Apothecary Diaries’ main character - Maomao
- is one of those singularly incredibly charming tour-de-force protagonists who are the soul
and embodiment of their series. She is in that Lelouch, Yang Wen-Li, space
where you could drop this character wholesale into any setting, any plot and I’m convinced
that they would still work and thrive purely off of charisma which is pretty incredible
given that Apothecary Diaries’ entire world is built to make Maomao shine. Maomao is a brilliant eccentric operating
in a fo-historical China with all of its requisite court intrigue who is simultaneously able
to act in concert with the palace etiquette while never losing herself in it - solving
mysteries with her apothecary talents all the while. But the thing that has me in love with Apothecary
Diaries is how it explores systems of power, not from the usual anime perspective of characters
attempting to overthrow an unfair status quo, or reign over it, becoming the hierarchy themselves
- but how characters who are not in control, operate in this world. There is plenty of other stuff to enjoy too
- I can’t imagine being as excited for a new episode every week without its subtle
animation brilliances and perfect comedic timing and we’ll get there - but for me,
I cannot pull my eyes away when watching Maomao operating in this world. It doesn’t take long for Maomao’s lack
of power to be on display, minutes into the first episode she is kidnapped by 3 men who
sell her to the imperial palace, taking part of her paycheck for the years of service she
now has to perform as a low-ranking handmaiden. And Maomao’s reaction to this grave injustice
is not to bemoan her fate or plan an escape - but rather to keep her head down and get
through the three years without drawing attention to herself. Literally, moments after being captured she
gives a weary sigh, like an old man finding out they’re out of their favorite snack
- she describes it as an annoyance. This is a character who is aware of the systems
of power, she is a realist and recognizes that as a young female commoner in a world
with an emperor, she is the bottom of the totem pole. And even in the rear palace which is for the
many concubines that the emperor has taken - there’s an internal power structure here
too, with the concubines tier listed directly in relation to their favor from the Emperor
- and their ladies in waiting falling under the them - and eventually getting to Maomao
as a handmaiden who is pretending she cannot read - and we’ll chat about that in a moment
- effectively the lowest ranked person in the rear palace hierarchy. But the story isn’t interesting if she doesn’t
have to interact with high status folks, so Maomao’s stay out of sight plan falls apart
as she’s both a touch too brilliant and too good of a person to ignore people whose
health is at risk, eventually becoming one of the top 4 concubines lady in waiting. And that brings us to the fun bits, because
Maomao is at her absolute best when she is manipulating the palace structure to her benefit. My absolute favorite example of it is when
Maomao uses a bunch of her contacts both inside the palace and at one of the top-tier brothels
that she assisted with back home, to convince a soldier to take her home for a few days
- playing an information battle where he believes she has other higher ranking officials who
she can offer her letters of introduction to instead. Match that up with some of the best sound
editing you’ll hear all year - and that’s how Apothecary can get yah howling with laughter. Maomao often takes advantage of her role to
acquire things she otherwise cannot have - drinks and aphrodisiacs for two - because at the
end of the day she is obsessed with drugs and poison and any chance to partake is a
good one for her. But for the most part, Maomao’s lack of
power helps to inform us about her character. There’s this really powerful scene where
she is explaining why she actively makes herself less attractive - freckles are considered
a negative in this society - and it’s because living in a red-light
district, there’s always the chance that she could be jumped by some unsatisfied and
diseased brothel customer. The visuals are as clear as they can be in
this scene, a large foot crushing flowers under heel. This is a world where a young woman like her
gets street smart fast, or pays the price. When talking about how she was forced into
service, she monologues about how she lied about her ability to read so that her captors
wouldn’t get more money - even though that means she’s on laundry duty. Staying out of sight means that she isn’t
at risk of being beheaded by a noble simply because of the smallest mistake. Maomao develops a good relationship with Jinshi,
