No white coat this time but it'll be back for episode 2. Let me know your thoughts on the episode!

The reason there's only one (bad) doctor is because anyone in the rear palace has to be a Eunuch. As you might expect, not many good doctors are willing to make that jump.

yeah lady-in waiting is like the main servant of specific nobles... their position is higher than other servants but still lower than the head lady-in waiting

Just some fun Fact: Mao means Cat in Chinese hence her appearing having a cat-like ears sometimes.

Maomao is 17 at the start of this show, meaning she *should* be able to start her career as a courtesan and old woman there knows it. The MC knows she won't be good at it (she'll only get the wierdos who have a certain kink), and its not in line with her interests, in other words, Do Not Want. Also, the mid-late Ming Dynasty spawned a lot of B-grade political intrigue dramas from Hong Kong in the past. It gave us fictional heroes like Justice Bao who is a chief judge that's supposed to be very corruption resistant, even towards people who should have authority over him. B-grade Ming has an endemic corruption problem - not enough policing or the authorities can easily be paid off. I do not have reliable data on how bad the problem is in real historical Ming Dynasty (since it lasted ~300 years); if it is that corrupt tho, it won't bet the first time a dynasty in China has declined or ended due to corruption. Maomao's kidnappers are likely to have posed as her parents and have bribed the palace officials/guards to look the other weay. Selling people on the streets to conscripted servitude isn't legal, BUT an exception is allowed if *your child* is the one being offered to serve, for a regular comp to help supplement a farmer's meagre earnings. There were definitely scammers who make a living selling others' children into effective conscription and then pocketing the government compensation, with nobody batting an eyelid since overall the country wins, even to the detriment of parents looking for their missing children..

Fun fact: Lady Gyokuyou is also voiced by Atsumi Tanezaki, the same VA for both Anya and Frieren.

Hello Zach, I'm a studying botanist and the plant at 7:08 appears to be a Rhododendron Rex (possibly a Fictolacteum but not quite sure). It is found in China, India, and Myanmar.

9:00 Not exactly, there was no sharing of women between princes and the emperor, that Harem is the Harem of the Emperor alone, obviously Princes could have their own wives or harem, but there was no sharing as that would easily lead to the awkward situation of no one knowing who's the father of the babies born there. Also the background and the preference of the emperor would dictate the rank of the women there and the Emperor would visit more often those of higher rank. Usually the woman with the higher rank would be the mother of the crown prince, she would be the Empress, a very important title because the Empress would become regent if the Emperor died before the Crown Prince had the age to rule alone becoming a Mother Empress, some Mother Empresses became so powerfull that they dominated their sons completely through their reigns either by pulling the strings behind the scenes or by continuing to be the regent through the adulthood of their sons. Other women with lesses ranks would receive other titles like Consort, Princess, Lady, Imperial Wife, and so on... each Dinasty had its own set of titles and ranks.

6:22 Well, she's 17, two years above the age at which that particular brothel begins to employ people as courtesans (which isn't exclusively sex work -- some courtesans may go years upon years without bedding anyone, even when they have regular customers). Of course, you could definitely still consider 17 to be too young.

Maomao while seemingly small is very much at the prime marriage age of 17 at the time. Also like the wiki article you showed in China they did remove the entire phallus in castration.

as a girl. yes we do fawn over Jinshi, but the same applies for Maomao. she's just so amazing

You like this anime A LOT, cause Maomao is SO SMART. Like ancient chinese House MD! Every episode she try to explore some poison or illness.

This serie is very good on the medical aspect , in the novel they explain more in detail , I admit that I learned a lot thanks to it, and bonus it was so much fun and interesting with stories inserted in it poison and plants

Finally pharmacist reaction is back, been waiting since the parallel world pharmacy. This is one of the promising anime out there, lot of poison and drug related stories, you’ll really like this one, enjoy

Mercury in makeup could also be a thing - cinnabar is a common alchemic ingredient (the representative Yang alloy) and it's used anywhere from blush to seal/stamp ink. But since we are talking about white here it's lead. Of course, it could also be ingested in pill form in external alchemic elixirs, which are usually fired in a high heat crucifix with lead, herbs, and other interesting ingredients such as virgin's urine. See "Red Pill Case" of 1620, Ming China.

The deal with Maomao's arm isn't a rash; she tests poisons and treatments on herself.

In ancient days in the north east Asia, ladies applied facial powder from face to breasts, which poised babies when they were fed with breast milk. This was in common throughout China to Japan.

