#shenlu

One thing I like about The Apothecary Diaries as a whole is that whenever a mystery is solved, there are still more to figure out, so it’s like they solve part of it but later solve the rest. It’s like having the objectives box at your disposal for you to take out when needed in a game. Here, Jinshi is able to figure out that Loulan has escaped the palace, but he’s still figuring out what could be the overarching reason behind her actions to the point that Shenlu is involved. More mysteries build up when they learn of the existence of a woman named Taihou who had a daughter. Let me guess, the daughter is Suirei? Oh, so the ghost story about the abandoned girl was Taihou! Crazy how seemingly obscure details presented in the story play a bigger part later on. I like that sort of story telling!

I do feel bad for Shenlu. She was taken advantage of as a girl by the late Emperor and wasn’t allowed to leave the palace as she got older. It would be really scary if you saw someone who had the exact same face as your assaulter and was also related to him. Jinshi didn’t ask to be born with his face…

I can see why Takeo Otsuka is a big rising star in the voice acting industry recently. I honestly enjoyed listening to how angry he got with Renpu when asking where Loulan was. In addition to Jinshi, I also really like his role as Aqua from Oshi no Ko and Season 2 had a lot of good voice acting from him, so if you want to hear more of Otsuka, I do recommend Oshi no Ko if you want the emotional voice!

And speaking of which, I can’t wait to see more of Lahan! It’s like love at first sight! He’s the exact type of man I would be attracted to—intelligent, composed and a bit sneaky! Seriously, the moment he popped up in the screen, I was mesmerized! Which is funny because I never really felt any attraction to the resident hottie Jinshi—maybe I’m just getting older or maybe I developed a type over the years? Since he’s Lakan’s adopted son, this means that he’s Maomao’s brother? Are they the same age or is he older? I honestly can’t wait to see these two siblings interact later on! He’s voiced by Toshiyuki Toyonaga who always amazes me with how he always sounds different in every anime he’s in. If you’re not familiar with Toyonaga, he voiced Kiryu in Wind Breaker and Kazuki in Buddy Daddies.

Now that Lakan knows about Maomao’s disappearance, I wonder if he’ll play a part in deducing the conspiracy and what sort of role he’ll play in the future… I also wonder if Gyokuyou will have a safe delivery because she seems to be in labor for a while. Will she be okay? Let me know your thoughts on this episode!