The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 • Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Season 3 - Episode 1 discussion

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Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Season 3, episode 1

Alternative names: Kusuriya no Hitorigoto 3rd Season

Reminder: Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.

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All discussions

Episode	Link
1	Link
2	Link
3	Link

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[u/Ocixo]

I’m so happy for Lihua that she’s birthed a healthy boy! Don’t believe we were shown the baby last season?

With rising tensions among the different factions, Maomao might want to steer away from the palace court for now. Otherwise she’ll find herself caught amidst political intrigue again.

Having Maomao spend some more time with her sisters at the Verdigris House is probably for the best in this regard. We haven’t really seen all that much of them since the 1st season either.

And I’d love to watch Lihaku’s love story with Pairin progress up close. His efforts were previously rewarded with a promotion at the army, but he’ll still need loads of money for Pairin’s betrothal gift.

[u/SalvageCorveteCont → u/Ocixo]

The baby was born and announced while they while they where still at the fortress.

And why isn't MaoMao working at the Palace anymore? The reason she was employed there was so that Jinshi could try and romance her and that hasn't gone away.

[u/itsjustdan01 → u/SalvageCorveteCont]

MaoMao was only temporarily back at the Palace to help Lady Guykuyou 2nd pregnancy.

I thought she didn’t go back to work for Jinshi was due to his identity being revealed as the Moon Prince. It would cause a lot of political turmoil if Lakan’s daughter is tied to the Yi Clan.

They’re also trying to hide Chou-u (Shi Clan kids); which I still don’t understand why he isn’t with Suirei and the other children.

[u/aramillour → u/itsjustdan01]

chou-u is the only one who completely lost his memories, its not a good idea for him to be around the others. thats too stressful and confusing for him. and as you can see in this episode, maomao prevented that guard from the forttress from saying anything to chou-u as he recognised him

[u/Hot-Log6283 → u/aramillour]

Also he gets more "freedom" compares to the other kids who are pretty much struck inside the palace.

[u/apocalypsemobster → u/aramillour]

I thought the problem with Chou-u being recognized was that all of the Shi clan are supposed to be dead, so the guard recognizing him could lead to trouble (like the emperor having to execute Chou-u, if word got out he was alive).

[u/Hot-Log6283 → u/apocalypsemobster]

The guard would be pretty safe since they don't know he is involved with the Shi clan and he himself obviously doesn't want other people to know as well (i.e when Maomao threaten him in this episode).

[u/ProbablyNotTheCocoa → u/SalvageCorveteCont]

Lakan bought out Fengxian to marry her, making Maomao legal nobility. The La clan is officially neutral (and nobody wants issues with Lakan) so having Maomao officially serve either the Empress or the Moon Prince would be a political disaster

[u/oops_i_made_a_typi → u/ProbablyNotTheCocoa]

it's interesting that serving the empress or moon prince would be considered overtly political - the empress I can see as she's more tied to her original family, but the moon prince I would've thought is within the emperor's "bubble" - and if Lakan serves the emperor, what's the problem with his kid serving the emperor's "brother"

[u/ProbablyNotTheCocoa → u/oops_i_made_a_typi]

Lakan has a stick up his ass about Jinshi because he (kind of rightly) believes Jinshi wants to «steal» her, so Jinshi has to be careful about that, and also succession is still up in the air, if the emperor croaks before Gyukoyou son comes of age its entirely believable that a former crown prince would take the throne. Of course Jinshi isnt that type of person but palace politics dont really give a shit about that

[u/Ocixo → u/SalvageCorveteCont]

Wasn’t Maomao sent back home at some point because the elders feared that Jinshi would grow too enamoured with this “toy” of his?

Then again, the Emperor did seem to suggest in today’s episode that the time has come for Jinshi to pick his own consort(s).

[u/Frontier246 → u/Ocixo]

I’m so happy for Lihua that she’s birthed a healthy boy! Don’t believe we were shown the baby last season?

I think it was heavily implied she was pregnant during that arc with her poisoning cousin.

With rising tensions among the different factions, Maomao might want to steer away from the palace court for now. Otherwise she’ll find herself caught amidst political intrigue again.

Of course this being Maomao she can't resist possible nation-spanning problems and she and Jinshi inevitably need each other despite her reticence to get involved with him.

[u/Ocixo → u/Frontier246]

They’d hinted at Lihua being pregnant at the start of the 2nd season, when she’d been rubbing her belly, but I cannot remember if the baby had already been born/shown at the end of the season.

It did make chuckle a little that Maomao knows that she shouldn’t look deeper in the locust plague yet cannot help herself from being curious.

[u/Mrwright96 → u/Ocixo]

Just finished a rewatch, Maomao obviously knew Gyokuyou was pregnant and heavily suspected Lihue was as well, but she couldn’t confirm or check on her due to being a servant of the Jade Pavilion. The reason they kept Louman was because he had a lot of experience delivering children

[u/Ocixo → u/Mrwright96]

Oh yeah! Maomao had recommended Luomen to oversee their deliveries just in case there was any trouble. Like another poisoning. Didn’t Gyokuyou also urge him to prioritise Lihua’s pregnancy or something?

[u/Mrwright96 → u/Ocixo]

She said she wanted Louman to be neutral and not to prioritize her birth over Lihuas I think

[u/Ocixo → u/Mrwright96]

Ah, that makes sense. He might’ve otherwise felt pressured to help the Emperor’s favourite consort (i.e. Gyokuyou) first and let the other (i.e. Lihua) fend for herself in the meantime.

Luomen had already experienced such a predicament with the pregnancies of Anshi (former Emperor’s baby) and Ah-Duo (current Emperor’s baby) after all.

[u/Asleep-Doubt5673 → u/Ocixo]

I don't think Gyokuyo had anything to do with the decision. Maomao asked to bring him because of her, but he was assigned to stay at the clinic so that he could take care of all consorts (aka Lihua's pregnancy as well) by Jinshi or the Emperor.

[u/seejsee → u/Frontier246]

I think it was heavily implied she was pregnant during that arc with her poisoning cousin.

A point to add for those who did not catch it during the confrontation between Lihua and her cousin.

When Lihua directly challenged her cousin by asking if her cousin's target was her, Jinshi reacted.