It's very helpful to hear professional comments. I'm looking forward to seeing this type of anime since Parallel World Pharmacy. I remember that Parallel World Pharmacy talked about how old-fashioned makeup powders are poisonous. Have you seen the Japanese drama "Jin"? This is a story about a modern Japanese doctor who travels back in time to Japan's past. The issue of makeup powder was also brought up here. By the way, the main character Maomao means Catcat in English. Her name is very cute.It also sounds like a panda's name.

The place at the beginning, where Maomao lived, is the red light town, where all the courtesan houses are. Maomao's marks are from experiments she makes on herself, with different poisons ,,, where she ends up after being kidnapped ist pretty much her world's version of the Forbidden City, where the chinese emperor and all his concubines lived.

Lower end white makeup were mainly rice flour, but since you know, rice flour, they basically became batter when moisture is high, so the better functioning ones were essentially lead based powder. I mean, it was highly suspected that Queen Elizabeth I died of lead poisoning due to prolonged exposure to lead makeup powder so....

I've been waiting 3 years for this anime. Couldn't be happier with 24 episodes

NOTE: Maomao was kidnapped she was sold off then maybe sold again to the palace of the emperor then placed in the rear palace. part of her pay goes to those who kidnapped her because they said she was her family and thats why they where allowed to sell her.. corupt officials is a big theme in storys and such

I find it interesting that Arsenic also shares a lot of the same symptoms and was also popular in personal hygiene products like soap and even was used for murder in some cases in the 18th century it seems due to how little was needed as well as how fast acting it was (though 30 min for a pea size amount of powder would be rather slow by today's poison standards)

I loved this anime, and was searching just for this type of context

So glad this show did not fly under your radar! I actually came across your channel from your 'Pharmacist react to to Pharmacist in Parallel World' videos

Just caught up with this series--on another computer--so laughed to see this in my feed. I watch a lot of live action period dramas, so this one's right up my alley.

This series has actually been pretty great, way funnier than I thought it would be.

thanks! enjoyed the lesson on lead poisoning. Learned something new. I subscribed hoping to hear more! This and Frieren are my two favs this anime season. =]

Its not common to see a story set in a Chinese palace in anime, as someone who grew up in Asia this is really fun watch! Funnily enough, 2000 concubines + female servants are not that a lot if you compare to some of the Chinese emperors who got over 10,000 in their palace!

The white pigment used to be lead oxide (PbO) or "White lead," obtained from Galena. It was the whitest pigment and was commonly used in makeup. Zinc white was also used, but it's not as white as lead. In Japan, the heavy makeup worn by geishas caused many issues, such as skin diseases, which in turn required more makeup to cover. On the other hand, white lead powder would be easier to accidentally ingest so the babies would be more prone to poisoning. Today, the whitest pigment is made of titanium dioxide.

In the case of the opening, the flowers are meant to represent the different courtesan/concubine. Each one seems to have a different flower representing them.

Fun fact Maomao is 17

The bonk reactions in this playlist are super funny!

Arsenic was also used in green painting. Many people, including Napoleon,have died of it.

6:32 as far as I’m aware that’s not a skin infection, that’s her poisoning herself to test antidotes

i love how zach shares thoughts with maomao :D Also yes, positively fawning over Jinshi x.x

Thank you for the reaction and for sharing some knowledge 🌸

Nice video. I knew it was lead poisoning as they revealed the truth of the curse (since we've taught about this before) But you're the only one I've seen talking about how lead poisoning actually works by far. That's very informative! Thanks for making this video ❤

This channel is awesome. I study to be a parmacist right now and your video is really helpful❤

omg i feel lucky i found you

I didn't realize what it was immediately, but the background music near the start of the video, before the reaction starts, is from pokemon black & white! GREAT choice!

9:47 "Your bust would have to grow about 15 centimetres to interest me!" -The Emperor (Yes, he seriously said that lol)

For Maomao, her phase 1 drug testing is her left arm.

@ 11:20 when you mentioned how they belived a illness was a curse or whatnot I heard something that if a baby was born yellow they would bury it alive as it was a golden baby or something and meant bad luck....when it was just jaundice

I always appreciate when somebody brings more to the table than just generic: "Oh this looks good" or other typical reactor stuff. Be it cinematography, sound design, writing or knowledge of some of the subject matter. So in short: good stuff

Thanks for reviewing and explaining the scientific/medical side of things in the anime. Subscribed and looking forward to more Apothecary Diary vids.

My Chinese History is spotty so I can't say I know all of the details, but Empress can have a few meanings; there's the Emperor's wife/official partner, of course, but also the Empress Dowager who would be the Emperor's mother.

I recently watched this anime in Crunchyroll and loving it! Excited to go through and watch these reaction videos.

