You're listening to the After Hours Arc, your
new anime podcast. My name is Antai, and I'll
be your host. Join me as I review, recap, and
relive anime, one arc at a time. And as always,
these are all manga -free point of views. In
today's episode, I am really excited to be diving
into Apothecary Diaries Season 1. This is an
anime. that I just fell in love with immediately.
Oh my god it was so good. I do plan on recapping
the fall season when it starts airing so I'm
very excited and looking forward to that. I'll
probably end up working on the second season
review sometime in the middle of summer. That
way when the fall comes we can just jump right
into it. So this anime is definitely one of those
smart animes. I mean it does start off pretty
insane right off the rip though. We have an immediate
kidnapping, it spirals into poison attempts,
political conspiracies, identities, secrecy.
On top of all of that they also throw in this
not so subtle subtle romance, you know? I found
it very addicting once I got into it, and I'm
sure it has a lot to do with the voice actors,
Kaiji Tang, who plays Jinshi, and Emi Lo, who
plays Mao Mao. I think they are fantastic. I
am a huge fan of them together. Kaiji, I know
I've brought up plenty of times, but every time
I hear Emi in an anime, I just smile. right off
the top of my head she plays this co -worker
in cherry magic the 30 years of virginity made
me a wizard blah blah blah blah blah blah and
she is so good and funny in that one oh my god
getting into the actual show it follows this
girl mao mao who is an apothecary that was raised
in the red light district specifically the verdigris
house which is this high -end brothel i loved
all the verdigris scenes any and all of them
i love the courtesans i love the concept i was
sold on their whole dynamic with mao mao poison
is what fascinates her more than anything i think
that makes her not only a unique character but
a really fun one because she also has this very
anti -social vibe. The show mixes this concept
with these amazing expressions and reactions,
especially when her interests are actually being
brought up. It has been fantastic to watch. There
is a lot of emotion with this character as well
on both ends of that spectrum. But the basic
gist is that she gets kidnapped while she's out
gathering herbs and whatnot. And she gets sold
into the Imperial Palace, which is inspired by
ancient China. The show always makes sure to
note on the screen that this is a work of fiction.
And this is a fictional place. But here's what's
wild to me. She is just able to remain so calm
and collected. Throughout this whole ordeal.
She keeps a level head. And again. This is where
it is a smart anime. And what I mean by that.
Is Mao Mao is a thinker. She is a problem solver.
And unlike a lot of the servant girls. Mao Mao
can read and write. Which is going to change
everything for her. She wants to play ignorant.
And fly under the radar. But you know, that is
going to be unavoidable. She ends up solving
this mysterious illness. This illness is killing
off all the emperor's newborns. And the servant
girls are all convinced it's a curse. But Mao
Mao, she can recognize what these symptoms are
immediately. So to try to stay incognito, she
ends up writing a note on a piece of fabric from
her skirt. It was explaining that the face powder
is poison. I guess something that is used early
on as a ritual in babies is lightening their
skin by using a whitening powder. So I think
it was just like lead poisoning or something
along those lines. It is a little funny though,
because we get the first, I guess, non -interaction
between Jin -Chi and Mao Mao. And I'll get into
Jin -Chi real quick. But Maomao is witnessing
these concubines basically going at it. One of
them smacked the shit out of the other one. And
during all this chaos, Maomao understands the
symptoms of what's going on. So she's going to
go try to take care of that. Her and Jinchi pass
each other and he hears her say, if only I had
something to write on, I believe. Then of course
he turns around and she's gone though. So Lady
Gyokyo was one of these concubines, and I actually
really like her voice actor too. She was this
wraith in the Brilliant Healer's New Life in
the Shadows that I watched a little bit ago.
Pretty much anything I've heard her in, I've
enjoyed her roles. I'll probably get into that
anime at some point as well, I thought it was
cute. But anyway, Lady Gyokyo, her daughter is
extremely sick. And the other concubine was Lady
Liwa. And Lady Liwa was the one who had the emperor's
son. And you know, he was about to die as well.
