[0:00] The Apothecary Diaries isn't a romance
[0:02] anime, but it might be the one that
[0:04] fixes romance anime. Instead of chasing
[0:06] shojo tropes and dramatic love
[0:08] triangles, this show goes the other way.
[0:11] It's slower, it's weirder, but its
[0:12] success gravels even bigname shownen.
[0:16] So, today we are breaking down three
[0:17] ways the Apotic Diaries flips ramen
[0:19] storytelling on its head and make it
[0:22] better through psychology, history, and
[0:24] the subtle role Romans plays in Nachi
[0:26] Huga storytelling. And through that
[0:28] we'll see that we don't necessarily need
[0:30] more love stories but we need stories
[0:33] that make us better at
[0:35] loving. Technically the apothecary
[0:38] diaries is a san aimed at adult men but
[0:41] you wouldn't be wrong for thinking it
[0:42] borrows a few tricks from shojo
[0:45] especially when it comes to mama and
[0:46] jinshi's relationship. Just look at this
[0:49] bishodon. androgynous, impossibly
[0:51] pretty, wanted by women, men, and
[0:53] because he's that special, he's
[0:55] hopelessly drawn to a flat gremlin that
[0:57] looks at him like looking at a corrupt
[0:59] politician. Normal Shojo stuff right
[1:01] there. But we really need to start
[1:03] thanking Nachu Huga. Because while she
[1:04] bothers the surface appeal of shojo, she
[1:08] completely one of its most brain melting
[1:11] tropes. To understand what I mean, let's
[1:13] talk about episode 36. Yeah, it's the
[1:17] frog scene. In that episode, the mama
[1:19] falls on top of Ginhi. Nice. But Mama
[1:22] then realizes something horrifying.
[1:24] Gingshi is not a new nuke. He is in fact
[1:28] packing substantially big trouble. But
[1:31] Gingshi is fully enjoying the moment
[1:33] because one nice and two he has been
[1:36] preparing to tell Mama who he actually
[1:38] is. So he thinks this is the best
[1:40] chance. And just right when Jyn is going
[1:43] to say it, Mama stops him. The worst she
[1:46] can say is no. And mama be like, "Bet."
[1:48] Mama can even commit ethical war. She'd
[1:51] rather say someone's frog is okay.
[1:53] Detonate a man's soul, possibly stops an
[1:56] entire lineage to be born than
[1:58] succumbing herself into something she
[1:59] doesn't want to know. The burn is so
[2:01] bad. Jini is mad at her for like three
[2:04] episodes. But again, we should be
[2:06] grateful because thank god in the frog
[2:09] scene, they didn't go with the most hair
[2:11] pulling trope in ramen's anime,
[2:14] miscommunication.
[2:16] Ginshi knows exactly why Mama crushed
[2:18] his confidence. Mama knows exactly what
[2:20] Ginshi was trying to do. No one's
[2:22] clueless here. Look, miscommunication,
[2:24] it can work when done right. It can be
[2:26] funny and can make a somewhat meaningful
[2:29] conflict. The apocators also used it,
[2:31] but the tone was more comedic than
[2:33] anything. But if they were to use it
[2:36] here, it would ruined everything.
[2:40] Because this isn't a story about high
[2:42] schoolers not getting each other. It's
[2:44] about what happens when you do
[2:46] understand someone and still clash.
[2:49] Ginhi is ready to close the distance.
[2:51] He's been hiding behind layers of
[2:53] secrets. His name, his status,
[2:55] everything about himself except a couple
[2:57] of slip-ups are a lie. But now he's
[2:59] decided. No more hiding. He wants to be
[3:02] honest. The motive is clear for us to
[3:04] see. But on the other hand, Momo, she
[3:08] wants the opposite. She's in denial. She
[3:10] wants plausible deniability more than
[3:12] anything. She's chasing survival.
