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@kodytiffany5686

Ай бұрын

I only have one bad thing to say about Book Worm... you realize there are roughly 30 volumes of it and the anime thus far has maybe reached 10 or shortly after... but more like 6-8 if I remember right. Thats right it is criminally under made. could easily have 3 more seasons of content (75ish episodes) and not even catch up. Main is one of my fave female protags because she is never really the most anything besides being the most obsessed with Books. It is clearly seen that her MP is on a whole other level from most... but at vol 20ish where I am at I cannot definitively say she has the most MP just a truly terrifying amount if you earn her wrath. I am hoping that within the next 5 years it starts coming out yearly if not twice a year season wise. lots of series I am not that hyped about SEEING. But the way they animate her antics makes the moments 10 times better than just hearing or reading the LN/WN whichever it is I am experiencing.

@kodytiffany5686

Ай бұрын

I caught maybe 4 episodes of this... to much good anime that ones like this I forget about after going on hiatus from watching them. I like it a lot but finding the time to catch up is less than easy. Next bad season of anime will see me obliterating my back log.

Keep this in mind for the second half of the season but it is significant that she is staring at her pinky finger as she talks about love.

@Light_Darkness

Ай бұрын

I was literally losing my mind when win 98 came up because I made that connection as well. This is why you give masterpieces a second watch; the things you realize were foreshadowing later events.

@craigpayne3265

Ай бұрын

They include the slightly twisted nail in the scenes, but it's really subtle that it can be easily missed as her holding the finger at an odd angle.

@alexandersen1372

Ай бұрын

The pinky has even more of a point than just love, you'll find out later X D

One of the low-key best subtle storytelling elements is how Maomao doesn't retain any antagonists. She somehow befriends everyone that's initially mean to her, in the background, without even trying. Like the court physician. and Lady Lihua and her attendants. This trend continues!

@bronsjefjer

Ай бұрын

you know, I had not thought about that while watching, so thanks for pointing it out.

@diveblock2058

Ай бұрын

I mean you don't start beef with the medic is a common rule in history Especially not the one who is known for specialising in poisons

My son is more into shonen styles, or isekais even... but we both absolutely loved this series. This and Frieren really opened us both up more to giving shows a chance that we'd normally skip over, and we're finding stories we like that we'd have never seen. Apothecary Diaries and Frieren literally changed how we watch anime now.

@MarcelJ.

Ай бұрын

If you're looking for things like this, I recommend Violet Evergarden. Watched it recently, it was an instant favorite. It's not as lighthearted and a lot more tragic, but the same part of me that enjoys Apothecary Diaries and Frieren enjoyed it as well.

@caretakerITA

Ай бұрын

Or really, anything by KyoAni. They are the masters of character-focus anime.

@raylf3141

Ай бұрын

trashy isekai sustain my cold, unfeeling soul. But there are a lot of weirdly entertaining shows out there. The frequency with which I think "this has no business being this good" while watching anime is crazy. If you are looking to branch out I'd like to recommend Hikaru no Go. One of my favorite "why is this so damn good" shows.

"I swear, her reaction to tasty food..." Nah nah, that's the thing, the food isn't the main point, them possibly having some poison for her to taste is the reason she likes the idea so much

For the hairpin, there's many different meanings. In Jinshi's case, he did in fact do it for romantic reasons, but he himself hasn't yet accepted that he developed feelings for her as of episode 5. This anime is a slow burn in terms of romance, though the romance portion is pushed to the side to make way for the main mystery aspect, so be prepared. Now, as for Lihua, it was merely a gift to say thank you for nursing her back to health. Can't wait to see the second part!

@mirafeder7992

Ай бұрын

Yeah... the hairpin thing is kind of like valentine's chocolate... different meanings: romantic (Jinshi), "friendship" (Lihua) or... well... just out of courtesy (Lihaku), so that some don't feel missed out. At least how far I figured it out.

