it kind of kills me just how gentle and kind shisui is, even at the very end, with all she does. how she gently handled and cradled the kids, giving them a good memory to hold on to before everything goes awry, how she was so affectionate and warm with maomao, forcing herself to leave before she got swayed into changing her mind, her voice everytime she talks to suirei is so warm and gentleâ thats her sister, giving jinshi a moments time, just resting the nail cap on his cheek while waiting for him to either push her away and stop her and when only when he didn't did she scar his faceâ even that scarring was ultimately in service of pleasing her motherâ who she has every right to simply ignore and leave for the dead except even for shenmei, at the end she gently laid her down on the ground, expressing sympathy and pity for shishou, the other person she had every right to not think about at all. the last smile she gave to suirei as her sister tried to reach for her, even when in pain. she deserved so much better than to be caught up in all of this
I find it fascinating how, in the LNs, tons of people try to walk all over Jinshi after his identity is revealed
They keep fostering massive amounts of paperwork on him (that isn't even supposed to be his responsibility), try to take credit for his ideas, run him basically ragged, and some are just plain rude or stupid and think they can easily manipulate him
And i just find that interesting, considering... This is all after Jinshi lead an army to destroy a traitorous clan in order to save Maomao (tho only a few know the last part)
Like. He was leading it. Directly. He wasn't some pampered Royal sitting in the back. He wore armor, wielded a goddamn sword, and LEAD AN ENTIRE ARMY for the purpose of ERADICATING AN ENTIRE CLAN for their actions against the Emperor and the country. He was in the battle himself, attacking enemy soldiers. He has the scar to prove it
And this story is decently well known, getting passed around by word of mouth among even commoners, even in later volumes. So we can assume most people who work directly or indirectly with Jinshi would be familiar with the fact that the Moon Prince can, has, and WILL taken action against those who slight the royal family, and will be on the front lines to deliver that punishment himself
And, in fact, Jinshi's training and swordsmanship seems unique to him in regards to the royal family - he was only trained bc Basen needed a training partner and it let them grow closer. The former emperor and the current emperor don't seem to have been trained in swordsmanship, from what we know about them
So Jinshi might be the only royal in the last few generations to have any fighting ability at all.
(Plus, it's mentioned and demonstrates that Jinshi is above average in his abilities - and he might even be far more amazing than he thinks, bc he only ever fights against Basen, who's shown to be inhumanly strong. Compared to that, of course Jinshi would think of himself as average)
......... And people still try to walk all over him
The only reason it works is bc Jinshi is too nice for his own good
A random thought I've had ever since reading the light novel: I wonder whether the one of the reasons that Jinshi likes his facial scar is not only because it 'diminishes' his beauty, a quality (along with his status) that prevents people from forming genuine relationships with him, but also how it becomes a point of difference from the face of the old emperor. Clearly, his looks are as much of a tool to him as it is a source of insecurity. And to share the face of the most repulsive man can't have been an easy thought. So to bear this scar, one that he allowed to mark itself on his face, is a reminder of his humanity, as well as distancing himself from the old emperor and the expectations put upon him as a result of his beauty.
I think it's kinda fun that Jinshi sees himself as average in terms of intelligence, especially considering everyone around him but one of the first things the novel tells us about him is that is specifically smart enough to go toe to toe with Maomao.
By the end of his introduction, He managed to figure out who sent the note and trick Maomao, our main detective into giving herself away.
The thing is Jinshi is Actually Smart but in his mind since he has to Work His Ass Off For It, he's not truly Smartâ˘ď¸. This along with his knack for Finding Competent People to work for him? He has an extremely skewed view of his capabilities.
In the later light novels, Maomao even states in an inner monologue that he is very capable but spreads himself so thin trying to solve every problem all at once that he doesn't reach his potential. Maomao certainly doesn't share Jinshi's view that he is average is what I am getting at here.
