Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Apothecary Diaries
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NeedMoreCats
 Subscriber Posts: 325 Location: Westchester, NY |
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The novels are great! They’re very well written, I highly recommend them. |
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Leviathonlx1
Posts: 201 |
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Also helps it's just a good adaptation. Plenty of anime that did 3-4 LN's in 12 episodes could have easily done only 1. |
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Cryten
 Posts: 1043 |
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2 questions: The head oranaments Maomao is wearing appear on par with the ones the upper concubines are wearing, even outshining the ornaments of the head courtesan of Vergidis House. Is there significance to this or am I over thinking it? It just seems a lot for a poor lesser courtesan.
Probably answered elsewhere but I have wanted to avoid any future info that might crop up and not read the talkback: why does Maomao wear a green uniform that no one else wears? She wore orange for the regular washing staff but did not match her ladies in waiting uniform but other taste testers in her position matched their ladies colours. And since Apothecary was not an official position it does not seem to be that. Is it just a main character uniform to easily make visible? |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9880 Location: Virginia |
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@Cryten
The scene where Jinshi comes to pick up Maomao is anime original. In the anime Meimei does say they fixed her up. The head jewelry is likely the best available from her "big sisters" and is the best Verdigris House has. She doesn't keep it. In the first episodes Maomao was wearing the uniform of the washing crew because she was a member of that group. Ladies in waiting did not have a uniform as such, just what ever the consort gave them. They did dress her up to match the other ladies in waiting at the garden party. The same with her current employment with Jinshi, no specific uniform just what she is given. You are likely right that the unique colors are to indicate main character status. The source novels do not go into specifics about her clothing. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18267 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Have to disagree on this point. The Apothecary Diaries can only get away with this because a) the anime pads things out and b) it's an extremely detail-focused storytelling approach. Of the two other cases in the last couple of years that I can think of where a series even came close to accomplishing one LN = one season, the first cour of 86 did it by using short stories from a later novel and a bit of out-of-order content from the second novel to pad out to 11 episodes, while the second cour of DanMachi s4 adapted an LN that was double the length of a normal LN (i.e., over 400 pages). And there are some LNs you definitely wouldn't want to adapt at a slow pace. I've been listening to the Saga of Tanya the Evil novels on audiobook, and I praise the anime's production staff for not painstakingly adapting that series; it would have been boring as hell to watch.
Oh, it definitely was too much, which is part of why Maomao was a little perturbed by it. Her "sisters" were giving her nearly the degree of send-off that one of them might have been expected to get, partly because Maomao is that precious to them and partly, I think, because it amused them to do so. (As someone else mentioned, Maomao being everyone's favorite dress-up doll is one of the series' running gags.) |
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Shay Guy
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You know, I was actually thinking of your earlier comments with regard to this sequence.  Even in the anime version, though, which does greatly draw it out, I still think the takeaway is meant to be “Like Jinshi said in the last episode, she looks like an entirely different person with a change in makeup and wardrobe, and today three of the top courtesans of their generation went all-out with her”. That is, less “Maomao is actually beautiful” and more “the impression Maomao gives off is highly variable”. I’m about as far as you can get from a beauty expert, mind you, so I don’t know how much sense that makes.
I also wouldn't necessarily describe the intent of Maomao's characterization as "not into silly things", given that even this very episode gives us the whole "please stop manically giggling over the caterpillar fungus" bit. :p And there's definitely a material character shortcoming in her eccentricities; if she could get her rear in gear and pass the exam, it'd mean more money to send home to Pa, which is something important to her.
I wouldn't go that far -- it'd be a big, big deal for one of the Three Princesses to have their contract bought out. That'd be an Event. I get the impression any courtesan getting bought out would be dressed up for the occasion, but yeah, not normally to that extent. We don't really have a typical case for comparison. |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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I guess we have different interpretations of the scene. You've read the LN (like most everyone here) so I'm sure your interpretation is colored by how the scene plays out there, how Maomao is described in general, etc. But I only have the anime to go by. Also, in this particular episode, there are random passers-by actually going "wow, they had such a beauty here" or something along those lines, so clearly it's not just that she looks different, she is supposed to be beautiful. It might not be how it is in the LN, but everything in the anime is saying that to me.
I meant "silly things" as in "silly girly things" like hot guys and whatnot. At least in the anime she's a really typical case of the kind of main character who the reader is meant to identify with because like her, Maomao is also not "not an average girl" and "not one of the popular pretty/girly girls" but a weirdo who is into strange things and is the only one not interested in boys and romance and whatnot... I'm sure you get what I mean.  (I also didn't love how in this episode we had the usual Jealous Girl Posse descending on her only for her to prove her superiority to them... anyway. Again, if someone likes that trope more power to them, personally I really don't like it.) But to reiterate, all this is not to say that the show is bad or that Maomao is a bad character. It's just something I'm bothered a bit by because otherwise I like the show.
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Cryten
Posts: 1043 |
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Thanks for the info. So was there any appreciation for Maomao being dolled up in the novel? Or straight to the new world of the outer court?
