Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Apothecary Diaries
|
Goto page Previous Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Covnam
 Posts: 3724 |
|
|||
True, but his overall goal was Maomao, so it makes me think that he would only bring up a courtesan from the same place as Maomao is to directly relate the two. I don't feel like he would bring up the courtesan, and then everything that happened to her if it wasn't in service of his goals. |
||||
|
||||
|
shosakukan
Posts: 298 |
|
|||
That is the Hakusyu sigillary script. Hyūga Natsu, the author of the Apothecary Diaries novel series, has said that Lì is roughly modelled upon Táng. The Táng period was an era when the sigillary script was revalued. (I interpreted the meaning of the '...because seal script wouldn't be used that way' thing as 'When hànzì were written on flags in ancient China, the script style of them was not the seal script' or something along those lines. Sorry if I have misunderstood the meaning of it.) This web page has a photograph of the Red Cliffs Ancient Battlefield in which there are flags. https://www.veltra.com/jp/asia/china/wuhan/a/160126 And, among those flags, there are a few flags on which the hànzì/kanji 周 for 周瑜 Zhōu Yú (a military general serving under the warlord Sūn Quán) was written in a sigillary script. You can find the hànzì/kanji 周 written in that sigillary script style in seal-script dictionaries such as Shinsen Tensho Jiten and Inten Kanju and in the famous ancient Chinese dictionary Shuōwén Jiězì. So even a historical park designated as a National Cultural Protection Unit and a National 5A-level Scenic Spot in China, which hànzì/kanji originated in, has flags on which a hànzì/kanji was written in the seal script. (The Battle of Red Cliffs took place during the End of the Dōnghàn dynasty, though.) Of course, if a Sinologist scrutinises the 'What kind of script was used when hànzì were written on flags in Period X in ancient China?' matter, the result may be different. But in cases of works such as an animated TV show which is based upon a so-called Narō novel and which is aimed at a mass audience, as a way to convey the feel of ancient China to the Japanese audience, to write a hànzì/kanji on flags in the sigillary script may be not so bad. Since Japanese people see three major kanji script styles (the regular script, the semi-cursive script, and the cursive script) with higher frequency than the sigillary script in modern-day daily life and, whilst the clerical script is an old script style, still it more or less resembles the regular script in comparison to the seal script, the anime staff may have thought that the sigillary script would convey the feel of ancient China to the Japanese audience more effectively than other four major hànzì/kanji script styles. If an average Japanese person sees the sigillary script in modern-day daily life, it would be things such as traditional stamps of which engraved kanji are in the sigillary script and the kanji on the cover of a Japanese passport. I have read a research article written by Dr Kuroda Yōko on the Nara-period documents preserved in the Shōsōin (the treasure house of the Tōdai-ji temple). According to Dr Kuroda, kanji in official documents were written in the regular script, and kanji in less formal papers were written in the semi-cursive script, the cursive script, and the clerical script. |
||||
|
||||
|
Minos_Kurumada
Posts: 1093 |
|
|||
|
Two things:
1- What does the Xio-Mao thing means? 2- Its just me or Jinshi has been kinda... useless in the latest episodes?... he has been in the "Notice me Maomao senpai" mode for the last 3 episodes or so and is kinda getting in my nerves. The plot itself knows this, so it upgraded Gaoshun to Jinshi's previous position and now he is the one making the calls because Jinshi is too busy trying to get into Maomao's field of view to do something useful. |
||||
|
||||
|
shosakukan
Posts: 298 |
|
|||
You mean a few persons' calling Maomao Xiǎo-māo? If so, in hànzì/kanji, Maomao is 猫猫, and Xiǎo-māo is 小猫. In cases like that, (in the Chinese language,) the hànzì/kanji 小 functions as a prefix which is added to the (family) name of the addressee and which suggests that the speaker has a friendly feeling toward the addressee, who is usually younger than the speaker. Since the basic meaning of hànzì/kanji 小 is 'small', 'Xiǎo-māo 小猫' can also mean 'kitty'. ('猫' means 'cat'.) In the Taiwanese edition (pub. by the Sharp Point Press) of the K-ON! 4-koma manga, in scenes where Student Character A calls Student Character B B-chan in the original Japanese edition, the '-chan' part was translated as 小, and it was written as 小 + B(the given name). In those cases, there is not an age difference between Student Character A and Student Character B, but still the hànzì/kanji 小 functions as a prefix which suggests that the speaker has a friendly feeling toward the addressee. |
||||
|
||||
Andrew Cunningham
 Posts: 453 Location: Seattle |
|
|||
Jinshi's spent the last few episodes locked in a battle of wits with Lakan, a man who's now hinting he knows who Jinshi really is. |
||||
|
||||
|
TJ_Kat
Posts: 370 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
|
|||
What's most likely in the keyhole is the secret alloy made from the materials in the chest. Yes, lead has a low melting point - for a metal - but that melting point is still over 300C. Sunlight through a fishbowl could never do that. I saw elsewhere that the crystal-like metal is most likely bismuth, and that the secret is the ratio of bismuth to lead to tin to make a solder with a melting temperature under 100C. TBH, I'm not sure metallurgical knowledge or situational objectivity were the keys to solving this, but rather Maomao's deductive reasoning skills and her sense of intuition. |
