The Apothecary Diaries - Season 2: Episode 1 Reaction & Discussion! Maomao AND Maomao!?
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- LINK TO REACTION: share.vidyard....
*CAT-SCRATCHED HEADPHONE WARNINGS*
We are BACK y'all and MaoMao and Jinshi might just be unwilling parents...of a calico cat! This episode was so much fun to dive back into this world with these characters! The Banter! The Humor! The Charm!
It feels good to be back and I can't wait to see what antics our Apothecary and her fellow "Eunuch" get up to this season!
Thank you for watching with me and for all the support!
#apothecarydiaries #apothecarydiariesreaction #apothecarydiariesseason2 #romaniablack
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Season 2 is here!!!! The opening is such a feast for manga/light novel readers but anime onlys small bites at a time. I cant wait to see how your interpretation of it changes or doesnt. The ending is from Jinshi's pov and it has this melancholic feeling as the lyrics insinuate that Jinshi sort of wishes that Maomao wasnt a commoner or he wasnt royalty so that him being with her and vice versa would be easier.
First of all Loulan does look like this servant girl. I wonder if this is her way of getting breathing room by dressing as a commoner and/or if she is working with Suirei maybe this is also to keep an eye on Maomao I guess we'll have to see.
I just thought from the opening scene that Lakan had moved the mom elsewhere but with everything that was built up from last season it would make more sense that she has died. It's so bittersweet and I do wonder how Meimei and Lakan are going to move forward.
I love Maomao's relationship with Xiaolan and this whole plotline of educating the girls is interesting and Im looking forward to what comes from it. I must say that Jinshi and Maomao even if they dont realize it are best friends at this point. It's hilarious how Maomao teases him when he seems a bit too invested in the book and how she is so comfortable now to crack rather inappropriate jokes with him but then try and make him feel better when she feels like she's gone too far. Its also ironic in a way that for how lustful Jinshi seems to Maomao Maomao knows alot more about those matters while Jinshi is very innocent and pure when it comes to these things. Gaoshun had me cracking up this episode from him telling Jinshi to keep the book to how precious he looks around the cat. Lingli is precious but her circumstances are tragic considering that by the time she is around 12 she could be sent to some kingdom to wed a man twice her age and she might be alone. The gravity of her situation really sinks in when Maomao says at some point she will learn the meaning of the gazes around her. Other than that, her basically ordering Maomao to get the cat is adorable and she does cry like a tiny Jinshi which had never occurred to me, The cat parenting was adorable and Jinshi taking a big sniff of that cat almost had me screaming especially when we see Maomao's judgemental face. We all know what he's going to do when he cant get enough of Maomao the person now. Jinshi has unlocked his own personal stress ball. I cant wait for next episode.
I love the start of the second season!
My theory with Louran and the servant girl is similar to yours, that the girl is the actual Louran and she has so many servants at her palace so that one can play her role and she can run around freely. Maomao did say in season one when she taught the concubines that she has so much make up on she can't really tell what she looks like, but the hair and eye color is like a dead give-away.
You should really check out the ED with subtitles. The whole song is from Jinshis POV and I love it a lot. The lyrics enhance the ED a lot in my opinion.
I love the whole cat scene with Jinshi and the jokes about castration a lot. It's just so funny! Also the joke with the juicy booksxD
Also just because Maomao is definitely a cat doesn't mean she has to be a cat person. I mean there are a lot of people who aren't a people personxD
I am looking forward what the rest of the episodes bring. I did buy the japanese LN in Japan and try to stay one episode ahead in reading, but it just takes so longxD
Looking forward to seeing more of your analysis of this season!
Flagged for spoilers so I cannot read, but thank you for the support!
I figured out as soon as she started crying that Lingli is voiced by Gyokuyou's VA Atsumi Tanezaki, cuz immediately she sounded like Anya from Spy x Family (who is also voiced by her). I was kinda impressed with myself when I checked the voice cast to discover I was right. She's got that "little kid cry" down to an art! XD
And Frieren
Ohhh yeah, that makes so much sense! She is multi-talented! Thank you for the comment!
