The Apothecary Diaries is loosely based on China’s Ming Dynasty, but it’s very much its own world with countries and cultures that may or may not closely resemble real ones. Sometimes, The Apothecary Diaries draws from Japanese culture and history. In ancient Japan and to this day, small locales usually held festivals in summer. The festivals were called “omatsuri” and were often to bless the upcoming harvest and honor the local Shinto Deity. Specific rituals and traditions varied by location.
In this latest installment of The Apothecary Diaries, Maomao and Shisui go to an omatsuri together. Their village’s harvest god is a fox and their ceremonies reflected a harmony with the seasons and the cyle of life. I’m so glad that after a week-long delay, we finally got to enjoy episode 43 (AKA season 2 episode 19). It was a great episode with an intense cliffhanger ending. Further notes are below.
Episode 43: Festival
Episode Rating: 9/10
It was time for the festival! Everyone had to wear a fox mask which they could paint and decorate in their own way. Maomao noticed that some of the people – particularly the men – used green on their fox masks instead of the traditional red. Shisui also had a green mask. She explained that many of the village’s population had trouble differentiating colors. In other words, a large portion of people here were red-green colorblind.
If I’m understanding correctly, this clue means that these villagers are closely related to the family line of the Mother Royal. In this village, there is a faction of people who want to “restore the royal bloodline.” The current emperor and the imperial brother were not from the colorblind lineage. I suspect Suirei is actually the daughter of the former emperor and it’s her family that’s trying to kill the imperial brother. I still don’t think we have all the pieces yet, but the mystery is starting to make sense.
I enjoyed learning about the ritual with the fox masks. Every year, the people offer their masks at the shrine. The masks are kept there for one year before being burned at the festival the following year. All the masks are burned on a huge bonfire on a raft pushed out into a body of water. It was common to write wishes on the inside of the fox masks. If your mask burned away properly, then the wish would rise to the heavens and the gods would receive it. Many masks would fall down into the water. These unreceived wishes would feed the gods or something.
After the festival, Maomao and Shisui joined Suirei inside. There was a fascinating and humorous interaction between Maomao and Suirei as they talked about the “resurrection medicine.” Honestly, this was one of my favorite little scenes in the second season so far. I really like Suirei as a character and I love watching her interact with others – especially Maomao, who is the most interesting character in this series. It was also funny how badly Maomao wanted to be used to test the dangerous medicine.
(Side Note: It was really cute to see Maomao so interested in the books that Suirei brought the next day. They were full of information about plants and herbs. Maomao’s joy was priceless. One thing I love about Maomao is how she’s always driven to find more knowledge.)
I might be going crazy with this next observation, but it seems to me like Shisui cares immensely about Maomao. Whether it’s a deep friendship or something more romantic is up to interpretation, but it’s hard to argue that Shisui doesn’t love Maomao. Look at the way she tenderly touched Maomao’s hair as she was saying goodbye. She also literally fed and dressed Maomao in the morning when she was reading the herb books. I think Shisui brought Maomao here to keep her safe.
With Shisui and Suirei out of the house for the day, Maomao spent a few hours reading before deciding to explore. She wanted to investigate a nearby shed that looked suspicious. Suirei had left armed guards, but luckily, Kyou-u knew a secret passage. He and Maomao snuck out of the house and entered the mysterious shed. Kyou-u had to pick open the lock to get inside. Before long, the two discovered that this was where Suirei kept rats and tested medicines on them. It was her lab.
Unfortunately, there was more in this shed besides Suirei’s lab. Behind a curtain in the back, there was a workspace for building guns (Feifa). Metal tubes and other important pieces were lying around in boxes. Just then, someone else arrived at the shed. It was Lady Shenmei, who was mentioned once or twice before by Kyou-u. The boy was terrified of her, and Maomao looked frightened as well. What will happen now that they’ve been caught by someone powerful in the village? To be continued.
~Thanks for reading~
Written by 7Mononoke
