#gyokuyou

[userfrieren]

gyokuyou | kusuriya no hitorigoto 1.01 - "maomao"

[dude1818]

The voices of Atsumi Tanezaki by @yuri_kyanon

source

[friedwizardwhispers]

Gyokuyou when some Jinshi x Maomao drama is happening (always):

[sleepy-edits]

[the-port-mafia]

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐤𝐜𝐚𝐩, 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦- 𝐎𝐰! 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐰 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞.

[neo--queen--serenity]

Found family is such a huge theme in the Apothecary Diaries.

You have Luomen, raising Maomo from a young age, despite her being biologically his grandniece, but raising her anyway.

You have the Madame of the Verdigris House, who is Maomao’s maternal grandmother, but never tells her. She takes care of Maomao, helps raise her in the brothel the best she can, but tries not to show how fond she is of her.

You have Meimei, Joka, & Pairin, three famous courtesans at the Verdigris House who not only physically raised Maomao in her infancy (an imperfect process, as to be expected when one tries to collectively raise a baby in a brothel), but also breastfed her. These women staunchly refer to themselves as Maomao’s sisters, despite having been old enough to be her parents themselves.

You have Gyokuyou, who doesn’t have a good relationship with her own family, and actively distrusts them. She invests wholly in the women she instates as her ladies-in-waiting, treating them, instead, as her family, and as the only people she truly trusts. It’s for this reason that she asks for Maomao to return to her service over and over: because she trusts her, she loves her as a member of her own household. She shows defiance and even possessiveness when Jinshi’s involvement keeps Maomao from being her lady-in-waiting permanently, as truly trustworthy people are so hard to find, in her world.

You have Lakan, who adopted his nephew Lahan when Lahan’s own family rejected his genius and his potential for growth. Lakan, in general, tends to take in orphans and young children into his estate as servants, when he can tell they have specific talents that would be wasted when they grew older. One of his hobbies is fostering the talents of these strays he takes into his employ. Even if his motives are grey, he still drastically changes their lives for the better.

You have Chou-u, who Maomao indirectly adopted as her own (even though, age-wise, he’s closer to a brother figure for her). Since he’s lost his memories, Maomao is all he knows as a parental figure. She let him live with her, she tried teaching him medicine like Luomen did for her (even though it didn’t resonate with him). And when Maomao spends long stints away from the pleasure district, Chou-u experiences acute separation anxiety, though it slowly improves over time.

You have Ah-Duo, who acted as a surrogate mother to Lishu for both of Lishu’s tenures in the rear palace. Ah-Duo couldn’t have a normal relationship with her own child (Jinshi), so she doted on Lishu instead. This was a truly symbiotic relationship for them, as Lishu, for the longest time, had very few people she could trust or rely on as a friend when she was a consort.

And these are just the relationships I can think of at the moment!! The story has so many bonds like this. It’s one of my absolute favorite aspects of the series, and one that I think Natsu Hyuuga handles incredibly well.

[alexiethymia]

I’ve always thought it but Gyokuyou’s line, “If I said I was jealous of Concubine Fuyou, would I be a terrible woman?” seemed to point at two things, her jealousy of her being free to finally leave the inner palace, and secondly, the freedom to love and be loved in return.

I mean though she may be the Empress, and though she may be the most favored by the Emperor, I’m sure she’s clever and shrewd enough to think that she wouldn’t actually ever have his love. And that is what makes her so intriguing in that regardless of her own feelings, she can still be human and feel some sort of sadness about it, at the what-ifs.

Considering the latest chapters in the web novels, the parallels and contrasts between The Emperor (Yang) and Aduo, as well as Jinshi and Maomao being driven so hard just hurts so good.

That conversation between Jinshi and the Emperor revealing their chosen actions regarding their ‘one cherished flower’. The Emperor choosing to bind her to him, and cherishing her and protecting her vs Jinshi’s decision to let her go rather than trap her in the inner palace, such that it drives Aduo to tears because she sees in Jinshi and Maomao what could have been.

It’s so painful precisely because the Emperor and Aduo were where Jinshi and Maomao were ending up toward if not for the development they underwent. Contrast the Jinshi of earlier volumes who I think, in his desperation, would have chosen the same course of action the Emperor had in regard to Aduo and the Jinshi of now, who has matured.

But in the same vein that none of these characters are perfect, and are intriguing in their flaws, I think Aduo is the same as Maomao. Except that Maomao now finally was able to accept and let herself love, whereas Aduo used and still uses that ‘familial’ tie and even Yue as the reason why she still chooses to stay with Yang.

This just may be my own interpretation, but I think Aduo truly loved (loves?) the Emperor in her own way, as more than a ‘sibling’ or a ‘friend’ and that she is an unreliable narrator in her own right, same as Maomao. But alas, I don’t think Aduo and the Emperor managed to communicate properly on this part of their relationship, unlike other aspects where they can be free with one another. And now it’s too late, because the Emperor in his foolish youth made that irreversible choice and clipped Aduo’s wings.

That four way conference was perfect in that it was basically both pairs seeing mirrors of them in each other, of the past and the future, of what was and what could have been. And though the Emperor made mistakes, I can’t find it in myself to judge him too harshly because, as one analysis puts in, he didn’t have the same freedoms Jinshi has now, nor did he have the same people around him who could have guided him on the right path. Suiren and Gaoshun who were there to see what happened with the Emperor and Aduo, are probably doing their best to nudge Jinshi and Mamao in the right direction such that they wouldn’t repeat past mistakes.

It’s that one post you know? The love was there, it was always there. But perhaps, even then, it wasn’t enough.

[glorfys-glorioushair]

Started watching and reading The Apothecary Diaries. Here's some cursed redraws ✨️

[ianime0]

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto | Ep14 | What I will be teaching you today is a secret technique shared only amongst women.

[immanime]

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto OP2

[mieau]

The Apothecary Diaries pencil sketches

[noisylovepatrol]

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Special booklet

[littlepurebloodprincess]

[suyahime]

[landofanimes]

The Apothecary Diaries

Transparent: Character Design

Maomao

Jinshi

Gaoshun

Lady Gyokuyou

Xiaolan

Lady Lihua

Lady Lishu

Lady Ah-Duo

Lihaku

Lady Loulan

Suirei

Lakan

[sayammm]

Gyokuyou: Maomao took off with someone..

we stan an oscar-worthy trolling