the master of the rear palace and the foreshadowing could not be heavier in regard to his real
position (I assume I’m not a source reader), and yet she never mistakes their places in
the hierarchy for a second, telling him in a scene prefaced by an overwhelming blood
red, that she is a commoner whose life can be taken away in a second and that he is the
one would give the order. Is it any wonder why Maomao is a realist,
who seems to expect the worst of people in power, who can only sigh when someone places
their will above her own? I keep coming back to Episode 4 of the show
because Maomao’s life is literally on the line if she cannot bring one of the top ranked
4 concubines, Lihua, back to health on orders from the Emperor - and yet when faced with
her ladies in waiting bullying her and refusing to let her work - she accepts that. She simply remakes the food only to be kicked
out again, even thinking to herself at this rate she’ll be beheaded. It isn’t until Jinshi gives her some of
his authority that she’s able to get in the room and deduce the problem. One could point to the following scene, where
Maomao smacks the handmaiden who knowingly was poisoning Lihua and drags her around in
an impressively animated and storyboarded sequence as textual evidence of her utilization
of force - wordlessly approved by with Jinshi’s borrowed authority in the room - to save her
own life by making the point crystal clear. You can also read it as Maomao’s belief
in justice, her desire to save people and her frustration with intentional ignorance,
since Jinshi had ordered all of this poisonous make-up removed from the palace. I think in some ways it’s both, it’s not
like Maomao had foregone trying to figure out a way to have Lihua’s handmaidens let
her in the room - Jinshi just happened to offer himself to her before she had to figure
something else out. There is obviously some element of Maomao’s
backstory in play here as well - flashbacks to an annex in the brothel are littered throughout
the show so far - which might also explain the less than calculated rage she goes into. You might say that I’m off-base, Apothecary
Diaries is not really focused on power - but I’d argue it isn’t even just Maomao. Episode 3 points out the inherent powerlessness
of even the highest ranked concubines - when concubine Fuyou leaves the palace (and you
can check my short about the direction here) by being sent off as a reward for a soldier
- something that we are left to intuit she wanted by intentionally avoiding the emperor’s
gaze - Gyokuyou, one of the top 4 concubines, says that she’s envious of Fuyou, presumably
getting to be with the one she loves. We don’t know this for certain at this point,
but Gyokuyou probably had no choice but to become the emperor’s concubine - and even
if I’m wrong, we’re all but told explicitly that’s the case for Fuyou - so in regard
to these decisions of partnership, they have no autonomy. We never see them leave the palace, they might
as well be prisoners in this garden. Gyokuyou’s power - as little of it as actually
exists - only exists because of the Emperor’s authority, and he is clear to assert that
by telling Maomao to save Lihua in front of Gyokuyou - giving orders to her lady in waiting. Episode 10 also makes clear how the internal
politics between the consorts is so fraught - Lihua talks about “trying to beat Gyokyou”
in Episode 4 Gyokuyou invites Lishu over for tea and the
whole event is purely to acquire information in a political battle. Maomao suspects that one of the concubines
ladies in waiting is attempting to kill one of the top 4 so that her master isn’t expelled
from the palace. It’s so baked into the world that we don’t
even think about it - or we wouldn’t if not for Maomao directly comparing the inner
palace and the red-light district as “cages” that poison everyone around in them - trapping
them. The small petty power struggles between ladies
in waiting of the high ranking concubines, and the slightly more significant struggles
between their masters are the same as the status of being a top tier woman in one of
the brothels. Because - whether you are a top 4 concubine
or one of the 3 heavenly ladies - when listening to Maomao’s reasoning, both lack freedom
to choose which seems to be the true power – like this visual of the courtesan trapped
in slowly closing bars that compress her space, and looking out at free flying birds doesn’t
leave a lot to the imagination - and then she explicitly gets referred to as merchandise. Apothecary is filled with great directional
moments like this - it even comes through in the mystery writing with foreshadowing. During the Garden Party we see Lishu third,
