The Apothecary Diaries

Damn, two LN series I like got adaptations this season and both, unironically, adapted too slow for my taste. It's not like I am dissatisfied with the pacing, more like I am concerned there they'll end the anime as there is no guarantee of the sequel.

The thing is that final of LN vol. 1 would have been ideal place to finish the season. Final of vol. 4 is even better place and I hoped they will do it with 24 episodes. But they adapted 18 chapters of vol. 1 out of 32 (with epiloge) so far. So high chance we'll get just 2 LN volumes adapted. If we'll get S2 after - great, if not - it is a real pity.

As for the episode itself, it was a perfect adaptation so far. They really nailed the "It's poison" scene.

Edited by Nachtwandler on Nov 11th 2023 at 6:55:46 AM

I'm pretty sure the latest scene we've seen in the promo material is Maomao dancing on the walls of the palace, which is from the epilogue of book 2.

Anichart has this run down at 24 episodes, at least. If it does well I would expect another cour of 24 ending at the end of book 4.

Oh baby, that “This is poison” scene can strike you down to your core. Maomao sports some fierce expressions this episode and I’m all for it.

Also neat seeing the accepted medical knowledge at the time. No cure for anaphylaxis, and emetics were used for poisons.

Yep, but I hoped they have a plan how to put 4 volumes in 24 eps.

Don't get me wrong, as I said, the pacing is perfect. But I feel bad for anime only viewers as they will not see the actual ending to the first story arc. Volume 2 ending is good but the actual plot only starts by that point and it is not as good as a stopping point comparing to vol. 1 and vol. 4 endings. And the manga have not covered it also yet.

Judging by the comments people got Mao Maos "dad" last comment wrong. It does hint some spoilers but things are quite different from what most people are guessing.

But the scenes with Lihaku and with Gyokuyo teasing Jinshi were gold.

Now I think they will cover vol. 1 of L Ns in 3 more episodes. Which is a bit odd as I think 14 is to much for vol. 2 even if it is a bit longer. But we'll see.

This episode was more of a breather. We will see another standalone case next week and then the actual conclusion to the poisoning case + epilogue will probably take 2 more.

Edited by Nachtwandler on Nov 18th 2023 at 12:39:15 PM

Episode 7: Negotiations were successful. Maomao managed to go home for a spell by bribing Gaoshun with a date in a high-class brothel haha.

Poor Lihaku has no idea what he's just signed up for. Well, maybe he has some idea.

I almost expected the animators to go all the way and give Lihaku mouse ears just to clearly establish what the power dynamics are in this duo.

Lihaku is a big dog, though.

Oh, he perfectly knows what he signed for. He and Pairin are made for each other.

It was not Gaoshun, though. Mao Mao will try to bring him later but he denied for the very different reason than you may think of.

Edited by Nachtwandler on Nov 19th 2023 at 5:03:34 AM

Oops, I got the names wrong. I was talking about Lihaku.

Luomen seemed weirdly chill for someone whose daughter had disappeared for 10 months.

The episode was pretty funny though. Just the implication that this is how the old lady "helped" Maomao to throw up.

Maomao was weirdly chill about getting kidnapped too. It just runs in the blood I guess.

Edited by fillerdude on Nov 19th 2023 at 2:48:50 AM

While the new episode was mainly a standalone case, there were some hints for future events. And the final scene was comedy gold again, poor Jinshi.

Next time we'll get back to minor standalone cases before our big mystery with poisoning on the Garden Party for the volume final.

Edited by Nachtwandler on Nov 25th 2023 at 6:13:55 AM

Episode 8: Sherlock’s always gotta have a Mycroft. There’s a reason Maomao is so good at what she does. She was trained well.

It was cool to see Maomao do emergency first aid. It’s not how resuscitation is done nowadays, but it’s historically accurate.

Gyokuyou was my mood at the end of the episode. Jinshi broke down hahaha.

Right now, I'd call Maomao Sherlock House — which is fitting, as House took lots of inspiration from the Great Detective.

9. Sometimes you have to wonder how the palace survived before it got a super apothecary to figure out everything for them. Super cool of Maomao to call out the inherent power imbalance between her and Jinshi even if he is treating her well.

Minor spoiler but they had her "dad" before he was exiled for the thing that will be cleared at the end of this arc. And the previous harem doctor was at least competent in his main work.

I don't know why they decided to spoil who poisoned Lishu this episode, in L Ns the author kept the mistery till a bit later. At least the viewers still don't know the motivation for it.

Maomao’s noise when she heard Jinshi might set the legal drinking age at 20

Anyway, I rather like how a lot of the mysteries in those show don’t get clear answers. The dead servant is heavily suggested to have not been suicidal, and it stands to reason someone wanted to silence her. Which lends more gravity to what Maomao mentioned this episode about commoners.

Also, yes, that doctor is a quack if he can’t even look at corpses.

Kounen dying from a salt overdose was also a bit of a stretch. The alcohol poisoning would have been more believable honestly haha.

Why do you find it that unrealistic. Salt overdose was actually a pretty known form of execution in Asia. If you consume to much salt you just risk to burn your utensils as it soaks the liquid. Of course it used even more salt, but here it was combined with strong alcohol (which also dries the organism despite being liquid itself) and salt being added in lower amount to his previous drinks.

How dark is this? I've heard good things about it but I haven't read the manga or light novels myself and I saw something about the plot starting because the lead was bought and mentions of dead babies. I can handle dark stuff but it's not something I prefer.

As dark as the fiction inspired by real life 16-17th century China Emperors court may be. It is not a gorefest if you ask about it. Some dark things are mentioned but rarelly shown explicitely. It's mostly a detective series with medical theme and it has a lot of comedic bits (especially in the anime).

If the salt was mixed with the alcohol, you would sooner hit the threshold for alcohol poisoning compared to salt overdose. I’ll admit I’m probably just hypersensitive to it as a health practitioner, though.

About as dark as any medical drama I’d say. There’s going to be corpses and poisoning and other nasty business, but it’s not persistently on the forefront.

Edited by fillerdude on Dec 2nd 2023 at 8:39:20 AM

It helps that Maomao has a very… detached view on all the fucked-up shenanigans of the court.

Just a couple of points regarding new episode:

1. Keep in mind, the current emperors firstborn was a boy.

2. While it may sound like he and emperors brother were born the same year as Mao Mao, it was about a year earlier.

I cannot say more without spoilers. It is a great adaptation so far. Was good to see Ah-Duo in all her glory even for a bit. Now another weekly wait...

Edited by Nachtwandler on Dec 10th 2023 at 5:03:47 AM

Episode 10 has an interesting, honey-themed mystery, but I find myself pulled more towards a couple of points:

• As expected, Maomao’s dad used to work in the rear palace, and was in fact the previous doctor. Maomao’s basically just continuing his legacy haha.
• The real juicy part of the episode is Ah-Duo being heavily hinted to be Jinshi’s mother. They said her baby was gone, but I suspect the current emperor’s little brother was the one who actually died and they were swapped, and it was this turn of events that led to Luomen’s expulsion.

As for the present mystery, I think Fengming is being clearly painted as the culprit and Maomao probably guessed her motivations spot on. There are toxic kinds of honey so Fengming had a means of procuring a poison.

Edited by fillerdude on Dec 10th 2023 at 4:57:20 AM