The Apothecary Diaries + The Friday Five
May. 23rd, 2024 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
halfcactusThe Apothecary Diaries is a Japanese light novel with two (2!) manga adaptations and a new-ish anime adaptation, set in a fictional world (mostly) inspired by ancient China. It's a mix of mystery (focusing on the forensic aspects, as the MC is an apothecary who deals with medicine and poison), palace drama and politics, and courtesan (+ consort) romance.
PLOT: Our sixteen-year-old MC, Maomao (literally "Kitty"/"Cat"), was raised in THE most prestigious brothel house, by THE most distinguished courtesans, and trained by THE most knowledgeable apothecary. The anime begins with her being kidnapped and sold into her tenure as palace maid. This convenient combination of worldly knowledge and upbringing gives her access to all sorts of information and a perspective/skillset so unique that only she can solve the cases and see how they are linked. There are also some found family storylines, which I like, including Maomao being raised by a community and being doted on by her jiejies, and brothel workers banding together for revenge and survival.
It took a couple of tries to get through the anime because it's a really trippy watch when you're used to cdramas. And the name readings are very inconsistent, sometimes Chinese (Maomao, Ah-Duo), sometimes Japanese (Gyokuyou—who to be fair is supposed to come from a different country; and Lihaku [maybe to avoid calling him Li Bai which is what I think the characters of his name are lol]). I do really like all the visual detail in the animation! And I particularly loved the second opening sequence. ♥ It was really enjoyable to watch something that was cdrama-adjacent but not bound by the same constraints or regional baggage. It's also incredibly low-stakes due to the MC's outsider PoV and protagonist halo, though still with a healthy amount of consequence and murder.
The first eight or so episodes were rough for me because of the language-context disconnect (the lack of rank-specific honorifics drove me crazy) and because it felt like they dumbed everyone down just to make Maomao look super smart. But it does pick up during the garden party at which point the cases get longer. And the cases are all connected, which is great! I like that Maomao gets to occupy a role that I think is usually reserved for boys - she's a genius and an eccentric scientist who's obsessed with poison and too pragmatic to be emotionally invested in anyone, she gets excited when a rival appears... And faced with the prospect of a miraculous elixir, she is overcome with sinister greed. She also gets to order men around and be insubordinate to her superior (the ML, Jinshi), protecting her fellow working class by being "neutral" and omissive in her deductions. The space she takes alternates between insider (Inner Palace maid / former brothel meimei) and outsider (uninvolved investigator) and the parts where we're taken into her private inferences are really, really good.
Unfortunately (for me), the writing pushes her into the conventional romance box--she's not really like other girls, she's secretly very conventionally attractive (for reasons that do make sense in this universe), she piques the interest of a highly attractive and influential man (the ML) who likes how unique she is. Even when her interactions with the ML are clearly one-sided, they're romance-coded, which I didn't enjoy.
The romance writing is generally pretty weak across the board because it tries to have the tragedy and pragmatism that comes with courtesan storylines, but also the romance of it all, and these three things are not given the time to be put together into a compelling shape. Overall it comes across as too conventional and heteronormative for my taste, but the pairings do also function as social commentary and characterization for Maomao, the one who's connected to all these women and makes the choices to advocate for them. Outside of the brothel side stories, I did really like the storyline between the current Emperor and Ah Duo, which was an understated but emotional arc. Tbh Ah Duo's relationships were generally the most emotionally resonant for me, which is interesting because of how brief her appearance was.
I've picked up one the manga fantranslations and I think I prefer the manga experience, but it's hard to tell if it's because the writing gets smoother and leaner as the story progresses or if it's simply because the manga immerses me more in Maomao's PoV.
Friday Five:
1) Is summer a break for you, or is it busier?
I guess pretty busy? Mainly it's brutally hot and humid.
2) What's next for your travel plans?
If nothing goes wrong, visiting friends in neighboring Asian countries and not making any decisions myself. XD Normally this would motivate me to study the local language, but I've been struggling with motivation lately. ;___;
3) What have you spontaneously done lately?
Is it spontaneous when you're peer-pressured? (I booked a one-way flight.) I guess I also bought caramel-flavored Hello Panda and regretted my spontaneity.
4) What's your favorite way to unwind after a long day?
I wallow a lot over how sad and stressed I am and before I know it I have to sleep. /o\ Typically I'd like to stretch after a long day, but a lot of the time my anxious + dysfunctional mind is a huge hurdle. ^^;
5) What's in your pockets?