[3:14] Emotional distance is how she stays
[3:17] safe. But both of those conflicting
[3:20] attitudes. They're both right in their
[3:22] own way. And that's what makes this frog
[3:25] scene moment a real crossroads. Either
[3:28] Momo opens the door and lets Gingi in or
[3:31] Jini gives up, realizing that for
[3:33] obvious reasons, they're just not meant
[3:36] to be. Juni thinks if he just explains
[3:38] himself, things will work out. Mama
[3:41] thinks if she stays irrational, she
[3:43] won't get hurt. But here's the thing.
[3:45] It's really obvious that emotions don't
[3:47] care about your logic. And that's where
[3:49] the real story between these two begins
[3:52] that can encapsulate the bigger picture
[3:54] of Momo and Gin's romance
[3:58] story. So the Apocaris is blowing up
[4:01] right now, bigger than ever. So
[4:03] naturally, the other Natu Huga is also
[4:06] getting her moment in the spotlight. She
[4:08] gave this really thoughtful interview
[4:10] with Duffini magazine. It was translated
[4:12] to English by Twitter user Kayuzuki. The
[4:15] interview was pretty extensive as far as
[4:17] I know, but I want to focus on just one
[4:20] line that perfectly captures how she
[4:22] fused the romance in her story. In my
[4:25] opinion, they don't even have time for
[4:27] romance. So, it's not just will they or
[4:30] won't they. The bigger picture of Mamo
[4:32] and Ginhi's romance is why would they
[4:35] when everything say don't. So the
[4:38] biggest hurdle in their romance isn't
[4:40] Mamo's reluctance but the logic behind
[4:42] it. And that logic is heavily inspired
[4:45] by the real world history of love. You
[4:49] see love is such a central topic in our
[4:51] modern lives. But historically we only
[4:53] started appreciating love around the
[4:55] 17th century. Before that love wasn't
[4:58] something you chased. You made it.
[5:00] Loving your spouse was considered
[5:02] immoral and stupid. Sounds familiar?
[5:05] Well, yeah, because in the Apothecary
[5:07] Diaries, although it's not that extreme,
[5:09] love is a liability and is especially
[5:12] apparent in episode 12 when Ginshi is
[5:15] supposed to fire Mama from the inner
[5:17] court, we got to see Ghanian's take on
[5:20] Ginsi and Mamo's
[5:26] relationship. Even when Gausan finally
[5:28] admits that, okay, Ginsi is too far gone
[5:31] to treat her like a toy or a pawn
[5:32] anymore, he's not thrilled, but he knows
[5:35] there's no going back. Poor guy is just
[5:37] watching his boss simp himself into
[5:39] career threatening chaos. That also
[5:40] includes his own career, by the way.
[5:43] That's Gaus. Also, look at Momo. Momo
[5:46] gets it. Rationally speaking, it's just
[5:48] dumb. We talked about it before. So,
[5:50] what's the answer to that? What actually
[5:52] moved the ramens here if the setting
[5:54] itself is against it? What they need is
[5:57] a bit of insanity. The Romance works
[6:00] because it's Ginshi and Ginshi is a
[6:02] train wreck. He's childish. He's
[6:04] problematic. He's the inner court's
[6:05] poster boy. But he's also the kind of
[6:07] guy would lose two of the emperor's
[6:10] favorite concubines to poisoning if Mama
[6:12] wasn't around to save his ass. But it's
[6:14] because he's such a mess in the first
[6:16] place that this love story can even
[6:18] happen. Because everyone else in the
[6:20] story, they put duty first, interest,
[6:23] and affection last. So the only people
[6:25] who dare take love seriously in this
[6:27] world are the insane ones. You know who
[6:30] else that dare take love seriously?
