Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Apothecary Diaries
|
Goto page Previous Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shay Guy
 Posts: 2123 |
|
|||||
We have heard that it's not unheard of for an elite courtesan to keep her virginity all the way to the day she's bought out, though it's the privilege of the very best. And of course such games aren't unique as a draw for a high-level courtesan, though Fengxian's particular genius for go was unmatched. My reading is that while Verdigris may have had other big names on its roster, she was still on the order of the Three Princesses today. On another note, has there been any commentary on the markings some of the women have on their foreheads -- Pairin, Fengxian, Ah-Duo at the garden party? |
||||||
|
||||||
Nachtwandler
 Posts: 531 |
|
|||||
As far as I remember the LN, Fengxian indeed was the only Princess of Verdigris house at that time. Though, she was not the sole reason the brothel fell in hard times. Famine happened in Empire that year so the number of clients dropped. Anime did not mention it for some reason. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18192 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||||
I don't think the famine came up in the manga, either (someone correct me if I'm wrong about this), and, as has been stated before, the anime is more directly takings its cues from the manga version. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
KarlFranz
Posts: 179 |
|
|||||
|
Weird that they keeping the famine part out since it also the reason why Lakan didn't return sooner. He was suppose to only stay for 3 to 6 months until the situation with his uncle cool down but then the famine struck and he had to stay and deal with the situation. Maybe they were saving the famine for the next arc since it play a major part in the following arcs.
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
SteelBlaidd
Posts: 25 |
|
|||||
I have been giggling like a mad man. It helps me not cry. As long as we are considering hypotheticals. What if he had been able to make one last visit before leaving town. Or she had been less oblique in her first letter. Or Lakan's, shit father had forwarded his mail. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
shosakukan
Posts: 292 |
|
|||||
That is huādiànzhuāng, a form of traditional Chinese makeup. There are some legends about the origin of the huādiànzhuāng makeup, but one of them is: According to Sòng shū (The Book of Sòng, a historical book about the Liú Sòng dynasty), when Princess Shòuyáng lay under the eaves of the Hánzhāng palace, a plum blossom fell on the forehead of the Princess, and she tried to remove the blossom, but it could not be removed for some reason or other. The Empress said to the Princess that, since the blossom on the forehead looked nice, the Princess need not remove it. Since then, imitating the Princess' blossom, court ladies put blossoms on their foreheads. A line from a poem composed by Emperor Huīzōng of the Northern Sòng dynasty says, '宮人思學壽陽粧,' and it suggests that Emperor Huīzōng regarded court ladies' huādiànzhuāng makeup as being derived from Princess Shòuyáng's blossom. For people who are interested in the huādiànzhuāng makeup, the English Wikipedia has an article about it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huadian_(make-up) |
||||||
|
||||||
|
WatcherZer
Posts: 275 |
|
|||||
Not sure if the Manga or book version, but in the synopsis I had read ahead of the episode he wasnt sent abroad to study for three years but was instead sent as on a military campaign as a commander for a year. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
MFrontier
Posts: 11233 |
|
|||||
|
Count on Maomao to be able to manipulate her biological father and his weakness to "poisons" to win.
I too did not realize who the uncle in Lakan's backstory was until the anime made it obvious it was Luomen which really puts a whole new context to him taking care of Maomao. He's basically her great uncle and was there for bother her father and her when they needed him most (even if his banishment was also Lakan's father sucks. I mean, beyond his treatment of his family warping Lakan's lack of understanding of relationships, he's someone who abandoned his family and then prevented Lakan from being there for his family. I wonder if it was an intentional nod to Sainukoku Monogatari casting Houko Kuwasahima as Fengxian, like a legacy casting to have her be Maomao's mother. Though you can definitely see where Maomao gets her looks and some of stoicism from. I definitely think Grams was genuinely angry at Lakan for Fengxian's sake because her bashing him over the head and telling him Fengxian was gone and blaming him for not showing up in time felt the most like a parent bitter over a man who abandoned her daughter. On the one hand, on some level Maomao's parents truly loved each other and came to be together in a way people of their emotional level could. On the other hand, it just all went downhill from there. But you can't help but feel bad for them. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Zefram
Posts: 107 |
|
|||||
Light Novels make it pretty clear that it was on purpose, its a family thing. spoiler[There is a third member of their family in novels, whose name also starts with the same character. Guoshun's sons names also start with a same character that translated as "Ba" and Gyokuyou's family members also have their names start with "Gyoku"] |
||||||
|
||||||
yeehaw
 Posts: 423 |
|
|||||
I assumed it was Pairin. There's no reason to buy Fengxian out since she's obviously not generating money for the brothel but still lives there I love this show so much. Great twist. I wonder if it was Maomao's fingertip or maybe a toe because her hands doesn't look like she got a finger chopped off as a baby. I'm a bit worried that the next episode will be a recap because all the shots in the preview looked like old stuff |
||||||
|
||||||
|
TJ_Kat
Posts: 364 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
|
|||||
I just read through Sakuran in the last few days and the thing where courtesans chop off their pinky to send to their lover to get their attention and as a symbol of their devotion comes up. I know it's not the same setting, but I assume that bit of history informed this story. That also suggests to me that Lakan's words about it being a means of casting a curse might be subject to some interpretation. That Fengxian wasn't cursing Lakan, rather she was saying 'hey! Remember me? I'm waiting for you!' However, since he didn't get the message for three years, it became a curse knowing he was too late to do anything about it.
