---
title: 'The Best Romance Anime Isn’t a Romance Anime'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=UnI1pWMF8hw'
video_id: 'UnI1pWMF8hw'
date: 2026-06-14
duration_sec: 634
---

# The Best Romance Anime Isn’t a Romance Anime

> Source: [The Best Romance Anime Isn’t a Romance Anime](https://youtube.com/watch?v=UnI1pWMF8hw)

## Summary

The Apothecary Diaries subverts typical romance anime tropes by focusing on psychology, history, and realistic relationship dynamics. The show avoids miscommunication clichés and instead explores how two people who understand each other still clash due to conflicting priorities. Through the relationship between Maomao and Jinshi, the series offers a mature take on love that resonates with modern audiences.

### Key Points

- **Subverting Romance Tropes** [00:00] — The Apothecary Diaries isn't a typical romance anime; it avoids shojo tropes and dramatic love triangles, instead offering a slower, weirder story that has become hugely successful.
- **The Frog Scene** [00:35] — In episode 36, Maomao falls on Jinshi and realizes his secret. Jinshi tries to confess, but Maomao stops him, prioritizing plausible deniability over emotional vulnerability. This avoids the miscommunication trope.
- **Miscommunication Avoided** [02:16] — Both characters understand each other's intentions; the conflict arises from their different goals: Jinshi wants honesty, Maomao wants safety. This makes the story more mature.
- **Author's Interview** [03:58] — Author Natsu Hyuuga stated in an interview that Maomao and Jinshi 'don't even have time for romance,' highlighting that the story is about why they shouldn't be together, not just if they will.
- **Historical Context of Love** [04:48] — Historically, love was not prioritized until the 17th century; before that, loving your spouse was considered immoral. In the series, love is a liability, reflecting this historical view.
- **Insanity as a Requirement** [05:50] — The romance works because Jinshi is emotionally risky and childish. In a world where duty comes first, only 'insane' characters like Jinshi and Lakan dare to take love seriously.
- **Modern Love and Psychology** [07:35] — Modern society worships love but lacks a manual for it. Jinshi's approach aligns with relationship psychology: he commits, works for it, and exhibits 'positive sentiment override'—assuming the best in his partner.

### Conclusion

The Apothecary Diaries offers a refreshing take on romance by grounding it in realistic psychology and historical context. It shows that love isn't about perfect moments but about two flawed individuals choosing to understand each other despite the odds.

## Transcript

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