Romania is smart as well 😮
Season 2 ❤
Thanks for the comment!
Yessss the start of season 2! I love a good slow burn so I am so here for this. I realy like the interpretation of Maomao as somewhere on the Ace spectrum. I'm Ace myself but also I remember her having a line in the first novel about not being intrested in sex. It could just be the transactional nature of what she's seen at that point but it makes me happy to think of her as at least being demi. I did not notice that the new girl looked like Loulan until you said something and now I can't get it out of my head! 😱👀
Right! So excited by the start of season 2! I am here for slow burns as well! Also, it's nice to meet a fellow Ace person! I totally am on board for MaoMao at least being Demi as well, with Jinshi being "the one," haha! But I love that! Thank you so much for the comment and kind words!
Great first episode, I'm in love with the opening!
Here are some of my favourite quotes from the novel for this episode
Number 1, This is how Volume 3 Chapter 1 starts (the scene with distilling perfumes):
“What are you doing?” asked the thoroughly perplexed eunuch Jinshi, who looked as gorgeous as he always did."
Just Maomao calling him gorgeous in the first chapter, first line of the novel 😂
Now a funny thing that was cut out is this scene after Ailan says that she would like to share the book with others:
"Maomao thought she understood what Ailan was getting at. When you find something interesting, you want to share it; that’s human nature. Maomao, for example, had once discovered a very rare snake she’d never seen before, and had gone around showing it to everyone she could find. (They had not been pleased.)"
Just Maomao being a snake girl 😂 She's so unhinged.
Anyways, thanks foe the reaction, can't wait to see what you think of further episodes!
I love the new opening as well! And of course, starting out with MaoMao noticing Jinshi like that…girl, you are fooling no one. 😀MaoMao as the snake girl is hilarious! Thank you for that information and the comment!
I forgot to mention that the cat getting into the rear palace is an interesting detail as Maoamao highlights how unusual that is. If an animal that wasnt able to get in before can now suddenly appear there might be a breach of security in the palace.
Both comments flagged for spoilers, but thank you for the support!
Oh there's so much to talk about. Regarding the opening, the impression I get is that the studio got a note about the previous one being a bit too spoilery. There's still a ton of references in this, but it's a lot more subdued and out of context. Some info on the song, it's sung by the same person who sang the first Frieren opening, Lilas Ikuta, though that one was as part of the duo of her and producer Ayase, known as Yoasobi. Its title is "Hyakkaryōran" (百花繚乱), and that alone has an entire language tangent that might interest the English teacher in you.
The song's title is a Yojijukugo (四字熟語), a "four character compound word". In its broadest sense, it refers to words composed of four kanji, which may have an idiomatic meaning or just be a compound word. In a stricter sense, if refers to those words only when they have an idiomatic meaning that can't be inferred from the meaning of each kanji alone. Many are adopted from Chinese literature, Buddhism, Japanese history and customs. They're often used as figures of speech. The wikipedia article has more details and examples. One example you heard recently was in Blue Lock, when Barou described how in synch Rin and Isagi were, if I'm not mistaken, he used "isshindōtai" (一心同体), kanji meaning one/一, heart or mind/心, same or equal/同, body/体, meaning something like "two hearts beating as one". Hyakkaryōran kanji have the meaning hundred/百, flower/花, put on or twist around/繚, chaos or disorder/乱. The idiom can be translated as "various flowers blooming in profusion", "gathering of beautiful women/talented people", and "simultaneous emergence of many talents and achievements". Definitely building on the women as flowers and the rear palace as garden theme.
Smaller language bit regarding Maomao and Maomao, there's a subtle difference that is not readily apparent. Maomao the gremlin's name is written with the kanji for cat, which you already knew. Maomao the actual cat's name is written with the kanji for fur/hair. However, because of the Mandarin reading, they sound different because Mandarin is a tonal language, so the pronunciation of a word can completely change its meaning. For example, mother and horse are the same sound with different tones. It's a word level change similar to how stressing a word in a sentence can make two very different meanings, like "She did not kill him today." can change a lot with emphasis on different words.
