Kusuriya no Hitorigoto – Episode 35 Review

「狩り」 (Kari)
“The Hunt”

First off, I want to say, wow, that was a beautifully animated episode there, particularly those scenes at the end with the waterfall and cave. If not a bit fan-servicey there- I mean, come on- Jinshi and Mao Mao in their underclothes in that setting- it’s practically like it was out of a doujin. We’re slowly creeping towards the point of no return where Jinshi and Mao Mao are concerned.

The catalyst for the events that follow are Jinshi setting off on a hunting trip in the Northern lands at the invitation of Master Shishou, Lady Loulan’s father. The emperor declines to go (which probably says something about what he thinks of Loulan), so I would assume Jinshi is going as a royal representative. Given that the region used to be popular with the royals for summer vacation and the current regime hasn’t paid a visit there yet, it’s clear this is a pretty significant trip beyond the nobles having too much time to kill. That Shishou keeps trying to feed Jinshi vigor inducing food has me wondering if he has some ulterior motive up his sleeve, maybe trying to broker a marriage deal with the younger brother this time, or in the hopes that if little bro gets one of the Northern ladies pregnant, he can use that as a bargaining chip at court. However, Jinshi going by a different name and wearing a face covering smells strongly of covert operations.

Mao Mao gets pulled into all of this because Jinshi sees the hunting trip as the perfect opportunity to come clean with her about his identity. After an amusing round of negotiations with Lady Gyokuyo, Jinshi gets to borrow “the girl”, under the pretext of food taster, though everyone except for Mao Mao knows better than that. Who can blame Lady Gyokuyou for wanting to have fun playing with Jinshi and his discomfort for a full 30 minutes. The woman is pregnant and trapped inside the palace.

Things took quite the wild turn, or should I say, leap- I was expecting a hunting trip with a big tell all moment between Jinshi and Mao Mao, with maybe an attempted poisoning in between. Something is off from the start, with Jinshi refusing food and wearing a mask in the middle of a sweltering hot summer. Then, things escalate when Mao Mao tries to administer medical attention to a Jinshi on the verge of heat stroke and an assassination attempt is made with…guns. Yeah, I know China had dealings with the West and with guns and all that, but this is the first time firearms made an appearance here, and that combined with not knowing what time period this is even supposed to be in. I’ll admit, I had no idea what a feifa was when Jinshi was all “It’s a feifa!”- it sounded like the name of a political group or an instrument or something, but then I connected the dots that it was the gun. This certainly adds an interesting element to things. Without a shadow of a doubt, there has to be a connection to the Western emissary visit from the beginning of the season- where else would they get the weapons from? In fact, the hit men could possibly be Westerners themselves. That it happens in Northern territory, and given Loulan’s penchant for exotic styles actually makes me wonder if her father has close dealings with trading in the West. Perhaps he is even the one secretly behind the string of poisonings in the palace, and Jinshi is there to sniff him out. It certainly would make sense- poison the other concubines so that leaves the Emperor no choice but to make Loulan his #1. AFAIR, Loulan is the only one who hasn’t had poisoning attempts made on her, in fact, she’s been pretty much in the shadows.

Jinshi jumping off the waterfall– I didn’t see that one coming. And that was just the appetizer for what happens next. Mouth to mouth CPR, stripping out of wet clothing, stepping on Jinshi, and of course, the classic “girl and guy fall on each other” moment. I thought for a hot second that Kusuriya swapped places with a rom com.

In escaping from the would-be assassins, they end up trapped in a cave. I do think leaping off the waterfall like that was a huge risk on Jinshi’s part- but I guess what other choice did they have. I do like the idea of Mao Mao whistling for the dog- that’s certainly a lot safer than just yelling for help when the assassins might still be on the look out. I also loved that Mao Mao showed zero reaction when the frog flopped on her face.

This is a watershed moment here- the staff put a lot of care into putting that whole scene into action, as if they were screaming “pay attention!!!”. There’s no way Mao Mao can walk away like nothing happened- especially after landing on Jinshi like that, she’s gonna realize that he undeniably has a full set down there. The question is- what will she do with what she learns. Her reaction that whole time was interesting- notably absent of the jibes she usually internally makes at Jinshi. In fact, she seemed like she was hit between the eyes or as if on the verge of realizing something she can’t look away from (which she literally can’t at this point). I am incredibly curious about how she’ll handle this- she has a few options here (and feigned ignorance is no longer one of them). Given that he’s her boss, she can’t slowly distance herself from him, unless she gave up work at the palace, which I don’t see happening. She could start growing feelings for him, which the series certainly seems to ship those two. Or, set a firm line in the sand “thanks, but no thanks”. As to how she’ll have to approach court relations going forward- that’s a whole other complicated matter. If she stays and Jinshi tries a takeover and fails, she’s going to be royally screwed, and not in the concubine sense. The safest course is probably retiring out to the countryside ASAP, but she’s come to like palace life and the stimulation it affords, so that might be a non-starter for her. I do hope Jinshi will get to do his big identity reveal the next episode and that it doesn’t get stalled by some other events. It’s high time Mao Mao faced the facts.

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