We see this flower with a scrap of fabric tied
to the stem. And we see this woman shrug it off
and knock it off the ledge. What I didn't catch
on in the first season, it was season two that
I went, oh shit. That woman that knocks the flower
off the ledge. I thought that was Lady Lihua
the first time I watched it. It's actually the
head lady in waiting and we won't be getting
into her because she comes into play in season
two. But Lady Lihua's son ends up dying. It is
super dark and depressing and the show did a
really good job in showing her pain in this.
Gokyo ended up taking the warning to heart. and
ends up talking with Jinshi because she wants
to meet this mysterious saver. And Jinshi is
so excited because he can tell the fabric is
from the servant girls. So he devises this test.
He summons a bunch of servants, Mao Mao included,
and he writes on a piece of paper and raises
it up. Basically what it says is, you with the
freckles, stay there. She reacts, but she realizes,
that she just outed herself because none of the
other girls can read. I thought it was so funny.
I was like, you fucked up. So he ends up bringing
her to meet Gyokyo. Mau Mau admits how she was
raised and that she is familiar with poison.
When she asked what their plan was, it was super
cute. It went like Juan version, that whole bobblehead
deal. But she basically gets a promotion. to
becoming Lady Gyokuyo's newest lady -in -waiting.
She was so not expecting this. And it definitely
doesn't seem like this is what she was trying
to do. She was trying to fly under the radar.
Now, she is one of the high -ranking concubines,
ladies -in -waiting. It is her need to right
what is wrong that just literally couldn't let
this be. With this promotion, though. She gets
to do something that is just perfect for her.
She becomes Lady Gyokyo's food taster for poison.
She is so excited. This is her passion. She usually
does like tests and experiments on herself. I
really enjoy everybody's reactions because it
drives them to panic and I find it so funny.
Jinchi's reactions are probably some of the best.
I'll get into him now. He is described as the
most beautiful person in the nation and is said
to be the emperor's favorite. He's supposedly
a eunuch and the whole storyline made it a little
confusing for me. It wasn't enough to turn me
off from the series. Jinchi is a very smart and
calculated character. He uses his beauty and
his charm As a way to navigate the different
challenges he's facing. He is essentially running
the rear palace. Essentially looking after the
Emperor's flower garden, sort of speak. As the
series goes on, I think they did a fantastic
job with his back and forth between this fake
age persona and his real maturity. And I found
it really refreshing. to see these scenes with
him being like this with Mao Mao. The moments
they shared, they came off very slice of lifey
and I liked it. I thought it was cute. After
she starts getting a little established as Lady
Gyokuyo's newest lady -in -waiting, during the
Emperor's visit with his lady, he says that he
wants to meet this infamous apothecary. At first,
I wasn't sure how to take him. I didn't know
if he was going to give off these villain vibes.
I had no clue. But as the series went on, and
very much so in season two, he is so real. He
is funny. He grew on me so much. Oh my god, he
has such a personality. You can't say he doesn't
know what he likes. He has a type. And we'll
get into that real quick. But the Emperor wants
Mao Mao. to go to Lady Liwa's and treat and heal
her. This is not something that Mao Mao can refuse.
Refusing the emperor can be cause for beheading.
We have to remember this is a very tense time
period that is being portrayed. It doesn't look
like she has an easy task ahead of her because
Lady Liwa's ladies -in -waiting are basically
blocking and denying Mao Mao the ability to treat
her. I think one of the biggest reasons is because
she's another high -ranking concubine's lady
-in -waiting. That is suspicious. They're also
definitely not looking at this as a direct request
from the emperor. His word is absolute. The other
reason I think is because the food that Mao Mao
is having the cooks prepare are so basic and
essential for someone who is malnutritioned.
But they consider it to be slop. They refuse
to feed it to their lady. They're basically considering
it made for peasants. And Mao Mao sees the problem.
Lady Lihua cannot handle such heavy food. With
the death of her son, she has been bedridden
and has zero energy. I do think at this point,
the story did a really good job showing... the
pecking order and how that works within the palace.
Jin Shi is actually the one who comes and saves
the day. He steps in and uses his beauty to get
Mao Mao her shot at treating the concubine. If
she is not able to treat her and Lady Lihua dies,
that means Mao Mao is going to die too. Her life
is very much on the line here as well. But Mao
Mao was very amazing throughout this whole treatment.
