Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Apothecary Diaries
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1398 |
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It was contrived -- once Gaoshun realized that Maomao meant more than just a distraction to Jinshi, he arranged for the party to take place. His voiceover mentioned talking to that young soldier, no doubt to find the identity of the Verdigris, and who to hire from it, and to make sure Maomao was among the crew sent over. I don't know who the host was -- possibly Gaoshun himself (on the theory that Jinshi really is the swapped prince, so Gaoshun is possibly of great social standing himself) which would explain how Jinshi's clearly forced presence was arranged. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18274 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Agree with what dm said on this. Their meeting at the party didn't happen by chance. |
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Cryten
 Posts: 1045 |
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I am currently in lockdown mode on Apothecary Diaries so I am not reading others discussions at the moment, Apologies. But I want to indicate my thorough enjoyment of cour 1. And I am intrigued to see if Maomao has dealings with the inner court and her former mistress or is locked to the outer court and attending Jinshi. The possibilities abound and I feel certain I will investigate the source once the anime has run its course.
I adore this story, long may its leads continue to think and act cleverly while also understanding and learning about this world of restrictions of the imperial court. Banzai! |
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 372 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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I thought it explained that Maomao's assumed family were merchants, and since Fengming's family were also merchants in the same area it was quite likely they had done business with each other. Not that the assumed family worked FOR Fengming's family.
I think you read too much into that. I think it more likely that most of the eighty were also the daughters of merchant families sent to the inner palace to make connections with high society (and each other). It stands to reason that a capital would have a lot of merchants who do business with each other, and the surprisingly high number of connections spoke more to the ubiquitousness of Fengming's family's business dealings rather than to some human trafficking intrigues. Maybe I'm totally off, but that's what I got out of it. |
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Gamen
Posts: 249 |
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I like the new opening animation - whatever software they're using really glitches out during those five or ten frames of transition between each vignette when the parallax goes nuts. If you look at it frame-by-frame you can see the various parts both 2d and 3d losing cohesion. E.g. in the vignette of Maomao lecturing the four consorts, during the transition the four columns shift off their shadows painted on the floor, and with Lishu and Gyokuyou, the bottom half of the chair, the consort, and the top half are at different Z levels so during the transitions you can see Lishu/Gyokuyou begin to bisect their chair. And the podium/lectern is an actual 3D prop. Technically interesting, but I bet those are not details they intended to show off.
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 372 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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First Gyoukuyou and her ladies, now the big sisters at the brothel, everyone loves using Maomao as a dressup doll.
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Vs7
Posts: 37 |
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It's not that she actively doesn't want to be a court lady
Maomao just flunked the exams, since, as noted a little before, she's below average when it comes to memorizing things that don't hold her active interest |
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Azure Chrysanthemum
Posts: 124 |
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I imagine too it'd actually be pretty hard for Maomao to pass that exam since she's not formally educated. She grew up in the red light district and her deep knowledge of the world and medicine came from non-traditional "on the job" training at the feet of her father, very much a master/apprentice thing. Yeah she can read and write and all that, but she doesn't have all of the etiquette, study, and knowledge background a lady of "good breeding" would have had drilled into her for years if not decades before taking the test.
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Nojay
Posts: 112 |
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Jinshi overestimated Xiaomao. Would-be court officials in Imperial cultures as depicted in this series spend years in school learning/memorising all sorts of esoteric subjects to pass the examinations required to hold administrative positions in the system. Just dropping a bunch of books on a table and saying "you've got a week" wasn't going to give her time to assimilate the arcane knowledge of history, protocol, customs, poetry, philosophy etc. required of a would-be court official. Saying that I'm pretty sure that Jinshi could have rigged the tests or bribed the right people if he had really wanted to, and it's clear he has leverage with his drinking buddy, The Boss, who could simply issue an edict making our chaos gremlin a fully-fledged official in the rear palace if he asked for it. |
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2166 |
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Mind you, I checked the source material, and it's mentioned that the exam for court ladies isn't as hard as the one for civil servants, which I'd guess is the same sort of 1%-clear-rate exams seen in real-world Imperial China. (I don't have the light novel volume, but luckily the preview on Libby includes all of this episode's material.) This is also another case of the anime being more drawn-out and linear. The scenes of Maomao's trip back to the palace, being shown around, and meeting Suiren are all new (Suiren's first LN appearance is the "wish I could bottle Essence of Jinshi" scene). And the exam is first mentioned when we learn about Maomao failing it, right before the scene where the court ladies confront her -- which is why she's doing maid work there. The anime stretches out "Maomao is shit at studying" to end the episode on the beat of her flunking. I suppose they've got plenty of space, with a full cour per LN volume, but I'm not sure it's actually an improvement in storytelling. Though when it did the same thing back when Maomao started working for Gyokuyou in the Jade Pavilion, I did appreciate that it helped me learn the names of her other ladies-in-waiting. |
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Electric Wooloo
Posts: 311 |
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Ok, someone has to spoil me on the "hair underwear" thing
Just, why? Who? Was it Suiren to scare off aides she didn't see as good enough? The Administrative assistants out of jealousy? I highly doubt it was Jinshi himself but that scene took me by surprise Also, I'm aware that Maomao's name comes from the sound a cat makes But what does the Xiaomao nickname than Gaoshun gave her (and apparently has spread) mean? Is Xiao a diminutive in Chinese perhaps? |
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Azure Chrysanthemum
Posts: 124 |
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From what I recall in the manga Xiao means "little" so basically he calls her "Little Mao" or "Little cat" |
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Gamen
Posts: 249 |
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I think you're looking in the wrong direction; that was underwear made for a man. I.e. made for Jinshi by a lovestruck girl. |
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Ryujin99
 Posts: 194 |
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I'm pretty sure even Jinshi is aware, by now, that Maomao would absolutely hate to benefit from such obvious nepotism. |
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Nojay
Posts: 112 |
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That depends. What is it worth, in cash terms? There's probably a good salary attached to any sort of court position, and Maomao is greedy and Granny is always at her shoulder looking for her share. What Maomao doesn't want to do is to stand out, a very different thing. |
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