Jinshi knew but it was kept a secret to prevent any plots against Lihua. The fact that Lihua reveals this in front of Maomao, someone outside her faction, was there, once again, spoke the confidence Lihua had in Maomao as a trustworthy person.

Recall in earlier episodes, when Maomao was with Gyokuyou and the others, they made a point to keep Gyokuyou's pregnancy a secret, for the same reason, and avoid wearing only dresses that did not bind the waist.

I like this scene a lot as again, it shows that in the palace, where a lot of plotting is going on, one must always know who your enemies, and more importantly, who you can trust and be your allies.

[u/Freezinghero → u/Ocixo]

I just rewatched all of the show recently: at the end of last season, Jinshi has a line about how he is no longer the Crown Prince because Lady Lihua had given birth to a son.

[u/Ocixo → u/Freezinghero]

Wasn’t Gyokuyou’s son born before Lihua’s? Hence the members of the latter faction grumbling at the smile on Gyokuen’s face in the episode.

Jinshi should be the crown prince since he’s the Emperor’s actual first-born son. However, he was presented to the public as Anshi’s child - not Ah-Duo’s.

[u/Freezinghero → u/Ocixo]

Jinshi WAS the Crown Prince because he was the younger brother of the current Emperor. But now that one of the Emperor's Consorts has given birth to a Son, that child is now the Crown Prince.

Also i had mixed up the names, i thought Gyokuyou was Lihua.

[u/t3tri5]

Can't believe how glad I was to hear that Lihua gave birth without any complications lol

[u/CitronClassic672 → u/t3tri5]

That woman absolutely deserves a break after all she’s been through.

[u/ProbablyNotTheCocoa → u/CitronClassic672]

too bad shes no longer on the Gremlin public healthcare service so shell have to fend for herself in that regard

[u/oops_i_made_a_typi → u/ProbablyNotTheCocoa]

she's upgraded to Gremlin's dad's public healthcare service tho

[u/yarajaeger → u/ProbablyNotTheCocoa]

It seems like Luomen still has his job since he's absent from Verdigris so I'm guessing he's been (re)promoted to inner palace doctor. So they're not on quack doctor healthcare services anymore at least lol

[u/KindlyAccountant616 → u/t3tri5]

yeah i like lihua so much. in beginning i thought she was a bi..ch but then how grateful she was when maomao cured her. but her ladies in waiting were awful hopefully after they got her niece arrested she got better ladies in waiting

[u/namewithak → u/KindlyAccountant616]

She was acting horribly and erratically because she had heavy metal poisoning. It affects the brain.

[u/Joshawott27]

Crunchyroll really borked the subtitles for their biggest show of the season. I can’t tell if it’s just the timings or if whole lines are missing, but it’s unwatchable in this state.

[u/Cat_Gazer → u/Joshawott27]

At least there's one line missing where Lihaku appears around 16:11.
Missing part was like, "Little miss, it's not like I had time for that." or "I wasn't that free to do that."

And the subtitles follow as "hunting petty thieves is, you know"
So, basically he was complaining, "I had better things to do than look for a petty thief./I wasn't THAT free."

[u/garfe → u/Cat_Gazer]

For some ungodly reason, the subs seem to be Netflix/Hulu level where they are unable to display on-screen text and subtitle text at the same time. It's weird because FX Kurumi-chan recently had a whole lot of on-screen text and was fine

[u/BosuW → u/garfe]

You need a specific program to do anime typesetting that practically every other streaming service doesn't use.

We know Crunchyroll tried to switch to the industry standard I think earlier this year? Ultimately they haven't, but they may be trying to get us used to it...

...or just lazy

[u/demonstar55 → u/Cat_Gazer]

fun fact, translations are there, just stuff is on layer 0 that should be on layer 1.

[u/Aliensinnoh → u/Joshawott27]

It seems to me they are back trying to enshittify their subtitling process/software once again, after being chased away from doing it last year. What it looks like to me is that somehow whatever change they’ve made has introduced a limitation such that only one section of subtitling can appear onscreen at any given time. Thus, when an onscreen text translation show up somewhere onscreen, or background dialogue is occurring that gets translated up-top, the subtitles for the main dialogue disappears. It’s awful.

[u/Mooziechan → u/Joshawott27]

It’s so unnerving paying for a service that shits on their clientele

[u/Mr_Zaroc → u/Mooziechan]

Especially since there are no legal alternatives

[u/Adiuva → u/Mr_Zaroc]

I think this is my biggest complaint. That and the prices being higher in general. Part of why I kept CR is because of the comments. My biggest reason for going to the reddit threads nowadays is because the comments are gone. Though I considered unsubbing when that first happened.

[u/Jauretche → u/Joshawott27]

Luckily, they looked fine for latam Spanish.

[u/Lord_of_Pants → u/Joshawott27]

Definitely a timing issue, probably an easy fix but you really would expect them to be on top of this show at least.

[u/someinsanity01 → u/Lord_of_Pants]

Some subs are completely missing tho

[u/dude_1818 → u/Joshawott27]

When they translate on-screen text, it hides the dialogue subs, instead of showing both at the same time

[u/ongogavlogian]

Is Jinshi Yue?

[u/ZestycloseLaw5382 → u/ongogavlogian]

Yeah it’s Ah-Duo nickname for Jinshi

[u/AceSoldia → u/ZestycloseLaw5382]

thanks, i figured this is what he meant but i could not be sure.

[u/vicoheart → u/ongogavlogian]

If my knowledge from CCS has taught me anything it’s that Yue means moon. Nickname and symbolism for Jinshi.

[u/zanotam → u/vicoheart]

Isn't Jinshi literally the moon something or other as his official title?

[u/superhakerman → u/zanotam]

moon prince

[u/vicoheart → u/zanotam]

Idk if it’s an official title name for him but he’s often called Moon Prince

[u/Niwaka_Samurai → u/vicoheart]

CCS ? 

[u/ebonyphoenix → u/Niwaka_Samurai]

Card Captor Sakura

[u/Mrwright96 → u/vicoheart]

I learned it from. The last air bender

[u/noddingostrich → u/ongogavlogian]

He’s also been referred to as the Moon Prince in a past season

[u/Zetafunction64]

It's apothecary diaries, we were probably given 10 different clues about 3 different mysteries this episode

[u/Allian42 → u/Zetafunction64]

Meanwhile that one throwaway line from Shisui about the grasshoppers came back to the forefront.