âThereâs nothing I can give him back in return.â
with LN vol 12 and vol 13 out in English, I canât help but once again gush about these two. Because they are honestly one of the healthiest and most frustrating slow burn established relationship ships ever. I seriously love their development, how jinshi has come so far from his unhealthy tendencies towards maomao in the earlier volumes.
sure you can say thatâs the least he could do, but it does matter a lot, for a person whoâs restrained himself all his life, to get everything at his fingertips except for what he truly wanted, to still continue to restrain himself even when what he wants is already there for the taking if only heâd reach out. itâs an acknowledgment and full understanding of the unequal power dynamic between him and maomao, and giving power, at least as much as he is able, over himself to maomao in a way to make up for that unequal dynamic. itâs maomao who gets to decide now what will happen and how fast it will happen in their relationship moving forward.
which I think is brilliant from a story-telling pov because we can focus on the intriguing developments and politics while still getting small but perfect doses of the development of their relationship. not too much, but not too little either. it also makes for an absolutely hilarious dynamic because it seems like itâs maomao whoâs getting frustrated this time around. because sheâs also a person who restrains herself. she may be willful when it comes to medicine, but for something like this? I donât think she learned to ask for what she wants either. sheâs not used to it. so she teases instead. itâs fascinating to see that while jinshi has matured, maomao has retained that side of her, the one which unexpectedly likes teasing and triggering jinshi (oh but she better watch out once he snaps, but part of me thinks this is what she wants ultimately). like seriously, it may not be in-character, but the image of an increasingly frustrated maomao who has her attempts at flirtation constantly thwarted by jinshiâs monk-like almost masochistic self-control will never be not funny to me. I donât discount the possibility that once sheâs finally had it up to here, sheâd be the one to just smack one on him and/or ravish him once and for all. I mean she was the one to steal a kiss first once she accepted Jinshiâs (and her own) feelings.
so linking it to the anime, thereâs no doubt in my mind that maomao truly loves jinshi. like I donât just mean logically how she could fall in love with him with how he respects her agency, and her knowledge, and her skill, while she respects what he stands for (and though she may not admit it), his kindness. I mean that itâs pretty clear to me that both jinshi and maomaoâs love languages are acts of service. And with that thought of maomaoâs, her worrying about being unable to give back to jinshi, shows to me that sheâs worried about placing jinshi in the same position she was in as a baby. she may be ok now (or more like she repressed it), but maomao may have grown up feeling like never having enough (literally being left alone as a baby to cry for hours on end which isnât anyoneâs fault really but more of a matter of circumstance) until she made herself be ok with it.
and the fact that she sees nothing wrong about it when it comes to herself, but is worried about the same thing happening to jinshi, shows to me that her love isnât as lukewarm as she thinks it is. bec inasmuch as jinshi goes above and beyond for her, maomao goes above and beyond for him as well, noticeably almost more than for anyone else. like maomao will perform acts of services for almost anyone, but for her to actually reopen the lid on her emotions, which sheâs kept locked for a long time, shows to me considerable effort and care. because she recognizes the weakness in herself when it comes to emotions, but she doesnât want to hurt jinshi by not giving him enough.
even when she prepared everything for what was supposed to be their first night, jinshi viewed it as her artisanâs spirit, but knowing maomao, itâs not something she would have done otherwise if she didnât really want to do it. she refrained from food and drink, she prepared everything so jinshi wouldnât have to worry. nothing about her preparations screamed transactional. bec again as much as jinshi wants her to rely on him, to burden him, maomao shows her love in how much she wants him to unburden himself. she wants him to be able to stop holding back without worries to the point that sheâs willing to carry that burden for him. sure again you could see it as her being her perfectionist self, but again from what we know of maomao, she does indeed go all out, but only for the things sheâs passionate about, for the things that matter to her. remember her failing the court lady exam? somehow, through everything theyâve went through, jinshi has become someone who matters so much to her that sheâs willing to put in the work.
that interaction really showed how far the both of them have come, and through maomao becoming more proactive, and jinshi becoming more patient, showing the best way they show that they love the other. doing something difficult thatâs not what theyâre used to, sacrificing or bearing embarrassment, because despite everything, itâs worth it for the person theyâre doing it for. if thatâs not love, what is?
LN 5 epilogue: The moment, the aftermath and the anime.