She is overworking herself. She ends up having
Jin Shi and Gao Xun, who I'll get into him real
quick. She has them build this sauna box. She
is working herself to the bone. And this treatment,
it is paying off though. Lady Liwa, who was extremely
busty. That is one of the Emperor's preferences.
She starts to actually gain her weight back,
becomes healthier, and is able to walk and take
strolls in the garden. It was becoming a really
feel -good moment. At the end of her time with
the concubine, Mao Mao ends up snoozing on this
bench, and you see a hand stroking Mao Mao's
head. Well, it was Lady Liwa's, and she's just
sitting with Mao Mao, and it was so heartwarming.
Mao Mao is just a real character. And I think
that is appreciated by a lot. I mean, definitely
not by all, but by a lot of characters in the
show. She is this type of blunt character where
it's refreshing. It really made me wonder what
she was going to do or say next. I really was
kind of on the edge of my seat with her. I will
say. When she finds out from the initial examination
that the face powder is still being used, this
is what is keeping Lady Lihua so sick. Mao Mao
fucking loses it. Ugh. And it was so satisfying
to watch. She let them all have it. She smacked
the shit out of this one lady in waiting who
hid the face powder. She's even saying to her,
Why would she want to be covered in the same
toxic chemical that took her son from her? It
was such an intense scene. Mao Mao can get extremely
terrifying, especially when it's going in the
direction of her whole right versus wrong mentality.
After that whole arc, though, we start getting
ready for this garden party. This is a very political
type of event. All four of the concubines are
going. I guess both ladies Gyukyo and Liwa were
both pregnant the last time and they weren't
able to attend. So this is a big deal. And one
of Gyukyo's ladies -in -waiting, she is so funny.
She is like, this is the princess's first public
appearance and this is war. Like she was so passionate.
There is some really great bits of humor in this
thought -provoking anime. I thoroughly enjoyed
it. Moving on to the garden party though, part
of this event is that there is a hairpin type
of ceremony where men give women hairpins. Funny,
and I don't know if I've said it yet, but the
rear palace is essentially for making babies.
It is the Emperor's Flower Garden. And there
are no men allowed, other than the Emperor, the
Emperor's direct kin, and eunuchs. So this event
is sort of how to find a baby daddy. And Mao
Mao is so confused. She doesn't actually understand
what it means. In her defense, I mean Lady Gyukyo
gave her one, Lady Liwa ends up giving her one.
She ended up leaving with quite a few pins. Part
of her character design is she has these freckles
and apparently it makes her completely unrecognizable.
I do not understand how nobody can tell it's
her because of a few light freckles. The ladies
in waiting tackle her because they are about
to apply makeup and cover up the freckles and
get her garden party ready. So we find out from
them, like wiping off her face, that Mao Mao
paints on her freckles daily. When we find out
why, it is really sad to think about. She grew
up in the red light district, in a brothel. I
mean, she was already kidnapped once and sold
to the palace. So this is all a safety measure
for her. So with the garden party, again, this
is a very political event. On the surface, it's
a party and celebration. They had beautiful music,
dancers. food, all of the concubines are attending.
This is based on their status and influence with
the emperor. So I was really interested in seeing
the different interactions between the emperor
and the different concubines. They didn't give
me that but I was really looking forward to it.
And at this point Mao Mao is sort of this background
character. She, in the grand scheme of things,
is the bottom of the pecking order, even though
she actually has way more pull than she realizes.
But I won't jump ahead. I will say being this
background character really gives her a serious
advantage because she's basically invisible.
This gives her such a strong position. She is
focusing on where people are sitting, who they
are sitting next to, their body language, facial
cues. It is amazing to watch her go into this
detective mode. During tasting for Gyokyo, Maomao's
dish ends up being poisoned. What we find out
later is that it was actually meant for one of
the youngest concubines, Lady Lishu. and Lady
Lishu was the mother -in -law at some point,
and it is this really wild clusterfuck. Lishu's
taster is super suspicious, but when Mao Mao
says that hers is poisoned, she is shocked and
nerve -wracked. This dish was one she was supposed
to eat. She ended up swapping it as some prank.
Because Lady Lishu doesn't like a certain fish.
