English Dub Review: The Apothecary Diaries “Maomao” “Chilly Apothecary” “The Unsettling Matter of the Spirit”
Overview:
After being kidnapped and forced to work as a servant in the rear palace, former apothecary Maomao inadvertently draws the attention of the higher ranks when she investigates what’s causing the emperor’s infant heirs to fall mysteriously ill.
Maomao tries to settle into her promotion to lady-in-waiting and food taster but struggles to fend off both boredom and the overly familiar Jinshi. That is, until she gets an assignment of her dreams: to concoct an aphrodisiac.
Tasked with investigating a ghostly woman dancing nightly on the palace walls, Maomao finds a sleepwalking Concubine Fuyou. But with no medicinal cure for sleepwalking, she’s forced to dig deeper to find the real reason behind Fuyou’s affliction.
Our Take:
Spoiler alert, all the episodes were great but I need a second to gush about the third episode “The Unsettling Matter of the Spirit” because it was beautiful. The animation in this series has been gorgeous so far but it was the story of the episode that had me in tears.
As you know I love romance and this series is listed as such but I’m not sure if it will go that path with the two leads. But in the third episode, there was such a heartwarming romance and the two lovers didn’t even speak a word. One of the Emperor’s concubines, Fuyou, has been seen sleepwalking and Maomao doesn’t know if there is a cure for such an affliction. But Maomao is one of my favorite types of protagonists, the smart kind.
Fuyou is in love with her childhood friend who is an officer in the army, which is good but still not good enough for an Emperor’s concubine. I won’t claim to know a lot about Chinese politics but I do know that for people below the elite life is seldom fair. People felt bad for Fuyou when she stumbled while dancing before the Emperor and again when she began to act “crazy” and sleepwalk. But what they don’t realize is this was all a plan by her to lose favor with the Emperor and be given away as a “prize” to a military officer who is doing great things and deserves a reward.
Yes, the officer she was given to was none other than her childhood friend and I can’t remember the last time I cried that hard. There were no words spoken and it was one of the most heartfelt scenes I’ve seen. Their relief and joy at finally being together once they were away from public eyes was amazingly animated.
I know you might be wondering “What about the other two episodes?” they were great and set the stage perfectly but this last episode was just so perfect for me specifically that I can’t help but sing its praises. If you want to know if I think you should watch this anime I will give you a resounding “yes”.
