Posted by OP3 Sequence
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OP3: 「百花繚乱」 (Hyakka Ryouran) by (Lilas Ikuta)
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「猫猫と毛毛」 (Maomao to Maomao)
“Maomao and Maomao”
The theme of the week is books, or more specifically, literacy. We start off with MaoMao (Yuuki Aoi) brokering her connections with the red light district to act as the smut dealer for the palace (including the emperor). She gets busted by Jinshi (Ootsuka Takeo) and Gaoshun (Konishi Katsuyuki) who become fascinated by the “printing techniques” and confiscate the materials for censorship.
When a popular novel becomes distributed around the palace, sparking an interest in reading among the illiterate maids and in copying the writings among the educated ladies (ah, the good old days before copyright laws), it becomes clear Jinshi had ulterior motives to his interest in publishing. Namely, that of encouraging literacy among the palace women.
It’s excellent to encourage literacy, however unless those are children’s books (which I doubt it), by the time the girls become literate enough to read it, the book will no longer be popular, though I’m sure others will take its place. It’s a smart idea and works. I can certainly relate to that- the desire to read novels and historical documents in Japanese was one of the motivating factors to my becoming fluent. Though it’s a long hard road. Especially for any kanji-based language. I am curious how they will handle that aspect- if they will show slow progression that feels realistic, or if magically, these girls will become literate overnight.
“I may as well just learn to write too”. Reading is one thing- but writing, that’s a whole other uphill climb, and that’s speaking as someone who is fluent in reading and writing (i.e. typing) in Japanese, the kanji of which is simplified in some respects (though no less difficult) compared to traditional Chinese. When it comes to Chinese, I can only shudder at how difficult that is, especially learning it as a teen/adult as opposed to early childhood when that sort of thing comes easier. Reading is far easier; I can tell you that. However, it is very important, a key to participating in everyday life on an educated level, something which Xiaolan (Kuno Misaki) points out in musing about her future in post-palace life. It makes communication easier, obviously, and it also gives a boost in personal confidence. That Jinshi is promoting this through circulating the books is revolutionary for the time. It does give him brownie points with me, much as I squirm to admit it, given all the creepy ways he acted towards Maomao last season. I have to wonder if Jinshi has come to value and advocate for literacy in women because of meeting MaoMao and coming to respect her knowledge and skills. I love that Maomao starts her literacy lessons off not with the typical beginner words, but names of roots and plants. It is so in character for her.
Knowledge is power. As whimsical and amusing as this show can be, it never strays far from the sobering reality of life in this era. It certainly was on my mind seeing Princess Lingli, knowing that she was being raised no doubt as a tool in a future political marriage. Gyokuyo (Tanezaki Atsumi) and Maomao are absolutely right- learning about poisons and medicine may help protect her in the future.
Kids and animals are danger territory as far as anime or any media are concerned, seeing as they usually run the risk of being so cutesy they ham up the show and totally derail from any sort of serious character/plot development that it may have been previously on track towards. Miraculously, Kusuriya steered away from that, keeping them more to the background “episodes in the daily life of Maomao” sort of thing, with Maomao as the main focus. As a cat lover myself, I profess to have enjoyed the cat scenes. I will say- that’s one very good-natured cat, to sit there so docilely for nail trimming. None of my cats would ever have sat that still.
The scene where she accidentally mentions castration in front of Jinshi (though that wouldn’t be a sore spot for him) and then almost gives him sausages as an apology snack was certainly hilarious. In the conversation about cats between her and Jinshi, the irony of him liking cats rang true. It’s clear he likes one cat (her), though she doesn’t realize the irony of that statement. I actually would have thought Maomao to be more of a cat person as opposed to a dog person based on personality. However, I suppose if your name has “cat” in it, it’s only natural that one would get tired awfully quickly of that getting brought up all the time, for the rest of your life. That they named the cat Maomao (but with different kanji) and Maomao didn’t pick up on the lighthearted jab behind it was funny.
We wrap things up with the bustle of preparing for a caravan. The caravan in question seems to be bringing strange things (or people) from foreign lands, which I can only presume is a central linchpin to this season. Since season one, they’ve been gently teasing something between Jinshi and Maomao (though exclusively a one way crush) and the ED here teases that even further, though I assume it’s mainly from Jinshi’s perspective, as I can’t see Maomao falling head over heels. That, and given the way he’s behaved towards her and violated her boundaries (that honey incident in season 1 to name just a few), I don’t think she should.
All in all, the premier served as a light introduction to what’s ahead. No mysteries or deaths, pure palace life mode here, but that’s perfectly suitable for a season opening. The episode production and character chemistries (Aoi Yuuki once again killing it as Maomao) worked perfectly well, no complaints there. Based on the appetizer course here, I can say I’m looking forward to the season ahead, though I’m going in blind, not having read this far in the source material.
ED3 Sequence
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ED3: 「幸せのレシピ」 (Shiawase no Recipe) by (Dai Hirai)
Preview
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