Well, come to find out, this girl is allergic.
So, I mean, they could have literally killed
her. It was pretty intense, though. Mao Mao is
talking to Jin Shi and has him call up Lady Lishu
and the taster. She gets into it real quick with
the glares and the tone. Oh, my God. She definitely
scared the taster straight. I was totally here
for it. It was very much the same vibes we had
with Lady Liwa's Ladies in Waiting and that whole
conflict. Mao Mao runs off and I'm not entirely
sure why because I do not think that she is someone
that would spit out the poison. Cut to Jinshi
who's arriving to the party and he is in some
pretty official dress. His status isn't known
to anybody in the show. Just us that is being
toyed with. I guess some minister guy didn't
believe that Mao Mao's dish was poisoned. So
he tried the soup anyways. I guess the party
goes into a full on frenzy. Well Jin Shi catches
up with Mao Mao and she is all sparkly eyed and
cheery because again, she just got to taste poison.
He gets all over protective. He starts dragging
her to the infirmary for meds to make her puke.
It's these interactions that are extremely cute
and are the start and formation of the romance
we're expecting. It was really nice to watch
them almost real time throughout the series.
After that, we do get some more mystery type
episodes ranging from suicidal servants jumping
into freezing water to this one about a ghost
and This one was really interesting. I liked
how they did it because they teased little clips
in the previous episode. Basically, there was
this concubine, obviously not as high ranking
as our main four. This concubine was allegedly
sleepwalking and dancing on the palace wall in
the moonlight. I mean, she was super beautiful.
And of course, busty as fuck. But we find out
when we learn her backstory that she had fumbled
doing a dance for the emperor. This is what initially
made them consider this to be the cause of the
sleepwalking. Mao Mao is so smart though. She
connects that this is an anxiety and fear -based
reaction. This concubine, she is being given
away as a reward. And this one got so emotional
because the person she's actually getting given
to is somebody that she grew up with from her
village. She gets to leave this prison palace.
She gets to be free. And I was really happy for
her. When we move on from that, we end up having
this guy showing up in this medical office. This
is where the quack doc, as Mao Mao calls him,
resides. They have become buddy -buddy throughout
this series and it was really sweet to watch.
His story is a little sad. I just want to say
he is a good big brother. That's all I'm going
to say because we get into his story in season
two, so I really don't want to spoil it. But
the guy coming into this office is freaking out.
He has these burns and he's thinking that he's
cursed because there were these colored flames.
And again, our smarty pants, Mao Mao, she starts
to explain the science right behind it. I guess
with different compounds like salt can make this
color, et cetera, et cetera. She ends up making
this medicine for him for the rash. I mean, she's
really not supposed to be doing this. I can't
believe they all just turn a blind eye and allow
her to just do whatever she wants. It is so funny.
Another thing this anime is doing at this point
is it is basically showing Jinshi starting to
test her less, but he's starting to rely on her
more, which for Mao Mao means she is going to
get dragged into this whole political conundrum
unbeknownst to her. because she remains super
ignorant to Jinchi's true identity, which honestly
I think is more of a smart tactic. We find out
that one of the concubines, the emperor's oldest
friend, Lady Adwa, she was the first one to birth
a son. I believe the emperor was still a prince
at the time, but the son died. So they say. This
is where it got really confusing for me. Because
they kept alleging Jinshi was Adwa's child. But
Jinshi must have been swapped with the emperors
because... I mean, they are identical. You would
have to be blind to not be able to tell that
they are mother and child. I don't actually know
what is known by the other concubines. or even
the emperor. I'm still fairly in the dark on
who knows what. So one of Oddwa's ladies in waiting
is this older woman. She's our head lady. She
has been with her for a long time. Long story
short, her family owns some sort of apiary. I'll
get real personal. I hate bugs. I am terrified
of flying insects, especially bees. I'm not allergic
or anything. I am just a wimp. I would not have
been able to handle growing up in this family.
But I guess honey is such a luxury item in this
era. So it kind of explains some of her own status
going into it without knowing her. So it's common
practice that honey is healthy. But in newborns,
I guess it can be deadly. Especially... when
it is mixed with some specific flour. I forget
what the flour was, but it's poisonous if ingested.
