English Dub Review: The Apothecary Diaries “Maomao and Maomao”

Overview:

The spring garden party concludes without incident. Maomao returns to her regular life as Concubine Gyokuyou’s taster. Meanwhile, novels become popular in the rear palace. Maomao wonders how this came to be, as novels were typically considered low-class. But behind the scenes lies Jinshi and his goals as manager of the rear palace.

Our Take:

This was one of my favorite shows of 2023/2024, and I’m glad it got a second season. The first episode of the season was a bit slow. I wouldn’t say there was ever a huge overarching plot thread, but I was interested in seeing things touched on in season two. Mainly I want to see if Maomao becomes aware of how Jinshi feels about her. That would be Maomao the person, not Maomao the cat, which was adopted in this episode. Why they decided to name the cat the same as her I do not know.

Maomao realized that many women in the rear palace might not know how to “perform” in the bedroom when the time comes. This could be embarrassing for them, so Maomao brought some books with pictures to show them the way. Jinshi saw these and thought they should be censored, but I have a feeling he had other reasons for confiscating them.