@Taneth

Ай бұрын

And displaying them would be a subtle message to others (who would recognise where it came from) that she has the favour of important people.

Some fun facts about the setting: It’s not disclosed in the animé and isn’t properly revealed in the light novel until much later, but the toxic face powder is made from powdered lead. The setting is mostly a parallel to Dynastic China, but is entirely fictional, taking cues from real-world history and culture but not entirely beholden to real-world accuracy. Influence is taken from multiple Asian cultures including China, Korea and Japan. The Verdegris House and the pleasure district appears to be based on the Japanese brothel culture of the Edo period. Maomao lives in the fictional Li Empire, her ethnicity and native language is “Linese”. Gyokuyo is from a vassal state to the west of the Empire and is of mixed ancestry, most likely Linese and European. Her red hair and green eyes are considered exotic and alluring by the Linese. The gifting of hairpins can mean a lot of different things, none of which are explained properly to Maomao. Trade with the “West” (Europe and the Middle East) is flourishing in the Li Empire. Among other things, this has brought cacao, potatoes and syphilis to the people of the Empire.

@evobrand1210

Ай бұрын

The last one made me laugh so much, like I know it isn't suppoused to be funny but it was unexpected

17:57 My favorite aspect of this whole thing is that the soldier isn't some super attractive hyper-bishie or omega-chad, he's just... _a guy._ Which really sells that plot being about true love way more than if he'd been an 11/10. Because he's just a guy, sure, but he's *_her_* guy.

I can say this with utmost certainty that Maomao is top 5 best, even not, at LEAST top 5 most entertaining female anime main characters of all time.

@antonhallergren588

16 күн бұрын

Nah top 5 of all time. Up there with Yang, Reinhard, Kenshin, Spike and now probably Maomao. Yes she really is that good a protagonist. I've of course not seen every single show there is but these really stand out imo.

5:05 - Important detail... the person who throw away the flower was NOT Lihua, but her head lady in waiting.

@allenharper2928

27 күн бұрын

True, but didn't Gy... Sorry can't remember how to spell her name warn Lihua directly and was still rebuffed?

Saw the Thumbnail and knew this was an Absolute win 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

when animewins is splitting an anime into quarters its very good

@AnimeWins

Ай бұрын

It IS very good but I wanted to point out quarters is what is done for every 24+ episode series, it's only 12/13's that are done as halves. Basically I cover as close to 6 episodes every video as possible.

My ratings on MAL held six 10s for many years. After this past season, it changed to eight for Frieren and Apothecary Diaries. This show is so well done, from the mysteries/plots, to the characters, to the art, to the sound, that it absolutely qualifies as a masterpiece. I'm glad it's getting the recognition it deserves, and that you're running it through this

@talarad1571

Ай бұрын

what the 6 10/10?

@tedweird

Ай бұрын

@@talarad1571 FLCL, Soul Eater, FMA:B, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and 2nd Gig, and Henkei Shoujo

3:09 you 100% know her! She voiced Frederica in 86 & Faputa in Made in Abyss!

It was always so much fun having Frieren and Apothecary Diaries running concurrently. While I considered Frieren to be slightly the better series overall, I considered Maomao to be by far the best MC out of both series, and probably my favorite female protagonist in both 2023 and so far in 2024. As well as being voiced by Aoi Yuuki, whom I love in just about everything she does. Having picked up the LN series once S1 ended, one of the things I'm really enjoying is there are things that were done in these first six episodes that, assuming they keep the same pace of adaptation (one LN volume per 12 episodes), won't be paid off until like seasons 4 or 5 - that's how intricate of a story the author weaves - and we really begin getting a taste of that as cour 2 plays out.

Aww, he thinks it's the _food_ that excited her, how cute.