This was all an accident, but the head lady -in
-waiting is the one who's feeding Adwa's baby
the honey and flour mixture. The baby dies, so
she has been carrying this whole burden and secret
for like 17 years, or however old Jin she is.
It's just insane to me and it was so intense
to watch her break down. That is almost two decades
of mental torture. They did such a good job animating
the scene. I did think she was going to go after
Mao Mao during like the beginning of their conversation.
They had a cleaver in the scene, but Mao Mao
was prepared. I guess she wrapped herself up
in some really thick type of paper. I'm not entirely
sure, but I'm pretty sure that's what she did.
But we really find out that the suicide and the
poisoning, all of those situations are because
of Lady Lishu. And Lady Lishu, of course she
knows about being allergic. This bitch is allergic
to everything apparently. But honey is something
I guess she almost died from. when she was a
baby. Her being so young, being pulled from her
family, and the contrast of Lady Adwa being this
woman who, she ended up losing her uterus during
the delivery. So she could not birth another
child. So it is not hard to see how an almost
mother -child type of relationship could form
between them. And that would have been really
bad for the head lady. Lady Lishu becomes this
public enemy number one. So Mao Mao ends up telling
her pretty much how to put all her motives into
one. The poisoning and the suicide. She's doing
this to put the shift on wanting to keep Adua
like with a position of power. I guess it was
already confirmed that she was going to be heading
out. There was a new concubine coming in. Concubine
Lolan. I definitely was excited to see this power
shift start to shift. Again, she is literally
the spitting image of Jinshi. I don't know how
nobody can see this. Even Mao Mao sort of sees
it. But again, she is dismissing this as nonsense.
I think is more of a strategy. The less you know,
the safer you are. So her replacement is going
to be Lolan. But we won't be getting into her
that much. The second season is really her story.
I will say she does give off this very wearing
a mask type of vibe. She will play an important
role later on, so we'll get into her then. But
after the head lady gets the axe, so to speak,
so do the people within her clan. The merchants
that kidnapped and sold Mao Mao, they are a part
of that whole deal. So Mao Mao basically gets
fired. And it was really funny. Her and Jin Shi
both wanted the results to be Mao Mao staying.
And neither one of them wanted to admit it. So
it ends with her negotiation failing and Mao
Mao being fired. I do think it was really funny
though. Because apparently she took her sweet
time saying all of her goodbyes to her contacts.
I guess this would be a good time to bring up
that during the garden party, she had gotten
a hairpin from this up -and -coming commander,
soldier. I don't actually know what his official
title was. He definitely brings this whole big
dog energy. I think it is so cute. I think his
name is Lihaku. When Mao Mao realizes that these
hairpins are a way for her to leave the palace,
she realizes she can go visit home. So when she
goes to meet with Lihaku, it was so funny. She
shows up with all her freckles and very ordinary
attire. Again, she is unrecognizable like this
apparently. When she tells him what she wants
though, that she wants to go home and visit,
he thinks he is about to get nothing out of this.
He is tapping his foot. He is just visibly upset.
The best part though is she lays down these like
three wooden intro tokens and they're for the
verdigris house. They're so you can meet any
of the three pretty princesses. They are so sought
after. They cost like a year's salary just for
like one night and they are technically Mao Mao's
adoptive sisters. They're the ones that raised
her in the brothel. So Lihaku falls in love with
one of them and he does become a serious player
within this anime as we get deeper into the second
season. But getting to Jinshi for a minute, he
is regretting his decision immediately. After
she left, we see Lady Gyukyu talking to Jinshi
and she is pissed. She is like biggest blunder
of the century and she was so mad. He's like
a kid who just lost his favorite toy. I love
how much they gave him this childish undertone.
It keeps reminding me that he's only pretending
to be a eunuch and older. That he's still a teenager.
Gaoshuin, I'll finally get into him. He is Master
Jinshi's personal assistant. But it's a lot deeper
than that. He has looked after Jinshi like in
the palace since he was born. His solution is
we end up having this big bash. All the pretty
princesses from the verdigris house are invited
out. Mao Mao being home ends up going along to
help serve drinks and stuff like that. Well cut
to her offering a drink to this sulking man.