Iâve seen people being concerned for how things will be portrayed if the anime makes it to the LN 5 epilogue where Jinshi and Maomao have their undoubtedly most intense moment of the series. If the anime gets renewed for a season 3 itâll have to cover this as the first two seasons have done 4 light novels so if we get even one more itâll be expected to make through light novel 6, which is great material. Do I expect that some people are going to see Jinshiâs behavior as toxic, assault and the like? Yup, probably ramped up 1,000% from the frog scene even. Do I think the anime will tone it down from the light novel? Yes I do. Theyâve added things here and there to other scenes and in ways I think itâs helped, with that moment and its nuances I donât see them going all the way there. Also, thereâs lots of fan debate on translation so I wouldnât be surprised if the animators take a light tone just to keep from siding one way or another on how it was translated. That being said, hereâs why Iâm not that worried even if the whole scene is shown: because sometimes we need the messy moments for the growth to happen. (Spoilers under the cut)
First, some perspective. An analysis on the moment itself.
People can argue that this one moment in Jinmao history is a bit too messy but I donât think so. For one, I donât think Jinshi was truly trying to hurt Maomao. Yes we see him put his hand on her throat and pull her hand behind her back, however he quickly releases both, his one hand to twine in her hair and the other to pull her closer when he kisses her. The point of both was to get her attention. This scene starts out in a somewhat similar fashion to the frog scene but it is much more of a breaking point for the two of them than that. Just like with the frog scene, Jinshi has something vital he wants to communicate with Maomao. The whole reason for her being there is that sheâs a marriage candidate, she is even wearing a hair stick Jinshi had made specifically for her, one with a moon and a poppy. (Moon Prince and the girl who likes poison, since poppies represent poison, anyone?) But when they begin talking on this subject Maomao, like before and always, evades and wonât admit she knows sheâs his real choice for a wife and this is a proposal. Instead she even has the audacity to suggest he marry Lishu, who at this point even Maomao knows has feelings for Basen and wouldnât be a good choice for Jinshi given her nature and his. To me itâs this continual evasiveness that gets Jinshi to grab her attention again by putting his hands on her in a more aggressive manner. For Maomao though, weâre finally given a glimpse at why her responses are likely instinctual over emotional and why she appears to almost âshut downâ in the face of an advance. Itâs because we see that her brain has been taught to view everything from the perspective of the pleasure district, she even later says she was âindoctrinatedâ. Horrifyingly, her sisters subjected her to sexual conduct when she was young to learn the ways of a courtesan to the point of tears and so when sheâs in a situation where anything sexual happens she doesnât see it as an opportunity to express herself but instead to retreat and only find a way to gain the upper hand.
Remember too that Maomao admits from the beginning that Jinshi âisnât the type who would lay a hand on a young womanâ and this doesnât make her change her opinion. She even says out loud when he says âI wasnât actually going to hit youâ, âI know.â She can jump around his actions but knows whatever heâs doing isnât about hurting her, itâs about getting a reaction out of her, which is why she denies him that satisfaction. We see once Maomao takes any kind of initiative Jinshi backs off, showing his only real goal was to have her show any reciprocation towards him at all. Especially when we see his perspective at the beginning of LN 6 where heâs looking back on the interaction and realizes Maomaoâs detachment, we understand what he wants from her is not simply sexual engagement. He wants her to feel something and not be âlike trying to shove a curtainâŚsimply roll with it.â To me this expresses why itâs not âassaultâ in that Jinshi wasnât trying to harm, harass or have sex with Maomao. He releases her when he thinks sheâs kissing him back and his excitement over the interaction is over when he sees her face and realizes that she was completely devoid of feeling like usual and just playing along to whatever end she thought was expected of her.
Why is this pivitol for Jinmao? Understanding them. Growth.
Because itâs where we finally get to see why these two cannot seem to get on the same page about love or mutual feelings. Without it theyâd just keep doing the same old push / pull song and dance forever. The quote before he reaches behind her head gives us a clue to all of it.