"oh, she lives with her grandpa" MY FRIEND, IF ONLY YOU KNEW

You are very interesting in Chinese history and medicine.I also learned it when I was a student at school.It's a little complicated.w

Maomao can be translated as Catcat, this is why there are so many catlike chibies as for face powder - the powder used to contain white lead, which caused poisoning and death

why "they lost their balls" made me loughed so much you said it so politly

Parin and the other courtesans (the ones who asked about Maomao) are her older sisters

I’ve seen it interpreted as lead poisoning too, but I’ve also seen people saying that the powder form and the quick recovery don’t fit lead, and that it’s more likely _arsenic_ makeup. (I tried searching in the original webnovel, but I don’t think it names the substance.)

Nice breakdown! Thanks for the info. I've heard a few theories that lead makeup is likely what led to Elizabeth I's decline in health and her sister Mary's infertility, since it was extremely popular among the English elite at that time.

Lead acetate, a white pigment made by placing lead or lead ore into wine or vinegar and is left to age, it is unbleeiveabley toxic yet has been used throughout the ages due to its near unparalleled whitening effect and ability to mix well with most colours with the only other true white that is better in performance and is far less toxic is titanium dioxide.

love the unhinged reactions at times lmao, keep it up 😃

thank you sensei! this anime is so good! i'm happy to see this video!

Yay for biochemistry!!! I loved my classes at university❤

Willful ignorance is where evil *THRIVES.*

4 phases + GMP monitoring

I like this anime. I hope you continue reacting to it.

The palace has a lot of physicians. The issue is that in order to be a physician in the rear palace, they'd have to get the snip snip. XD Also, female physicians weren't a thing in ancient China.

Maomao tests various poisons and such on her arm just for funsies lol.

Should be lead carbonate, otherwise known as "white lead". It's white, and has historically been used as a makeup, so it fits.

6:00 i lol'd at him missing her wounds being from experimenting on herself bc he was distracted by the prostitute xD

14:00 Batman would approve. 👍

Yes, lead was in a lot of cosmetics during the Victorian era in the West. It makes your skin white (indoor pallor, you don't work outside). And makes you sickly and pale, and faint a lot, which was supposed to be...desireable. eek!

Eunuchs during this era would have had everything removed so they wouldn't be at risk of touching their Lord's women. They would've also had female trained fighters protecting those same women. Eunuchs also some times were also part of the harem if they were young and pretty enough......

Drug companies are looking to plants (chemistry factories) that if effective then refined and manufacturing. Plants are amazing. Since they can’t run away they produce lots of chemicals as chemical warfare with insects and animals.

Anyone beautiful can get the attention of the emperor. He probably a concubine too! Sometimes emperors had secret male lovers! There was an emperor that spent lots of money on his favorite eunuch!

While she desereves it, MaoMao probobly won't ever end up being the palace physicain. Technically, the fact that she actually was taught medice and herbs is illigal during that time. Since women having a high education is rare, kinda illegal and really only ever considered in a few select noble familes. However, since she saved the concubines and baby's life, and always uses here knowledge for them, their overlooking it and kinda keeping her name out of reports so theres no paper tail and she doesn't get into trouble.

Alcohol FYI: Most countries have a Drinkiung Age of 18. Though the Age of Adulthood & Drinking Age was frequently younger than that during these times. Doubly so with Life Expectancy being a lot lower. Faminine, Plague, and Wars were a lot more common so the Age of Adulthood could be anywhere from 13-16. We take it for granted that it's NORMAL for people to live to be 90-100, but back in these days it was probably a lot less. An even if you didn't die younger due to Age....very possible you would be a LOT more likely to die from Bandits/Raiders, War, or Faminine.

Decades ago doctors thought I had G6PD. I was bit by a brown recluse and had a very bad reaction to the venom so I had a lot of fully necrotized tissue. After they excised that out, they gave me Dapsone I assume to mop up the rest of the venom/ necrosis. Well it seems that drug can have a very bad interaction with brown recluse venom, akin to G6PD- which is why they thought I had it. It gave me hemolytic anemia and I started urinating dead red blood cells en mass and delirium and all that. They gave me a transfusion and it fixed it. Years later to figure out why I was chronically tired I went to a hematologist to I assume pretty much rule out leukemia and the like I told him about the G6PD and he seemed skeptical and he said it wouldn't be hard or expensive to run more one test to see if I had that along with the other tests. He said the tests came back negative.