[u/BosuW → u/Allian42]

That and this episode is grasshopper slander! 😤😤

I'll have you know roasted grasshopper is a delicacy in Mexico!

[u/BonerPorn → u/BosuW]

Grasshopper yes. Locust however tastes awful. An important distinction.

[u/BosuW → u/BonerPorn]

So they got it backwards?

[u/SecretEmpire_WasGood → u/BosuW]

Might there be a difference between the taste of eurasian grasshoppers/locusts and american ones?

[u/Orangewolf99 → u/SecretEmpire_WasGood]

There is definitely a mistranslation or mixup of some kind. Grasshoppers become Locusts because of environmental pressures, but it seems like they were saying Locusts become Grasshoppers.

[u/TRUEALPHA_101 → u/Zetafunction64]

Lol so true!! And they were presented in such a confusing manner that it's near impossible to get them in the anime-only first viewing

[u/AnimeJunkieXL → u/Zetafunction64]

Re-watch will be crazy just like past seasons.

[u/AtheistTheConfessor → u/AnimeJunkieXL]

It's amazing how much this show rewards a re-watch. So satisfying.

[u/Atharaphelun]

Since Gyokuyou has now been officially made Empress Consort, does this mean the Emperor plans to pass over Jinshi (since he presumably knows that Jinshi is his own son, not his younger brother) and make the baby the Crown Prince?

As a side note, the subtitles are an absolute disgrace. The subtitles are unable to properly distinguish the titles of Empress Consort, Empress Dowager, and Empress Regnant from each other.

[u/Dragon_heart108 → u/Atharaphelun]

The Emperor very much wants Jinshi to succeed him, especially after he successfully passed through the Shrine of Choosing with Maomao as his consort. Jinshi does NOT want to be emperor and entered the rear palace partially as a test of the consorts loyalty, but also so he could try to ensure the survival of other heirs and remove himself from the line of succession.

[u/Powerful_Toe_8155 → u/Dragon_heart108]

I'm not even 100% sure Jinshi is there as a test of loyalty. That's just an excuse.

Half of me thinks the Emperor originally expected Jinshi to have fathered a few kids of his own by now. He's the only man who's regularly in this enclosed area with many of the nation's most beautiful women.

If Jinshi really is the Emperor's son, then any children he fathers are also the Emperor's direct grandchildren, so this isn't really a problem.

[u/neilgilbertg → u/Atharaphelun]

In another story, Jinshi securing the position of Emperor would probably the focus but in here? Him getting passed over is probably for the best

[u/SmallJon → u/Atharaphelun]

I kind of always assumed the Emperor was trying to skip Jinshi, hence why he let his brother hide so frequently in the Rear Court as he did. Even putting aside their personal preferences, a child heir is less of a threat than an adult heir as one has more power to force the transition.

[u/Atharaphelun → u/SmallJon]

Even putting aside their personal preferences, a child heir is less of a threat than an adult heir as one has more power to force the transition.

Less threat to the reigning Emperor, sure, but a much bigger threat to the empire itself since an heir that is far too young when the Emperor dies would inevitably be used as a puppet Emperor by whoever regent gets appointed to rule in his place.

[u/ProbablyNotTheCocoa]

Animation looks even better than the last seasons, everything just sorta sparkles and the OP was really cool, even if the song was unexpected. That said though subs were dogshit, hopefully that gets fixed eventually.

[u/maxdragonxiii → u/ProbablyNotTheCocoa]

the subs were whooshing by. like my god so fast. it was hard to keep up.

[u/ffxivdia → u/ProbablyNotTheCocoa]

Man crunchy roll was real sloppy on the subs! Some parts weren’t even translated.

[u/BamilleKidanZ]

White people handing out drugs to chinese people. Where have I seen this before?

[u/justking1414 → u/BamilleKidanZ]

Oh I’d laugh my ass off if the British ended up being the big bad this season.

China might’ve lost the opium war but that’s because they didn’t have maomao

[u/SmallJon → u/justking1414]

It'll be the legally distinct nation, the Bwitish

[u/CopyFew4583 → u/SmallJon]

Hi it can be Backlund (London) from lord of the mysteries. 

[u/ProbablyNotTheCocoa → u/SmallJon]

You have the Western Country, and then the even Westerner Country

[u/Primo29]

Catmao is back, and somehow she still can't stay out of trouble even when she's finally outside again. LMAO.

Lakan being perfectly happy just playing shogi Go with Fengxian and not even caring about attending the event with the Emperor was such a nice touch.

[u/Hylebosai → u/Primo29]

Not to be pedantic, but technically they were playing Go, not Shogi.

[u/Primo29 → u/Hylebosai]

I stand corrected, thank you. I confuse the board games sometimes.

[u/KindlyAccountant616 → u/Primo29]

yeah lakan is a weirdo but harmless weirdo. if circumstances were different he could have been great father to maomao

[u/nirvash530 → u/KindlyAccountant616]

he could have been great father to maomao

Actually, the author confirmed that if Fengxian's plan worked, Mao Mao would turn out to be your stereotypical villainess in your typical shoujo series. The author said that Lakan will spoil the absolute crap out of her and she will turn out into a very spoiled and very calculating princess who can have anything with just a wave of her hand. She would have been into strategy and politics instead of medicine.

It's a good thing that it was Luomen who raised her in the end.

[u/Nine9breaker → u/nirvash530]

Man, Maomao would make one hell of a villainess. I would kill for an alternate universe story with that premise, she would kick so much ass and take so many names.

It's a good thing that it was Luomen who raised her in the end.

More like, its a good thing for the royal family. I'm not sure many of them would survive the inevitable Maomao coup.

[u/nirvash530 → u/Nine9breaker]

More like, its a good thing for the royal family. I'm not sure many of them would survive the inevitable Maomao coup.

My headcanon is that she will absolutely back the fuck out of Jinshi as the new Emperor with her being the new Empress while strategically kicking out any and all competition, with the backing of Lakan as the Grand Commandant who everyone fears.

