©Hinata, Shufunotomo Infos/“Apothecary’s Monologue” Production Committee
This is not a general rule of thumb, but I always feel that there are lines you only cross the novel in the novel, which is to propose intentional bids from capital-P point. One of them is the death of a child. When Shisui wears Loulan’s face, Maomao brings it into the bedroom, where all the children in the fort poison them, it’s an inner, terrible moment. They are the only real innocents in the whole situation, and as Shisui points out, they won’t protect them. She thinks poisoning them as the kindest thing she can do for them: give them painless, peaceful death. Perhaps that’s why she quickly answered Maomao’s allegations by saying “medicine”.
Maybe it is. If we consider where they were and what Suirei went through, it is very likely that the children would pretend to die like Juliet. (If so, hopefully things work better for them than Shakespeare’s heroine.) I don’t think it’s a false hope – not only is there mention of the potion of resurrection at least once, but Shisui shows Maomao that Maomao has just gone out to rescue all the workers. Will she really save a bunch of adults and then murder the child? Yes, she took steps not to want pregnant women’s children (whether necessary or not), but that’s different from feeding children’s poison – she obviously cared about kyou-u.
On the other hand, her life was not easy. She learned early on that “Loulan” was the mask she had to wear around her mother, but it was not clear whether “Shisui” was her true self anymore. She has only two different characters in her life, and when Maomao calls her the name, she quickly restores the role of “Shisui”, which shows how she flips the switch and becomes the person in a given situation. She might really be who lost her way. She is not like Kim Hee, who can be herself and others at the same time. She is always “others”.
It’s easy to understand why she wants to be. She was obviously smart (watching her asking Shenmei to put Maomao in a poison pit instead of the water chamber), she learned early on that her mother was unstable and distrustful. Shenmei is one of the most despicable characters in the anime this season (or perhaps ever if I could) and partly due to careful balance of bearded four years old or waving paws – in her case – madness and sincere desire to cause harm. If Shenmei knew she was wrong (she might), then she didn’t care. In her opinion, it was all worth it if she got what she wanted, which made the daughter try to mitigate the damage. Shenmei may think she will be able to knock down the Imperial family, and she seems to be equivalent to Suirei and her mother to the late emperor. If anyone should be prevented from obtaining eternal life and eternal youth, it is this woman.
It is hard to say which of the many disastrous decisions made by the Shiye clan actually brought the army to their door, although it was a sure bet for the kidnapped Maomao there. Given Loulan/Shisui’s actions this week, I have to wonder if she knew that taking Maomao away would speed up the demise of the clan and do it on purpose. But for whatever reason, death and destruction will come. This is almost a loose matter for Shenmei’s victims.
grade:
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