We’re back in the Imperial Court, following yet again another day in Maomao‘s daily life as Jinshi‘s maidservant, and a new task awaits our quirky main character: putting her make-up knowledge on the line to make her master look unrecognizable.
Such a direct focus on the character’s looks for this episode surely requires special attention to the quality of the drawings, in order to make the most out of the character models to serve the story’s needs to make Jinshi look like a totally different person. That’s reflected in the very good corrections and animation direction work (especially in the A Part) that’s caught my eye while first watching Kusuriya no Hitorigoto‘s Episode #17.
As Miss Maomao and servant Jishi walk out of the Imperial Court together, the episodes goes on with some amusing dialogues and character interactions (it was pretty funny to see Jinshi all excited to play a role opposite to his usual one) until we ultimately reach the Red Light District. This is where things start to regain their intensity, as Jinshi starts to ask his highly unpleasant questions for someone who’s lived most of her life in a renowned brothel, Maomao‘s demeanor changes completely (followed by a close up shot of her sharp eyes, for the first time throughout this episode), and so does the lightning of the scene, since we’re now almost past twilight.
A very cleverly storyboarded sequence follows, with Maomao ably building up her answer, describing what it is that gives value to a courtesan.
As the desired answer finally comes out of her mouth, the feeling that pieces are slowly falling into place exactly how he didn’t want them to is beautifully portrayed by the absence of sound (and, for that matter, of people in the background, as both Maomao and Jinshi are now completely alone, detached from the blurred-out background) and the last, unsettling shot with its very expressive use of negative space to end the episode.
Following the return to the Red Light District, Episode #18 starts off exactly where we left last episode, and after separating two character’s path for the day, it shifts into a beautifully eerie dream sequence, abruptly closed off, to set the mood for today’s story.
We then follow Maomao dealing with the daily chores of someone who just got back home after a while, and as the welcoming mood of the Verdigris House starts to fade, we’re greeted with what perhaps is, in terms of creativity and expressiveness, one of the best sequences in the entire show so far.
The color design is certainly the highlight of this flashback sequence on the mysterious woman in the annex, who Maomao is taking care of; dim blue tones are used to set the main motive of the scene, conveying the idea of a cold, sad memory (together with the heavy rain outside as Luomen enters the building) and red is once again used as the sole accent color, to highlight the courtesan’s make-up as well as the marks of her illness – the Red Light District being the cause of both.
For Maomao, immersed in this memory of the past, the Verdigris House is also a familiar and warm place, and it’s indeed thanks to her big sisters inviting her in for a hot bath (where she is now actually immersed, this time in water) that she’s able to come to terms with it (at least for the time being), and the mood enlightens once again.
We’re now back in the Outer Palace, where the plot starts moving again, in the form of our main characters’s thinking about each other, Maomao with her inner monologue – truly the “Kusuriya no Hitorigoto” – and Jinshi, with his exchange with Gaoshun, all connected by nothing other than the mysteries surrounding the maidservant’s (adoptive) father.
It’s in this moment that Lakan makes his (unpleasant) appearance once again in Jinshi‘s office, and the sense of oppression and uneasiness that his presence brings along is, once again, visually conveyed via low-angled shots.
The episode is then brought to an end with Jinshi notifying Maomao that a certain someone is interested in seeing her, and the delivery of her reaction to this irksome news is unsettling to say the least: a great and well-thought use of time, paired with the striking contrast between a very open and two very close-up shots of Maomao makes us jolt as much as Jinshi. There’s no need for words at all for him to understand her answer to that invitation.
Moving on to last week’s episode, Episode #19, after an intro that focuses on Jinshi‘s feelings on what happened the day before, we’re back following Maomao in her mystery-solving journey inside the Outer Palace; the mood seems to be back to an overall lighter state, even though it’s not gonna last long as Maomao‘s ruminations seem to indicate, but her worrisome exchange with Lihaku is abruptly interrupted by a jealous Jinshi and, right afterwards, by another gag that sees our apothecary totally losing her composure at the offer of receiving some prestigious Ox Bezoar as a reward for further investigating the concerning matters she was talking about earlier. Her excitement is so overwhelming and overflowing that she gets gradually closer to the camera until a close-up shot on her face takes up the entire frame.
Back to a more serious tone, the location also changes and Maomao‘s now consulting official reports about incidents that have occurred in the Court.
I really enjoyed the visual presentation of her thoughts being put together while she’s gazing at the technical drawings on the paper; at first, it’s a simple shot of the scroll spread out on the table, but as we dive deeper into Maomao‘s thinking, the camera closes up more and more on the drawings, until eventually it almost physically enters the dimension of the paper, and the scenario in her mind starts to blend with the drawing themselves. A very creative and effective way of showing her immersion in her thoughts, and making us involved in it as well.
After putting together some of the pieces of the puzzle we’ve been looking at from the start of this second cour, just one more obstacle stands in Maomao‘s way: her social status as a servant in the Imperial Court. The disparity between her and the guard before the ceremonial building is patently showcased visually through some quite clever framing, not only there’s a stone pillar separating the two of them right in the middle of the frame, but her position is also lower than his, as she’s standing some steps below on the stairs.
After the guard hits her making her nose bleed and her face swallow, to make things worse (or better?) Lakan makes his appearance, and he does so in the most menacing way possible.
There’s no eye contact whatsoever between him and Maomao, his voice is enough for her to recognize him without doubt. He walks up the stairs slowly covering up Maomao‘s entire screen presence, almost like she’s being engulfed in his oppressing presence.
It’s unpleasant, but it’s thanks to him that our maidservant can finally procede into the building and successfully save the person who’s performing the ceremony, that to no one’s surprise is revealed to be none other than Jinshi.
The last cuts of him taking her unconscious body to a safe place, walking the opposite direction of where Lakan is facing, with, again, a great use of negative space and powerful visual storytelling, are a great and dramatic way to close the episode.
I’ve been loving this show and its clever ideas an awful lot so far, aided by the fact that I’m already a great fan of its source material to begin with. It’s been really a long time since I felt so passionate about something to the point I felt like writing about it as I’m doing right now; hopefully in the next few episodes too there will be something worth writing about.
SHINSEIKI 