Anime 54492 Kusuriya No Hitorigoto Reviews Filter Check 2

The Good:
This show get's a LOT right. The characters, the setting, the music, the colors, it's all loving crafted, animated, and produced. Like the many varied flowers found in both the Pleasure District and on the Rear Court, the overall feel and vibe of this anime is seductive, comforting, and alluring.

The Big Flaw:
Where does this show fall short then? Writing. Writing writing writing. Once past the opening episodes, the flaws of the writing starts to become pretty noticeable. It's not bad compared to other anime, just aggressively average.

Mystery Cases:
Some of the episodes follow a sort of episodic mystery-case style format which is a great ... vibe but the actual cases themselves are laughably amateur and tropey. Our protagonist is always in the right place, always has the right knowledge or skill, and always figures out the solution at the perfect time. The show tries to play up the mystery angle but is also too anxious to lose the viewers so they hold our hand through everything. There's only ever like two or three clues that they constantly emphasize (Oh that object has always been here. Oh we don't touch that object. OMG the puzzle needs the object!).

Overall Plot:
There were a couple (beautiful) scenes and major plot points where it was abundantly clear that the author had the climactic scene in mind and then tried to work backwards to guide the story to that scene. Unfortunately, the plot lacks any actual finesse. As a viewer you pretty much feel like you're being dragged along familiar plot points leading to big reveals that are abundantly obvious. Interestingly, I didn't get the feeling that the writing is lazy; you can really feel the care and the love poured into the setting and characters. I think it really is just a lack of craft. Good writing is difficult.

Overall:
If you're looking for a mature cast, individual, non-tropey female characters set within the backdrop of a beautifully intoxicating rear court, I really recommend this show. If you're looking for smartly-written mystery and palace intrigue, you will end up disappointed. I give Kusuriya a solid 7.5 for a potentially incredible show held back by very average writing.

The show is still airing of course so take my review with a grain of salt. (Spoilers marked below)

What I do wholly recommend and loved were the first 13 episodes, of which are worth a watch, however past that is a bit iffy in my opinion. What hooked me from the beginning was the show's setting, story and context. It managed to weave its fairly unique situation into the tropes of the mystery genre. From concubines, mid-wives interactions, to rear palace hiearchies, Apothecary diaries had a real thing going on as learning and exploring this world was a joy to watch, all the while having ... a great MC with a fitting background and story.

Past episode 13, the second arc kinds just takes a turn for the worse... the whole first arc was what I said previously, a lovingly crafted experience into the inner workings of the rear palace, specifically, we see Maoamo apply her apothecary experiences at the rear palace to mysteries typically involving uncertain deaths, tied in with her daily duties as a mid-wife. I won't spoil it here but I will go in-depth in a spoiler section, but essentially the second arc past episode 13, feels like it slowly loses its charm as Maomao turns into a fairly generic genius MC that can solve any mystery, to which I can't give an instant recommend. Without spoiling it, firstly, the second arc essentially stops thinking of Maomao as an apothecary and more as just a Sherlock Holmes and secondly, they stopped focusing on the inner workings of the rear palace and it kind of becomes Sherlock Holmes but in China, where China just acts as a setting and nothing more. Though, while I make it sound like it completely disregards Maomao and the setting of china, the second arc does retain some nice aspects, and does have maomao shine with her abilities as an apothercary quite a few times, but it just feels noticeably reduced in the second arc

--- SPOILER WARNING ---
The big plot change in the second arc is that Maomao gets fired as a midwife, and as a result returns to the courtesan house she worked at before. However Jinshi buys her out and therefore Maomao now works directly under Jinshi. My main argrument with how this arc is done is that her apothecary experiences are barely put to show; poison, let alone medicinal mysteries aren't ever as highligted anymore. I'm not saying they don't exist, but it's just so boring to watch some random mystery that doesn't tie in too much to Maomao as a person herself other than "she is just smart". What sealed the deal and made me write a review was after watching episode 16. In episode 16 a craftsman dies and leaves 3 items to his 3 sons. The premise is that the craftsman didn't leave the instructions of a secret technique to any of his children. it's not even a murder myster, it's a, "let me figure out this fancy puzzle the craftsmen made" It's just so bland as another character could have easily replaced Maomaos shoes since it didn't even apply her apothecary skills at all except maybe knowing some metallurgy, though that hardly passes as medicinal.