Also, and I can't believe I get to give this particular point it's own individual praise, but the *color palette*! Everything is such a rich and vibrant color that it all contrasts remarkably against everything else. Even though most things are seemingly simple colors (maomao's pastel green tunic, Jinshi's navy-blue robe, the tan servant's robes, brown stained wood background, etc) their Hue and Contrast is tweeked just enough to make literally everything on screen POP in our eyes. Then, behind even that, there's subtle color choices being used to direct the eyes. Maomao's green tunic was chosen because it's the only light-green thing on screen at a given time, so we can always follow her and disassociate her from any faction. The different Lady's factions have color choices to give us (the audience) a subconcious impression of their personalities/loyalties. Lady Lihua's and Jinshi are deep blue because they're the Emperor's favorites. Lihua's attendants are a light blue to make them seem cold and antagonistic. Lady Gyokuyo and her attendands wear Pink, a warm color, to make them feel inviting and friendly. The eunichs and soldiers and officials wear Grey because they're neutral.

Immediately pressed the Win (Like) button as soon as I clicked on the video. With the suspenseful nature of this show, I really like how both the first opening and ending contain a minimal amount of spoilers, while getting great music and visuals.

17:08 that's Kevin Penkin for you, the same composer of Made in Abyss, Shield Hero and more :)

At win 29, 5:04, this is a mistake I see a lot of content creators make in regards to this incident; lihua had no idea about the note as an ATTENDANT threw it out, she never got to see it which is why her child died

@AnimeWins

Ай бұрын

Ah yes I can see that now, although I will point out that she was personally approached with the same warning and dismissed it, ultimately THAT led to his death.

@stevelordofdarkness2340

Ай бұрын

@@AnimeWins It’s an easy mistake to make since that attendant is Lihua’s cousin, and thus looks very similar, and is conspicuously absent when Maomao is there tending to Lihua, so the audience doesn’t get to see the two of them in the same room. She doesn’t come up until much later in the light novel, so her inclusion here is pretty much for the benefit of those who have read ahead.

@AnimeWins

Ай бұрын

@@stevelordofdarkness2340 Thanks that makes me feel a little better about missing it and makes more sense how I did.

Aoi Yuuki is in such flawless form in this series. Maomao is a great character to begin with, but the voice acting just puts it right over the top. She's the best VA in anime right now, and she makes it look easy. 28:23 Gyokuyou really is the sweetest thing...

16:45 "I'm trying to read between the lines and all I see is blank paper!" Well, yeah, that's what's usually between the lines.

Yay, another series that I’m probably going to watch over and over lol

This one was needed. Thanks for making me hold on such a necessary sleep for a few more instances 😂

Such a good series, SOO can't wait for the next season. Guess I'll just have to rewatch the fist season again while I wait.

Omg. I grew up with the Sierra Impression Games city builders from Caesar III to Emperor so it's once again a big nostalgic hit hearing you mentionning it. But yeah I totally think about this game everytime I see this kind of Chinese Imperial Palace atmosphere. Aoi Yuuki is really cementing herself as my favourite modern voice actress with such roles. My number one will still remain Hisakawa Aya, especially as I think she was awesome in her Arianrhod role i nthe Kiseki series, but also for older series such as Fruits Basket and the Twelve Kingdoms. The fun fact about Maomao and her catlike reactions is that the kanji/hanzi for her name literally are "cat cat" and when Jianzi suggested Xiaomao it would have sounded like "kitten" (literally little cat). My mandarin knowledge are close to nihil so I may be not 100% right though. Going back to the anime, it's really a shame it aired at the same time as Frieren because it would have been an undebatable anime of the season in pretty much any other season. I immediately liked it due to the atmosphere and character dynamics, but there had been a long time while i was seriously wondering what the fuck the anime was trying to get at. Then I reached the last quarter and my mind was blown. Anyways, thanks for the video as usual. Looking forward to watching part 2 =)

@AnimeWins

Ай бұрын

That's so awesome that I'm not alone in enjoying games like those back in the day xDD

You are the first who recognized the gremlin-like nature Maomao and Myne. I sooo agree with you. Next season in Ascendance of a Bookworm 2004 these parallels will be further revealed.

