The Best Romance Anime Isn’t a Romance Anime

[00:00] The Apothecary Diaries isn't a romance

[00:02] anime, but it might be the one that

[00:04] fixes romance anime. Instead of chasing

[00:06] shojo tropes and dramatic love

[00:08] triangles, this show goes the other way.

[00:11] It's slower, it's weirder, but its

[00:12] success gravels even bigname shownen.

[00:16] So, today we are breaking down three

[00:17] ways the Apotic Diaries flips ramen

[00:19] storytelling on its head and make it

[00:22] better through psychology, history, and

[00:24] the subtle role Romans plays in Nachi

[00:26] Huga storytelling. And through that

[00:28] we'll see that we don't necessarily need

[00:30] more love stories but we need stories

[00:33] that make us better at

[00:35] loving. Technically the apothecary

[00:38] diaries is a san aimed at adult men but

[00:41] you wouldn't be wrong for thinking it

[00:42] borrows a few tricks from shojo

[00:45] especially when it comes to mama and

[00:46] jinshi's relationship. Just look at this

[00:49] bishodon. androgynous, impossibly

[00:51] pretty, wanted by women, men, and

[00:53] because he's that special, he's

[00:55] hopelessly drawn to a flat gremlin that

[00:57] looks at him like looking at a corrupt

[00:59] politician. Normal Shojo stuff right

[01:01] there. But we really need to start

[01:03] thanking Nachu Huga. Because while she

[01:04] bothers the surface appeal of shojo, she

[01:08] completely one of its most brain melting

[01:11] tropes. To understand what I mean, let's

[01:13] talk about episode 36. Yeah, it's the

[01:17] frog scene. In that episode, the mama

[01:19] falls on top of Ginhi. Nice. But Mama

[01:22] then realizes something horrifying.

[01:24] Gingshi is not a new nuke. He is in fact

[01:28] packing substantially big trouble. But

[01:31] Gingshi is fully enjoying the moment

[01:33] because one nice and two he has been

[01:36] preparing to tell Mama who he actually

[01:38] is. So he thinks this is the best

[01:40] chance. And just right when Jyn is going

[01:43] to say it, Mama stops him. The worst she

[01:46] can say is no. And mama be like, "Bet."

[01:48] Mama can even commit ethical war. She'd

[01:51] rather say someone's frog is okay.

[01:53] Detonate a man's soul, possibly stops an

[01:56] entire lineage to be born than

[01:58] succumbing herself into something she

[01:59] doesn't want to know. The burn is so

[02:01] bad. Jini is mad at her for like three

[02:04] episodes. But again, we should be

[02:06] grateful because thank god in the frog

[02:09] scene, they didn't go with the most hair

[02:11] pulling trope in ramen's anime,

[02:14] miscommunication.

[02:16] Ginshi knows exactly why Mama crushed

[02:18] his confidence. Mama knows exactly what

[02:20] Ginshi was trying to do. No one's

[02:22] clueless here. Look, miscommunication,

[02:24] it can work when done right. It can be

[02:26] funny and can make a somewhat meaningful

[02:29] conflict. The apocators also used it,

[02:31] but the tone was more comedic than

[02:33] anything. But if they were to use it

[02:36] here, it would ruined everything.

[02:40] Because this isn't a story about high

[02:42] schoolers not getting each other. It's

[02:44] about what happens when you do

[02:46] understand someone and still clash.

[02:49] Ginhi is ready to close the distance.

[02:51] He's been hiding behind layers of

[02:53] secrets. His name, his status,

[02:55] everything about himself except a couple

[02:57] of slip-ups are a lie. But now he's

[02:59] decided. No more hiding. He wants to be

[03:02] honest. The motive is clear for us to

[03:04] see. But on the other hand, Momo, she

[03:08] wants the opposite. She's in denial. She

[03:10] wants plausible deniability more than

[03:12] anything. She's chasing survival.

[03:14] Emotional distance is how she stays

[03:17] safe. But both of those conflicting

[03:20] attitudes. They're both right in their

[03:22] own way. And that's what makes this frog

[03:25] scene moment a real crossroads. Either

[03:28] Momo opens the door and lets Gingi in or

[03:31] Jini gives up, realizing that for

[03:33] obvious reasons, they're just not meant

[03:36] to be. Juni thinks if he just explains

[03:38] himself, things will work out. Mama

[03:41] thinks if she stays irrational, she

[03:43] won't get hurt. But here's the thing.

[03:45] It's really obvious that emotions don't

[03:47] care about your logic. And that's where

[03:49] the real story between these two begins

[03:52] that can encapsulate the bigger picture

[03:54] of Momo and Gin's romance

[03:58] story. So the Apocaris is blowing up

[04:01] right now, bigger than ever. So

[04:03] naturally, the other Natu Huga is also

[04:06] getting her moment in the spotlight. She

[04:08] gave this really thoughtful interview

[04:10] with Duffini magazine. It was translated

[04:12] to English by Twitter user Kayuzuki. The

[04:15] interview was pretty extensive as far as

[04:17] I know, but I want to focus on just one

[04:20] line that perfectly captures how she

[04:22] fused the romance in her story. In my

[04:25] opinion, they don't even have time for

[04:27] romance. So, it's not just will they or

[04:30] won't they. The bigger picture of Mamo

[04:32] and Ginhi's romance is why would they

[04:35] when everything say don't. So the

[04:38] biggest hurdle in their romance isn't

[04:40] Mamo's reluctance but the logic behind

[04:42] it. And that logic is heavily inspired

[04:45] by the real world history of love. You

[04:49] see love is such a central topic in our

[04:51] modern lives. But historically we only

[04:53] started appreciating love around the

[04:55] 17th century. Before that love wasn't

[04:58] something you chased. You made it.

