Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023

kuali

Maomao: "If I'm gonna make Jinshi ugly, no half measures! Gotta get rid of all the sparkles!"

Jinshi in lipstick: One of the clearest we shall never speak of this again moments in all of anime!

For a moment, you think 'Wait, why did Suiren have one of her daughter's dresses hanging around in her place of work?'. Then you realise that Maomao getting done up and sent along as Jinshi's 'master' was likely premeditated...

Maomao: Maybe I should have made him dress up as a woman? No, I can't do that, if I want to maintain peace in our realm. ...🤣

Basen: Jinshi and Maomao ate two skewers, so I'll have to eat three!

So, that was mostly Makeup and A Jaunt Around Town, with a couple of additions - the conversation between Gaoshun and Suiren about Jinshi's toys (seems to be an amalgamation of a couple of other scenes from various points in the first few books), Basen shadowing Maomao and Jinshi, and the conversation between Maomao and Jinshi about lowering the price of a Courtesan (which would have happened in next week's episode if left in its original place).

NakamiJun

I've always felt Maomao was like super cute (even with freckles), but geez she is just so amazingly cute all dressed up! I need more cute Mao Mao to warm my heart...

wanderer_1204

I am almost convinced from the anime that maomao secretly has the hots for Jinshi and isn't showing it due to her upbringing.

pcj

@learn_japanese_ay said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

I am almost convinced from the anime that maomao secretly has the hots for Jinshi and isn't showing it due to her upbringing.

That's always been the case. She was raised as a commoner and she knows commoners don't marry nobility so she won't even entertain the idea. No point in getting your hopes up when society says it's out of your reach. That and she wants to eventually, someday, but not any time soon, actually have kids. And eunuchs can't have kids. And she's still operating under the assumption that he's a eunuch.

kuali

@pcj Honestly, she's never once struck me as having the hots for Jinshi - that particular street always seemed to be one-way...

(She seems to like him well enough, but not in that way.)

pcj

@kuali said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

@pcj Honestly, she's never once struck me as having the hots for Jinshi - that particular street always seemed to be one-way...

(She seems to like him well enough, but not in that way.)

Maomao is averse to men in general I think... She's seen too many of them at Verdigris House and knows what they're like. ;-) That said, I do think Jinshi is growing on her, but it's a slow burn.

IIRC from the light novel...

spoiler

wanderer_1204

@pcj I got the feeling that she kinda resigned to her fate

spoiler

That's why I said almost convinced that she has the hots for him.
Even now we see from the latest volumes that

spoiler

pcj

@learn_japanese_ay I had kind of gotten the impression that she knows the only way Jinshi can legally marry her is

LN spoilers

spoiler

I'm 90% sure the piece of info I spoilered that for will be disclosed to anime watchers in this coming week's episode.

arghc

@kuali said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

For a moment, you think 'Wait, why did Suiren have one of her daughter's dresses hanging around in her place of work?'. Then you realise that Maomao getting done up and sent along as Jinshi's 'master' was likely premeditated...

a) totally planned out by Gaoshun to deal with Jinshi's obsession with his new toy
b) this is where Jinshi lives. MM now lives nearby as his... attendant? lady in waiting? Suiren as his main servant surely has quarters nearby as well, so near her place of work is also near her quarters, I expect. The distance to Suiren's home is probably 5 mins leisurely walk, tops.

@learn_japanese_ay said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

I am almost convinced from the anime that maomao secretly has the hots for Jinshi and isn't showing it due to her upbringing.

She appreciates his aesthetic appeal. She knows what people will do for beauty and she can see that he has that but it's not something she wants for herself. The moments where she sees the sparkles are far, far fewer than the cat with her back up when he does something she finds annoying/revolting. (anime)

In the LN iirc she has never indicated that she finds him appealing. Her thoughts of children are abstract (or more scientific, similar to her thoughts of poison experimentation) and in no way related to him.

kuali

@arghc said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

b) this is where Jinshi lives. MM now lives nearby as his... attendant? lady in waiting? Suiren as his main servant surely has quarters nearby as well, so near her place of work is also near her quarters, I expect. The distance to Suiren's home is probably 5 mins leisurely walk, tops.

This one I'm gonna argue with. Suiren may (and probably does) have quarters near Jinshi's, but from what we've seen these are closer to (fancy) work dorms than proper family homes. Every palace official we've seen with a family has had a house outside the palace grounds where they raised their kids. Suiren probably isn't an exception...

kuali

Naturally, the mark of a 'good' mother is when your grown daughter wakes shivering from her nightmares of you!

You're suffocating me, Pairin.

Somehow, I don't think that's the first time. Though it was nice to see someone so happy to see Maomao that they'd run over to give her a hug. She doesn't get enough of those.

I've come to pick up some medicine!

That's the most enthusiastic she's been all season! There were even sparkles! At least until Suirei's appearance.

For those who didn't catch it, I present the Face of Filial Piety!

spoiler

Suirei: "You again?"
Maomao: "Run, its the herb police!"

Not that I'm one to talk, but she doesn't seem very excitable.

...Yeah, that line worked much better for LN Maomao...

Anyway, progress update:
Today we covered The Plum Poison, Lakan, and Suirei. This puts us a chapter ahead of schedule, meaning we've got another 1 chapter episode coming up at some point. I... don't really have a good guess as to which one.

arghc

@kuali said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

Naturally, the mark of a 'good' mother is when your grown daughter wakes shivering from her nightmares of you!

