The Apothecary Diaries Season 3

For those who love a light hearted mystery

new problems, new villain for maomao to solve!

that opening scene with the hooded stranger handing out medicine in a stable is going to haunt me. They just casually dropped a cult or drug plot in the first minute and then acted like it never happened for twenty more minutes

watching Chue follow Maomao through the market like a kid seeing the world for the first time was sweet. then Maomao warns her about the flesh world and the tone drops fast

Gaoshun pressing his face against the wall while Jinshi tries to be smooth in front of Maomao is the funniest thing this show has ever done

Yorushika's new opening is gorgeous and the frames of the ruined countryside are doing so much work setting up where this arc is headed. Miss the season one sound a little but this fits the heavier tone better

The hairpin and the locust swarm are the same thing really. Small pretty objects hiding something that could destroy the country. Jinshi choosing a flower while Maomao watches grasshoppers turn dark is the entire season in two shots

Crunchyroll needs to fix the sub timing. You miss half the political names because the line is gone before you finish reading. Great episode but I had to rewind like five times

The ergot reveal got me. That whole scene where the sister pulls out the scraps their mom hid as a treat and it turns out those scraps are what killed her... I had to pause for a second

It was good

enjoyed watching the episode

That lullaby scene broke me. Maomao singing to a sleeping Jinshi while telling herself she's just managing a resource and you can see right through it

Pairin teasing Maomao the morning after had me grinning. also the fact that Maomao set up an entire night with the top courtesans just to make Jinshi sleep is peak Maomao logic. She treats his health like a case to solve. Gaoshun catching strays about his own home life in the middle of it all made it better

Everyone argued about the pacing being slow but the fried inago scene had me losing it. Maomao just casually eating insects while the whole room panics. That is why I watch this show

The soldier sells stolen research just to eat and then casually explains that grasshoppers outnumbering locusts means famine next year. That single line reframes the entire episode. Suddenly the fried bugs at breakfast were never a joke

the new Jinshi scenes are anime-only and you can kind of feel it because he just wanders around looking conflicted. Still glad they added them though since his book material would've left him off screen the entire episode

the locust vs grasshopper biology talk had me pausing the video to look stuff up. Maomao explaining phase polyphenism while everyone stares at their fried bugs is the whole show in one scene

the anime original Jinshi stuff at his desk was a smart call. seeing him buried in scrolls about the power vacuum makes his new role feel heavy instead of just ceremonial

Pairin waltzing in to flirt at Jinshi right in the middle of a plague investigation was perfectly timed. Needed that laugh before the missing pages reveal

I love it!!