[u/Mad_Aeric → u/KindlyAccountant616]

She was really fortunate enough to end up with a great father anyway. She was probably better off being raised by Luomen, I can't imagine Lakan being able to reign her in the way Loumen does. In fact, he probably would have encouraged some of her worst impulses given his desire to dote on her.

[u/KindlyAccountant616 → u/Mad_Aeric]

yeah luomen was great. she was lucky with that.

[u/Frontier246 → u/Primo29]

Lakan being perfectly happy just playing shogi with Fengxian 

Go is still their love language. Even when they had sex, she would have rather they were playing Go.

[u/shsl_despair_girl → u/Frontier246]

And he would prefer Shogi truly a match made in autism heaven ❤

[u/Mad_Aeric → u/shsl_despair_girl]

He's better at Shogi, but I don't know that he prefers is. He seems quite delighted to be getting his ass kicked Go. Fengxian's whole appeal to him is that she challenges him, which no one else does.

[u/Hot-Log6283 → u/Mad_Aeric]

After their sexy time in the first season she said she wanted to play Go and he said he wanted to play "Chess" (it's not Shogi since the pieces of the board were round i.e Chinese chess/Xiangqi.).

[u/Auron15]

So happy Apothecary Diaries is back but man the subtitles were awful and CR was doing that thing where the episode would get slightly blurry. I usually don’t complain but you would think a massive show like this would receive the best treatment

[u/Mysterious-Rate-3253 → u/Auron15]

I don't know if they put any amount of manual effort at all. Everything seems to be an automated system regardless of how big or small the title is. It fucking sucks.

[u/sharqyej]

the subs are atrocious

[u/Aliensinnoh → u/sharqyej]

It seems to me they are back trying to enshittify their subtitling process/software once again, after being chased away from doing it last year. What it looks like to me is that somehow whatever change they’ve made has introduced a limitation such that only one section of subtitling can appear onscreen at any given time. Thus, when an onscreen text translation show up somewhere onscreen, or background dialogue is occurring that gets translated up-top, the subtitles for the main dialogue disappears. It does make it extremely hard to watch. Hopefully this is just some sort of error that occurred in this episode. But if I’m right, and it is due to a process change, this issue should crop up in other Crunchyroll shows this season. If that happens, everyone really needs to get in a big uproar about it once again.

[u/aman2218 → u/Aliensinnoh]

Yeah, this is amazon prime level of sloppiness. There also seems to the characteristic odd timing the sub. In general they are disappearing a few ms too quick

[u/murilo087 → u/Aliensinnoh]

The subtitle creation process is still the same. In this case, someone messed up the timings, causing the end time to be earlier than the start time for some dialogue lines. What they changed a year ago that caused the subtitles to become messed up was adding the Closed Caption Converter to the subtitle delivery process. It was supposed to only convert ASS subtitles to other formats for third-party platforms, but it was also converting the subtitles for the main website. When it converts ASS to ASS, it breaks all the typesetting.

[u/Zard91]

Was not expecting to see all those Shisui flashbacks. Thanks for the breaking my heart again.

[u/Frontier246 → u/Zard91]

You can definitely tell Shisui left her mark both physically (Jinshi) and emotionally (Maomao) on the cast.

[u/Ghostk1487]

Bro I read fast and even I feel these subtitles are to quick. Something off with the timing idk

[u/SgtExo → u/Ghostk1487]

I feel like they are not using proper anime sub programs and only one thing can be displayed at a time. So if any other text appears the one before leaves. Even when doing characters somewhere other on the screen.

It was really bad this episode.

[u/kalirion → u/Ghostk1487]

And some lines aren't subtitled at all, like when Maomao was beating the kid and telling him to remember.

I made a report about the issue through the CR support chatbot, I advise others to do the same.

[u/KHlover]

Subtitle timing on crunchyroll is really off, I'm a fast reader but those subtitles are gone way too fast

[u/liskot → u/KHlover]

Yeah dialogue is immediately removed when on-screen text pops up, as if only one instance of subs can exist at a time. Hope it's just a mistake and not the new norm.

[u/Aliensinnoh → u/liskot]

Crunchyroll was trying to enshittify their subtitling process/software last fall (or maybe the fall before that?) and enough people made an uproar about it that they backed off. It seems likely that they are trying again. People need to push back.

[u/Jegge_100 → u/KHlover]

Well thats what you get when you cost cut and change to a program incapable of displaying two sets of subs independently. So if you have text on screen you have to cut the subs or if two people are speaking ect. If only these problems had been solved like 20 years ago at this point alas nothing can be done.

[u/Roskal → u/KHlover]

Crunchyroll allergic to having 2 sets of text on screen at the same time.

[u/kalirion → u/KHlover]

Some subtitles disappeared before they even showed up, leaving dialogue lines unsubtitled.

[u/AceSoldia → u/KHlover]

yeah it was really bad, i had to keep pausing it and rewinding

[u/FarCritical → u/KHlover]

Wasn't expecting a surprise speedreading test to kickstart the season

[u/Ocixo → u/FarCritical]

Yeah, some of the text went by incredibly fast.

Might have to do with CR having switched to a different formatting style for their subtitles? Netflix often has a similar problem after all. They cannot put two layers of text simultaneously on screen - only a single one - because of their specific formatting design.

[u/IXajll → u/Ocixo]

Yea, it only happened when on-screen text appeared, at which point the actual subs at the bottom were immediately cut off. Must be a fuck up though, no way they can continue with this longterm without causing another shit storm.

[u/YakPrestigious113 → u/KHlover]

Yeah, I immediately checked if it is on Netflix and fortutalely it's there and they did a better job with the subtitles.

[u/Frontier246 → u/KHlover]

Which is a bad thing to have for a show as dialogue driven as this one.

[u/Cally83]

Yes we are back boys and girls.

Wait, is that Jinshi with a terrible scar on his face during the opening? Wtf

[u/Eunuchest → u/Cally83]

Unless something happens, which I dont think it will, i think it might be a disguise since Jinshi seems to be getting out of the palace based on the opening

[u/Frontier246 → u/Cally83]

Wait, is that Jinshi with a terrible scar on his face during the opening? Wtf

It seems like he and Maomao are on the road together, judging by the OP, so he probably needs another disguise/cover.