Another spoiler being episode 17, where most of the episode revolves around Maomao putting makeup on Jinshi and then maomao accompanies Jinshi to somewhere outside the forbidden palace. The ending of the episode to has a sort of cliffhanger where Jinshi asks maomao how one reduces the value of a courtesan. I think the reason why is that you are able to infer about Maomaos mother from this, however, my brain is tiny and this anime does require more thought than most if you want to connect the dots. However taking away that cliffhanger I just didn't find the episode that enjoyable. This one is personal preference, as I'm not sure why, but I never got too interested in Jinshi as a character, he does have some depth in terms of that he has a secret-esque background,
--- SPOILERS END ---

Overall, I loved this show from Episodes 1 - 13 however it just pains me to see the directions it goes from its second arc onwards. They had something unique and interesting: a young apothecary suddenly thrusted and working as a midwife in the rear palace, and while it still retains some of its charm it slowly loses said charm as it starts to feel like a generic drama/mystery anime.

tl;dr Overall decent, interesting premise and setting, good art, good ost, fun but limited characters. Somewhat boring plot as of 10 episode in.

This anime definitely stands out from the crowd with it's setting, probably it's main draw. Not many anime are willing to dive into other cultures and while not the most accurate, it's good enough to captivate. While interesting in that aspect, it feel short in the writing so far and leave a bit to be desired in the main characters present through the show.

Art - 8
While it might not be the most breathtaking anime you've ever watched, this is definitely a major ... step above the rest and has beautiful visuals. You're not going to find insanely animated fight scenes or meticulously drawn realistic motion, instead you'll find gorgeous scenery and interesting characters designs. While the animation itself is just alright, the style and backgrounds really bring it up.

Sound - 8
Good music and sound design, good solid voice work. Not much to say here, a step above average.

Story - 6
This is where the anime falls short somewhat. While I believe that this anime has the chance to evolve in the second half of the season, I'm 10 episodes in and it makes it difficult for me to be invested in what is going on. The main character is extremely nonchalant about her situation which leads the viewer to believe not much is at stake. The episodes are also episodic in nature where a majority of what occurs within an episode has no effect or at least little effect in the episodes proceeding it. While there has been some build up and connecting plot points which appear to be leading to something bigger it has been slow goings and is rarely mentioned. In terms of how the individual episodes fare, they're ok. Some have emotional beats that are decent, others are just kind of boring. It wont knock your socks off but the show does try to take itself seriously.

Characters - 6
While I find MaoMao's personality fun, one has to admit that really there's not much to it. She's the typical bored/lazy know it all with a twist, she finds it difficult to keep her nose out of trouble. While fun and cute, her character isn't really challenged so I hesitate to give it a higher rating. Then there's Jinshi, who becomes interested in MaoMao after the first episode. This happens for very little reason and becomes pretty much his entire character for as far as I've gotten up to. There have been hints of something deeper underneath all that but that's about it. Aside from those two, there are pretty much no other characters in the show. The rest of the cast are generic and for the most part unimportant. The characters are fun but not fun enough to carry the show as a comedy. There seems to be some depth to the characters but they haven't taken developing their characters seriously enough to make it a drama. Really, there are pretty much only two actual characters so it is hard to give the character writing a higher rating.

Overall - 7
I will probably finish this show, it's not bad, but I think it really was overrated, especially considering what is out currently. I have no doubt that the plot thickens and the characters grow deeper but as of right now, it's extremely difficult to place this as any higher than slightly above average. After 10 episodes I was hoping for a little more, but currently it's a bit hard to find the motivation to keep watching.

Preliminary thoughts at the halfway point of the season (ep 12):

It's not a bad anime, and it certainly started off interesting and cute. However, the story slowly got more confusing and less enjoyable. I think I was misled at the start to think that this was a cute slice-of-life where Maomao just enjoys her life doing apothecary stuff, but it has become more of a detective drama with Maomao as an apothecary ex machina solving all the palace mysteries.