But that is the reason. Fengxian is a burden on the brothel. It's incredibly unusual that she be allowed to continue living there despite not earning any money (yes, I know the reason why - someone spoiled it for me  ) so Maomao having Lakan "take responsibility" and buy her out would remove that burden.
From a different angle, it's come up that Maomao is indebted to the brothel financially, but I don't think it ever implicitly states why. What if she's footing the bill for her mother's living expenses? Considering Maomao seems to hold both her parents in contempt, I don't think it's unreasonable that she might think of this as an opportunity to not only burden them with each other, but also to a)remove her ongoing obligation to the brothel, and b)have Lakan pay off the debt she owes. Also why would Maomao want Lakan to buy out Pairin? She knows Lihaku wants to buy her out, and she's already approved of him being a suitable match for her big sister/surrogate mother. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Shay Guy
Posts: 2123 |
|
|||||
Note that while Maomao implies beforehand she has a specific "aging courtesan" in mind, her line after the match is "Let's drag this guy out of here and have him pick a flower from the brothel." So assuming "pick" is as in "select" and not "pluck" (listening to the Japanese, I think that's right), he should have his choice.
I gotta be honest, this fandom has really disappointed me. EDIT: Thinking about it more, I've mentioned that I don't really know enough about flowers to catch the significance of all the imagery this show uses. And… man, there really is a lot of flower stuff going on in the story. The general description of both courtesans and concubines as "flowers". The fact that the historical term translated as "pleasure district" literally means "flower district". The specific associations like how "Fengxian" literally means "balsam" (and woodsorrel=Maomao, cotton rose=Fuyou -- another literal name -- and probably a bunch of other associations I haven't caught). The first OP being titled "become a flower". And one more point comes to mind, something that comes up toward the end of LN3 (so, should be mid-S2): spoiler[One meaning of 華/Ka, the emperor and Jinshi's surname, is "flower".]. EDIT2: Found a Reddit comment breaking down a Japanese video that elaborates on the flowers in the first OP. And yeah, it looks like all four of the original top consorts and all of the Three Princesses have a signature flower. Lihua, for example, has a strong association with the Chinese bellflower -- good thing to keep in mind if you rewatch episode 4. Peony=Gyokuyou, apparently, though I may need to work harder at learning to recognize that. Plum blossom=Meimei stands to reason; it's what both "mei"s mean. …Does Loulan have a signature flower? Maybe there's a different flower used to signify her in every scene she's in, that'd be fitting. Xiaolan oughta have a flower, but I dunno what. Probably something hardy. |
||||||
|
||||||
Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9841 Location: Virginia |
|
|||||
|
yeehaw wrote:
Just the finger tip of the left little finger. If you look at the episode, what came out of the bag was a full finger and a little round piece. In the novel Maomao notes that even the nail grew back though the finger tip is distorted. This is why she stares at her left hand in the preceding episodes. TJ_Kat wrote:
Unless I missed something, that information does not show up in the published volumes of the novel. Where did it come from? If it is not something that is upcoming in the show, I'm not sure how it qualifies as a spoiler. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Key
Moderator
Posts: 18192 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||||
Do you mean beyond what she owes for Lihaku's first session with Pairin? As for who Maomao intended Lakan to buy out, given how carefully she's orchestrated everything to this point, I can't imagine that she had anyone but Fengxian in mind. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Shay Guy
Posts: 2123 |
|
|||||
|
Judging from spoilery comments I've seen elsewhere, I suspect what TJ_Kat's talking about re: why Verdigris keeps Fengxian around might be info that hasn't even been in the LNs yet, only revealed in an interview with Natsu Hyuuga. Not planning on looking into it further; I'm only six LN volumes in myself.
General comment about a line of discussion from this last page, with spoilers for info that should be in the finale a couple days from now: spoiler[I like that even now, there's still misdirection at play, and likely will be until after the grand moment where Lakan makes his choice. And the truth fits well into what we've already seen about who Maomao has only disdain for, and which people she cares about and thinks the absolute world of.] Back to my postscripts on flowers from last night, I came across a comment elsewhere on /r/KusuriyaNoHitorigoto that made a claim about what Loulan's flower is, and if it's correct… huh. It's an interesting choice. Spoilery allusions to presumed-late-S2 material follow. spoiler[The comment said "Lantern plant for Loulan" -- looking it up, that appears to mean Alkekengi officinarum/Physalis alkekengi/hozuki. I tried Google searches for a few different ways of writing "hozuki", along with "hanakotoba". If Chrome's auto-translate is at all reliable, the meanings these Japanese sites are giving include "deception" -- fitting -- and "natural beauty", which makes a nice counterpoint to her signature flashy makeup. There's one more thing that interests me, though -- looking at Jisho.org, it seems that one way of writing "hozuki" is very similar to how you might write "katabami", woodsorrel. And in the material I've read, through the end of LN6, Maomao's clearest foil has without a doubt been Loulan.] Also, if the meanings I'm finding for "violet" are correct, that might work for Xiaolan. (I know it's not good form to fill up threads like this with black bars. Sorry. I'm obsessed.) |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group