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9880 Location: Virginia |
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@SHD
Maomao is not beautiful, but she is not ugly either. She is a normal attractive young woman in her late teens. If she were ugly she wouldn't need to use make-up to downgrade her appearance. Since we see her going from make-up to make her look plain to make-up to enhance her looks, the difference is bound to be dramatic. I think you are also missing just how much full face make-up can accomplish. What her "big sisters" did when they dolled her up was probably similar to what was done for "glamour shots" that were popular some years back. To the extent that a woman's figure is factored into ideas of beauty, she has nothing going for her there. @Cryten It wasn't mentioned at all. As Key notes the anime has a bit of padding. The prologue has the scenes with Jinshi and the Emperor, Maomao and Meimei and Maomao and her adopted father. Chapter one skips to her stating "I was under the distinct impression that I would be going back to the rear palace". Note: the remark about the cotton dress is in contrast to the crude hemp dress she had been allotted as a maid in the rear palace. |
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Shay Guy
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Well, not here. More on that after next episode. |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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So my reply to ShayGuy I posted yesterday was apparently approved just now (difficult to have a conversation like this) but anyway, as I said in my reply to them, our interpretations of this are affected by you being familiar with the LN and me having only the anime to go by. I'm sure that in the LN Maomao herself, as well as the scene(s) in question are described in more detail, with more direction as to how things are supposed to be interpreted, and there it's made clear that she's not a great beauty. But in the anime both "Maomao gets put into fancy dress and make-up" scenes so far have communicated that she's actually really pretty, let alone being dolled up like that. I guess this is yet another example of how visuals and music (and lack of narration) can affect a scene. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Again, I'm not saying this makes her or the show bad, it just bothers me because it's a small irritation with something I'm otherwise enjoying. |
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Shay Guy
Posts: 2166 |
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No argument here.
I started with the manga and only really picked up the LN with #3, when I ran out of manga volumes out, but your point stands.
As for the matter of what the anime itself is communicating… eh, I get what you're saying, but I'm still not sure I can agree. Like, sure, the visuals can convey "these men are reacting to a stunningly beautiful young woman", but whether the "stunningly beautiful" part is an inherent aspect of her that's more apparent than usual vs. a specific product of the circumstances and how someone else has dressed her up? That seems like more a question of the story's own logic, and how it sees beauty in general. The Apothecary Diaries has already had a few bits like the exchange at the party in episode 12 that make me think its view lies more on the side of "it's not inherent, it's about presentation". ("Do people tell you that makeup changes you considerably?" "I do get that a lot.") Or the Crystal Pavilion ladies not recognizing Maomao at the garden party. And, yeah, I'll admit later stuff in the story is shaping my take -- ranging from something that should be in tomorrow's episode, to something way down the line in LN4.
Fair enough. I think there might be a few things mitigating this for me, like how Maomao seems quite fond of Xiaolan, who very much is the regular girl who likes gossiping about that gorgeous eunuch she's heard about. Or how Lishu, another certified Normal Girl in that regard, is as sympathetic a character as she is. But yeah, the contrast between Maomao and Jinshi's fangirls does get more focus, and it does do the usual romance beat of "the one girl unaffected by my charms, how interesting". (Maomao and Jinshi's dynamic, of course, is at its best when she's giving him headaches. Or talking about how she gave Lihaku a night of blissful dreams.)
Eh, maybe a little more ungenerous than I'd be? I haven't had so much exposure to the cliche, but "prove her superiority" is interesting phrasing, since she doesn't get out of it by asserting dominance but by demonstrating submission -- talking about herself as a chicken bone compared to the boar meat and abalones others offer, and showing her left arm to play up the idea of herself as a pity hire. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9880 Location: Virginia |
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@Shay Guy
You are right, that final scene was mentioned. A chapter and a half into the second volume. Not so much a flashback as part of Maomao's interior dialog. @SHD I'm not sure just what it is you want Maomao to be. You do realize don't you, that there is a large continuum between plain and naturally beautiful? With her freckles she is intentionally plain. With out them she is a normal young woman, cute or attractive not beautiful. To qualify as beautiful such as the upper consorts do she would need a different figure and a lot less make-up. I don't feel reading the source material has caused any different view. The opening of the first cour is pretty consistent with my mental image of her in her two states, plain from day to day and pretty when she wants to be. |
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Azure Chrysanthemum
Posts: 124 |
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The "is Maomao beautiful" conversation is super interesting to me since I think Apothecary Diaries gets to the core of the dirty little secret of feminine beauty - it's extremely subjective and it can usually be achieved with money. People who have the time and money to do all the extra things are the ones who tend to be regarded as beautiful. Figure is of course a big factor too but that tends to also go hand in hand since money means better diet and more leisure to take care of yourself if you choose. Maomao isn't particularly busty but she's very petite and slender, there are so many ways to make that work for you if you have the time and resources. Xiaolan in the manga is mentioned to be cute with a bit of a babyface which is also very workable. The biggest impediment in traditional feminine beauty is weight since some people will naturally have heavier frames (there are definitely some conditions like PCOS that can make your bodies predisposed to less conventionally attractive frames), and even that can be worked around with the right clothing and makeup.
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T3rmidor
Posts: 65 |
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Really liked the opening sequence of the new episode, very good visual storytelling with the new concubine.
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