The Apothecary Diaries is roughly based on the Ming Era of China. This era lasted about three centuries, from the 1300s to the 1600s. There were a number of historical physicians and apothecaries during this time. One example was Li Shi-chen, who wrote an exhaustive encyclopedia of herbal medicine. Even though Maomao is obviously a character in a fictional world, I like to think she grew up reading something similar to Li Shi-chen’s pharmacopoeia.
Hopefully, you appreciated that bit of history to start things up. Today, we’re continuing the episode reviews for the 2023 anime adaptation of The Apothecary Diaries. These episodes were just as beautiful and interesting as the first three, so let’s go over what happened and what I thought about the events.
Episode 4: The Threat
Let’s start with a quick recap. Lady Lifua is still sick from the poison and the doctors are failing to make her any better. The Emperor orders Maomao to try to heal Lifua. It’s difficult at first, because Lifua’s attendants hold Maomao in disdain, bullying her and refusing to let her see their mistress. But the tides turn when Maomao discovers that one of the attendants was still using the poison powder on Lady Lifua against orders. Maomao angrily chastises the stupid girl responsible and gets rid of the powder.
With the poison now gone, Maomao can finally start helping Lifua heal. It takes two months of intensive caregiving. At the beginning, Lifua was unable to leave bed or keep any food down. She had very little will to live. But after two months of Maomao’s medicine and supervision, she was able to walk around by herself and gain healthy weight again. The emperor’s mission is done, so Maomao returns to serve Gyokukyo again. The other attendants warmly welcome her back.
The first thing I’ll comment on is the scene where Maomao scolds the attendant for using the face powder on her mistress. Actually, “scold” is too soft of a word. Maomao was livid. She even struck the girl for being so thoughtless and ignorant. Her face was genuinely scary. So far, I love Maomao in every context in which I’ve seen her – and now I can add “wrath” to the emotions and moods I’ve witnessed from her. Angry Maomao is quite an experience.
Next, I want to note that I wasn’t wrong to like Lifua. I prefer her style of beauty and her colder aesthetic compared to Gyokuyo. Despite this, I thought Lifua was a bitch after she slapped her rival and ignored the advice that could have saved her baby. As Maomao said, I feared she was the “selfish princess” type. But this episode revealed that Lifua isn’t a bad person. She’s just going through a lot. Moreover, her normal personality is not selfish, bitchy, or arrogant. She’s confident and a bit aloof, but not unpleasant.
While we’re on the subject of Lifua, it was rather cute when she was doubting her own looks compared to Gyokuyo’s warmth, cheer, and gorgeous green eyes. Maomao, who was clearly looking at Lifua’s voluptuous chest, assured her that she has “other assets.” Apparently, Maomao gave Lifua some kind of beauty tip for showcasing her breasts. I’m not exactly sure what the tip was, but the scene was highly amusing. Lifua turned red when she realized what Maomao was talking about.
Before I finish up this episode response, let me also mention Jinshi. He only had a small role in this episode, but he always makes himself the center of attention when he’s on screen. I’m mildly annoyed by his over-confidence and tendency to be touchy-feely, but nevertheless, his dynamic with Maomao is hilarious. I love Jinshi almost as much as Maomao, overall. These characters are making me fall in love with them, from the supporting concubines to the main characters.
Episode 5: Covert Operations
Maomao and the old man at the apothecary are secretly sharing some fresh matsutake mushrooms, when they are suddenly interrupted. A man comes in with burns on his hands, claiming that he’s been cursed. He explains that after touching some wooden writing tablets, he threw them into the trash fire as he was ordered to do. The flames changed colors, and the burns on his hands suddenly appeared.
Maomao understands that certain compounds change the color of flames. She makes a salve for the burns, but doesn’t give it much more attention. She’s busy preparing the upcoming garden party. All four of the most favored concubines will be attending with their best ladies-in-waiting. Meanwhile, Jinshi suspects some kind of foul play related to the burns and colored flames. He tries to investigate, but finds out nothing of consequence before the day of the garden party.
One that day, Jinshi is surprised to see Maomao in a nice dress, wearing lipstick and color around her eyes. Her freckles are gone. Jinshi assumes she covered them up, but Maomao explains this is her natural skin. She applies fake freckles every morning to make herself stand out less and avoid being assaulted. Jinshi gives Maomao a hairpin for some reason, but there’s no more time to dilly-dally. The garden party is starting.
There is a lot to unpack in this episode. To start with, the four highly favored concubines each seem interesting. However, I’m willing to bet one of them is conspiring against the others. There will probably be danger in the next episode. I think it all has something to do with the compounds that burned the man’s hands and colored the flames. I have no clear hypothesis, but I suspect one of these ladies is up to no good.
In other notes, I’m entertained and fascinated by the relationships between Gyokuyo and her attendants. For example, look at the way Gyokuyo said she was “marking” each of her girls, and that they were “hers alone.” Maomao seems neutral toward this treatment, but the other girls seem to love it. I’m eager to learn more about their relationship dynamics. Gyokuyo is an interesting woman, and stunning to look at.