Anyway, I'm just being harsh on the anime, because the real reason I dislike the show is because of one character - Jinshi.
I swear I've not seen ... a more slimy, perverted, repulsive character as Jinshi - and yet he's portrayed as a handsome love interest (at least with Kazuma from Konosuba, he's a scumbag and everyone knows it).
I don't understand why people ship him and Maomao, he's a literal sexual predator. He forces himself on her and pressures her into doing things she doesn't want to do. Such a slimy man, I feel repulsed every time his scene comes on.
He's meant to be a eunuch, but I'm going to bet it turns out he isn't actually one, because there's no way the writers are going to have a love interest without gonads. Also, can a person without testosterone be such a pest?

(Disclaimer: I've not read the manga and have no plans to - so I'm just going off the anime)

An absolute delight! Firstly, this anime is gorgeous, with its lavish and highly detailed Chinese inspired setting - a refreshing detour from most anime. Equally refreshing, our heroin is a bright headstrong and savvy young woman - an aspiring apothecary as per the title - who steals our hearts without being sexualized (again, a detour from most anime)! It's a feel-good story that I would describe as a dramedy, following our heroin's struggle to survive and climb the ranks of the imperial hierarchy through her valuable education.
Having said all this... I did end up dropping it. It just didn't feel... important enough? The stakes didn't ... seem high enough. The feel-good nature makes it clear that nothing truly devastating is going to happen to the heroin, so it didn't have a hook to sink into me. I get where it's going, and it will be a very nice story, just not one I need to spend time with when already drowning in a sea of anime. But would surely be 100% enjoyable if I did.

TL:DR Version: Changes away from the manga dramatically reduce the individuality of the original characters and remove the complexity and subtlety of the plot. An episodic who-dunnit with a swath of interesting conflicts and subtle foreshadowing is reduced to a sea of bland interactions and plots revealed before the stories begin. "Go read the manga".

Full version: Kusuriya no Hitorigoto is an acceptable, if bland anime interpretation of the original work. It boasts a reasonable plot, a cast of indeterminately forgettable characters, and pacing that MIGHT hit the side of a barn in the dark. In the current season line up,this makes it a stand out ... attraction, but it should have been far more.

The story is concise, and fairly well designed around short, but loosely linking arcs. With regard to meta-plot, each episode sits neatly in the timeline and flows from one to the net well. The issue from a story perspective is how each individual episode has been arranged. In a conspicuous move away from the source material the beginning of most episodes, or in some cases the end, have had an additional "foreshadowing" scene added. The specific problem is that in a whodunnit, what is foreshadowed is a vital part of playing into viewer/reader interpretations. Just enough information should be dangled that the viewer becomes intrigued, and seeks to untangle the plot for themselves, but not so much presented that a viewer can reach an immediate conclusion. Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (the anime) unfortunately serves up the solution to each episodic premise within the opening scenes, or at times, before the episode even begins. This unfortunately brings it down to a very predictable plot where there are few surprises or twists, which is a real shame given its source material.

Characters in Kusuriya no Hitorigoto are a real mixed bag. Many of the concubine characters are presented well, and the various infighting and alliances seem believable, though each character seems to have a goldfish's memory when it comes to the deeds of our main girl Mao-mao. Mao-mao herself is of average interest here though. A character of this nature and background should seem cautious, worldly and cunning, used to the plots and social politics of a court, but with the voice acting as given she comes off instead as arrogant and disinterested, save for the occasional scene where they hit the "she's so kooky" button and portray her ecstasizing over some poison or medical concept. It's somewhat akin to that alternative kid in high school that's largely uninteresting and normal, but occasionally feels compelled to quote Edgar Allen Poe when they think people are watching them. Similar issues can be found with many of the supporting cast; it is unknown whether this is due to poor animation direction, budget, or other issue, but many characters have been stripped of their individuality, in some cases even their defining features which are can be central to the story. Again, in comparison to the source material which goes to great depths to individualise its cast, this is disappointing.

