The Apothecary Diaries

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in the trash

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyHqh8ue4zw

Maomao, a young woman trained in the art of herbal medicine, is forced to work as a lowly servant in the inner palace. Though she yearns for life outside its perfumed halls, she isn't long for a life of drudgery! Using her wits to break a "curse" afflicting the imperial heirs, Maomao attracts the attentions of the handsome eunuch Jinshi and is promoted to attendant food taster. But Jinshi has other plans for the erstwhile apothecary, and soon Maomao is back to brewing potions and…solving mysteries?!

The anime is almost here so I thought I might as well make a thread for this series for discussion purposes.
 
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Watched all 3 episodes that were out and was not disappointed - I thought Maomao in particular was cast extremely well and the soundtrack was as gorgeous as the trailers made it seem. My one real complaint is that the OP just doesn't really seem to fit? It's not a bad song persay I just can't say it evokes the show very well.
 
Like with the source material this is a work where I'm 100% here for the protagonist. The setting is depressing, I don't care about court intrigue but damn am I here for a mad scientist catcat.
 
This reminds me somewhat of Raven of the Inner Palace, which perhaps shouldn't be surprising given the apparent influences on both series. Of course their are differences, such as the heroine of this series being an apothecary while the heroine of Raven of the Inner Palace is more of a spirit medium. Also I feel like this show is substantially more up front about some of the less savoury aspects of these types of settings (though its been a while since I watched Raven of the Inner Palace so some things might have slipped my mind).
 
I'm on the manga and I'll mention I absolutely love this series.

This reminds me somewhat of Raven of the Inner Palace, which perhaps shouldn't be surprising given the apparent influences on both series. Of course their are differences, such as the heroine of this series being an apothecary while the heroine of Raven of the Inner Palace is more of a spirit medium. Also I feel like this show is substantially more up front about some of the less savoury aspects of these types of settings (though its been a while since I watched Raven of the Inner Palace so some things might have slipped my mind).

Yes, they both have similarities in being 'royal court detectivework shows.'

And yes, Apothecary diaries is quite up front about that- MaoMao is a very practical girl who grew up in the pleasure districts.
 
I've been looking forward to this show, and so far I've been very happy with it. A good and faithful presentation of the source material. Noticed that they went ahead and showed the kidnapping at the start instead of doing it in a flashback, which I think is a good choice for the medium.

I particularly enjoyed the third episode. I've always felt that story was a good example of something that keeps on showing up in this show. The powerlessness of women in this very patriarchal society, and yet within those restrictions women still have plans and dreams that they daringly manage to chase after. Women are constrained and confined, but they are not dolls, they are still very real living people with their own ambitions and will. The story of the the Cotton Rose is in many ways a beautiful love story.

While Apothecary Diaries has the framework of a detective show, in many ways it's a look at how women bloom or wither under different conditions. The symbolism of flowers for women is pretty blatant.

Watched all 3 episodes that were out and was not disappointed - I thought Maomao in particular was cast extremely well and the soundtrack was as gorgeous as the trailers made it seem. My one real complaint is that the OP just doesn't really seem to fit? It's not a bad song persay I just can't say it evokes the show very well.

I find I kind of like it. It starts off with images of flowers and other things that are obviously references to Maomao's apothecary background, but then changes to what feels to me like a dance showing Maomao's blossoming into a young woman with her own love story and ambitions.

Maomao is introduced to us as a rather passive character, with only flashes of defiance against the fate she has been given. Yet, we start to realize as the story goes on that she's actually rather fierce and independent. So I thought the changes in her outfit and dance rather fitting of where this story is going. Though I do wonder if the first season will really get that far.
 
Went into the show blind when it started airing.
Currently my fav of this season.
Maomao is so adorable and clever.
 
Honestly in my top three for this season. Also, I'm surprised that it isn't an isekai. I feel like "person has an expertise or knowledge on a very specific subject, gets reincarnated, and uses it to make a name from young age," is such a cliche that I was still expecting it. Didn't help that Tenten Kakumei was a very painfully forced example of that trope (Anis could very easily have been not an isekai'd person).
 
Honestly in my top three for this season. Also, I'm surprised that it isn't an isekai. I feel like "person has an expertise or knowledge on a very specific subject, gets reincarnated, and uses it to make a name from young age," is such a cliche that I was still expecting it. Didn't help that Tenten Kakumei was a very painfully forced example of that trope (Anis could very easily have been not an isekai'd person).

It helps that it actually predates isekai becoming popular (2011). The deluge of copycats didn't really start until after 2014-2015, I think.
 
I started reading the manga but stopped pretty early on—something about it failed to reach me. A friend of mine convinced me to pick up the anime and I've been really enjoying it so far.

I really appreciate how the show doesn't shy away from brining up the less beautiful aspects of court life without demonizing the sex workers themselves. I also like how down to earth and skeptical Maomao is of the intentions of nobility (particularly male nobility, it seems) after how she grew up near the pleasure district.
 
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Maomao's perdicament is that by taking the compassionate route, she is now forever bound in service. She is far too valuable to let go and keeping silent would have gotten her freedom in just a handful of years.
 
Hmm as someone who started with WN I will say I may not agree with a lot of decision LN (and subsequent media) take. I think Jinshi is very pushy in this version (I might not be the target audience for this kind of stuff so I fully understand it is up to individual preference. Though to be fair WN version of romance is extremely slow burn, but I do think it is worth it when it happen.

Major LN and WN spoiler
I am also kinda sad that they are less willing to kill off major character like in WN. While Fengxian surviving is done relatively well, Loulan survival kinda make that arc as impactful as it could be. In WN it really hammer down how fucked you truly are if your game of political machination failed.

On another note


View: https://x.com/MangaVizie/status/1816075446687080591
The Apothecary Diaries manga artist Nekokurage has been sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspension for 3 years and a 11 million yen fine for tax evasion.

But there are NO plans to discontinue the manga according to an Official Square Enix statement to IT Media.
10 month of prison and 3 years of suspension for Nekokurage.

Apparently this mean that if they did not commit another crime for three year then they don't need to go to prison. So I guess no artist change needed if they do not commit any more crime.

Apparently it get this bad since publisher keep reminding them to do their tax, but for some reason they never did. As well as apparently doing stuff like buying real estate during this time.
 
As well as apparently doing stuff like buying real estate during this time.
Yeah, that'd do it. As someone currently pursuing higher Tax Practices Certification, I will say that most tax officials are way too busy to come after most tax truants. But you do things like purchasing a home, and have a really bad tax reporting records, then you draw the tax officials' gazes as well as hand them a slam dunk case with a decent payoff. Every law officials love those.
 
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