I don't know if all these characters are just
blind or if they don't pay attention, but it
wasn't until she sat down next to him. That she
could tell that it was Jinshi. And it was super
awkward. But really, really funny. He tries to
touch her. And she just backs off. He's all confused.
And she explains that we have a no touching policy.
He's like, what are you doing here? And she responds,
I'm working. He's just like, what? Like, like
a courtesan? I found it so funny. She's obviously
semi -annoyed with him questioning her chastity
and whatnot, but it was cute. He tells her that
he's going to buy her. Cut to her being, oh,
this is perfect. Now I can go back and work in
the rear palace again. Jinchi is so confused.
He thinks that she didn't want to be there. He
thought she wanted to quit. Oh my god, it was
so good. She does end up letting him touch her
though. And what he does is he takes his finger
and he presses it to Mao Mao's lips. And then
he puts his finger to his lips. And there's a
little bit of lipstick. And it was like an indirect
kiss. It was scandalous. I mean, everybody in
the room was looking. The pretty princesses were
living for this moment. I loved it so much. Mao
Mao was so uncomfortable and confused. Cut to
Gao Xun standing behind her with this giant grin.
Even Mao Mao was like, there is no way I was
solving whatever this was. It was so good. Now
is where the show starts to take a different
approach though. Because didn't she just bought
Mao Mao? She is under the impression that she
is going back to the rear palace. That can't
happen. I mean, she was already fired once, which
wasn't her fault, but whatever. She is going
to work in the outer court. And this is where
we get introduced to Tsure, who reminded me of
a taller Mao Mao. She is familiar with medicines
and seems to be able to move more freely than
the other court ladies. We also start getting
some scenes with Lachan, who is this master strategist.
He's starting to bombard Jinshi daily. It is
ever since he bought Mao Mao. So Lachan is Mao
Mao's biological dad. The story is so dark with
that storyline. And I didn't really like how
they made him go along with it in the beginning
of the series. How it is in the end, oh my god.
I'm sure I'll get into it more, so I don't want
to ruin it yet, but it sort of made me mad. I
felt like I got rage baited a little. He starts
to ask Jin Shi for all of these different requests.
He has this metal worker who passed away, and
there's a trade secret left for his sons, but
the will is a riddle. This is right up Mao Mao's
alley. There's another one where he wants blue
roses, but of course it's in the off season.
As much as I know that he was just fucking with
Jinchi, I think at the same time, he was also
testing how capable his daughter is. So we end
up having all of these different situations that
end up being connected. I had no clue this was
happening. I think the show did a great job in
keeping me blind to it. I had no clue until they
told me. I had an idea that Sue Ray was a villain
character, but these went from being coincidences
to strategically planned. While Mao Mao has been
researching more, I think she's at this archive
at this point. She's looking at these blueprints
for the ceremonial temple. And the librarian
dude is showing her some blueprints and telling
her what his concern was with the integrity of
the structure. He also adds how he was fired
as soon as he like made comment of that. So she
is connecting the dots and she finds out that
a ceremony is happening today. The stakes are
getting really high and I mean she is hauling
ass. When she gets to this temple she is of course
stopped by these palace guards. And this one
specifically, he was such a dick. And she is
instigating him because she wants a commotion
to happen. She wants the ceremony to be stopped.
Somebody in her position and within her rank
has no place and no business. And she's not stupid.
She knows that her life is essentially dispensable.
So she instigates him and gets hit really hard.
Like falls down a dozen steps and her face is
smashed in. She's bleeding. It was really intense,
but she doesn't give up. She is trying to right
a wrong. This is such a major theme in her whole
character concept. And I love it. Then we have
Lachan who shows up right behind her. And as
soon as he started speaking, the tension was
thick. And she knows it's him, her real father.
She refuses to acknowledge him as such. And he's
vouching for her. But he is not just respected
within the palace. He is feared. He is this master
strategist. So a lot of credit goes to him for
winning battles and wars. He holds a very significant
title. With this distraction, Mao Mao runs in
and ends up tackling the person that is under
this banister that was meant to fall but look
like an accident, right? The man she saves is
of course Jin -Chi, but she gets really hurt.
