I’ve been sitting on this reaction for a day because I found that I couldn’t truly convey my annoyance over that 40 second montage towards the end of the episode. I wholeheartedly feel that it was unnecessary, and the only purpose it served was to add to the episode’s runtime.
But then I started doing my usual rounds of watching YouTube reactors, and I realized that I might be the only one who felt this way. No one had an issue with the montage. Neither did anyone in the videos’ comments. So I had to sit with this reaction for a bit and think. Am I alone in thinking this way?
I get the purpose of the flashbacks, okay? During a scene where Maomao is thinking about how death comes to everyone and how you never really know when it’s your time, her reminiscing about how people around her recently have died or have nearly died makes sense.
But here’s the deal: this is an episodic anime adaptation. There have been whole episodes dedicated to those very storylines in the montage. I don’t think it possible for the viewer (let alone the characters) to forget that any of those events happened. So was a flashback montage really necessary? I think not. Whatever. To each their own.
Since I’m trying to be a more positive person, I’ll say that I liked the art quality in the montage. Well, it really was just the holly plant that impressed me. It looked so realistic that I almost forgot I was watching an anime. Too bad they overlayed the flashback scenes on top of such a gorgeous plant.
*sigh*
Maybe the real reason I’m annoyed by the montage is because it interrupted a very important conversation between Maomao and Jinshi. This was, I think, the first serious, non-mystery-related dialogue between the two of them, and it said so much about their relationship.
What I find interesting is that in the manga, this scene has a hint of levity in it. Jinshi’s expressions show more exasperation with Maomao than anything. Take a look:
However, in this episode, there was no humor at all. I gotta say, I like this scene better in the anime. Maomao was being Maomao: nothing she said was wrong, even if her delivery may have been too blunt. Jinshi’s reaction was on point. How could anyone not be upset hearing words like that come from someone you love admire?
And there was this amazing shot of Jinshi’s ever slight reaction to Maomao saying that you can’t change fate. It was so nuanced, but the shot spoke volumes. The reason may not be obvious right now for anime-only watchers, but once the show starts getting into Jinshi’s background, his subtle grimace in this scene will make sense.
Anyway, this episode covers the rest of chapter 13 through chapter 15 in the manga. It was true to the source material as always, though it did embellish some minor details. This episode made me realize, however, that they changed a detail in the plot, and I don’t know how I feel about it. I’m saving that discussion for the end because it’ll have major spoilers, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, feel free to skip it.
I mentioned that there was some embellishing this episode, and that’s in regards to Sir Kounen’s story. In the manga, there’s a couple of pages of flashback panels that explain what happened with Sir Kounen, but we get a full scene in the anime instead. Nothing groundbreaking, by any means, but just a slight difference I wanted to call out.
Another addition was the scene with Maomao and her dad. In the manga, there’s literally just one panel of Maomao being lectured by Luomen that she is not to touch human remains. I liked that they turned it into a full chibi scene. Not to mention, Maomao tells Jinshi and Gaoshun that story when they’re already back in Jinshi’s office, not when they’re still outside at the moat.
Speaking of chibis, I loved the usage of chibis in this episode. I feel like every five minutes or so, there was another character in chibi-form, and I live for that shit.
Next episode is going to be very interesting. The infamous honey scene is coming, and I can’t wait to see that animated. It didn’t make it to my list of my most anticipated scenes, but I did consider it a runner-up.
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR NEXT EPISODE BELOW
So a few episodes ago, Gaoshun was tasked to find the individual in the rear palace who had burns on their arms. This was after one of the eunuchs found those color-coded wooden tablets and women’s clothing with burned sleeves. In this episode, after a two month time skip, Gaoshun’s investigation concludes that Ah-duo’s head lady-in-waiting Fengming is that individual. It even shows a shot of her before the garden party, and her left arm is wrapped in a bandage.
However, in the manga, Gaoshun was investigating the garden party poisoning. There were no wooden tablets or burned clothing. And while it also took two months to complete, Gaoshun found the same person responsible: Fengming.
But suffering from a burn and poisoning a high consort are two very different things. And someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but they haven’t outright made the claim in the show that these two events are related.
When they introduced the wooden tablets and had Maomao infer that it was some kind of code, I assumed that they were using this as a way to introduce another major conflict that was coming down the line. I won’t spoil that storyline, so let’s just say it’s a conflict related to a religious ceremony.
But no. They’ve taken it in a different direction, and I’m not sure how I feel about this. So let’s take a look at what actually happened in the manga.
[LAST CHANCE!! MAJOR SPOILERS INCOMING]
In the manga, Fengming is responsible for attempting to poison Lishu at the garden party. The story goes that Fengming, while caring for the prince (the current emperor and Ah-duo’s son) one day, she feeds the child honey, not knowing that honey is poisonous for babies.
Fengming, in an effort to prevent Ah-duo from finding out about her involvement in the prince’s death, tries to poison Lishu. Why? Lishu can’t eat honey; she had a bad reaction when she was a very young child. And Fengming, worried that Ah-duo might hear this from Lishu (the two consorts are actually close and have been since the days of the previous emperor) might put two-and-two together and realize Fengming killed her son.
Fengming thought she was in the clear when Lishu was sent to the nunnery after the previous emperor died, but that changed when the young consort came back to the palace. So she planned to poison Lishu to get rid of her for good and ensure Ah-duo never finds out about the honey.
So tell me where in that storyline is there room for color-coded wooden tablets and a burned arm?
If I had to guess, it’ll be revealed that Fengming used the wooden tablets to communicate with whomever she got the poison from. She was burned using those wooden tablets, but got rid of the evidence along with the wood. Either that, or she was communicating with the serving lady, and it was the serving lady who added the poison, under Fengming’s direction… which would explain why that same serving lady ended up committing suicide.
Meh. Well, we’ll just have to see how they tie these ends together. I just hope it’s a logical connection and satisfying ending, just as it is in the source material.