[6:32] Lakan. Think about it. Also, Lady Fuo
[6:35] from episode 3. If Natsu Huga played it
[6:38] 100% realistic, this romance wouldn't
[6:41] survive episode 20. There's no happy
[6:43] ending there. Just Mamo and Ginsi
[6:45] growing more and more distant every
[6:47] single episode. Or maybe she would try
[6:50] to salvage it by turning Ghi into one of
[6:52] those stereotypical male leads. Super
[6:54] aloof but somehow only emotionally
[6:56] vulnerable to the female lead types. You
[6:59] know the kind. Cold Duke of the north,
[7:01] black hair, never smiles. His mother's
[7:04] name is Martin. Inside we get Gingshi, a
[7:06] multi-layer childish, conflicted
[7:08] personality which opens up nicely to the
[7:11] opportunity of a romance with MMO. I
[7:14] know it sounds like I'm roasting Gingi
[7:16] right now, like this romance is just a
[7:17] childish love. But plot twist, this
[7:20] chaotic man might actually be the
[7:22] perfect blueprint for real love. Not
[7:25] because of the wealth, not the looks,
[7:26] even the frog's eyes, but it's because
[7:28] Ginshi's love is emotionally risky,
[7:31] weirdly modern, and actually backed by
[7:33] actual relationship
[7:35] psychology. So, we already touched on
[7:37] the history of love before, how love
[7:39] used to be treated like a disease, but I
[7:41] left out the next part of it because
[7:43] honestly, it's just depressing. So the
[7:46] story is in the 1800s people were like,
[7:49] "Hello, we have toilets now." And
[7:51] weirder than that, we also have this
[7:53] human rights thingy. So maybe we can
[7:56] like marry people we actually love now.
[7:58] And so after that, marriage for love
[8:00] started to become the trend. It made
[8:02] sense, right? Until we realized that we
[8:04] screwed up because we didn't just start
[8:07] valuing love, we started worshiping it.
[8:09] We made love into this divine fantasy
[8:12] and marriage because of that become less
[8:15] and less stable because it doesn't
[8:17] fulfill all of society's crazy wish list
[8:19] and all people marry less than ever. One
[8:22] obvious reason is because as individuals
[8:25] people fantasize about love too much. So
[8:28] lots of people just wing it because we
[8:30] don't study fantasy. So love become this
[8:33] DIY thing with no manual whatsoever. But
[8:36] the problem about love, especially
[8:38] marriage, is once it breaks you, you're
[8:41] less happier than ever. But somehow in
[8:44] the middle of all this, Gingshi is out
[8:46] here being a better partner than half of
[8:48] us. Yes, he's dramatic. Yes, he's
[8:50] emotionally unwell. But here's the
[8:52] thing. First, look at the ancient love.
[8:54] Compared to the ancient love where
[8:56] couples act like polite co-workers, the
[8:58] childish Gingi is far better at love.
[9:01] What quote unquote rational love means
[9:03] is distance and suspicion. And now
[9:06] compared to modern love, Chini commits.
[9:09] He knows that for him to go further with
[9:12] Momo, he has to work for it. No
[9:14] fantasizing about happily ever after,
[9:16] it's not going to be pretty. And that's
[9:18] really clear from his side. If we look
[9:20] at the actual relationship psychology,
[9:22] that's exactly how we make love works.
[9:25] This entire video is backed by research,
[9:28] even from the first section. Look,
[9:29] section one, hiding stuff from your
[9:31] partner kills relationship. And then we
[9:33] look at Gingi. Jinshi is literally
[9:35] risking his identity to get closer to
[9:37] Momo. Correct move. But what about his
[9:40] childishness? The second point,
[9:42] ironically, that's also a green flag
[9:44] because love needs insanity. Not
[9:47] full-blown, but if people want
[9:49] long-lasting love, I'm talking about
[9:50] like 50, 60 years of love. It's
[9:53] possible. And that insanity actually has
[9:56] a name. positive sentiment override. It
[10:00] means you assume the best of your
[10:01] partner even when they miss up.
[10:03] Honestly, that's such a green flag for a
[10:05] partner. The biggest green flag you
[10:07] could ever ask. So yeah, this entire
[10:09] video is secretly researchbacked. I just
[10:12] didn't tell you earlier because oh yeah,
[10:14] research. Oh yeah, studies. I want to
[10:17] see people fight. And maybe, just maybe,
[10:19] that's what Natihuga meant by this. In
[10:22] the interview we talked about before,
[10:24] she said that she picked ancient China
[10:26] setting because of its romantic allure.
[10:29] And what's more romantic than loving
[10:31] someone in a place where you're not
[10:33] supposed