[u/CodeMonkeyX]

On Crunchyroll is anyone else having subtitle issues at the start? The subtitle displays for one second then vanishes it's impossible to read it. Hopefully it gets better in the episode.

[u/skavinger5882 → u/CodeMonkeyX]

Yeah, the voice subtitles disappeared when text translations appear on the screen

[u/someinsanity01]

the subs sucks ASSS

[u/Mr_Zaroc → u/someinsanity01]

Yeah they messed up the timing bad

At least the years of watching tatami galaxy and monogatari paid off, those speed reading skills came in handy!

[u/Pickled_Kagura]

How does crunchyroll consistently fail at something every fansubber figured out 20 years ago?

[u/Mad_Aeric → u/Pickled_Kagura]

The fansubbers actually gave a shit. CR gives none.

[u/EndThisGame → u/Pickled_Kagura]

its so bad. most likely machine translated, sentences cutting off for background dialogue, some stuff just not translated. hope someone fixes it, I'd rather wait 1-2 extra days than suffer through this

[u/Flyingryan122]

Crunchyroll did a shit job with the subtitles but good ep

[u/skinny_plum8 → u/Flyingryan122]

Glad someone else said that

[u/BadBehaviour613]

Nobody is talking about the cycle of abuse that is Old Lady>Mao Mao>Chou-u :(

[u/SmallJon → u/BadBehaviour613]

Dont worry the cycle will be broken; Chou doesn't have a spare hand to abuse people with!

[u/asianwaste → u/BadBehaviour613]

Maomao will definitely be an old crone when she gets elderly.

[u/Niwaka_Samurai → u/BadBehaviour613]

Ikr 😭😭

[u/Frontier246]

A plague, a famine, people despairing, searching for any hope...only for the serene voice of Reina Ueda to appear with some kind of salvation. And with a wide grin that totally doesn't seem suspicious or menacing in the slightest!

We're back with a Yorushika OP! With visuals that seem to indicate Maomao and Jinshi (?) hitting the road! We've also got Maomao and her sisters, Lishu and a lion, Lakan's people, Anshi and Ah-Duo, and Maomao caressing a moon...sort of like a Moon Prince, wouldn't you say?

Loulan left plenty for Jinshi AKA Ka Zuiegetsu to remember her by: the scar on his face AND ominous warnings of a plague, which will blowback on the Emperor when there's already plenty of drama with the named clans and Gyokuyou becoming Empress Consort and boosting her family to named clan status. Work is never done for the Imperial Brother.

Knowing the main reason for the marriage is the political benefits kind of takes the romance out of it, but good for Gyokuyou! Even if there are those who would have vastly preferred Lihua become Empress Consort had her second son been born earlier...but I think she's just happy to have an alive and healthy child again.

Oh hey, Gyokuyou's dad! He seems fun. And Lishu's dad, even though he barely pays attention to his daughter. Poor girl.

Classic Lakan would rather play with his wife in their love language than show up for a big Imperial shindig. What a wife guy.

Of course Maomao now has NOTHING to do with that anymore and is back to her usual antics around the Verdigris House, getting smacked on by granny, dealing with the little brother she never asked for in Chou-U, and also dealing with a breakfast of...locusts.

Chou-u may not have his memories, may not have the use of his left arm, but he IS a good impressionist and recalls enough about the locusts to realize there's a plague coming. And Maomao being Maomao she tries to keep Chou-u safe AND can't help herself from investigating.

Glad to know Maomao can always count on Lihaku! Provided she does him a solid with Pairin, lucky dog.

Oh hey, it's the Shi Clan Guard voiced by Tomoaki Maeno! As if Maomao didn't have enough reminding her about Shisui. But while the guard has fallen on hard times, he does still feel loyalty towards the former Apothecary who researched the Immortality Drug. Too bad he needs to get a locust (and grassphopper) plate to the face to hide Chou-u from him.

Ukyou seems like a really chill, reliable, guy! The best person to play good cop to Maomao's bad cop!

Maomao's got more deets on the famine/plague, which means she's probably going to have to deal with royal politics again...and Jinshi!

Oh hey, Suirei! And the Emperor! And Ah-Duo! Is it finally time for "Yue" to pick a flower? And by flower, I mean wife!?

The ED by Eve is very serene and nolstalgic as it seems like Maomao recounts her memories while looking at the hairpin...and a lot of those memories involve Jinshi as it turns out.

Next week: we made it to 50 episodes! Which means it's finally time for Maomao and Jinshi to reunite!

[u/aman2218]

Wow, I didn't expected to see Fengxian, still alive. It's been a while since I have read the early LNs, and going by my recent rewatch of season 1, It was implied that she will die soon.

Glad, to see her doing well enough to have a happy time together with Lakan, playing go.

[u/TRUEALPHA_101 → u/aman2218]

They are still not showing us her full face, which means it still must have been messed up due to the Syphils. Atleast she is in a good enough condition to play Go, that warmed my heart❤️

[u/thisisdropd]

Lihaku: [to Maomao] I’m off to root. See ya later!

Not gonna lie. That got a good chuckle out of me. How quickly he switched from business mode to horndog mode.

How the dynamics have changed. After we’ve been blessed by the wholesome trio of Maomao, Shisui, and Xiaolan it felt very different with the absence of the latter two. On the other hand, we now have Chou-u, who somewhat played Xiaolan’s role as Maomao’s kouhai. Love how soft Maomao was towards Xiaolan, while she’s not hesitant to get physical towards him, much like how Hongniang was towards her.

That ominous voice at the very start. I could hear Reina Ueda’s distinct voice. Not sure what her role would be, but a couple of seconds of screentime was enough to tell me she’s bad news.

[u/Frontier246 → u/thisisdropd]

I love how Maomao and Lihauku's relationship is a loyalty hinged around her ability to help him hook up with Pairin lol.

I think you can definitely tell Maomao is, in her own way, feeling the absence of Shisui and Xiaolan (especially Shisui).

[u/CitronClassic672 → u/Frontier246]

Poor girl, still dealing with fallout of her doomed yuri.

[u/Ocixo → u/thisisdropd]

I liked how they’d put a dog tail on Lihaku. If I recall correctly, Maomao previously compared him to a dog. However, I somewhat doubt that golden retrievers were common in China during this era.