I didn't try to pause it but I thought that MM's hand that she looked at had all 5 full length fingers.

For those who didn't catch it, I present the Face of Filial Piety!

I rewound it twice and still couldn't pause at the right time to get a good look. It was there long enough to know that it was there but not really see it. 8-( The perils of watching on the TV with a TV remote instead of on a computer with a mouse, I guess.

kuali

@arghc said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

I didn't try to pause it but I thought that MM's hand that she looked at had all 5 full length fingers.

spoiler

arghc

@kuali said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

spoiler

kurosov

@arghc said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

spoiler

kuali

Sneak

After 19 episodes, I can confirm that, yes, a lot happened.

Maomao: There's nothing fun here. I beg to differ!

Ox Bezoar Jinshi... may have motivated Maomao a little too much that time!

Teenage Girl vs Armed Guard. Teenage Girl chooses intimidate...
Thwack
Teenage girl chose poorly.

Say whatever else you like about Lakan The Monocle Man - he does not appreciate seeing his daughter attacked by the guard.

Maomao: First things first: Don't get beheaded. Can't argue with her priorities there!

Jinshi's life has been saved. Maomao's injured twice. And Maomao's first words: "Master Jinshi... Can I have the ox bezoar now?" Which is... slightly more questionable on the priorities front!

And then we end the episode with Jinshi carrying an unconscious Maomao to ~~heaven~~ the medical office.

So, we covered two chapters again - Chance or Something More and The Ritual. I think next week is also covering two episodes - the preview looked like it had scenes from Thornapple and Gaoshun.

TheGrimLich

@kuali said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

Jinshi's life has been saved. Maomao's injured twice. And Maomao's first words: "Master Jinshi... Can I have the ox bezoar now?" Which is... slightly more questionable on the priorities front!

I mean... it fits with her priorities...

Sekki

I must say ending of episode 19 is really good. So many subtle things in scene where Jinshi carries Maomao:

"monocled freak" being surprised by Jinshi because he did not expect him to be Emperors brother. He knew he was high ranking but not exactly who.
They way he figured it out was his yellow dragon on his robes. Only imperial family is permitted to wear yellow and dragon is their symbol.
Jinshi carriing Maomao made officials sweat because they did not interviene when guard hit her and now realizing that she is important to him. I mean brother of Emperor is carrying her. That is huge thing.

NekoInu

@kuali said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

Sneak

After 19 episodes, I can confirm that, yes, a lot happened.

Maomao: There's nothing fun here. I beg to differ!

Ox Bezoar Jinshi... may have motivated Maomao a little too much that time!

Teenage Girl vs Armed Guard. Teenage Girl chooses intimidate...
Thwack
Teenage girl chose poorly.

Say whatever else you like about Lakan The Monocle Man - he does not appreciate seeing his daughter attacked by the guard.

Maomao: First things first: Don't get beheaded. Can't argue with her priorities there!

Jinshi's life has been saved. Maomao's injured twice. And Maomao's first words: "Master Jinshi... Can I have the ox bezoar now?" Which is... slightly more questionable on the priorities front!

And then we end the episode with Jinshi carrying an unconscious Maomao to ~~heaven~~ the medical office.

So, we covered two chapters again - Chance or Something More and The Ritual. I think next week is also covering two episodes - the preview looked like it had scenes from Thornapple and Gaoshun.

The title of Episode 20 has been announced (in the preview) as “Thornapple.”

This was...ah...something else. Dear God....

NekoInu

@Sekki said in Apothecary Diaries anime - airing 2023:

I must say ending of episode 19 is really good. So many subtle things in scene where Jinshi carries Maomao:

"monocled freak" being surprised by Jinshi because he did not expect him to be Emperors brother. He knew he was high ranking but not exactly who.

They way he figured it out was his yellow dragon on his robes. Only imperial family is permitted to wear yellow and dragon is their symbol.

Jinshi carriing Maomao made officials sweat because they did not interviene when guard hit her and now realizing that she is important to him. I mean brother of Emperor is carrying her. That is huge thing.

Thx for info re. yellow/gold dragon. I haven’t read these books (yet...).

The amazing part of the final sequence, to me, is the progression in Jinshi’s expression. He begins by showing sadness that someone close to him is injured. He picks her up to carry her to someone who can help her (Luomen???).

Then we see him face-on as he descends the stairs. Lakan is staggered; I suppose both by Jinshi’s identity and by the enormity of what just happened (surely everyone, even outside the temple, could hear the collapse of the metal structure). Jinshi still appears sad, but concern is overtaking the sadness on his face.

Next, he has acquired a look of determination (straight-line mouth): I will find out who was responsible for this travesty.

Finally, he seems to be expressing the feeling of: Heads will roll for this. Whoever is responsible or knew about this, s/he/they will pay.

Whoa. The subtle changes by the animation crew were so amazing to me that I’ve now watched this episode twice, and will most likely go back for thirds or even fourths, just to watch his face change.

Plus: Maomao/Xiaomao is clearly concussed (duh) because she doesn’t know why Jinshi-sama is underneath her. But she holds her focus for the ox bezoar! More logistics: Oh, I need to stitch up my leg. Then she passes out after having saved his life and even after having been slammed with the big metal club.

Indeed, I think heads (yeah, plural) will roll.