âThat word, that simple four-letter word with its o and its e, was sometimes called vulgar, and sometimes turned out to be nothing more than a game- but some people said it was impossible to live without.â
Maomao is talking about love, what she sees in Jinshiâs eyes, what sheâs trying to avoid and how weâre supposed to see them both playing it as a game because right now they canât see it as anything else just yet. If you read on into LN 6 we see that Jinshiâs whole goal was basically to âtriumph overâ or to get a rise out of Maomao in some way, which he miserably admits he failed at. She remained unmoved and defeated him soundly. But thatâs the whole point of this moment between these two is to show that theyâre both still viewing love this way, as a âgameâ where one side has to win and have the upper hand to be successful. Itâs why Jinshi tries to push Maomao to show him emotion and then Maomao is the one to have âvictoryâ in the end by using what her sisters taught her but with absolutely no feeling behind it. Even during their interaction we get a glimpse that Maomao seems pleased Jinshi was jealous she had been dancing with Rikuson, âSo he had been watching them!â (To me meaning she wanted him to notice.) So there may not be complete lack of feeling on her part, just a twisted sense that it has to be manipulated. Jinshiâs view of love comes from watching palace women and men play political games for affection and status. Maomao sees love as dangerous and deceptive, many times the only form of it leading to harm and abandonment in the pleasure district. So both of them have no real concept what it means to love someone other than to try and get one over on the other, itâs about power, control and hiding what you actually want. Without this understanding on our part, as the readers and audience, that Jinshi and Maomao have troubled histories and a distorted view of love, we would just see the way they handle one another as abusive. You need this scene and others like it to get a glimpse into how they actually operate, what they're hiding and what the aftermath does for them.
From the moment to the aftermath, where change happens.
It's in the aftermath we see real change for the two of them. Jinshi realizes he was conceited and a part of him believing that because others respond to him favorably he could get Maomao to do the same. Maomao doesnât evade him in the same way as before either. Yes when they reunite in LN 6 Jinshi still offers her an antler and they engage in their typical back and forth complete with Maomao trying to reason herself out of being Jinshiâs choice but itâs lighthearted and both are far less intense. Maomaoâs want to rationalize Jinshiâs choice as purely political without feeling helps her reason why he might want to pick her. It gives us a glimpse at her self esteem being so low that she has to say âHeâs got strange tastes, thoughâ to understand why Jinshi would pick her over other women sheâd consider more desirable to him. Itâs telling too that Maomao is quoted as thinking,
âMaybe he was hoping she would come right out and say she loved him, but quite frankly, Maomao wasnât at a point where she could bring those words to her lips. The best she could manage was that she wasnât without a certain affection for him."
Itâs telling because 1. It says she isnât at that point she can bring the words to her lips, not that she doesnât feel love for him. 2. It still states clearly she has affection for him. This goes to show that Jinshiâs prodding can have an effect on Maomao. Being the kind of shut down person she is due to her background, she in effect can almost need someone like Jinshi whoâs willing to push her outside her comfort zone to get her to admit to feelings sheâs unwilling or even at times unable to fully voice. Even in the next moments where he tickles her and she lightly objects but lets him, it allows even more walls between the two to be bridged. Itâs not aggressive like what happens in the LN 5 epilogue but more like what two true lovers might do in playfully getting to know one another. And it still proves the most effective way in getting Maomao to open up because their conversation here leads to the first real confession Maomao makes about her true fear and itâs made as clear as it can be that itâs not marrying Jinshi himself but that in doing so she doesnât want to become Gyokuyouâs enemy. This revelation by Maomao sets off a lot of what happens in the next novels for them and it wouldnât have happened had Jinshi not pushed Maomao to stop ignoring she was a marriage candidate and instinctively shutting him out. By letting Jinshi in, not hiding what sheâs actually thinking, even this little bit, he takes that knowledge and tries to do all in his power to keep her from being afraid of a future where theyâre together. But without the moment in the garden of the LN 5 epilogue there would be no Maomao opening up and no Jinshi realizing he needs to do what he can, not to prove his feelings to her but to prove itâs possible they can work and she wonât be in a tough position.
"For you, I will remove every obstacle that keeps us apart. One day. Just know that." - "I won't let what you fear come to pass. I swear it."