Leading into the art direction, there isn't really much to say here. It's there. It's not awful, but it's not great either. For a setting where lavish backgrounds, and near every character has a argument for stunning detail, it's just good. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but as noted previously, some characters are generic where they NEED not to be.

On the whole, Kusuriya no Hitorigoto is an acceptably average interpretation. It holds some of the essence of a good story, but sadly falls short of the source material in favour of middle-of-the-road approaches. Some of this can but passed off as budgetary constraints, but many seem like poor judgement calls. If you're after something simple and relatively easy to digest, this is fine. For fans of more mature and intriguing works, read the manga first, and watch the anime at a later date.

Overall, this anime is very enjoyable and excellent with regards to animations, voice acting, sound, music, characters, story/plot but also really annoying at the same time as some of the settings are quite flawed. It is a female power fantasy anime where the main character is simply super knowledgeful about everything there is to know when she clearly has no reason to know, they really should have just made this an isekai where an 80 year-old veteran doctor+detective who has 60 year work experience gets hit by a truck or something, that would make a lot more sense. I understand she specializes in medicine, poison ... etc I will give this one to her, being the best physician there is on planet earth somehow, not only this she is more superior than the emperor's seamstress for apparently no reason with her own invention, she goes around dealing with issue in the court as if everyone else is complete incompetent idiot lollygagging all day long, and of course she also knows how to give advice on seduction when she clearly has 0 experience. She acts like everything in the court is her problem to handle and deal with, as if she is the Empress in charge of it or something... bruh.

Not to mention the creep, Master Jinshi, being in love with MC just because she does not fall head over heels with him and is actively rejecting him 1 second after they meet, he gets turned on by that as he persistently sexually harass the MC throughout the early episodes, though not much she can do as she is of a lower position. Then the grand reveal of her freckles, of course it is fake and added on her just so she can pretend to be ugly, I highly doubt it will make you that much more ugly in real life as we can see the amount on her face was very little, merely over her nose. The moment she removes it everyone is in awe of what a babe, out of worldly beauty she is 😂(very female power fantasy moment), then the sexual harasser creep Master Jinshi strikes again, completely infatuated over her and gave her an important hairpin to prove she is his now? Perhaps this is normal behaviour in this type of setting for a powerful male in the court? It makes me cringe a lot throughout the anime.

If you are able to read through my review and can accept it without cringing as much as I do, you are good to go, this anime will be a very good watch, however if you are unable to withstand this level of cringe then you may want to skip this anime. Overall it is very good but tons of flawed elements to it that might make you extremely turned off. Anyway, I will probably continue watching this as I still enjoy it despite all my complaints as every other aspect of this anime is quite good.

I was planning to watch it for a long time but the main character convinced me to do so, she carries the entire anime on her shoulders and at the same time is the biggest problem for me in this anime xD

The main character is really easy to like, she has a strong character and is charming at the same time, she focuses on her passion, watching Maomao get excited about what she does brings a smile to my face every time but unfortunately...

Maomao is too perfect, she knows everything and nothing bothers her, I wanted to compare her to Dr. House but ... despite his intelligence, he was not as idealized as Maomao, I miss her own dilemmas in this character, the problems she has to face personally.
At the beginning I thought that she would have to deal with the fact that she was kidnapped, that she would miss her father or that people from the palace would treat her worse (I mean, it was a bit like that, but it ended quickly) but no, 3 months of time jump and Maomao is doing well , it's a pity, it would be more interesting than what we got.

I'm also saddened by the lack of enemies for momao, the puzzles, which is what all the episodes are about, don't cause any problems for her, so you could give her an enemy who would be jealous of her achievements, but she doesn't have that either.
Overall, it's too nice for the imperial court.

The second pillar of this anime is Maomao's relationship with Jinshi, if you took it seriously, you could be a little disgusted because of Maomao's harassment by him, but it's probably more of a comedic aspect so it will pass xD
It's charming in its own way, I wonder how their relationship will develop.

This review is after ep 6, I don't feel the need to continue this anime even though it's not bad.

Positive:
The show's the theme(clothes, building design,...), art (aesthetic characters) and sound design are on point
The plot is coherent, good pace, well connected from the beginning to the end.