Apothecary Diaries is a series that I hold in the highest regard, along side stories like Friren and Vinland Saga. I am so glad that you're covering this show

YES! The parallel with Mine from Bookworm! You making that connection made me happy!

9:52 I just noticed the consort looking back and forwards like "oh? ... ooooooh!" XD

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! As always, your work is top notch!! Thank you for all your hard work brother!

I'm so glad you did this one!

Great episode! Can't wait for the other episodes on this anime. You rock!

I really enjoyed this series and as always I come to appreciate it even more from your insights. Great video

I just got done watching this season and now you've done this. I swear your patrons are reading my mind

I heard that this show is good, but as I have no interest in hitorical period drama, I glossed it over. Without You, my fav YT creator, that would be the end of it. But now that You showed me how beautyful this show looks, and how entertaining as MC Maomao is, it's first on my list to watch. To be honest, big chance I'll start watching it in next 15 min! Maomao's VA is propably in top 3 best female VA in japan IMHO, she act with her voice like 4 times more than average VA is capable of. What a talent, her power level is over 9000.

I'm so glad you decided to do this anime. I've watched it three times already. Bang up job on this one! I just really enjoy your enthusiastic reactions. keep up the good work. it is really appreciated.

Maomao is best girl. Let's just hope she doesnt go overboard with poison testing😅😅😅😅

@evobrand1210

Ай бұрын

as long as she doesn't eat buckwheat

8:05 - No matter.how many times I see it, that reaction cracks me up. 😂

Oh yes! Such a great Anime - totally deserved one of your win-videos :D

Once again you have your work cut out for you for all the wins this show has, thanks for the review and enjoy!

We were incredibly blessed last year when we got, in the same season, Frieren and Kusuriya no Hitorigoto. The animation, music, characters and stories they came with are so damn good. This one kind of took my by surprise. I thought I wouldn't be interested on it because of its premise, and it hooked me so so much with its own charm

I fell in love with this series. The tea this show serves is fantastic.

Another banger that did not get as much recognition as deserved.

FINALLY. I was waiting for you to do this anime. Edit: 34:42 you can see flames in her eyes. You know when she is serious.

This was a lot of fun to watch!

I LOVED THIS ANIME??? It's so pretty for no reason bc the story "technically" doesn't need it but I absolutely love the amount of love that was put into this series! I'm so excited you started this one to see your thoughts on the whole season, but I'm happy you seem to be enjoying it already!!!

Another mark of a great anime. A rewatch is, at some points, more exciting than the first look. The best anime reactor seeing the best female character, ever! Keep up the fine work Mr. Wins

One of my ABSOLUTE favourite anime - happily re-watching

Oh. I was really hoping you would do this one. 😁

Y'know, I never put it together why Jinshi's standard charm doesn't work on Maomao, but her cynical nature from growing up in the red light district might have given her an aversion to the pretty boy archetype, because it's easy to see who the right bastards are, but the charming guys can be about as dangerous but deliberately hide it

At this point I want to see "running on the spot"

@AnimeWins

Ай бұрын

The final season of High School DXD has the most I've ever witnessed personally.

Another nice OP win that comes later, is a lot of the flowers used in the OPs are actually representations of the main cast of female characters

the flowers are a great point of the story. especialy when we get to the blue roses part. Because Blue Roses can also be pronounced as loulan in chinese wich is also the name of the new concubine.

@TalasDD

Ай бұрын

lets talk a bit about the flowers in the series. they play a role in almost every episode. 1. the flower with the message, 2 Rodedontron 3. The name of the Concubine leaving the palace is Foyou, wich means lotus, 4. the name Lihua can be written as Picture of a Flower/ also the blue foxglove (Máo dìhuáng) shown in the one scene is a homophone to Lihua in Mandarin. 5. the whole episode is about the flower viewing. 6. the episode is about allegies wich usualy are caused by blomming therefore flowering plants. it keeps going in the following episodes. 7. the flowers of the vedigris house, 8. litteral weath stalks, 9. Chinese Ash tree (rowan) its berrys are poisonous and they are a symbol for unjust death. 10. Honey. no explenation needed. 11. a poisonous flower. 12. maomaos flower...... with us dealing with the blue roses, finding out about woodsorrel and cattail (the flowers of maomao and her mother.) the flower that simulates death and many more.

