The Apothecary Diaries Episode 9

12 months ago 45

Hmmm, does this count as a filler episode? It is in the manga but then again, a lot of episodes that are considered filler are also in the source material. That�s not something I can go by. It was...

Hmmm, does this count as a filler episode? It is in the manga but then again, a lot of episodes that are considered filler are also in the source material. That�s not something I can go by. It was a bit of an odd episode all things considered. I�m not sure how I�m going to review it, to be honest.

This week�s Apothecary Diaries was clearly split into two parts. But instead of being the setup and conclusion of a self-contained story or even two separate short stories, it was a self-contained mini-case and the opening act of a completely different case. And that�s kind of an odd choice. Especially with that flashback sequence in the middle that was quite long and most definitely filler and a way to reuse animation. That part was not in the manga. I wonder why they didn�t skip the short story about the captain and the salt or why they didn�t just draw it out to a full episode.

I have to admit that although I am up to date on the manga, certain bits are a little fuzzy. I should probably reread it. And I do know that Apothecary Diaries is generally better than a lot of anime about continuity. As such there is a real possibility that some things we saw in the salt murder case are going to become important later and I just forgot about it. But it still felt like an odd pacing for this episode.

If nothing from it comes back, I guess the first part of the episode served to humanize Jinshi a little and remind us of the stakes for everyone in the show. Also, we learned that Maomao is quite fond of �booze� as if I didn�t like her enough already! In case you were wondering, Maomao is 17 or 18 at this point so should the drinking age be set at 20, she would have to go without for at least a couple of years. �

To me, this part of the episode was pleasant but slightly unremarkable. It dealt with the death of an older army official we have not seen before. Most of the action happened in a single room and I�m using the word action very loosely here. Don�t get me wrong, I don�t mind a slow talkie murder mystery. But it felt a lot like the courtesan failed murder of last week without all the salacious fun! �

And oddly, it�s not like the episode was evenly split. This stand-alone mystery took up the bulk of the runtime and we just had enough left over for the set up of what promises to be a much more interesting murder. I feel so callous. A fictional man died and I�m whining about it not being paced to my liking. Horrid!

But this new murder, now this I can sink my teeth into.

I really like the royal consorts. All of them. I love it whenever we get to see them or learn anything new about the rituals around them. I find it fascinating. Gyokuyou is my favourite. She�s the most likeable to me and naturally the most developed one as we see her onscreen the most. And I love that she�s a bit of a troll. She�s also one of the few ladies aside from Maomao who seems pretty immune to Jinshi�s charms. This said, I also quite liked what we saw of the other two consorts.

But Aaduo is still a mystery. She is the oldest of the consorts and does seem the most mature for what that�s worth but otherwise, we haven�t heard much. I guess that�s a good thing, we get to find out! The Emperor only has 4 consorts that we know of. I�m not being coy it�s just that it�s a bit low for a harem. Especially if there�s one he doesn�t really�entertain� A quick Google search told me that �Emperors had access to upwards of 10,000 consorts. In terms of how many they actually had relations with, the average was around a few dozen�� That�s a lot more than 4 and really just 3. I�m wondering if there is something we don�t know yet. Something that explains this low number. Maybe Aaduo knows. Maybe her handmaid knew�

Dum dum DUM!