The Apothecary Diaries #05 — Frecklegate

November 4th, 2023

 

What a mystery.

Impressions:

Back to the mystery of the week being absolutely nothing whatsoever. Oh no, I have something on my hands! I must be doomed! Actually, let me test that. …Yep, it's nothing. Boy, that was sure worth a cliffhanger tease last week. It didn't even take a third of a third of the episode. More time was spent on cooking mushrooms. I would say that I wish these mysteries were a bit more involved and central to the episodes, especially when it keeps billing them as important, but since the first episode, they've all been very unsatisfying.

And with that out of the way, a whopping six minutes into the episode, it's time for a meeting of the concubines, which is to say an excuse to play dressup with Maomao while she struggles to sew secret pockets. The big reveal being that her freckles are faked, so we get a whole bit about how them being gone makes her the belle of the ball and the pretty boy is so anguished at not realizing it or why… and then wanders right off again. I don't find the will-they-won't-they at all interesting, even if he wasn't (supposedly) a eunuch. It'd be more interesting if they were in some kind of taudry relationship, having hate sex or just getting high together off weird poisons on the side. You can get chaste touches and sparkly eyes from literally any anime. Be a little ambitious here or stick to more of the humor. Or put some more meat on the mysteries. 

Next Episode:

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