The blacksmith's riddle looks raw…
The Apothecary Diaries (Kusuriya no Hitorigoto) spoilers ahead!
Summary:
- The mystery of Maomao's origin is given more emphasis in the second cour.
- Viewers speculated that Lakan and the courtesan might be the main character's parents.
- Episode 16 served to expand on the theme of parents and children.
There are many changes in The Apothecary Diaries Cour 2 — Maomao moved to the Outer Palace and began serving on Jinshi. The mystery of her origin is given more emphasis. There are several new characters in which fans can see the protagonist's parents.
Recently, the 16th episode was released, which disappointed viewers with a too naive story that aimed to develop the family theme in the anime.
Alleged parents
There are many mysterious stories in The Apothecary Diaries, and the secret of Maomao's origin is the most enigmatic and intriguing. We know that the girl grew up in the house of an old apothecary who once worked in the palace. This interesting detail provoked discussions about the possible noble origin of the main character.
However, Episode 15 disproved these theories — we were introduced to the imperial employee Lakan, who told the story of his love for a courtesan from the Verdigris House. The woman was very different from the other employees there — she was smart and arrogant.
She looked a lot like Maomao, so viewers speculated that Lakan and the courtesan might be the main character's parents. Also, Lakan seems to know Maomao, so he asked Jinshi to have Maomao help him with a riddle.
Too simple move
While Maomao and Lakan's parentage was immediately obvious to many viewers, Episode 16 served to expand on the theme of parents and children. For this purpose, the writers introduced a mystery about the will of the old blacksmith.
Maomao had to understand why the blacksmith left a workshop to one son, a chest of drawers to another, and an aquarium to the youngest.
The brothers did not get along well, and the father wanted to reconcile them with the help of this riddle, but without the main character they would never have been able to find out the secret message, so many viewers took this mystery as a plot assumption.
Compared to other riddles in The Apothecary Diaries, the mystery of the blacksmith's will seems really weak and far-fetched. Considering the central theme of the riddle and the supposed parentage of Maomao and Lakan, the reason for using such a naive plot is immediately obvious.