[u/Vermillion_Crab]

I feel like this episode spawned so many story threads. Are we going to get Game of Thrones political maneuverings?

Anyways, I'm glad Maomao is back. Can't believe we're almost at 50 episodes. Hope we get 200 more.

[u/Frontier246 → u/Vermillion_Crab]

I feel like this episode spawned so many story threads. Are we going to get Game of Thrones political maneuverings?

It might be a political mess in the making but I'm happy Lihua has an alive son and I'm happy Gyokuyou got the Empress treatment.

(Poor Lishu is still suffering though)

[u/Vermillion_Crab → u/Frontier246]

Yeah poor Lishu. It sucks that it looks like even her family doesn't support her.

[u/Mrwright96 → u/Vermillion_Crab]

Let’s be real, keeping her in the rear palace is the BEST thing for her

[u/Mad_Aeric → u/Mrwright96]

And at least she has one retainer who's looking out for her, even if she had to initially be guilted/threatened into it. It does seem like she turned over a new leaf though.

[u/moichispa → u/Frontier246]

It's ok Lishu is young, no need to go hurry up things

her dad seems to suck tho

[u/ButterIsMyLifeblood → u/moichispa]

Given her dad willingly gave her to a pedophile I think sucks is understating it.

[u/brh131]

Its actually outrageous how bad the Crunchyroll subtitles are. Its as if nobody even watched them to check if they were ok. Subtitles shouldn't be interrupting each other when another subtitle appears on the screen.

[u/S627]

Fucking CR! Anyone else have issues with the subs where if they tried to have two sets at the same time, the bottom subs for the person talking would disappear but the subs for the translated text would stay on screen?

Anyway, lots to talk about this ep, but first and foremost, MOM IS STILL ALIVE?!?! When we went through Lakan's whole story and they finally reunited, they made it sound like she didn't have long to live, but she's apparently doing just fine? Dont get me wrong that's great, but I'm just wondering if I misunderstood something.

So was mystery person at the start causing the locust with the weird handout? Or just taking advantage of the famine for something? I'm guessing spread a disease on top of the locust.

This show being what it is, just because Maomao specified that the manservant is a trusted guy.....I dont trust him now.

Was the person serving the Emperor at the end Jinshi's mom? I dont think so, but they looked really similar.

Ok this is getting kinda creepy, this is the 3rd time I learned something, and then watched an anime that makes use of that. Like I'm pretty sure it was right after the last season ended that I watched a short documentary on the difference between grasshoppers and locust and how they mutate.

[u/Frontier246 → u/S627]

Was the person serving the Emperor at the end Jinshi's mom? I dont think so, but they looked really similar.

It was Ah-Duo.

[u/Ocixo → u/S627]

Maybe this was just a good day amongst many bad ones, but it did seem like Maomao’s mom is doing better yeah.

Though, they won’t be able to cure her disease. She’d contracted syphilis, I believe?

[u/ButterIsMyLifeblood → u/Ocixo]

Yeah they mentioned this was the first time in weeks that Fengxian has had any energy.

[u/darkszero → u/S627]

Yup, CR sub quality being atrocious. 

[u/robertm94 → u/S627]

Was the person serving the Emperor at the end Jinshi's mom? I dont think so, but they looked really similar.

The person serving was Ah-Duo

So, yes. Well, kinda.

Officially, they are unrelated, but we have readers/viewers privilege so we know that Ah-Duo's son and the emperors brother were swapped as babies; ie jinshi is the emperor/ah duo's son and the emperors brother died as a baby.

But not many others in story know this to be the truth. I don't think Jinshi knows, for example.

[u/AceSoldia]

If Crunchyroll's subs are gonna be like this all season i may have to watch this show elsewhere, which is too bad, i dont think i had this issue at all the last two seasons of Apothecary

[u/Orochidude → u/AceSoldia]

It's specifically this season/episode, yeah. Hopefully this isn't a bad omen for the rest of the season, including other series picked up by CR.

[u/Beastafore]

Fuck crunchyroll.

[u/LeonKevlar]

A medicine that can heal your heart and erase all worldly pains? Are we actually gonna deal with opium this season? Whoever's that person giving away free drugs, that's definitely not the smile of someone with good intentions.

New OP is a banger! I love the funky vibes it's giving off. And I absolutely love this shot of the Three Princesses. I need a creditless version so I can use it as my new wallpaper.

So does the fact that Jinshi also had Maomao in his mind when he was talking about the La Clan mean she's officially recognized as part of the La Clan? Then again, even if she's officially recognized, Maomao is probably just gonna reject and avoid it as much as she can. xD

It seems my guess at the start was off, and it looks like Maomao's gonna deal with a locust plague first. Yeah, this isn't good, especially since it's happening right after the Shi Clan rebellion. People are gonna think this is divine retribution. How is Maomao gonna stop a plague, tho?

I didn't think we'd meet someone from the fortress last episode. I honestly thought Jinshi and his men completely purged the fortress.

Ukyou is pretty cool. I remember him here and there in the previous seasons, but he's mostly just a background character. I like how he's giving Maomao a little lesson on how to deal with people, and how you can't just threaten them to get everything you want. xD

The guard seems to be a pretty decent dude too. He also seems smarter than your average guard, since he sold the books and plans to buy them back later. He also knew the apothecary researching the immortality potion, so he definitely has Maomao's attention.

So yeah, it looks like Maomao has no choice but to contact Jinshi and tell him what's up. I can't wait to see what title they'll give her this time to let her back in the Rear Palace.

[u/Akussa → u/LeonKevlar]

It’s pretty clear that Lakan has acknowledged her as his daughter after the Shi Clan events of last season and him getting Jinshi to martial the army for her and to put down their rebellion. Maomao dislikes him so I doubt she’ll use the name or acknowledge it in any way. It’ll be interesting to see if his adopted son Lahan will react in any sort of way at to it.

[u/Frontier246 → u/LeonKevlar]

Ukyou is pretty cool. I remember him here and there in the previous seasons, but he's mostly just a background character. I like how he's giving Maomao a little lesson on how to deal with people, and how you can't just threaten them to get everything you want. xD

I love how he's so chill yet can immediately read a room effortlessly.