Finally, I’ll comment on the “fake freckles” thing. First of all, it’s sad that Maomao needs to do this to protect herself. It’s doubly-sad considering that sexual assault often happens to people who are not “traditionally attractive.” In other words, there’s no guarantee Maomao’s plan even works. But aside from feeling bad for Maomao, there was something else that bothered me. It was the implication that freckles make someone less desirable by necessity.
Obviously, we know having freckles doesn’t make someone unattractive. Everyone has their tastes. I hate the way some people act like their strict, subjective beauty standards are objective fact. How disgusting. However, I don’t necessarily think this anime is trying to encourage anything unsavory. It’s just being historically accurate.
The anime is roughly based off standards in East Asian palaces before the modern era. Not only was that standard popular, but the culture was also much more misogynistic back then. Women would be ranked by arbitrary measurements and seen only for their value to men. It did feel gross to hear such shallow prejudice, but I think it’s supposed to be a reflection of the times. Anyway, my apologies for the long ramble. Let’s move on.
Episode 6: The Garden Party
The day of the garden party is extremely cold. There’s not much for the ladies-in-waiting to do but shiver and squabble. A few interactions happen between Gyokuyo’s attendants and Lifua’s girls, but it’s nothing too serious. Also, Maomao learns about Lady Lishu and Lady Ah-Duo, the other two concubines. The two hate each other. Lishu is only fourteen and has been serving the palace as a concubine since age nine. Meanwhile, Ah-Duo has been serving the longest, and she’s thirty-five.
A friendly officer named Lihaku gives Maomao a free hairpin. After that, Maomao begins her role as food taster. One of the dishes is poisoned, but the apothecary quickly hacks it up and is fine thanks to her tolerance. Later, she tells Jinshi that the poison was probably meant for Lishu. It got swapped with Gyokuyo’s fish dish. Interestingly, Lishu is allergic to fish, so she was having a terrible time with the food regardless. Maomao gave her some medicine and warned her attendant to avoid foods that could hurt her.
The day ends without catching the culprit or figuring out the connection to the man with burned hands. That’s where the episode leaves off, but I still have a lot of thoughts to share. First of all, it’s disgusting enough that young teenagers are used as concubines in the rear palace. But the previous emperor was already using Lishu when she was nine. This so awful. But again, I want to point out that the anime isn’t encouraging or excusing things like this. It’s just portraying a realistic world.
Moving on, this episode had a lot of great Maomao moments. She is capable of being very scary when necessary, and she used this “skill” to scare some of Lifua’s mean attendants. It was also hilarious how Maomao reacted to being poisoned. She is such a masochist when it comes to toxins. Another good part was when Maomao explained food allergies. I’m impressed that this anime knows to treat the issue so seriously. It really could be a life-or-death thing.
The last point to bring up is Jinshi’s behavior during this episode. Some stupid minister ate the poisoned soup despite the warning. That partly explains why Jinshi was so frustrated when he met up with Maomao right after the incident. But I think there’s more to it. Jinshi was probably worried about Maomao. Her happiness at being poisoned must have worsened his frustration with her. It’s really cute that he’s starting to care about Maomao. I don’t think he will always see her as a “toy.”
It’s also interesting to consider that Jinshi’s unusual behavior might have stemmed from something else. As Maomao observed, he was also given a hairpin, presumably by a high-ranking admirer or master. It’s possible that Jinshi was being hit on by one of the officers. The anime framed this possibility as humorous, but it’s actually a bit dark (assuming Jinshi did not consent to this treatment).
This show is both serious and silly in equal parts. I’m enjoying it a lot. I hope you will join me again in a few weeks for the next three episode reviews.
Thanks for reading~
Anime Rants 
I find the whole hairpin thing to be very interesting. Offering one is partially an offer to work for someone else, which puts the adornment of one’s ladies in waiting with jewelry in a new light, something like, “These are mine. Poach at your own peril.” Certainly, Lifua would not mind taking Maomao as one of her own, whether her current mistress liked it or not. But there didn’t seem to be any resentment at all when Jinshi gave Maomao his own hairpin. No, that was met with the kind of “oh my” surprise which one has when witnessing a romantic confession. And if that doesn’t have something to do with the “hidden meaning” of the hairpins, then I am a purple chicken. 😉
It seems Maomao isn’t just a mad scientist when it comes to poisons, she is a junkie. I wonder if that has something to do with her inability to eat buckwheat, if her interest in poisons and the sensations they produce began there. Either way, it was great to see her put that food taster in her place for deliberately giving Lishu the mackerel she couldn’t eat. That was about as clear as it gets without outright stating, “This stunt could have killed your lady and cost you your head, and the latter will certainly happen if you pull this crap again.”
As for who is responsible, we can already rule out three of the consorts by process of elimination. That leaves one, the oldest, but I think that would be a bit too obvious. Someone of lesser station, among the staff, is more likely, not only for how they can move and act more unobtrusively (including poisoning food which was intended only for Lishu), but also for how they apparently had to improvise in disposing of those wooden sticks, wrapping them in an old dress which was then taken to be burned by someone who was not in on whatever scheme is cooking here. All they’d have to do is keep the burns on their arms hidden for awhile, which servants can do much more easily than consorts.
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