Summoning Dance. She meant to perform a Eunuch Repelling Dance, but she was too distracted by the ingredient storage room...

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Lisast

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):

“Perhaps you could make a love potion.”
For just an instant, Maomao’s eyes lit up with a mixture of surprise and curiosity. What’s that supposed to mean?
She couldn’t 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, “I need three things: tools, materials, and time.”
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 station—though 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 princess—though 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.

grobinson2k1

@Lisast said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

Meanwhile in the anime, she gets the cat ears,

And a cat tail popped up too; I think it was during the third episode.

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.