She cuts open her leg and ends up losing consciousness.
The moment was so intense, we have Jin -Chi freaking
out. He ends up carrying her from the temple
to his place. We have blood dripping from her
leg. Again, the scene was so intense. Even Lachan
had this complete look of shock. I'm not sure
if it was to Mao Mao's injury, or if it was to
Jinshi's identity. I'm not entirely sure which
it was. It could have been both. Moving on from
that though, I think one of the things I enjoyed
the most was the way they handled Tsure. She
ends up getting found out to be this mastermind
behind this, but is found to be dead. Apparently,
she ended up drinking poison. Mao Mao and her
have had some interactions, and during one of
these, she had told Mao Mao she was making this
drug for resurrection. And of course, Mao Mao
loses it. She is beyond excited, grabbing her,
and is like, I need this recipe. Su Rui says
that she's kidding. But when Mao Mao hears this,
she wants to see her body. She's like, there's
no way that it was just this one girl who orchestrated
all these different scenarios. So the doctor
who ended up examining Su Rui, he had a major
crush on her. And Mao Mao knew that he didn't
do a proper autopsy. So she opens up the coffin.
And of course, it is somebody completely different.
Turns out Su -Rei took this medicine that basically
makes her lifeless, so there are no vital signs.
And when she was placed in this morgue, she was
rescued and escaped that way. Mao Mao basically
stopped this from going unanswered, because they
were going to be cremating all of the bodies
tomorrow. So Su -Rei was this close to getting
away with it, if it weren't for Mao Mao. But
she's determined to find Su -Rei now and learn
how to make this drug. This is all she cares
about. She had this maniacal laugh and she's
like, my wound has reopened. Cut to Gaoshuin
and Jin -Chi just freaking out. We do end up
getting more of Mao Mao's past throughout this
series. And at some point during the whole lock
-in Jin -Chi game, he had asked Jin -Chi, if
he knows how to reduce a courtesan's worth. Jin
Shi ends up asking Mao Mao, who was clearly disgusted
by that question. We can figure out why, but
she starts to explain that the biggest factor
in what would make someone lose their value would
be pregnancy. And I sort of knew Mao Mao's mother
was a courtesan. When they get into it, I just
loved her so Much especially in her prime. Oh
my god. I thought she was gorgeous She was someone
who was raised in the brothel and has this extremely
High level of pride and it was so nice to watch
I could feel it coming through the screen But
we'll get more into her story when we get into
the finale And this finale that's been building
up is centering around Mao Mao finally being
ready to confront Lakan. She has been avoiding
him this whole season. And I was so ready for
this confrontation. I think the show did another
great job adding these like little touches. With
the blue rose arc, Mao Mao had to borrow the
sauna that she had built for Lady Liwa. The reason
for that is she has to grow these roses out of
season. and within a very short time frame. Being
in Lady Liwa's territory, she had to deal with
Liwa's ladies -in -waiting. So Mao Mao breaks
out the nail art kit and painted nails, but we
started to see all these pops of color start
to come into the scenes. We also know that Lachan
apparently cannot see or differentiate faces.
He only sees them as chess pieces. And it was
really cool because they did show everyone had
either a black or a white piece for a face. I
think the men were black and the women were white.
I'm not 100 % positive. But you could see him
visibly thrown off by these pops of color coming
into his frame. He starts talking and reminiscing
about remembering a less flamboyant red hue.
I think he was describing it as balsam. Mao Mao
is ready to challenge him to a game, and their
setup was perfect. We have Mao Mao, Gao Xun,
and Jin Chi. And you can't see their faces, but
you can see Mao Mao's. And she is ready to go.
So Mao Mao challenges him to a game. They have
to choose between cups. The loser has to drink
from a cup that the winner picks. And three of
these cups are poisoned. During the game, Mao
Mao's already drank two. And since there's three
of these cups, Lachan cannot afford to let his
daughter be poisoned. So he ends up throwing
the game for that one round and ends up taking
a drink. It turns out that the poison is really
just strong liquor and Lachan doesn't drink.