[u/FarCritical]

It's great to be back but I miss Xiaolan and Shisui so much man ;_;

If it weren't for them being pests, I almost want to feel bad for the malnourished locusts from how slouched they look in Kyou-u's sketch of them (which also speaks to his surprising ability to both remember and draw them so vividly)

[u/shad79]

Maomao is finally back! I really love her sibling dynamic with Chou-u in this episode, and I'm definitely looking forward to her meeting with Jinshi next week.

Plus, it was good to see the others as well! Grams, Lakan, or Gyokuyou, who became the Empress! Congratulations to her!

A very nice OP, both musically and visually, though, imo, the first OP still reigns supreme and "Martian" from Shoshimin S2 remains Yorushika's best anime song.

Here my screenshot albums from the episode:

• OP
• Maomao
• Group scenes
• Jinshi
• Others

EDIT. I added my screenshot albums.

[u/DoggedStooge]

Real smart Crunchyroll. Cheap out on the subtitles with one of your most popular franchises. Surely no one will notice. /s

[u/Mad_Aeric → u/DoggedStooge]

It's not just that it's popular, it's also a major entry point for normies. They're alienating potential future converts. That's terrible for them in the long term.

[u/kalirion]

The episode on CR has an issue with some subtitles disappearing much too early, particularly when a sentence is split across two lines - the second line disappears in a split second even while the character is still speaking. I reported it via the CR support chatbot. Looks like some lines are missing completely too?

I'd forgotten that Maomao left the rear palace end of last season.

This is the first we've heard that "Gram" isn't the actual owner of the brothel?

"I didn't expect him to ask for pen and paper" - kid is holding a brush, not a pen.

Do grasshoppers taste bad even deepfried? Or do they not have deepfrying tech?

[u/amourshipper_]

Catcat is back 🎉🎉!!!!!

[u/ObvsThrowaway5120]

I like the Maomao-Chou-u relationship. It’s kind of adorable how Maomao’s basically got herself a little brother now lol.

Seems there’s more to these locusts than meets the eye. Keen to dive into the greater conspiracy here.

[u/cupperoni → u/ObvsThrowaway5120]

It's so funny watching her pounce on him and to wap and drag him around like he's her lil kitten.

[u/BadBehaviour613 → u/ObvsThrowaway5120]

The unfortunate optic is from an outsider perspective it looks like the La clan is harboring a male survivor of the Shi clan, and from the last season we know that the Shi clan has strong royal blood

[u/cleaulem]

Peak is back. I love the opening, the song is catchy and the animation is gorgeous.

Speaking of animation, is might be because it's the first episode, but I got the impression that the animation was amazingly fluid. There were some scenes that were crazy dynamic.

The inner palace is full of intrigue and politics as ever. Jinshi surely can't take a break from all the gossip, can he. Also can somebody please give Lishu a big hug. Being ignored by her father was such a dick move!

Maomao gets some slice of life with a good portion of foreshadowing. From what we saw in the opening and in this first episode I got the feeling that we're going to have a wild ride this season.

[u/BamilleKidanZ → u/cleaulem]

Yeah, the animation felt different than before. Pacing seems to be quite fast.

[u/aluminiaa → u/BamilleKidanZ]

This book is longer than the previous ones so they have to cram more in the same amount of time

[u/LouisLeGros]

I love Chou-u calling Maomao freckles.

[u/dude_1818]

The one I'm most excited for this season. I forgot we reset to Maomao outside the palace again, and I really forgot Chou-u was around. I do not care for his character

I did realize the difference between grasshoppers and locusts before the guard explained it, although I thought it was the other way around: they spent most of their time as grasshoppers and only turned into locusts when stressed

The crunchyroll subs are not good. Translations off on-screen text break the dialogue subs, and I have to rewind and pause to read it all

[u/HuTaosTwinTails]

Okay, I'm interested to see where the season goes.

But Crunchyroll, fix these subtitles. Anytime someone else talked or translation was shown on the screen, it removed the subtitles at the bottom of who was actually talking.

Reported it and hopefully this fix this shit.

[u/Mr_Zaroc]

I had honestly forgotten she was released from the palace, I assume it was mentioned?

Also an OP by Yorushika and an ED by Eve? We are eating like gods

Well this upcoming arc looks like a mix of locusts (not sure what they will be able to do against that) and some opium wars, thats at least something thats human caused and can be countered

Anyways, so glad we are back. But is it just me or is Maomao more expressive now (maybe because she is out of the palace and doesnt have to be on guard, or maybe its because she is raising a kid now)

[u/codec264]

It's at times like this where I'm happy that I learned Japanese years ago cause bro what are those subtitle timings

[u/tottoro47 → u/[deleted]]

The movie is standalone, correct? It's not tied to this story if I remember correctly

[u/Roskal]

It feels like the animation quality got a small bump from season 2, its hard to tell. It might also just be for this first episode. One guy in the opening looks so much like Jinshi, but has a different scar on his cheek. I wonder who that is.

[u/flatpetey]

Maomao saying “it is none of her business”? Cmon. She is nosey as hell. She should just admit it and dive in instead of wasting time.

[u/djthomp]

So many bugs, and I think we're doomed for a lot more bugs over the course of the season. Unrelated to those bugs CR was screwing up the sub timing a bit, I don't think they dropped any lines but a number of them weren't on the screen for the right amount of time/placement.

Gotta appreciate Lakan's priorities, the government and world in general forced him and Fengxian apart too much already so playing games when her when and while she still can beats out anything else really.

Famines and locust plagues are everyone's problem so Catcat will need to address this one way or another now that she has information on it.

[u/EnthusiasmOnly22]

Oh joy shit subs Sony go fk yourself

[u/jakpote88]

Subs so bad i might need to start going to sea

[u/moichispa → u/jakpote88]

sea subs come from the same sources on most quick releases options so they will have the same issues

According to my friend

[u/Seeker4001 → u/jakpote88]

And they are too fast! The book flashback scene was difficult even to pause.

[u/jakpote88 → u/Seeker4001]

Its not that its too fast, its the sub program that cant even handle 2 texts at the same time

[u/Jas_God]

The fuck is going on with the text overlay and subs man, this shit ruined elusive samurai s2 for me now this? Only one displayed at a time, Bring back the old style. Piece of shit crunchyroll.