so that we are hinted at the trend-line where concubines and their escorts match in similar
colors, and then she comes in shattering that trend before returning to standard with the
final of the top 4. This becomes foundational evidence in Maomao’s
deduction regarding a poisoning, which happens because - presumably - there’s a power struggle
even between the top ranked consorts, and - as a small tangent - Lishu is bullied by
her handmaidens because she is too young to realize that she’s being fed bad advice,
and those individuals feel empowered by a society that tells women not to remarry, even
though Lishu was taken as a literal child by the emperor’s father. The critiques of this society and its power
systems are so obvious that the show doesn’t even need the feel to point them out beyond
just the pure statement of facts. Anyway I mention the bullying because it leads
to Lishu, who has an allergy to fish, being forced to eat it when her food tester swaps
her bowl for one with it. The issue is that she cannot say anything
in front of the emperor as this is his favorite dish, and not finishing it would be a quick
way into his bad graces, and he is the embodiment of power, therefore Lishu has to harm herself. Even the mysteries are built around these
power dynamics and I find it nice because, for me, otherwise the mysteries are bunch
of “what evidence will Maomao know that the audience doesn’t” like in the 1st
and 2nd mystery, or “how will Maomao discover what the audience already knows” like in
Episode 9’s first mystery. So it’s been nice to see how these mysteries
both build our knowledge of the cast - like how Episode 4 develops a different side of
Lihua - and the structure of this society and world, and how those elements further
influence our characters. On the off chance that you’re still watching
this video, despite not being convinced by my argument - hey I really appreciate that
- and now I’m going kinda just gush for a little bit about a bunch of other stuff
that I like about this show because Apothecary is a special kinda story.For starters, the
production is outstanding. I really love the way Apothecary Diaries handles
its lighting and coloring, it’s a rich palette with dramatic shadows to highlight characters
and tension, while still always showing off the opulence of the rear palace. And the shot sequencing is great, mixing up
angles and timing to build to satisfying conclusions or maximizing a comedic bit, which is understating
because I don’t think I’ve laughed harder with a show all year. Maomao becomes Meowmeow at the drop of a hat,
gets thrown out of a palace like a cartoon character, tingles with excitement at the
idea of consuming poison - this little gremlin is far and away my favorite character in years,
and if she yells [Cassti - “WITH THESE HANDS”] she’ll become my number one apothecary in
fiction. The shift in art style when it does happen
always feels perfect - playing up Jinshi’s shock at a misunderstanding by counterposing
the slow-mo drop of a cup with the childish drawing had me crying laughing about as much
as Gyokuyou. There is this great balance of Maomao who
is hyper competent and wicked smaht, but also over confident and who makes assumptions that
result in hilarious consequences. The small touches in animation are incredible,
we already mentioned e4, and these character designs, I mean there’s a reason the ladies
in waiting lose their minds over Jinshi. The sound ain’t no slouch either, there’s
been a lot of hullabaloo made about Kevin Penkin, Satoru Kousaki, and Arisa Okehazama
all being attached to this project and I’ll be the first to tell you that the instrumentation
and soundtrack usage has been great - but I have to shout out the sound editing, every
sound effect feels perfect, the foley brings you into the world seamlessly, and it often
does heavy lifting in the comedy. There have been a few nice insert songs - Episode
3’s montage ends with a beautiful vocal performance that feels right at home in the
audioscape - which is what’d you expect from Made in Abyss and Beastars composers,
but I’m still waiting for a Gravity / Many Stories track to blow me away. At the end of the day, Maomao is far and away
my favorite character this year and honestly in recent memory because she is so much fun
to root for and watch operate in this world. Somehow the audience gets both the eccentric
who does her own thing, and the utterly competent understands her role, court lady at the same
time - all the while cracking jokes with impeccable timing. Apothecary Diaries has lived up to the hype,
and with a world this engaging and a cast who are perfectly suited to it, it continues
to delight and surprise in ways that only truly great stories can.
