There was a lot to unpack in this episode of The Apothecary Diaries. To start with, multiple references were made to “tanuki.” Just in case anyone is unaware, I will explain the tanuki. It’s actually a small mammal in the canine family, native to Japan and known in English as the raccoon dog. The tanuki also played a significant role in Japanese mythology. In myths, they were mischievous pranksters with divine powers – most famously, shapeshifting.
Tanuki symbolism is used in The Apothecary Diaries primarily for the character of Shisui/Loulan, who is in many ways the star of the second season. Since Shisui has multiple social identities, she is similar to a shapeshifter. Sometimes, she’s a stately concubine for the emperor; other times, she’s a laughing servant girl. Also like a tanuki, Shisui is clever, playful, and likes to formulate tricky plans. If Maomao is a cat, then Shisui is a tanuki.
I’ve only scratched the surface of what I could write about the tanuki symbolism in this anime. But hopefully, you now get the basic idea. Let’s move on to the main bulk of episode 46 (AKA season 2 episode 22). After all, this is the big episode where Jinshi comes to the rescue. Let’s review what happened.
Episode 46: The Royal guard
Episode Rating: 9/10
It was another excellent and emotional episode. The early portion of the installment focused on Shisui and her farewell to Maomao. It was extremely saddening to watch, especially when Maomao repeatedly reached out for Shisui. That’s as close as Maomao comes to begging. She really didn’t want Shisui to go back into danger. After giving Shisui her silver hairpin, Maomao had no choice but to let the other girl go.
(Side Note: I’m not going to lie – I’m a passionate yuri fan who ships Maomao x Shisui. However, I suspect the latter will die by the end of the season, and I’ll go back to shipping Maomao with Jinshi. I’m a masochist who likes even toxic and tragic yuri couples, but that doesn’t mean I want Shisui to die. She’s such a great character. I’ll probably cry if she dies.)
During their talk, Maomao realized what Shisui was planning. The audience wasn’t directly filled in, so I don’t know exactly what Shisui entrusted Maomao with. Maybe she was talking about burying the children. I still hope that those kids can be revived, but at the same time, it would be unrealistic and hard to believe. I think the “resurrection medicine” is supposed to be like a natural anesthesia, and people in reality only survive heavy anesthesia because nurses and machines help them breathe.
A little earlier, Jinshi had planned the attack with Lakan and Gaoshun as advisors. Lahan was also there. Jinshi looked really good in armor. Anyway, Lahan’s plan was to start an avalanche and use it as cover for a sneak attack, hopefully destroying parts of the stronghold in the process. The battle started soon and the plan was a success. The armory was destroyed by the avalanche. The royal guard avoided casualties from the canons and quickly broke through the front gate.
Meanwhile, still covered in soot, “Loulan” had barged into the room where Shishou and Shenmei were. She told off her mother and the other corrupt women in the room. Also, she set Suirei free from where she had been tied up and stuffed into a cabinet. After making sure Suirei was okay, Shisui told her father to take responsibility for once and help her pull off a plan. This plan was their last hope since both the armory and the gunpowder reserves were gone.
We also heard parts of Shishou’s inner monologue leading up to this scene. We learned that the late emperor asked him to marry his banished daughter. Shishou agreed and fathered Suirei, knowing that she had royal blood. I wasn’t too interested in that. I paid more attention to his complete failure as a father. He couldn’t even protect his daughter from physical abuse. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for Shishou, but I am glad he’s somewhat remorseful, and I’m hopeful that he will trust in Shisui and her plan.
During the battle at the front gate, Jinshi fought with mercy, capturing those who had no will to fight instead of killing them. I’m not sure if they will just be executed later, but Jinshi, for his part, wanted to minimize deaths even on the enemy’s side. He is a wise and caring leader. And also, again, he looks stunning in armor with a ponytail!
After that, it was finally time for the scene where Jinshi and Maomao reunited. The Apothecary Diaries is good at surprising me and subverting expectations – especially those common to the shoujo and romance genres. In a normal shoujo anime, there would be a romantic embrace as the Prince rushed to save the girl he loved. There might be corny dialogue or some over-the-top comic relief afterward. But since this is The Apothecary Diaries, the meeting was much less rosy.
It was actually a very normal, slightly awkward encounter. Following the unsure silence from Jinshi, Maomao pragmatically asked if he would protect her. She continued to refer to him as “Jinshi-sama,” even after overhearing that he was royalty. I think that’s important, even though it might change at some point. I loved how Maomao smiled a little when her banter with Jinshi restarted. She was happy to see him. And that moment didn’t need rose petals or dramatic kisses to be beautiful.
Jinshi and Maoamo were interrupted by a messager, and Jinshi had to hurry away. He left Lihaku and some other men behind to protect Maomao. When Lihaku asked about the children, Maomao explained that they drank poison. Lihaku proposed carrying the children to a quiet place and burying them in peace. I was pleasantly surprised by the soldier’s decency. Maomao went along with Lihaku. She thought to herself that she must do what Shisui entrusted to her. The episode ends there.
~Thanks for Reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
Anime Rants 
It took me just a few seconds to realize, with great excitement, that I had completely overlooked the possibility of Shisui having drugged the children with the resurrection medicine. Which is somewhat embarrassing, considering I had the hope after the previous episodes of it being used to save a life or two, LOL. But it would explain Shisui’s choice, which looks horrifying and the validity of which was confirmed in this episode. And yet she called it “medicine,” and if it saves their lives, then it certainly is that. If we’re right, then Shisui’s plan is brilliant.
Shishou and Shenmei were quite a pair, it seems. Shishou did as the previous emperor begged him to do, though I do not understand why it came to that, exactly, if Suirei’s mother was really his daughter, but this is all confusing enough anyway. Either way, he became entirely weak and pathetic, letting Shenmei take over everything. And Shenmei, what the heck is her deal? Her husband did as the previous emperor begged him to do, and asked for her as a reward. She has repaid that with hatred and taken delight in making other women, married women and mothers, fall into depravity, like some kind of vicarious form of adultery. Perhaps she had her eye on being empress, and resents being bought and traded, like a whore? Especially since the emperor evidently cared so little for her that he gave her to Shishou as a reward for taking in another woman, a “lesser” woman. Ok, I can see that being the shape of things, and now she fomented this little rebellion, with all its intrigues and murders, as some attempt to put her own “pure” bloodline on the throne, because she is so much better and all that.
FINALLY Maomao knows and can no longer remain willingly ignorant of Jinshi’s true status! We’ll have to wait and see what comes of that, after she does what she can to save the children, hopefully, but FINALLY! She has managed to wriggle away from knowing this far too many times this season!
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I completely agree, Jinshi looks amazing in armor. We need to see more of that! Oh, and about MaomaoxShisui, I kind of think Shisui is gonna die soon, so they probably wont have much of a relationship. At least that was the feeling I got from this episode.
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