Lastly, in case you don't already know, the chibi shorts are also still coming, they're released the Monday after an episode airs, don't know if you want to watch them concurrently, or wait to watch them all at together after the season is done.
Yeah, I’m going to be talking about the OP throughout the season, but that’s awesome it’s by the same group as Frieren - that makes a lot of sense! Thank you for the language insight as well; that’s really cool! And yes, I’ll talk about the cat name in episode 2. 🙂Patreon beat you to it!
And no, as I said in the actual shorts video - if you watched it - I would love to do a season 2 of the chibis, but it would need to be gathered up into a compilation after the season is over. Thanks for the comment!
I do think you could watch the op and ed for this season. Though it does reference some events, I don't think it's spoilery as you would only know if you've read the light novel or the manga. Also, I could not have agreed with you more on the kid thing. I get that it's cute sometimes but it does get tiring for me when a couple has to include a child to count as a happy ending. I don't really like kids in the first place so when a lot of the bl I read feature a kid in a spin off or epilogue, it really takes away some of my enjoyment from the main couple (my friends would say this is a sacrilegious take 🙄 Do read the lyrics of the ed, it made me shed a tear🥲
Yeah, I start the OP and ED next episode so no worries! Thanks for the comment!
Xiaolan is cute and cat lady is cute to gorgeous ❤
Fortunately Shisui’s name is revealed in ep 2 which Romania watched already 😅
Is just a name @@twiticool
Please note that you should not reveal names until they are revealed in the actual show, regardless of where you think I am in the series. I will not read your comments moving forward if you can't abide by the spoiler rules that I have kindly asked.
@@RomaniaBlack sorry
All I'm gonna say is your way too observant Romania. I'm like how did she notice that so freaking soon when other reactors didn't, omfg
The others are blind or dumb lol
Flagged for spoilers but thank you for the support!
First of all Romania, I want to complement your sweatshirt. I love it.
Next, the details that they left out of this section. First part, In the anime maomao uses the words "closet pervert" to describe Gaoshun, but in the novel she says "poker-faced lecher" which I find more comical. the printing techniques of the books are wester rather than eastern. Since Jinshi seems surprised by the quality, she supposed it was unusual. It also states that in that scene, the doctor is giving Jinshi embarrassed glancess. It also goes into more detail about Xiaolan. Maomao didn't know what characters to use for "Xiaolan", because the characters would have been chosen by the parents, but the parents probably didn't know how read or write either. So Maomao just picked the most common characters. The character for "Lan" in Xiaolan is made of the radicals for "grass" "Gate" and "East". Xiaolan was sold by her parents at about the same time as Maomao which most likely meant it was expected that she never return home even after her two year service had passed.
in the second part, it states that Maomao "isn't a big fan" of children, but doesn't mind taking care of the princess because it's better than taking care of the girls that are sold into the brothel because there's nothing more insufferable than a pre-teen girl. When Maomao goes to get snakes, she pulls out the sausages (she made the sausages from the leftover intestines), thinks better of it, and puts them back, the doctor sees this and eats the cakes with a distant look. When Jinshi put the cat on his face, Maomao was worried that someone would look inside and see him all undignified. Evidently, it's not uncommon for women to croud the windows to watch Jinshi. When Gaoshun sees Jinshi with the cat, he has a jealous expression.
Lastly, the name of the cat has characters that mean "furry" but is still pronounced "maomao". And Maomao doesn't like it. I suspect they named her that because the princess kept saying "Mew" whenever she saw the kitten.
What?
And Maomao means "Cat" you dumb.
@@gthewolf7948 to which part?
Thank you so much! Gotta support some HuaLian starting out this season! ;)
That’s funny about some of the left out parts with Gaoshun! And about XiaoLan! The other information is great to know as well! Thank you for that info and the comment!