[u/LouisLeGros]

I think when the emperor is referring to Yue it links to the Chinese character for moon and how near the end of the last season Jinshi was starting to be called the moon prince.

[u/watervinesandflowers → u/LouisLeGros]

And in the opening we see that Maomao cups with the palm of her hand the moon just like she would do with a lover's face.

[u/Mrwright96 → u/watervinesandflowers]

And we see the dowager and ah-duo switch moons with ah-duo’s fading

[u/aluminiaa → u/LouisLeGros]

Pretty sure Gaoshun already called Jinshi by his real name last season: Zuigetsu(this is the Japanese reading), in Chinese is Rui-yue which means Auspicious Moon.

[u/SmallJon]

Oh, so it'll be an opium arc now? Makes sense for the show's setting. And Maomao's new nickname is essentially "Big Sister Freckles", which is great especially considering she doesnt have freckles.

On the negative side, it seems CR continues to get worse at subtitles, now forgetting how subtitles should continue through transitions to different shots...

And small thing, but I liked the detail that they gave the ex-guard brown rice at the Verdigris House, since white rice was traditionally a luxury

[u/Eunuchest]

I miss this show

Out of the pot and into the fire

We already dealing with a natural calamity after a coup. Great

Lakan spending the day with his wife rather than attending a party was pretty sweet

So Maomao is basically Chou U's guardian now? Wonder why he's not with the other Shi clan survivors with Ah Duo

Yue needs to pick a flower? Is that supposed to mean Jinshi needs to pick a wife?

[u/Miox465 → u/Eunuchest]

It's briefly touched upon at the end of season two, but Chou-U was the only one of the kids to suffer memory loss.

I dont remember the full logic behind it, but they felt it was better to keep him separated from the others for this reason.

[u/ultimate_placeholder → u/Miox465]

They want him to grow up somewhat normally, the rest of the Shi clan children are sequestered from society both to protect them and the empire from the consequences of them surviving eradication. Kyou-u forgetting means there's nothing to lose if he lives a normal life unless he gets recognized by a retainer, as just happened

[u/Asleep-Doubt5673 → u/Eunuchest]

Chou-u completely lost his memory due to the resurrection drug, so it was decided he can't be with the other children (who still remember their families). Because he doesn't know anything, he's not really a threat and can have a freer life than the others.

[u/zool714]

You can really feel the aftermath of what went down last season. But we’re also setting things up for this arc.

With Chou-u around, Maomao kinda have to turn her gremlin down lol

It’s been a long day so I wasn’t really focused, will probably rewatch it in a day or so, but while I recognized a bunch of the returning characters like Ah Duo and Suirei, I can’t really remember what their status are and what they’ve been up to.

Also, Maomao’s mom is alive ? I thought she died from her sickness last season, Maomao did the dance and everything and Lakan had an emotional moment

[u/Moonshadow101 → u/zool714]

The dance was part of the celebrations held when a Courtesan's contract is bought out. It's not a funeral, it's closer to a retirement party.

[u/NekoCatSidhe]

Maomao is back, and eating bugs instead of snakes, ewww. She has got a reputation for eating weird stuff, even that former guard from the Shi clan was remembering her as the snake-eating girl.

A locust plague sounds nasty, but I am not sure there is anything Maomao and Jinshi can do to stop one if it happens.

Locusts and grasshoppers are actually the same species, but will change in appearance and behavior according to their numbers, starting to turn into locust swarms when there is too many of them. I guess the discussions about the grasshoppers mixed among the locusts and their influence on future crops referred to that, although I am not sure I really understood the details.

I didn’t expect Chou-u to be featured so much in that episode. It’s like Maomao now has a bratty little brother to look after. She would probably still trade him for his cousin Shisui in a heartbeat, even if he also has her talent from drawing insects.

[u/mekerpan → u/NekoCatSidhe]

I like the fact that everyone in the know seems to recognize there are good locusts and bad ones (taste-wise). Apparently only a few species of grasshopper have the ability to go from normal and solitary to swarming as locusts.

I assume that MaoMao is going to have to take bioth the drawings and the ex-Shi guard to Jinshi. But how will she be able to negotiate for this guy's safety? He does have access to the rest of that set of encyclopedias -- so there is NO WAY she can take any chances as to his security, right?

[u/rms18819 → u/NekoCatSidhe]

Locusts and grasshoppers are actually the same species, but will change in appearance and behavior according to their numbers, starting to turn into locust swarms when there is too many of them.

I was familiar with this, too, and am curious if the translation of "locusts" versus "grasshoppers" in today's episode was mixed up. I'm suspecting the translation switched the two in today's episode, as in "real life"

• grasshopper = regular appearance of the insect, and
• locust = irregular (and unwanted) appearance.

but most of the "grasshopper vs. locust" had "grasshoppers" as the problem critter. Though Chou-u's picture had "grasshopper" as the 'good/normal' animal [on top] and "locust" as the 'irregular' one [on bottom, with spots].

[u/Fools_Requiem]

Since this story is fictional and takes place in a fictional timeframe in China, it's hard to nail down which locust plague and famine this is supposed to be based on. There are at least three period of time where this show could take place, the Tang Dynasty which took place between 618 and 907, late in the Ming Dynasty which took place between 1638 and 1644, and around the First Opium War in the 1839 and 1842. All three periods had major droughts that may or may not have also included locust plagues.

During the Tang Dynasty, there was major locust plague called the "Xìngzhēn Disaster" according to Wikipedia and it took place in 784 and 785. I can't find any information on it outside of what Wiki says. All it says was that millions died or were displaced.

The Ming Dynasty collapsed as a result of the Chongzhen drought which lasted from 1627 into 1644 when the Ming Dynasty collapsed. ~2 million people died from the famine.

Then there was a period between 1851 and 1873 where 10-30 million people died as a result of famine, flooding, and wars/rebellions.

Wikipedia says this show is more based around the Tang Dynasty but includes knowledge of things that would have only been available in the late Ming Dynasty.

I mention the Opium War because I'm like 90% sure opium in some manner was discussed/mentioned in this show and usage in China shot up around the First Opium War, even though it's use supposedly dates as far back as the Tang Dynasty.