||||
|
||||
|
Thesarum
Posts: 426 |
|
|||
One obvious way to devalue a courtesan is to get her pregnant. I think we know Maomao's father figure is not her biological father (if for no other reason than he was working in the rear/inner palace before she was born if he was present at Jinshi's birth as we now believe he was, and would therefore be incapable of fathering a child her age... depending on how we're counting ages there might be a very narrow window if he was a recent hire at the time, but it seems unlikely... has Maomao herself confirmed this?). So I guess that invites the possibility Lakan is her father. Though while he threw out a "I considered forcing myself on her" when he was needling Jinshi, his character is more about scheming and less about direct violence, so it seems unlikely he took that route. Though I suppose another option for devaluing a courtesan is to for her to fall in love with you, and we've already been given an example of how the con might work if the courtesan herself is in on it. Maybe he can be smooth when he choses? He clearly enjoys annoying Jinshi, so we've only really got that side of him so far.... And that comment about sons being equal... was a pointed thing to say to Jinshi, no? Implying he knows something of Jinshi's secret identities. (We suspect he is, in fact, not the Emperor's brother, but he's possibly living a double life where he sorta is.) |
||||
|
||||
|
WatcherZer
Posts: 280 |
|
|||
Yeah my reaction was I dont think the light focus would have reached a high enough temperature to melt lead and it was probably Tin inside the lock. I dont think it would have been lead-solder as thats brittle and not strong enough to be used for the shear forces experienced by a key. The recipe was probably for White Metal which would have made good material for a metal worker to fashion. (could have been Pewter but thats dull rather than shiny and wouldn't be so good for jewellery) Unlikely to have been Bismuth (which is an element not an alloy) as the method for refining it wasnt created until the 20th century and its almost as rare as gold. |
||||
|
||||
|
Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11438 |
|
|||
|
I knew where this was going sorta when I realized Detective Conan used a similar scenario in episode 1025 - "Ooka Momiji's Challenge." With more murder, though...
|
||||
|
||||
|
MFrontier
Posts: 11933 |
|
|||
|
This was kind of a refreshing new kind of case for Maomao, no explicit poisoning (minus the lead poisoning they subtly hinted at) or overt violence or murder...just a father trying to impart a message to his sons in a very excessively convoluted manner.
Lakan really is stringing Jinshi (and indirectly) Maomao along. I think there was more to Maomao solving this case, and realizing the overall message regarding fathers and their children, than just helping the brothers come together as a family and business partners again. Oooh! Do I see a date out on the town with Maomao and Jinshi!? |
||||
|
||||
Shay Guy
 Posts: 2161 |
|
|||
|
Bismuth was the theory I saw too, which would make the alloy Rose's metal -- the proportions match the drawer sizes, too.
If anyone's curious, the English release of the LN translates the "Oh, how I wanted to try to force myself on her one day" line as "spoiler[Ah, what I wouldn't have given to take her to bed]". (Being extra-conservative with that tag.) I've currently got the volume out from the library. |
||||
|
||||
yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
|
|||
The inventor worked in the first half of the 1700s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentin_Rose_the_Elder Can't really tell what historical period appears in Apothecary Diaries. It could be the Ching dynasty, which would be contemporary with Rose's discovery. It doesn't look like the Ming or Tang dynasties which often appear as fantasy settings in other shows like Saiunkoku Monogatari or Juuni Kokuki. |
||||
|
||||
|
Nojay
Posts: 112 |
|
|||
Woods Metal is another candidate. It includes cadmium which is noticeably toxic. It melts at a lower temperature than Rose's Metal. Here's a YouTube link to someone impressioning a key and casting a replacement using Woods Metal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qxm5tbR2YU |
||||
|
||||
|
Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18262 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||
The manga version uses the wording "And I thought I'd like to some day have my way with her" for that scene, so the anime is more in line with the manga here. But in my observation, this wouldn't be unusual, since the anime has heavily used the manga version as a guide to how to depict scenes. (And I expect that will continue through the end of the season at least, since the end of this episode takes the story into the beginning of manga vol. 6, and 10 volumes are currently out in English.) |
||||
|
||||
|
TJ_Kat
Posts: 370 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
|
|||
While the melting point of Wood's metal is probably more realistic (I'm doubtful sunlight through a fishbowl would be capable of 100C either), there are only three drawers and according to the link Shay Guy provided, Wood's metal would need four. I think Rose's metal is still the most likely candidate. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group