Today, nothing!
PLOT: Our sixteen-year-old MC, Maomao (literally "Kitty"/"Cat"), was raised in THE most prestigious brothel house, by THE most distinguished courtesans, and trained by THE most knowledgeable apothecary. The anime begins with her being kidnapped and sold into her tenure as palace maid. This convenient combination of worldly knowledge and upbringing gives her access to all sorts of information and a perspective/skillset so unique that only she can solve the cases and see how they are linked. There are also some found family storylines, which I like, including Maomao being raised by a community and being doted on by her jiejies, and brothel workers banding together for revenge and survival.
It took a couple of tries to get through the anime because it's a really trippy watch when you're used to cdramas. And the name readings are very inconsistent, sometimes Chinese (Maomao, Ah-Duo), sometimes Japanese (Gyokuyou—who to be fair is supposed to come from a different country; and Lihaku [maybe to avoid calling him Li Bai which is what I think the characters of his name are lol]). I do really like all the visual detail in the animation! And I particularly loved the second opening sequence. ♥ It was really enjoyable to watch something that was cdrama-adjacent but not bound by the same constraints or regional baggage. It's also incredibly low-stakes due to the MC's outsider PoV and protagonist halo, though still with a healthy amount of consequence and murder.
The first eight or so episodes were rough for me because of the language-context disconnect (the lack of rank-specific honorifics drove me crazy) and because it felt like they dumbed everyone down just to make Maomao look super smart. But it does pick up during the garden party at which point the cases get longer. And the cases are all connected, which is great! I like that Maomao gets to occupy a role that I think is usually reserved for boys - she's a genius and an eccentric scientist who's obsessed with poison and too pragmatic to be emotionally invested in anyone, she gets excited when a rival appears... And faced with the prospect of a miraculous elixir, she is overcome with sinister greed. She also gets to order men around and be insubordinate to her superior (the ML, Jinshi), protecting her fellow working class by being "neutral" and omissive in her deductions. The space she takes alternates between insider (Inner Palace maid / former brothel meimei) and outsider (uninvolved investigator) and the parts where we're taken into her private inferences are really, really good.
Unfortunately (for me), the writing pushes her into the conventional romance box--she's not really like other girls, she's secretly very conventionally attractive (for reasons that do make sense in this universe), she piques the interest of a highly attractive and influential man (the ML) who likes how unique she is. Even when her interactions with the ML are clearly one-sided, they're romance-coded, which I didn't enjoy.
The romance writing is generally pretty weak across the board because it tries to have the tragedy and pragmatism that comes with courtesan storylines, but also the romance of it all, and these three things are not given the time to be put together into a compelling shape. Overall it comes across as too conventional and heteronormative for my taste, but the pairings do also function as social commentary and characterization for Maomao, the one who's connected to all these women and makes the choices to advocate for them. Outside of the brothel side stories, I did really like the storyline between the current Emperor and Ah Duo, which was an understated but emotional arc. Tbh Ah Duo's relationships were generally the most emotionally resonant for me, which is interesting because of how brief her appearance was.
I've picked up one the manga fantranslations and I think I prefer the manga experience, but it's hard to tell if it's because the writing gets smoother and leaner as the story progresses or if it's simply because the manga immerses me more in Maomao's PoV.
Friday Five:
1) Is summer a break for you, or is it busier?
I guess pretty busy? Mainly it's brutally hot and humid.
2) What's next for your travel plans?
If nothing goes wrong, visiting friends in neighboring Asian countries and not making any decisions myself. XD Normally this would motivate me to study the local language, but I've been struggling with motivation lately. ;___;
3) What have you spontaneously done lately?
Is it spontaneous when you're peer-pressured? (I booked a one-way flight.) I guess I also bought caramel-flavored Hello Panda and regretted my spontaneity.
4) What's your favorite way to unwind after a long day?
I wallow a lot over how sad and stressed I am and before I know it I have to sleep. /o\ Typically I'd like to stretch after a long day, but a lot of the time my anxious + dysfunctional mind is a huge hurdle. ^^;
5) What's in your pockets?
Today, nothing!
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Date: 2024-05-24 05:20 pm (UTC)LOL! Sorry but no.4 made me laugh. Same here XD
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Date: 2024-05-26 12:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-05-24 09:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-05-26 12:52 pm (UTC)