So he passes right out. And this is where we
flashback to the real story about him and Mau
Mau's mother. Her name is Feng Xin. And again,
she was born and raised in the brothel. And she
has this immense, intense level of pride. She
was just stunning. The little bits that I kept
getting of her, I just absolutely loved her.
And Lachan was so in love with her. And for a
couple of reasons. Lachan is very into games
like Go and chess. And she is also somebody who
plays games. She wasn't the courtesan to sell
her body. She sold her intellect, her mind, and
her personality. Another reason is because her
face is one of the only faces he was able to
see. We find out Lachan was supposed to take
her away, but ends up getting sent away for like
three years. Before he gets sent away, thinks
Shin is like somebody offered to buy her. And
it's so sad. But she gets herself pregnant. This
is so she can negate that contract. Because for
some reason, she wants to be with Locken. And
whatever. But Locken gets sent away for three
whole years. She loses her whole sense of pride
and sanity. She has to become the streetwalker.
She ends up catching syphilis. And I felt so
bad when we got into the truth. This is where
I wasn't happy that they made Lachan to be this
bad guy. It wasn't necessarily his fault. He
gets sent away because of his uncle. And his
uncle is Mamao's adopted father. So there are
a lot of ties that they revealed right at the
end. It's so sad though because she gets pregnant
and he gets sent away. So she ends up going absolutely
crazy. Cuts off one of her fingers and Mao Mao's
fingertip. I guess this was a way to curse somebody.
Lachan ends up coming back those three years
later and he has all this mail. He dumps out
this little satchel into his hand. He thinks
it's like a twig or mud or something along those
lines. Then he realizes exactly what it is. I'm
not sure if he just assumes she was dead or somewhere
else. I'm not really sure. But we end up coming
back to the present and he wakes up in the verdigris
house. The deal that Mao Mao had made with him
was that if the gamble was lost or the person
had to stop playing given any circumstance, then
Lachan was going to have to purchase a courtesan.
At the same time though, if Mao Mao were to lose,
then she has to live with Lachan. So there was
a lot of stakes on this wage. But Mao Mao had
a plan. During the lineup of these courtesans,
one of the pretty princesses is telling him to
choose wisely. and opens the door. She was Feng
Xin's attendant servant girl when she was younger.
So Lachan has known this girl her whole life
as well. And with the doors open, we start to
hear a lullaby. And it's the same lullaby that
Feng Xin had sang to him after they did the deed.
She was just singing him a lullaby. So he takes
off and he is trying to find her. When he did,
It was just so bittersweet. He can't see faces,
but Mao Mao's and Feng Xin's, he can. Since she
has syphilis, she is all scabbed up, deteriorating.
She is in rough shape. Lachan only sees her as
this beautiful angel though. It was so good because
then they start playing a game and it was like
when they first met. Oh my god, I really enjoyed
that as a closure. It does lead to one of the
most beautiful scenes in the anime for me. At
least in the season for me. Mao Mao ends up doing
this dance, and we find out all the girls do
a dance when someone is bought. It was just so
beautiful. And I think it's because it is the
opposite of her actual personality. It was really
interesting to see her stepped into this role.
Jin Shi basically surprises her and she almost
falls off the wall. He catches her, but we see
her leg wound reopen and she's about to stitch
it herself, but this man is not having it. He
just scoops her up and jumps off the wall. She
is screaming the whole way down. It was really
good. Him acting this way, It's really giving
off his age. This is what I like. I like how
they did this. And it was a cute moment because
we have Mao Mao, who is clearly more into Jin
Shi when he's real and authentic and genuine.
For a first season, it was amazing to get into.
I feel like they covered so many bases. And even
though season one is supposed to be big, I didn't
feel like it was crammed or that it got stretched
out. I felt like it was really balanced and I
enjoyed it so much. Season two is going to kick
it right up, but I'm gonna work on that for the
summer. So this is all I have for season one.
The next series on my list that I would love
to get into is Let This Grieving Soul Retire.
I really, really like that one. That's what's
gonna be coming up. Don't forget every Friday
I am uploading a recap episode to give my play
-by -play during the current season of Jujutsu
Kaisen. It is definitely a favorite of mine.
I cannot wait for our next episode, episode 9.
But that is all I have. So until next time, I'll
see you then.