Negative:
The characters are not well-written. Every single side-character in the show is just there to support the main character. They exist to create problems and ONLY main character seems to have ability to solve it.
The flaws of main character have no or little impact on her surrounding. For example: Despite being an unattractive girl she still gets the most attention from the most attractive male in the show and there's no punishment for her being unattractive. So ... what's the purpose of embedding this flaw into the character ? Being cynical yet everyone likes her? No capability to feel love for what ?

Conclusion: the show is meant for young audience with good vibe and mysteries solving. However the second or most important factor to a series is the characters and it's not up to level of other well-made aspects of the show. Rating: 7.5/10.

I might be in the minority here but I'll just come out and say it. This is the most OVERATED show currently airing.
The basic premise of the show is that the main character, a poor girl living in the red light district, is kidnapped and forced to work as a low-level servant at the emperor's palace. while there she manages to establish herself as a well informed apothecarist. The show establishes that she obtained this knowledge through her interest in experimenting with various poisons and her relationship with some of the courtesans who had knowledge on certain poisons. I really enjoyed the first few ... episodes but my expectations plummeted immediately after the third episode.
Pros
The art style, animation and aesthetic are probably some of the best I've seen in anime.
I also love the setting and time period.
Cons
The main issue I had with the show was the main character, through the course of the first few episodes she somehow transforms from apothecarist to Sherlock Holmes and possesses knowledge on everything and can now solve any mystery . She constantly contradicts herself by saying something like 'am a lowly servant and probably shouldn't get involved’ then proceeds to get involved.

The side character's are pretty much there to emphasize how smart and knowledgeable the mc is.
Am all for amazing and interesting leads but I honestly didn't find anything about the main character charming or endearing but thats subjective.
Overall
It may seem like I hate this anime but thats far from the truth This anime is average at best and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone that tends to objectively question plot points. If you're looking for something to just mindlessly binge through i can see this being an amazing watch.
In conclusion this show is good but nothing groundbreaking and I would encourage anyone looking to check it out to lower their expectations.

This is basically a covert isekai, with the difference that the protagonist was transported to another world a few blocks away from her home. You have all shoujo isekai tropes thrown in there, an over-knowledged MC is thrown into a new situation as an underdog, but she's quickly adapting because she can resolve anything and soon everything revolves around the genius. The whole series is wish-fullfillment 101, anything Maomao tries succeeds no matter what, and not a single person has thought of doing anything like she does it. Despite this the series has an engaging plot and the art is beautiful, it doesn't feel like ... a complete waste to watch it.

My biggest problem with the series is that it's supposedly set in China but from my very limited knowledge about Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chinese history this is a completely unrealistic depiction to the point where it's dumb. TCM is a massive body of knowledge. It's simply not possible to be trained as a herbalist in ancient China without talking about meridians, elements, qi gong, tiger penises and all that jazz. Maomao is behaving like if she was a modern herbalist who got isekai'd into China. Regarding the historical correctness one thing that stands out is that it doesn't contain anything regarding the conflict between Manchurians and Han. China was occupied by Manchurians and the palace was run by Manchurians as the ruling elites, the Han was second class citizens. There's probably a thousand more examples of the series incorrectness, and one can argue that it's not meant to be historical correct anyway, but this makes the whole premise extremely shallow. If you only want to sample the palace and the architecture from the extremely rich culture that China is then just make it an isekai instead. This is just lazy writing and (yes I'm going to say it....) cultural appropriation. Now I have said it and will collect the 25 points to my social credit score from the Department of Wokeness. Thank you.

Bleh, overly glossy/shiny, and the saturation slider was cranked to 100. I do like the art but I need sunglasses to watch this anime. Don't even get me started on the MC, those eyes are over designed and distracting. Dunno why they couldn't just give her normal eyes, it reminds me of the mid 00s bug eyes in a way. Nothing to write home about with the music, pretty generic. Plot seemed interesting, but with just 3 episodes and MAL forcing me to write something about it to give my opinion well, what is there to say? Historically the first episode had quite a few ... inaccuracies, but it's anime so that's not surprising. If you like modern anime in all it's oversaturated overprocessed glory then this one might be for you.