6:30 Maomao doesn't have a skin infection, she just has a bad habit of testing various poisons and drugs on herself. Her arm is one big patch test. As for why she looks much prettier in the credits - she deliberately dresses down and tries to make herself look unattractive (and the freckles are fake for the same reason). She lives in the red light district and wants to avoid attracting attention from "customers" unable to afford the services of the brothels (or rejected by same as being violent or unmannered). Her "grandfather" is, incidentally, actually her uncle. Long story behind that, but he did raise her. Also - Mercury is liquid (at room temperature) but this isn't true of all mercury compounds. In particular mercury oxide is crystalline. However as I recall in this story the culprit is lead. It's still used today when unethical manufacturers are cutting corners. Google "lead in cosmetics" for that particular horror story. As for how the baby wound up ingesting it - breast feeding, plus contact & contamination.

There was an emperor that had 200 wives! Ladies working in the palace can be promoted to wives. Empress consort is the queen. I'm not sure. There lots of titles in the herum. Sometimes the emperor would spoil his favorite wife so much that he neglected his royal duties!

In China 'Xiao' means little (affectif)

So for the History part, harem was equal part for producing heirs and keeping glorified hostages (most women admitted in the harem were nobleborn women who could enter for political moves). In the case of enuchs guarding a harem, everything was removed. As for Mao Mao, it wasn't rare for imporvised family to sell their daughters as servant. They were paid a salary directly sent to the "family". Of course, noone bothered checking if the person bringing the girl was actually family..... @15:30 back then, it was common for women to use face powder to appear paler. Depeding on the region, those powders could be made out of lead or arsenic. Ladies in waiting are closed trusted servants and confidents of a noble woman. Usualy they are lesser nobility themselves. They represent their mistress and her prestige reflects on them.

Yeah drugs are synthesized now...but what do you think they're synthesizing....PLANTS! (and sometimes rocks)

Anime opening are way better than modern TV openings. Of course, many shows cut the opening to fit one more commercial.

I live for Jinshi

Mistaking drug experiment for skin infection is what happen when boobies take too much of one's attention.

Women are represented as flowers and will be a recurring themes. By the way, there will be a lot chemical stuff in series albeit a few cases are a bit more myth. This lead issue will recur and interesting treatment.

Naaa during the whole serious I was MaoMao 😂 Jinshi didn’t win me over yet, not even a little

i know i'm a bit late and i know it doesn't apply at all but the drinking age for alcohol practically all around the world where it's actually legal is 18 most of the EU falls under this as does china (japan is at 20 just as an fyi). also just as an fyi the reason why they have only 1 phisician is 3 fold. 1st most ppl wouldn't want to become Eunichs (which is a requirement there) 2nd the pay ain't that much better if you become a phisician in the royal court and 3rd one only guys can be legally called phisicians. they do have an entire "medical" ward but they aren't allowed to create medicine in there which is def a problem.

Dude at 5:51 boobs blinded you and you didn't cach when Maomao said that she experiment on her self, it's not skin infection it drug test.

In manga Mao mao touch jinshi frog😂😂

your house is beautiful

Maomao is supposedly 17.

I'm a Pharmacist but I'm still a Man💪🏼

I am surprised that plants seem to be `somewhat alien' to you. (i swear I'm not trying to sound presumptuous) I'm currently studying in germany to become a pharmacist, and here we have a lot of courses about plants. In the first semester we had a course about plant identification, then one about plant microscopy in the second and in the third semester we had one about identifying dried plants under the microscope. Do you not have similar classes?

"yeah working for emperor" she was kidnapped and sold into slavery and bought by her own government. Did this really happen in ancient China cuz if it did that is just insane.

Ah yes, knowledge after entertainment, just my thing 👌🏼👌🏼🤌🏼

14:15 not very likely, 4 different people affected, acute onset and at the same time, no jaundice (which would have been a notable part of the gossip) I would be more inclined to look for an infectious etiology based on the limited and nonspecific symptoms first

@DefinitivelyZach Your a pharmacist? Can you name me some good medicine-reipes i myself could use if i ever get isekaiid??

I did not expect to hear pokemon...

You gotta start calling yourself an Apothecary now

The Apothecary Diaries Maomao was kidnapped, very annoying on her part. Watch the freckles. I have read the LN’s and reread the first volume, as I and others were curious about the face powder. I thought it was lead too, as I remember from the LN’s. to my dismay, it’s not mentioned in the first volume, but the face powder comes up again later. That must be where it’s explained in later volumes. Most of your other questions are answered elsewhere in the comments.

The reason there's only 1 doctor btw is that the doctor has to be a eunuch too. Cannot be a woman. Not many capable doctors willing to be castrated if they're capable.

Spoilers So, the reason that there are so few phycisians is cause the previous emperor tried to do fraud and the doctors were likely to notice. He didn't want anyone to notice, nor his lady I won't tell you which type, but it's heavily implied in light novel that that is the reason Mao Mao's father is not in the court anymore.