Can’t wait for the next 3 parts

Yuuki Aoi is a GODDESS!

I got my mother ADDICTED to this series, dub of course as she could get the details that she would have missed if watching in sub meaning i was watching it twice once in sub and a second time dub(the sub being two weeks head of the dub). I enjoyed watching her reactions and theory crafting too. And I HAD TO KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT to not reveal anything. Even not telling her that there was going to be a second season.

Thank you!

Apothecary Diaries? This is always going to be amazing!

This was easily my favorite unexpected anime of the year.

It's nice that you're picking up the series. Well, I have to wait 12 weeks until the fourth part comes out :( but as always, you're still guaranteed a like

@AnimeWins

Ай бұрын

Thanks to the patrons : )

ok I'm 6 days late but this is a must see. so glad U caught this anime

Ngl, this became my new feel good anime after watching Masterful Cat, Resturant from Another World and the like. It's structured so much like a C Drama and is so interesting!

Regarding Fuyou, I think Jinshi and the Emperor, knew what she was about and played along thereby allowing the happy ending without revealing their knowledge.

33:19 alrighty cinema wins: it isn't the tasty food. She says rather explicitly it's the eating of poison (or the risk thereof) that she is thoroughly enamored with. She loves poisons.

If you haven't watching it yet, Akatsuki no Yona (Yona of the Dawn) has good and similar music and time period as this anime. It is a good watch too! Glad to see you rate this anime since this is one of my favorite female main characters!

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!!!! YES!!! I have no idea why I love this show so much, but I enjoyed it way more than Frieren... and that's seriously saying something because Frieren really hit a cord since arriving after losing my father only a couple years ago and mortality weighing heavy on my mind since.

After watching this I think I might actually prefer Emi Lo's version of Maomao over Aoi Yuuki's version, which sounds crazy...even to me!!

Episode 4 was made by an outside studio, hence the rotoscoping and difference in style.

Maomao's voice actress is Aoi Yuki as someone who usually watches dub I say she is my favorite japanese VA, very talented and an amazing singer her voices include: 1. Lucy from Cyberpunk Edge Runners 2. Futaba from Persona 5 3. Madoka from Madoka Magica 4. Tanya from The Saga of Tanya the Evil 5. Hibiki from Symphogear (the laundry girl that is her friend voices Elfnien from the same series) this is also where you can see how good of a singer she is if you wanna she how good look at the song "To Unseal" where her character Hibiki has a duet with an alternate universe Hibiki. There is also a 20+ minute video on KZread of just Hibiki screaming (Aoi Yuki can scream). Also Maomao is not giving the reactions she does because of good food (well it is part of it) it is the potential prospect of tasting poison feeling poison is one of her favorite things.

This anime is a perfect drama, love

8:24 I'm pretty sure she's more interested in the poison than the food actually

*_LET'S GOOOOOO_* 10:38 How she's saying it causes nausea and dif. breathing while munching on it... 😆 31:31 Reminded the covo from earlier on: - If You do something to me I'll tell my daddy about - Imma do things to You _You're _*_not_* gonna tell your daddy about 33:29 How ecstatic she got about poison... 😆

YAHSSS FUN SERIES!

We all love our cute little gremlin called maomao

This contemplation on love should be recalled in Episode 24.