An important detail: star crossed lovers.
I think this quote that occurs just before the LN 5 epilogue moment is important to mention because it ties into a theme that becomes relevant with Maomao and Jinshi going forward, that of the star-crossed lovers.Maomao is looking up at the dark sky and itâs possibly one of the most romantic observations she makes. Some may say Iâm reading too much into this but if youâve read Hyuugaâs novels youâll know the details are where are the goodies are.
âThe sky seemed so vast. There was no moon, making the stars to shine all the brighter. Three of them shone brightest of all. Perhaps those stars were the two lovers, and the river that separated them.â
This is likely referencing the myth of Altair & Vega, those are their western names but itâs a Chinese ancient myth about a celestial princess who falls in love with a mortal and they end up being placed as stars in the sky, separated by the Milky Way only able to see one another on occasional days (thatâs my brief description, worth looking up if you want to know more). So I donât think itâs coincidence at all Maomao references the stars being two lovers (Jinshi & Maomao) and the river that separates them (likely the empire or even Gyokuyou because she keeps requesting Maomao at her side.) I donât think itâs that far a stretch to make. And this comes before they have this intense, highly charged moment in the garden as almost lovers. Completely misunderstanding each other yes, hence the river between them they have yet to cross but I think thatâs why nothing can be taken at such face value here because even a quote like this can add such depth. Hyuuga does this again with the star-crossed lovers motif in LN 6 where in the same antler scene she has Maomao notice Jinshi looking at the book that falls and itâs Romeo & Juliet. How this relates to the LN 5 scene is that the star-crossed lovers are mired in tragedy, misunderstandings, missed opportunity. But as we see in LN 6 with the moment Maomao & Jinshi speak about Romeo & Juliet is they both agree about wishing for a different ending (I talk about this in another post). So my thought here is without the LN 5 epilogue, without having them be the stars separated by the river, having them face these difficulties, we also wouldnât get the ending theyâre both working so hard towards.
Finally, the anime: striking a balance.
So why should we actually look forward to a moment like the one in LN 5 being shown in the anime? Because it's not just about that moment but about everything it represents and leads to for these characters. Without this singular moment that's fraught with so much unresolved tension, feelings and decisions, Jinshi and Maomao would've never been pushed to discuss what needed to be between one another. They've both had too messy of upbringings to do so in any natural way. Maomao almost needs Jinshi to needle her to get her out of her self-imposed shell and he likewise needs Maomao to shut him down sometimes to prove his conceited notions aren't always on course. But without a moment like this we wouldn't have gotten a truth from Maomao that leads to down the road her admittance that she's merely afraid her feelings are too lukewarm compared to Jinshi's.
"It was a heat like molten metal. She wasnât sure what to do with it all for the temperature she could return was no more than that of lukewarm water."
In effect showing that it's her sense of inferiority keeping them apart more than it is a lack of actual desire on either side. With the anime, I expect them to strike a reasonable balance. There's too much internal monologue that I don't think they'll be able to capture it all. The frog scene for me showed they were able to walk that tight rope between intense behavior and romantic advancement like the scene is meant to convey so if it would be the same team handling the garden scene I'm not worried at all. I think the anime's that are willing to stick to the canon, regardless of plots that may seem a bit edgy or not fit within modern standards, tend to be the best ones. So far Apothecary Diaries anime has stuck closely to the light novels and I would be surprised if we got to this moment and they deviated too much, they've handled much darker topics than this. I worry more about people's reactions to it but even then I anticipate the arguments that will coming along, hence this long winded explanation haha.
In truth, were this reality, would I recommend a girl friend stay with a guy like Jinshi, no I wouldnât but I also wouldnât recommend and guy friend stay with someone like Maomao who never listens and eats poison. Sometimes people take the fun out of watching two characters who are close to reality but donât live in it play out an interesting story. I fully expect people wonât get the nuance in that scene and even I could read too much into it myself but Iâm just looking forward to more seasons if we get them. However the anime decides to portray it should be good if we get there and I hope my analysis has made sense, even if itâs a bit long as always đ.
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