Helen: Maomao’s plans to live a quiet, unnoticed life at the palace continue to be thwarted at every turn as this volume begins with the emperor himself asking her to tend to the Consort Lihua and one cannot simply refuse the emperor. Lihua was the other consort using the poisonous face powder but, unlike Consort Gyokuyou who Maomao currently serves, she did not stop using it and as a result her son died and she’s still in weak shape thanks to the make-up poisoning her system. Maomao is once again called upon to play detective and figure out what is causing her continued illness but ultimately it’s up to whether or not Lihua even wants to live or not.
“Play detective” is a good description of much of Maomao’s time at the palace; after the story with Lihua is resolved the second big story in this volume involves an outside garden banquet for the emperor and, working as Gyokuyou’s food taste-tester, Maomao discovers poison in one of the dishes. While no one was harmed, she’s trying to figure out just who was the target and why, something that might involve more layers than first expected since it seems that another of the Emperor’s consorts has a life-threatening seafood allergy and that one of her own ladies-in-waiting is taking advantage of it.
Maomao isn’t trying to figure these cases out for a “noble” reason or to advance her own position at court — if anything she would truly rather stay under the radar and get out as quickly as she could. Instead, you get the sense that Maomao has a brain that’s not satisfied unless she’s working on a problem and with few distractions available to her right now, and a terrible medical staff otherwise serving the Rear Palace, it’s no wonder that the high-ranking eunuch Jinshi and others keep using her to solve these problems.
I do like how this story seems to rather flatly approach how even a beautifully gilded cage like the Rear Palace is rather plebeian at times; during her time helping Lihua, Maomao passes along some of the techniques she learned from courtesans for how to pleasure a man (and Gyokuyou seems to appreciate not having the emperor visit her quite so often shortly thereafter) and how, while imperial events may look beautiful and stately to an onlooker, in reality everyone is just freezing their butts off outside in the spring chill and would much rather be doing quite a other things inside instead.
While I still wonder where this series is “going” in the end, even an episodic tale usually has some central conflict or set-up to ground it, I am enjoying Maomao’s adventures and Maomao herself immensely. Fans of dry, snarky heroines who prefer to solve problems using their wits rather than beauty or brawn will find a lot to enjoy in The Apothecary Diaries as Maomao continues to try her best to deflect attention and get out of imperial service as soon as possible. Nekokurage’s art also continues to be one of the series strong points; with how cutely she draws Maomao in the first place it’s easy to see how quickly she can be “transformed” into a traditional beauty and on the flip side, Maomao has some very good unsettling facial expressions and moments in this volume.
With the first light novel in hand, and a quick glance at the table of contents tells me that it covers more than these first two manga volumes, I expect I will continue to enjoy exploring Maomao’s world for a time yet.
Helen’s rating: 3.5 out of 5
Krystallina: Maomao finds herself working for another one of the emperor’s consorts temporarily, then everyone has to gather for a big banquet, and then…we reached the end of The Apothecary Diaries volume 2?! When did that happen??
The best part of The Apothecary Diaries continues to be Maomao herself. Part doctor, part detective, but wholly uninterested in anything but poisons. That doesn’t mean she won’t do her job (and do it very well), but she sees herself as an outsider to the inner palace. Maomao believes she’ll work off her debt one day, but as she becomes more important to the people there, Jinshi, the consorts, and other aides are less likely to let her go.
The Apothecary Diaries volume 2 has four chapters but only two storylines, and the second will continue into volume 3. Both arcs seem like they’d take up a good chunk of a light novel volume, but here, the first goes fast and the second still has a ways to go. It’s a testament to the strength of Natsu Hyuuga’s original story that I wanted to spend a lot more time with Maomao as she tries to figure out why Consort Lihua isn’t recovering and find out the truth of who is behind the attempted poisoning at the party.
There’s much to be done to figure out what happened in the poisoning case, but the garden banquet is yet another way the story reminds readers of how harsh life could be back then. There’s being forced outside in the cold, sure, but there are some truly icky details that come out during the party, both to other characters (like Jinshi learning more about how Maomao came to the court) and the readers (the mother-/daughter-in-law situation). Fortunately, the situation is not as untoward as it could have been for Maomao and others.
Still, there was yet another attempted poisoning, and the artist does a wonderful job of portraying Maomao’s glee as she also tries to be mindful of her position. The manga doesn’t quite end on a cliffhanger, but the investigation has barely begun. Instead, this volume is more about adding and setting up the relationships between characters. Maomao is given several gifts which appear to have some meaning. She also ends up being a seamstress as she shares her way of keeping warm in the cold, and even the emperor has now heard of her talents. There are also clues about the royal family and the consorts. Volume 2 has all the hallmarks of a story just finishing its basic introduction and now truly laying out the story.
But as it moves to this new phase, I could also sense the manga’s limitations. Maomao spent two months with Lihua, yet all that amounted to was a single chapter. I mean, I’m glad the garden party didn’t end right with Maomao detecting poison, but also (at least) four chapters for a single afternoon versus one for two months feels a little unbalanced. Seeing Maomao’s expression with dealing with her ex-coworkers made me want to see more of how much she…shall I say, left an impression on them?
Maomao’s certainly good at leaving an impression on people — both in-universe and outside in the real world. Even though I can’t help but think the novel is probably the superior version of the story since we can spend the most time with her per volume, there’s something absolutely charming about a heroine who pulls off a perfect kabedon — a perfectly scary one, that is.
Krystallina’s rating: 3.5 out of 5