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It's nice to see someone finally take Jinshi to task over abdicating his position and undermining the kingdom/endangering Maomao as a result. Pure poetry for that takedown to be coming from Lakan, who essentially went through the same experience when he was younger.

Jinshi is trying to engineer deliberately what happened to Lakan as a result of his disability and carelessness: putting himself out of the running for the crown by promoting the top consorts, Gyokuyou and Lihua, so their sons can be named crown princes in his stead. Even though he hasn't gained the prize, he's paid the price: he gave up the power to really do anything to prevent the crisis the kingdom faces.

From an outsider's perspective, both of these young men are essentially doing the same thing: coasting on their natural abilities (beauty and brains respectively) without doing the real work to live up to their potential, all at the cost of people who rely on them. We don't get a look in Fengxian's head, tragically, but after years of Lakan just visiting her to play games she finally got desperate enough to bet her whole future on him catching her if she fell. Unfortunately for her, he didn't have the people around him back then that Jinshi does now, giving hope that this crisis will have a happier ending.

Gaoshun's gotten really good at this "I'm going to stay quiet as an endorsement of this behavior" business. He knows this is what Jinshi needs to hear, even if he can't or won't say it himself. Luomen, too, talks down Lakan without actually refuting anything he said about Jinshi, just deflecting it onto himself as a tirade against eunuchs generally.

And Maomao, well, she's still desperate not to lose The Game. We can forgive her that because she's been carrying the whole cast on her back for two seasons. It feels like Maomao has been pushing Jinshi to be better and more proactive in a hundred ways from the very first episode when he had to catch her out as literate from among all the other maids. Because what he really needs at the end of the day is to be more like her: someone who can see all of this suffering, overcome her own doubts that she has the power to help, and do something about it.

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canon event

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Big fan of this show

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the bugs in my brain keep telling me to draw them until my hand falls off

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Jinshi stressing so bad thinking the absolute worst is happening to Maomao meanwhile she’s just roaming around trying to figure out wtf is going on is so real and very much the regular atp LMFAO

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knh e20 thoughts

this week's apothecary diaries ep was INSANE. e20 will for sure go down as one of the best of this season. the way the tension built the entire episode - the crescendo at the end with lakan tasking jinshi with assuming his true identity, jinshi being overcome with steely resolve (!!!!!!!!!!!) - so so peak. i am so ready for the moon prince to storm down this goofy ahh fortress to save his wife.

NEXT FRIDAY CAN'T COME SOON ENOUGH

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free my homie

if that isn't the Gaoshun summary of all time

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canon event

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been playign creature walking sim

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terribly tricky choice,,,

someone call our man an ambulance

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i cant get them out of my head

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Aliens and stuff yknow

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Ways I can think of that “DanDaDan” differs from other shonen series:

* Female MC is as important as male MC

* Canon romance gets consistent development through the series. I think that’s part of the reason why the MC ships with the rivals (Aira, Jiji) aren’t as popular with the fandom for once. The main ship is actually getting good development, so the fanbase doesn’t have to make up headcanons to fill in the space.

* Flips the found family trope on its head by having the main group despise new people whenever they show up and they even actively try to kick them out. The new people only end up staying because they keep lingering around to the point that the main group just gives up and lets them stay.

* The rivals aren’t emo or angst-ridden. Aira is a delusional tryhard popular girl while Jiji is a himbo drama queen. I’d even go as far to say that the MCs are the ones who are emo and angst-ridden.

* Supporting cast is more than just important, they become integral to the story. I’d say that the further you read into DanDaDan, the more it becomes an ensemble cast where everyone is a protagonist in their own right.

* World-building is all over the place, but in a good way. Most other shonen are pretty consistent with what kind of world their characters live in. MHA is superhero-based, Naruto is ninjas and magic, Bleach is spirits, and so on. DanDaDan feels like the author just throws whatever cool shit they can think of into the story. That’s actually the reason why I wrote in a different post that DanDaDan reminds me more of Marvel/DC than any other shonen series, it manages to capture the catch-all insanity of those comics.

* Doesn’t rely on hidden power-ups. The main characters either have to outsmart the villains or they have to train to get better with the powers they already have.

* The pervert comic relief guy is actually endearing for once. Not because of his pervert tendencies, but because he’s so oblivious to how socially inept he is that it’s kind of funny. This is gonna sound strange, but he sorta reminds me of Thor in Thor Ragnarok. Full of himself and oblivious to how dumb he can be. He’s Thor without the good looks lol.

* Flips the “nerdy outcast loser somehow gets a harem” trope. Instead of making Okarun cooler than how he actually is, the story emphasizes that the women who fall for Okarun are as weird as him. Momo is a weird outcast, Aira has main character syndrome, Vamola doesn’t understand how to human because she’s literally not one, Rin thought Okarun was a vampire (and wanted him to be).

* Flips the “elderly figure in charge of the teenagers” trope. I don’t really get motherly figure vibes from Seiko Ayase, I get more “cool wine aunt who is stuck with her niece” vibes. In fact, there was the arc where Okarun showed up to her in spirit mode to get her help with fighting off the alien invasion and Seiko’s response was, “Well, I’m not in the area and I have other shit to do, so you kids figure it out.”

* The series takes the piss out of the trope of mystical/magical items that the group acquired to get their powers. I mean…the main mystical MacGuffin in the series are Okarun’s balls.

* Okarun was about to go into an “I’m weak / I wish I was stronger / I want to get stronger for my friends” breakdown, but Turbo Granny told him to shut up and keep fighting.

* Not afraid to put the “cool girl” in as many funny situations as possible. Off the top of my head, the series built up Momo as this cool, tough girl who doesn’t take shit from anyone…then several chapters later, Okarun found out she got a job at a maid cafe.

(Feel free to add to the list!)