This show is soooooo good! Everyone should watch it fr

this anime is so good

To be honest, I'd say that MaoMao's way of acting and speech is more in line with her Tanya Degurechaff role than the Tsuyu Asui one 🤔

@AnimeWins

Ай бұрын

I didn't say otherwise xD

@Firefocus-fz2we

Ай бұрын

@@AnimeWins And I didn't deny :D

This anime isnt one i would normally feel like watching, but i’m more willing to check it out after watching you enjoy it!

Love this anime, better get a DVD release or a Blu-Ray release if they choose to do that. Either way i want to buy it

Just a note, but at 4:58 you said that if "she had bothered to read the note she could have saved her son's life" but I want to point out that it was not the concubine who threw out the note, it was one of her ladies in waiting. So don't blame the poor mother, she never knew there WAS note TO read. The lady in waiting thought it was just trash left on the window sill, so we can't put too much blame on her either.

Everything great about apothecary diaries: YES

Missed win opportunity: In Chinese, two meanings of the name Maomao (Depending how it is written) are 'fluffy' and 'cat'. Hence why she occasionally turns into a cat. Additionally, 'Xiao' is Chinese for 'small' or 'little', so Gaoshun's nickname for her (Xiaomao) means 'Little cat'.

This is SUCH a good anime, I am glad I watched it while it was comming out but MAN, waiting a week for the next episode was AWFUL XD

1:21 I LIKE HER

Great

I started watching the series now and while I think it's enjoyable nothing in particular stands out out to me. She solves the mysteries almost immediately and there's a new one every couple of episodes--I feel like the show would be better suited to longer running mysteries and dramas? Also the comedy is great but few and far between. It needs more of those random chibi moments. EDIT: Okay it took a huge quality jump after her dad/mom plot was introduced!

the 4 Quarter will be so long

One thing. Not only shows cat ears because of her cat like personality, but even her name means cat

One MASSIVE win for this series for me, is that they don't Straight up Namedrop all the Diseases and poisons, but they ARE Real ones... Like the White Powder is Made with Lead, which is why it's poisonous, The Guy who Played the Tin man in the Wizard of Oz Died from the same thing BECAUSE of the Makeup they put on him... Or Later how just a Basic Food Allergy to fish is a thing that Most of THEM don't know about and Belittle the Kid Concubine for being "Too Picky" for, Yet the Show never CALLS it an Allergy, even though WE know what that is.

@Nichols_Santa

Ай бұрын

Hrmmmn Buddy Ebsen, who was originally cast to play the Tin Woodsman, did have a terrible allergic reaction to the powdered aluminum in the makeup resulting in hospitalization. Jack Haley, who took over for the role and is seen in the movie, lived to the ripe old age of 91, and died in 1976. Ebsen went on to play Jed Clampett in "the Beverly Hillbillies"

@Nichols_Santa

Ай бұрын

But Lead (and mercury in lipstick and rouge) in face powder was a real problem.

@kgmotte2363

Ай бұрын

@@Nichols_Santa It was aluminum in the Makeup that got him? I had always heard it was Lead poisoning... Hmm... The more you know...

Just a heads up the ops and eds are love songs. 3 from jinshis point of view/perspective but I can't tell with the first ed

If you need to, you could try maybe swapping over to Ko-fi, they just charge a flat rate instead of a percentage. Might make things easier.

@AnimeWins

Ай бұрын

I think Patreon is a solid base and if anyone wants to give something in another avenue they can always use PayPal.

That is my kind of animé

I think he missed that it isn't necessarily the food that excites her, it's the possibility and even opportunity to eat poison that excites her. She likes poison. Because she's just cute and quirky like that. Also, I'm just gonna take this opportunity to say that a few or even a lot of freckles does not make a cute or beautiful girl suddenly ugly. I know they are selling the courtesan perfect alabaster skin as the ideal with that, but really? Freckles?

Frieren & Miyo both great women from amazing series this year. But Maomao is probably best lead female last year

Aoi Yuuki is the absolute best VA

Mentioning Dr.stone, will you react to the 3rd season?

4:12 he still haven´t looked up how Frieren is pronounced xD

❤