[05:00] Loving your spouse was considered

[05:02] immoral and stupid. Sounds familiar?

[05:05] Well, yeah, because in the Apothecary

[05:07] Diaries, although it's not that extreme,

[05:09] love is a liability and is especially

[05:12] apparent in episode 12 when Ginshi is

[05:15] supposed to fire Mama from the inner

[05:17] court, we got to see Ghanian's take on

[05:20] Ginsi and Mamo's

[05:26] relationship. Even when Gausan finally

[05:28] admits that, okay, Ginsi is too far gone

[05:31] to treat her like a toy or a pawn

[05:32] anymore, he's not thrilled, but he knows

[05:35] there's no going back. Poor guy is just

[05:37] watching his boss simp himself into

[05:39] career threatening chaos. That also

[05:40] includes his own career, by the way.

[05:43] That's Gaus. Also, look at Momo. Momo

[05:46] gets it. Rationally speaking, it's just

[05:48] dumb. We talked about it before. So,

[05:50] what's the answer to that? What actually

[05:52] moved the ramens here if the setting

[05:54] itself is against it? What they need is

[05:57] a bit of insanity. The Romance works

[06:00] because it's Ginshi and Ginshi is a

[06:02] train wreck. He's childish. He's

[06:04] problematic. He's the inner court's

[06:05] poster boy. But he's also the kind of

[06:07] guy would lose two of the emperor's

[06:10] favorite concubines to poisoning if Mama

[06:12] wasn't around to save his ass. But it's

[06:14] because he's such a mess in the first

[06:16] place that this love story can even

[06:18] happen. Because everyone else in the

[06:20] story, they put duty first, interest,

[06:23] and affection last. So the only people

[06:25] who dare take love seriously in this

[06:27] world are the insane ones. You know who

[06:30] else that dare take love seriously?

[06:32] Lakan. Think about it. Also, Lady Fuo

[06:35] from episode 3. If Natsu Huga played it

[06:38] 100% realistic, this romance wouldn't

[06:41] survive episode 20. There's no happy

[06:43] ending there. Just Mamo and Ginsi

[06:45] growing more and more distant every

[06:47] single episode. Or maybe she would try

[06:50] to salvage it by turning Ghi into one of

[06:52] those stereotypical male leads. Super

[06:54] aloof but somehow only emotionally

[06:56] vulnerable to the female lead types. You

[06:59] know the kind. Cold Duke of the north,

[07:01] black hair, never smiles. His mother's

[07:04] name is Martin. Inside we get Gingshi, a

[07:06] multi-layer childish, conflicted

[07:08] personality which opens up nicely to the

[07:11] opportunity of a romance with MMO. I

[07:14] know it sounds like I'm roasting Gingi

[07:16] right now, like this romance is just a

[07:17] childish love. But plot twist, this

[07:20] chaotic man might actually be the

[07:22] perfect blueprint for real love. Not

[07:25] because of the wealth, not the looks,

[07:26] even the frog's eyes, but it's because

[07:28] Ginshi's love is emotionally risky,

[07:31] weirdly modern, and actually backed by

[07:33] actual relationship

[07:35] psychology. So, we already touched on

[07:37] the history of love before, how love

[07:39] used to be treated like a disease, but I

[07:41] left out the next part of it because

[07:43] honestly, it's just depressing. So the

[07:46] story is in the 1800s people were like,

[07:49] "Hello, we have toilets now." And

[07:51] weirder than that, we also have this

[07:53] human rights thingy. So maybe we can

[07:56] like marry people we actually love now.

[07:58] And so after that, marriage for love

[08:00] started to become the trend. It made

[08:02] sense, right? Until we realized that we

[08:04] screwed up because we didn't just start

[08:07] valuing love, we started worshiping it.

[08:09] We made love into this divine fantasy

[08:12] and marriage because of that become less

[08:15] and less stable because it doesn't

[08:17] fulfill all of society's crazy wish list

[08:19] and all people marry less than ever. One

[08:22] obvious reason is because as individuals

[08:25] people fantasize about love too much. So

[08:28] lots of people just wing it because we

[08:30] don't study fantasy. So love become this

[08:33] DIY thing with no manual whatsoever. But

[08:36] the problem about love, especially

[08:38] marriage, is once it breaks you, you're

[08:41] less happier than ever. But somehow in

[08:44] the middle of all this, Gingshi is out

[08:46] here being a better partner than half of

[08:48] us. Yes, he's dramatic. Yes, he's

[08:50] emotionally unwell. But here's the

[08:52] thing. First, look at the ancient love.

[08:54] Compared to the ancient love where

[08:56] couples act like polite co-workers, the

[08:58] childish Gingi is far better at love.

[09:01] What quote unquote rational love means

[09:03] is distance and suspicion. And now

[09:06] compared to modern love, Chini commits.

[09:09] He knows that for him to go further with

[09:12] Momo, he has to work for it. No

[09:14] fantasizing about happily ever after,

[09:16] it's not going to be pretty. And that's

[09:18] really clear from his side. If we look

[09:20] at the actual relationship psychology,

[09:22] that's exactly how we make love works.

[09:25] This entire video is backed by research,

[09:28] even from the first section. Look,

[09:29] section one, hiding stuff from your

[09:31] partner kills relationship. And then we

[09:33] look at Gingi. Jinshi is literally

[09:35] risking his identity to get closer to

[09:37] Momo. Correct move. But what about his

[09:40] childishness? The second point,

[09:42] ironically, that's also a green flag

[09:44] because love needs insanity. Not

[09:47] full-blown, but if people want

[09:49] long-lasting love, I'm talking about

[09:50] like 50, 60 years of love. It's

[09:53] possible. And that insanity actually has

[09:56] 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