Anime: Apothecary Diaries

For some reason, this show kind of sticks with me.  This is somewhat a recap, some speculation.  Note: this is for the anime.  i don't read manga or light novels.  Looking up some stuff from the source material kind of ruins some things about the series.  Some rabbit holes are better not jumped in.

i "bought season" 1 (part 1 and 2) for $8 on an Xbox sale - the blu-rays are $40+ each.  Also got the first cour of season 2(for too much $11).  Yes, i learned the terms cour and seinen.

Apothecary Diaries (thank you spell check) is a seinen anime about an apothecary named Maomao from the pleasure district (red light district) who was kidnapped after making a delivery to a brothel and sold to the imperial palace.  She tries to keep her head down and run out the clock on her two-year contract of servitude.  However, her curious nature gets her involved with the intrigue of court politics.  When she learns of an illness plaguing the emperor's offspring, she sends a warning message to the consorts who had recently given birth.  One consort took the message seriously and it saved her baby.  The other did not and lost the child (though it may have been too late anyway).  Maomao would later detoxify her from the same poison powder that killed her son.

Intrigued by the sender, the concubine Gyokuyou sends the manager of the Rear Garden (where the concubines and servants reside - free from non-eunuch males) Jinshi to find out who sent the message.  He vaguely remembers seeing Maomao wondering where to get something to write with.  He rounds up a bunch of servant girls and writes out that the girl with freckles should stay.  Caught, she admits to being literate and an apothecary.  This leads her to gaining a promotion as Gyokuyou's food taster.  A dream job for a connoisseur of poison such as herself. 

Jinshi is a schemer who wants to get his freedom from the emperor.  He sees awkward Maomao as a tool to be used to that end.  What he didn't expect is that she seemed to be immune from his charms.  Though, you know what they say about people who work close together. What follows is an attempted poisoning of a concubine and the unintended consequences of solving it.  There is always some form of power struggle, sometimes leading to murder.  

Maomao is briefly returned back to the Verdigris House (and elite brothel where she was raised until being adopted by her genius great-uncle doctor) after getting caught up in the aftermath of the poisoning.  She was sold by someone affiliated with the poisoner, so she was let go.  She owes the Verdigris house a substantial debt.  Jinshi gets despondent after losing his favorite "toy" and they meet again at a suspicious party where the Verdigris house courtesans were booked.  After the meeting he decides to buy her out and assign her to a two-year contract as her assistant.

This will be a decision that will save his life.  Maomao investigates a series of seemingly unrelated cases.  Turns out they were related in an attempt to kill Jinshi, who has undisclosed ties to the emperor.  Maomao burst into a ceremonial shrine and saves Jinshi right before he would be crushed by a heavy pillar.  She receives a leg injury requiring many stitches.  But Maomao won't let an injury get in her way of looking into the assassination attempt.

The first season ends with the reveal of her tactical genius father and his less than obvious reasons.  Turns out many of the things she was told about him were not exactly as they seemed.  He didn't abandon Maomao's mom (who turned to prostitution and contracted syphilis) and Maomao.  He didn't know she existed until it was too late.  It was her adopted father's mistake/scapegoating that cost the tactician the life he should have had with Maomao and Fengxian (her mother).  Maomao would have been raised a noble instead of a bit of a pariah (though the madam and three princesses were kind to her).

Now my views from watching the anime:

Maomao is a girl from lowly birth (being the child of a prostitute) and has a strong inferiority complex.  Growing up surrounded by elite beauties in a brothel and a genius doctor has caused a warped view of her own self-worth.  She is incredibly bright and can solve a wide array of problems (making potions, medical care of a concubine, sussing out a murder, growing plants out of season, and others).  Though she struggles a little in social situations and has a borderline twisted obsession with poisons.  She needs to learn how to control/channel her curiosity.  She is also far more attractive than she thinks she is even when wearing her artificial freckles - with her semi exotic hair and eyes (anime version).

Some of the "cases" she solves have inventive solutions and show some tactics that would have appeared ahead of their time.  There is always some form of intrigue and ill intentions going on.  Whether it is consort power struggles, attempted assassinations or conspiracies.

What is the end game?

If this follows expectations, Maomao and Jinshi will end up together (probably with offspring) However, the world she lives in is not kind.  My five thoughts of possibilities for the ending:

1) Maomao dies: executed, murdered, dies in childbirth, experiment gone wrong. 

She is privy to more court secrets than most.  She is also involved with Jinshi in solving cases - which could put her at odds with people plotting nefarious things.  Jinshi's past makes her a target by association.  No way power players don't start learning of her exploits.  Some may want to take control of her particular (and varied) talents.

i guess she could also die of less sinister causes.  In that era, childbirth was somewhat dangerous, especially with a small girl like her.  Experimenting with poison is playing with fire, she could get burned.

2) Maomao is named a low-ranking consort: in order to keep her silent, she is given a low-ranking, non-threatening position for life.  This keeps her open for solving further dilemmas.  Wonder if the brother of the emperor (or emperor's son) is allowed to take a concubine.  Would also give the elusive brother of the emperor a more grounded physical presence.

3) Maomao is gifted to someone as a wife/concubine that gets her out of the Imperial City.  Maybe the regent of a problematic territory.  Though the show lose a lot if Maomao left the palace.  Of those in the Imperial City, Basen or Lihaku, though both "love" other inaccessible women.  

3b) If Maomao goes back to the Verdigris house, her most value is not as a courtesan but as a wife (whether to a child of a noble, military, doctor, or merchant).  Wonder if the bidders on her mother would be interested in the daughter for their sons/grandsons or themselves.  Also wonder if her father eventually sees her as a chess piece to be used for his political benefit.

4) Super happy ending: Maomao and Jinshi are wed and move in with his mother Ah-Duo.  Maomao gets a mother figure and Ah-Duo gets grandchildren.  Xiaolan and Shisui become her attendants (last part won't happen)

5) Sad ending: Maomao goes to the Verdigris house and is kicked out because she doesn't bring in revenue.  She ends up on the streets where she is beaten and raped, she ends up dying a STD riddled street walker in the gutter.

Questions:

1) Is the Empress Dowager involved with a conspiracy?  She seemed to know ahead of time Maomao would be kidnapped (or at least foreshadowed it).  She has her share of trauma, and she seems to have an axe to grind.  Wonder if she is also connected with plots trying to kill Jinshi.  Afterall, she did kind of rape the last emperor to get pregnant - emotionally breaking him in the process.

2) When does the diary part kick in?  Has she been taking notes this whole time or remembers them later?  This is just Maomao recounting her life, right?  Is she recounting the story to her child/grandkids?  i know in the Japanese version, the narrator is Maomao's voice actor.

3) How good a living could Maomao make selling birth control and abortion drugs to all the pleasure district?  Now if she could get enough training to serve as a doctor too - would go a long way in an industry that doesn't fully trust men.  Though, maybe she should look for another base of operations (rather than the Verdigris house).

Hopefully they don't take this all feminist and say she can survive without a partner (man).

4) Who takes over the Verdigris house after Madam?  Seems like a role Maomao could do.  She has a decent knowledge of how the industry works.  Assume it will be one of the three princesses.

Maomao being in her position in the rear palace (knowing the consorts) and providing them training materials and supplies for nighttime activities was a genius move that could pay long term dividends (especially with the revolving door at Pure Consort).

5) Is Madam really Maomao's maternal grandmother?  That is a prevalent rumor i see that keeps coming up.  If that were true, who is Fengxian's father?  Some noble or a member of a previous court?

6) In the season one opening, is that a future Maomao hugging Maomao - if not who is it?